My Cleveland Christmas Memories

This essay was previously published in the book Cleveland Christmas Memories - edited by Gail Bellamy

It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t born in the 40’s or I would have morphed “A Christmas Story” into my own Cleveland Christmas memories by now. However, there are moments in the iconic movie that are very reminiscent of my own youth.  To be born in the 50’s and raised in the 60’s in a middle class family meant that nothing much happened. 

It is difficult to describe the simplicity of those years to the current generation. It is the  scarcity of material possessions, the absence of media and ubiquitous electronic communication devices that make my generation's Christmas memories so unique.

The truth of the matter is that my memories, I am sure, are almost exactly like all the children of my era—those of us fortunate enough to have parents who took the time to carry out all the relatively new traditions of an American Christmas.

How unique is a Mr. Jingaling or the Captain Penny show he appeared on? What about the enormous Sterling-Lindner tree with basketball-sized ornaments? There were animated figures in store windows that were thrilling.  Cleveland was a greatly endowed city and the 40’s and 50’s were glory days. Downtown Cleveland was a shopping mecca before the malls appeared.

My great Aunt Irene worked at the May Company. She was the only person I knew with a connection to downtown—the place of buses spewing gas fumes and people of color I had never seen in my east side suburb.  (I was also duly impressed that she had Dorothy Fuldheim for a neighbor.)

My mother would dress me up in my best dress and patent leather shoes and we rode the bus downtown so my mother could shop.  We would meet Aunt Irene in her May Company office cubicle and I would be ushered off to a playroom with strangers who would look after me while my mom shopped. (Stranger danger!)  I can still picture the playroom as a dark cavernous space.

There is one distinct memory I have of shopping on my own. I had to return a gift and was allowed to choose another. I remember visiting one of the downtown stores and becoming completely overwhelmed at the sight of shelves upon shelves of dolls. Dolls were my favorite thing in the world. Never in my young life had I faced such a decision. After a long deliberation I chose an angel ensconced in a pink dress with wings.   That’s the whole memory, so why is that image of a wall of dolls still stuck in my mind from so long ago?  It is because of the sparseness of images our minds held in those decades. The abundance and onslaught of visual information that children now know from birth was missing. Every new experience was formidable and memorable. None were made from movies or television—they were real experiences.

Standing on a sidewalk in blustery Public Square to see mechanical characters in a store window would hardly be a destination now, but then it was a thing of beauty.  Christmas shopping at Twigbee’s with our few dollars or coins is nothing to the amount of time children spend at Walmart or Target now.

And Mr. Jingaling? What a weird old guy! Can you imagine treasuring a cardboard key? Yet, we did, and life was grand.

Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas

First, there is no war on Christmas.  We should all be thankful that we live in a country where we have the freedom to worship as we please. That means everyone - Jews, Gentiles, Muslims, pagans - all have the same freedoms here.  Insisting that someone honor your religion while you ignore theirs is, to me, the height of disrespect and judgement.

If you think there is a war on Christmas go into any store right now and what do you see and hear? Only Christmas music and Christmas decorations. Do those who do not celebrate it have a choice?

If you are indeed a Christian then you are familiar with these words of Jesus:
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (NIV)

This is not a Christian nation. It is a nation of freedoms. There is freedom of religion as well as freedom from  it. Will someone not saying Merry Christmas to you actually hamper your beliefs or celebration of Christmas? Jesus does not care if you say Merry Christmas - he does care that you love others as yourself - something he repeated 23 times in scripture. Love includes honor and respect.

 Here are some verses from Romans 14 which I think very clearly state that we are not to disrespect others:
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.  

One man considers one day more sacred than another, another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!

Coexist With Christmas

Coexist with Christmas

Like a bird singing in the cold of night,

when multitudes of angels

crawled and hovered above 

God walked into the world with a child in His arms.

The shepherds gave a reception, the stargazers

brought gifts to the harbinger of heaven,

the wise men momentarily lost their wisdom

to seek the sunshine of His face.

Then he grew under our sky, under the same loving Eye,

drank the planet’s water, browned in our sun,

for a brief moment – an alien in this world

just as you and I.

In this earthly rotation: blossoms break forth,

summer scorches, leaves fly, snow flies

to bring us to this annual déjà vu,

when hearts thaw and generosity

puffs out its proud chest, and we rush

in the frenetic, glorious mess of holidays.

Now, in this moment – coexist

with the reality of the day.

When the first wet snowflake touches 

your windshield, and you are singing

with the radio about roasting chestnuts,

hear the bird singing in the night,

sense God waiting to greet you

when the celebration is over,

give the midwinter gift of forgiving yourself,

and cast the remnant of your heart to Him.

Diane Vogel Ferri

COEXIST XXXVI - My Worldview Part 4

(see last three posts)

Coexisting and Diversity
It is not against the law to be Muslim, an atheist, or speak a different language in this country.  Immigration and diversity are why we are all here. If you believe that everyone should look, think, act, believe and vote as you do maybe you have forgotten that  the family of man is over 7 billion strong and most of them are not white, middle-class or Christian. Only 33% of the world is Christian.

I do not align myself with any person, publication or organization.  I cannot respect or understand the opinions of some inexplicably popular pundits who have been known to speak out viciously and disrespectfully against blacks, women, Iraq soldiers, 9/11 families, Katrina victims, people who "deserve" to lose their homes in forest fires etc. (You can look these quotes up easily on the Internet). These people fuel intolerance, fear, and a desire to move backwards to an era before civil rights in this country. How sad.

A house divided against itself will fall. Luke 11:17

The most off-putting agenda of certain groups for me is the idea that they are entitled to have everything their way. They appear to take no responsibility for less fortunate fellow citizens, to care for the environment, to tolerate other religions and cultures, to support quality education for all American children or to ever support what is good for all in this country.  Just because you live in America does not entitle you to have everything suiting your personal preferences.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it. George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

When Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor" did he mean only those of your political party, race or sexual orientation? When he spent time with the poor did he say "take a bath and get a job"?  No, he just fed them. His whole ministry was based on social justice. On his last day Jesus's greatest example was of washing others' feet. He was not belligerent, angry or insisting he was right - just humble and serving.

I do not believe in a paranoid, doomsday approach to life. This contradicts faith. I do not believe that attacking others solves anything. Any fool can spout hatred and intolerance. Hateful emails and rhetoric only serve to divide us further.

In my Bible Christian morals do not include intolerance. Jesus loved the outcast tax collector, the leper, the prostitute, the poor. If you are a Christian then you must believe that Jesus brought a new covenant of love, compassion and forgiveness, supplanting some of the Old Testament ways.  We are all imperfect, all sinners, all need forgiveness. Don't hate someone just because they sin differently than you.

The highest result of education is tolerance. Helen Keller

You can safely assume that you have created God in your own image when God hates all the same people you do.  Anne Lamott

And.... there is no War on Christmas.  We should be thankful we have have the freedom to celebrate it. Insisting that everyone respect one holiday while disrespecting their religious freedom ( or freedom from it)  is shameful. In American no one will prevent you from praying or worshiping. Is one's faith so small that someone not saying Merry Christmas will hamper the celebration? Jesus does not care whether someone says Merry Christmas, but he does care that you love your neighbor and honor Him through love and respect for all. Many of our ideas about "the way things should be" were formed in our childhoods, but we are not living in those years any longer.  Let God do the judging.

And finally in the words of Betty White: I don't know how people can get so anti-something. Mind your own business, take care of your affairs and don't worry about other people so much!

Let's be FOR each other instead of AGAINST each other.
Come let us reason together - Isaiah 1:18

Coexist This Christmas

There is Faint Music

There is faint music in the night
and pale wings fanned by silver flight.
A frosty hill with tender glow
of countless stars that shine on snow.

A shelter from the winter storm,
a straw-lined manger safe and warm,
and Mary singing lullabies
to hush her baby's sleepy sighs.

Her eyes are fixed upon his face,
unheeded here is time and space.
Her heart is filled with blinding joy
for God's own son, her baby boy.

Nancy Buckley

Happy Holidays v. Merry Christmas - COEXIST

Coexist with all holidays.
As a Christian I do not understand why some people of my faith insist that everyone wish them a Merry Christmas. I really don't get it. As a Christian, or just as a sensitive human being, surely we realize that everyone in the world doesn't celebrate Christmas - whether we want them to or not. The Bible is full of directives to love everyone, and in loving others we respect them. It matters not whether we agree with them.

Romans 14 says "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."

It also says " The man who eats everything must not look down on the man who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn. Who are you to judge someone else's servant?"

To me that says it all. We are to respect other people's choices and not judge. "Christians" who insist that everyone acknowledge only their chosen holiday are being disrespectful, insensitive and offensive themselves. It is not, in fact, everyone's holiday! Live in the real world.

If someone says Happy Holidays to you - is your faith so small that it somehow would change your beliefs or your celebration of them? Of course not. So why force your beliefs on others. God gave all of his creations free will - and that goes for everyone, not just Christians.

I follow a group called "Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented" on Facebook and that is how I feel almost everyday.

Peace on Earth - Peace to You.

Christmas Art

Sunday I had the opportunity to go on a personal guided tour at the Cleveland Museum of Art of Nativity paintings. The tour was led by a member of my choir who is also an art docent at the museum. (I also learned from the room with the large and magnificent paintings of five of the muses is that MUSE is where the word MUSEUM comes from! Also MUSIC! Somehow that never occured to me - but I digress.)

The painting at the top is The Holy Family on the Steps by Nicholas Poussin, a French painter (1594-1665). The other one is The Holy family with Mary Magdala by El Greco (1541-1614)These, and most of religious paintings we know today were required by the Catholic church of that time.

In both paintings Mary is shown wearing red and blue. The red signifies her humanness (blood) and the blue was to show that she belonged to heaven. The light shining down and brightening the baby and Mary's images is of course heavenly.Both paintings also contain fruit which tells us that God already tried to make a perfect human in Adam and Eve but the fruit brought the downfall of humans.

Having Mary Magdala in a painting with the baby Jesus is erroneous since she would have not been around then and also would have been closer to Jesus's age. It is thought that El Greco was required to put someone's relative in the painting and they called her Mary Magdala. Mary looks innocent, young and virginal next to the woman in scarlet.

In the Poussin painting Joseph is relegated to the shadows. This was the case in many of the paintings - showing his secondary part in the story.The significance of the family blocking the steps is to show that you can only get to the beautiful blue heavens through them. Elizabeth and John (the Baptist) are sitting with them.

Disruption

Conceived in a scandal, born in a barn,
Jesus disrupts and disturbs fallow lives.

He offended his people by breaking their rules,
bringing not peace, but a sword

to vanquish the old ways, to unshackle the laws.
He was a dissident, an insurgent, a dent in the world.

Some who'd awaited God's final word
were disappointed, insulted, outraged.

There was no throne, just a stumbling stone,
no peace before or after that day.

Your waiting is ended this Christmas morn,
a soul choice is His unending gift.

He is here. All is changed.
Now in silence He waits for you.

"A Christmas Story" House

Cleveland's Tremont area is home to the house they filmed 1983's "A Christmas Story". Last time I went it was closed and I got exterior shots of the house. This time it was bustling with fans from all over the country. If you have never seen this classic tale of a childhood Christmas, tune in to TBS on Christmas Eve - it runs for 24 hours. You will see Cleveland's Public Square circa 1939 and get a child's viewpoint of Christmas. The house was mostly used to film exteriors and the rest was filmed in Toronto. If you live near Cleveland it is located at 3159 West 11th St.There is also a museum where you can see original clothing worn by the children, the original leg lamp and much more. Here are some photos I took today:

Christmas 2009

Break forth O beauteous heavenly light
and usher in the morning.
Ye shepherds shrink not with afright
but hear the angels warnings.
This child now weak in infancy
our confidence and joy shall be.
The power of satan breaking.
our peace eternal making.

Johann Rist

Mary's Treasure

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. when they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:16-19

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Free tickets, great seats. Three hours of supreme light show. Screaming guitars, obligatory drum solo. Incredible rock arrangements of classical music. Laser lights, lots of fire. Unnecessary dancing girls. Long-haired men in long black coats. Long-haired girls in much less. Fog machine. Moving platforms. Fireworks. Rock version of CAROL OF THE BELLS - priceless.

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan.
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.
Snow had fallen , snow on snow, snow on snow.
In the bleak midwinter long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain.
Heaven and earth flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed.
The Lord God almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there.
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air.
But his mother Mary, in her maiden bliss
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would give a lamb.
If I were a wise man I would do my part.
Yet, what can I give him?
Give my heart.

Christina Rossetti

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


I heard the bells on Christmas day
their old familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet the words repeat
of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
the belfries of all Christendom
had rolled along the unbroken song
of peace on earth , good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
the world revolved from night to day,
a voice, a chime, a chant sublime
of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth," I said.
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
the wrong shall fail, the right prevail
with peace on earth, good will to men."

Letter From Jesus

(I didn't write this, but did edit some of it. The author is unknown. I usually don't like anything that speaks for God, but this made some good points.)

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth just get along and LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting my birth, then get rid of a couple Santas and snowmen and put a Nativity scene in your own yard. If all my followers did that there wouldn't be a need for a scene on the town square.

Stop worrying about people calling it a holiday tree. I made all trees. You can remember me any time you see a tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish. I spoke about those in John 15:1-8.

If you want to give me a present here is my wish list.

Instead of writing letters of protest about the way my birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to the soldiers away from home.

Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards he's sending out this year, why not write and tell him you'll be praying for him and his family.

Instead of giving your children gifts they don't need and you can't afford, spend time with them. Tell them the story of my birth.

Pick someone who has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

Instead of nitpicking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a Merry Christmas, that doesn't stop you from wishing them one.

Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in my presence.

Don't forget, I am God and I can take care of myself. Just love me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of the rest.

I love you, Jesus

For Unto Us a Child is Born

"A Christmas Story" House!

If you watch any of the 24 hours of "A Christmas Story" on TBS tonight or tomorrow you will see this house located on the near west side of Cleveland. We finally got over there to see it yesterday, but we picked the day it was closed! I really just wanted to see the outside anyway. You can see the leg lamp in the window of course. Across the street there is a museum and gift shop as well. For more info check my December 19 post. You can click on the photos for a better look. Merry Christmas and if you get a BB gun don't shoot your eye out!

Disruption

Conceived in a scandal, born in a barn,
Jesus disrupts and disturbs fallow lives.

He offended his people by breaking their rules,
bringing not peace but a sword

to vanquish the old ways, to unshackle the laws.
He was a dissident, an insurgent, a dent in the world.

Some who'd awaited God's final word
were disappointed, insulted, outraged.

There was no throne, just a stumbling stone
no peace before or after that day.

Your waiting is ended this Christmas morn,
a soul choice is His unending gift.

He is here. All is changed.
Now in silence He waits for you.