I was engaged in my favorite pastime…this time of year…admiring the Christmas decorations in Campus Woods…when what did I hear but the faint sound of bells ringing…perhaps it was Santa and his reindeer a few days early. As I was photographing the ornaments that have been placed on the trees in the woods by benevolent Christmas Celebrators…the faint pleasant peel of bells increased…and I marveled at the Christmas Magic that I was witness to. Then…a woman passed me jogging and her Dachshund ran…as best he could…behind her as the bells that were affixed to his collar sounded their glorious refrain.

Christmas is three days away and we wait for the birth of Jesus. In our world which seems to be centered on every woman and man for themselves…we wait for the Christ who taught us to love each other as we love ourselves. We wait for the gift of God who rode into Jerusalem on an Ass and had palms cast in front of him and who was acclaimed as the Son of God…who later was beaten and had a crown of thorns placed upon his head…and who was crucified. At times we are a fickle lot…We say that we want one thing…and when we get it…we suddenly decide that we want something else instead. Moses went up onto the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and after he was gone a few days the Hebrews in the Wilderness lost hope and told Aaron to fashion them a Golden Calf to worship…

So now we wait for the hope of the ages…over two thousand years…the birth of the Babe in the manger in a barn…because there was no room in the inn.

Four days left until Christmas. Santa knew that he must speak with his colleagues to let them know that he had been feeling in this time of Pandemic. He asked Humphrey to gather all of the Reindeer and Elves and Front Office Staff…which were elves…together to hear a few words from him about what they were facing this year…2021… He knew that Rudolph felt marginalized and that many of the elves had felt unappreciated…and that everyone felt burned out. This was a year that could make or break Christmas…and the Spirit of Christmas was sorely needed in every home and hovel and in all human hearts…

You could hear a pin drop in the large North Pole Auditorium that Santa had gathered everyone in to speak to them from his heart… ‘Thank you for coming,’ Santa said. ‘Each of you is vital to our Christmas Operation…and I could not do this job without you, he continued. Our Pandemic is attempting to destroy Christmas…and with that the Spirit of Christmas…and with that…the hope of all mankind,’ Santa said softly and with deep remorse. ‘The Pandemic is the New Grinch…and it must be battled and defeated…’ exclaimed Santa! ‘We must aid each child in getting vaccinated and their parents too…or we are in danger of succumbing to our darker side,’ Santa continued.

Rudolph stood up and asked to speak. ‘I am foursquare behind Santa Claus,’ said Rudolph. ‘We are the hope of the children of the world…and we must lead in this fight against our Pandemic,’ Rudolph said. ‘As for me…I will donate all of my 25% bonus to vaccinations for the children and I hope my fellow Reindeer will do so as well.’ ‘We must support the Spirit of Christmas by giving hope to the children for a brighter future for them to grow up in,’ Rudolph intoned.

Mrs. Claus stepped up to the microphone and said, ‘Santa had been sick this entire Christmas Season…he has had Covid…and recovered…slowly…but instead of following his Doctor’s advice to retire to Destin, Florida…he has chosen to stay and fight this dreaded Disease…and to bring hope to all of the children of the world. The auditorium erupted with applause and Humphrey and Rudolph and many others carried Santa on their shoulders around the room to the peels of, ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow…!’

Santa asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to be his special guest to accompany him on Christmas Eve to bring hope and comfort and the gift of vaccinations to the children of the world…

Christmas is four days away…are you feeling the Cheer? It is a lovely day with 50 degrees and a brilliant Sun in the sky. Last-minute Christmas shopping seems to be booming if the traffic is any barometer. I heard a newscaster say that Christmas Sales are forecast to be record-breaking. I remember my childhood when I felt fortunate to hear a Christmas song or two on the regular radio…and to see, what my mom called Scrooge…once a season if lucky…and then after my bedtime. Now I enjoy satellite radio and have seven different stations dedicated to Christmas in all of its genres…and Christmas movies on television at almost anytime that I want to view them…including DVDs.

Mom took out of the closet tabletop Christmas Tree for most of my teenage years at home with her and my step-father. She would laugh and point to its display with some personal pride and announce, ‘This is my Christmas Tree!’ From Thanksgiving until Christmas mom instructed MJ and I and later Aaron and Jonathon…to not visit her on our customary Saturdays…as she would be deep in the midst of preparing for Christmas. We often speculated how it took a month to prepare with the table-top Christmas Tree and a little house cleaning and one Roast Beef Christmas Dinner to prepare. But we obeyed our instructions. On Christmas Day there would be the most succulent Roast Beef and cornbread that would melt in your mouth and mom’s Famous Coffee Cake…that she only prepared on Christmas…and not every Christmas. Uncle Ed would be there with his cherubic face and wandering eye…and uncle Bill was sitting and grinning and moving his tongue in and out of his mouth…as a nervous tick… In later years Aaron and Jonathon were the stars of the show. They both received a plethora of gifts and love from everyone and their little eyes showed with the joys of Christmas. This was about the time that we discovered the joys of wine… Earlier we had been a bunch of non-alcohol people…believing that our abstinence had brought us a bit closer to God than those Wine Bibbers… However, we saw the light…and Christmas became more warm and comforting and cheer was discovered among natural enemies…

This year…as every year before it…the age-old question is being asked…’Does it feel like Christmas to you?’ Or you may hear the variant…with apologies to Covid…’Are you feeling the Christmas Spirit…are you feeling cheerful?’ There is no easy answer to this dilemma…the answer lay within each of us. The Spirit of Christmas usually comes to me in one or two or three moments…often fleeting… One year…many years ago…I was at a Christmas performance at Shryock Auditorium on the Campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. The three Wisemen were involved and I was taken by surprise when, although we were sitting at the back of the House, the deep resonate voice of one of the Wisemen began to sing…just over my shoulder…and the hair stood up on on the back of my neck…I was in the zone… Or last year we took a tour of the Fox Theatre in St. Louis and the performer portraying Dickens’s The Ghost Of Christmas Present…began to sing…and it was suddenly real to me…Christmas was real… Or for several years we traveled to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to join our friends, Faye and Steve, to share a Condo. We customarily left Salem, Illinois after Christmas Dinner with Ron and Mary Jane and Tara and Mrs. Moore…and Mike and Paige and Tyler. I was standing with Steve on the balcony of the Condo and looking at the majestic Smokie Mountains…and it was just about midnight on Christmas…and I felt the awesome beauty of our shared Holiday…

Difficult time bark at our heels like the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’…but they always have. The Joy of the Season…The Miracle of the Birth of Jesus…The Hope of Mankind…is waiting for each of us…to open our heart…as it has always been there…waiting for us…

Five days until Christmas…and Rudolph could not be found. Billy B. and Chet had been given the task of locating him but so far…to no avail. Humphrey, the Lead Elf in charge of Toy Manufacturing, was beside himself…literally, as he had requested his twin brother, Hobart, join him for the last few days of toy work…before the big event. While Humphrey was a bit polished and cultured and somewhat debonair…Hobart was rough or un-planed around the edges. Hobart had misunderstood his help to be in the form of assisting his brother in the management of the Toy Shop…when in reality Humphrey wanted him to create his famous Wooden Rocking Horses. Rudolph had last been seen when Hobart had reprimanded him for being in the way in the Toy Shop and gave him a hammer and some finishing nails. Now Rudolph was a rather sensitive sort…as most Artists are…and he understood that his duties were more important, in his mind than Hobart’s, and thus he said to Evelyn the Elf, ‘Let Hobart lead the reindeer this Christmas Eve…I am off to Destin, Florida for some white sand and beautiful green Gulf Coast water.’

Santa said, ‘Billy B. and Chet…you must fly down to Destin and see if you can find Rudolph…we can not make the trip without him…he is the only one who has a red nose. Chet responded, ‘Santa, indeed his nose does have a nice red glow…but your nose gets quite red after you have had a couple of Dirty Martinis…’ Santa said, ‘Never mind about that, Chet, Santa takes a Dirty Martini now and then for his arthritis.’ ‘Now go quickly as Rudolph is probably at Wine World in Watercolor…as it is his favorite hang-out, Santa exclaimed!

Jane said that she wanted to accompany Billy B. and Chet as Rudolph listened to her…while he might not accept what the two gentlemen had to say. Billy B. agreed and off they flew…’like the down of a thistle…as Clement Clark Moore said so eloquently. Soon they had landed on the sugar-white beaches of Miramar Beach and saw Rudolphs’ Girlfriend lounging in a beach chair. Candy Kane was a Florida Reindeer…by birth…and there were not many like her. She was an alligator hunter and smoked cigars and drank Bullett Rye Whiskey…straight…and all day long. ‘Hey Jane,’ said CK. ‘What are you good people doing here this close to Christmas Eve…this is Crunch Time…’ Jane asked, ‘Where is Rudy…Santa needs him…and Hobart is sorry for offending him.’ ‘Rudy and Ron and JB have been drinking wine at Wine World…all day…and solving the world’s problems,’ CK said. ‘Let’s take the mini-sleigh and fly over there to talk to Rudy,’ said Chet. In the blink of an eye…they were there. ‘Join us,’ Rudy called out as his nose glowed a brilliant red beacon… ‘Rudy…Santa needs you and Hobart is sorry for telling you to get out of the Toy Factory,’ said Jane. ‘I don’t know…Jane…I think Santa hired him to boss me around…and I have better things to do than to be insulted…I have my 401K…and early retirement is looking pretty…pretty…pretty…sweet, as Larry David of Curb Your Enthusiasm, would say,’ said a thick-tongued philosophical Rudy… ‘Think of the kids…Santa can not do this massive undertaking without you…Rudy,’ Chet implored. ‘Will there be the annual Christmas Party at the end of the Christmas Eve Trip…I enjoy that Party so very much said, Rudy. ‘This year there will not only be a party but a 25% Christmas bonus…and a subscription to the Jelly Of the Month Club’…said Billy B.

Rudy not only returned to the North Pole but was the hero of the reindeer for the 25% bonus…and the wonderful…Jelly…

Home is what we seek at Christmas Time. We look for the sights and sounds and smells and the sense of place and love that makes our hearts swell…with joy. We may seek the home that we were born in or raised in…or the place that made us feel most welcome in our wayfaring life… We all are strangers in a strange land.

We are seekers of home…our entire time on earth. When we look into the eyes of others…we are looking for a home… This year we will enjoy Christmas in as many ways as the number of us that celebrate Christmas Some of us will have a large elaborate dinner with family that we have not seen since last Christmas. Others will have an intimate dinner with a few close friends…others of us will have pizza and Coca Cola…and all of us will hopefully find Home…in the celebration.

Atheists and agnostics and Jews and Hindus and Muslims…will seek home during our worldwide holiday. Rest from the stress of our 2-year Pandemic…comfort from the supreme loss that many of us have endured…many who seek to comfort others all year long…desire to feel a sense of Home…for Christmas. We have stood at the bedside of a loved one who has been intubated…we have cried a river of tears for family and friends who have passed on…many of us suffer inside…while putting on a brave and festive face…

We need Home to invite us inside…to sit down by the roaring fireplace…and to pet the sleeping Boxer dog by the warm blaze…and to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa and listen to Bing Crosby sing Silent Night…and gently close our eyes and realize that we finally have arrived…Home…

Five days until Christmas. It is a lovely day in Little Egypt…with an appropriate temperature for two days before the beginning of winter. Yesterday it truly looked like the Christmas Season was in full array with a 30-minute wait at the Post Office and traffic abounding on every street and lane. Pastor Kerry spoke of his favorite Christmas television show, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and it is one of my favorites as well… I remember first seeing the program when it Premiered in 1965. I was 8 years old and enjoyed the show…as I loved the Peanuts characters…but I was mesmerized when Linus recited the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus… Peanuts was a popular cartoon…and yet the miracle of Christ’s birth was an integral part of the program.

Uncertainty barks at our heels. In the height of our revelries and at the zenith of our joy…change and reversals and danger…lurk. A new variant of covid is sweeping the globe. Christmas travel is upon us…fellowship with family and friends and loved ones…is here… Vaccinations and booster shots are required…and yet there is still danger… If we did not remember the past…we would believe that someone is out to get us. Life is challenging and seemingly never more so…than today. But…our ancestors experienced a lot of bad days. The devastation of the Great Depression…World War II…Korean War…Vietnam… LIfe is more of a roller coaster ride than a walk in the park. We are happiest when we focus on the well-being of others.

Station Eleven is a great book that is written by Emily St. John Mandel that has been made into a limited min-series on HBO/Max. It is a hopeful post-apocalyptical program about the beauty of life and a Shakesperean Theatre Troop that travels throughout the land…and brings Art and hope to the survivors of a pandemic. Indeed it may seem like the worst of times to have a show about a pandemic when we are in the midst of a pandemic…but it is a show of hope and faith and life…that is appropriate for our times.

So, we must get vaccinated and boosted and wear a face mask and if we do so…the devastation of our Pandemic will subside and life can return to normalcy…as we know it. Spells or incantations or political rhetoric will not stop covid…vaccination will…if we all partake…and stop providing a home for the Virus…

Billy B. woke up with a smile on his face…as big as Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. It was 1 week until Christmas Eve…and he and Chet and Jane and Daryl…had a lot of work to do to help Santa restore the meaning of Christmas to a Pandemic Plagued Earth. Santa had been studying the disbelief problem most of his career…but it had grown exponentially during 2020 & 2021. Many of the children of the world had ceased to come to visit him in the grand department stores and malls and the many Christmas Villages…due to their fear of becoming ill. One of his best receptions was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Santa had been accused of being a perpetrator of the commercialization of Christmas…but he knew the truth of the matter. He had been called by many names throughout time and known in different forms and missions in various countries. Father Christmas…Piere Noel…and St. Nicholas were among some of his esteemed titles. This year Santa and Billy B. and Chet and Jane and Daryl would assist Santa in delivering a handmade wood Nativity to every home that they visited. These Nativities were handcrafted throughout the world by skilled artisans who made each scene of the Baby Jesus’s birth…with love.

Jane had suggested to Santa that perhaps we had gotten the entire Spirit of Christmas…wrong…when we focus more on the celebration and less on the event that we are having a party…with gifts…for? She gave the example that it was a bit like having a birthday party for a newborn…and the child being left in the bedroom…while the gift-giving and the cake eating and the punch drinking…was miles away in the Civic Center…

Billy B. said that the most meaningful Christmas Seasons that he could remember were the ones where he and his family attended their church’s Christmas Eve Service and sang Silent Night…by candlelight… He went on to note that his thoughts were not on how many Christmas Gifts that he was about to receive…but rather on the gift of Christ’s Birth.

Chet noted that he really did not feel the Christmas Spirit until he observed the kindness of one human to another human…or saw the childlike wonder in an old person’s eyes…or heard the Christmas Eve Bells.

Daryl said, ‘My Christmas Prayer is that everyone can and will receive vaccinations for our Pandemic…and that we all will begin the New Year understanding that…we are all one family…we can not make it without each other…and if a member of my family experiences success…I have succeeded…

The wind has gusted and the rain has fallen…Winter is almost here. Christmas Eve is a week away…and have you completed your Christmas shopping? I was in our Mall this morning and took note that Santa was upon his throne and prepared to take requests from all the children that would like to speak with him. The Mall was strangely almost empty…as our Pandemic has changed the manner in which we Christmas shop…along with the convenience of online shopping. About 1/3 of the people that I met had face masks on while 2/3 seemed oblivious to the danger of COVID 19 or the fact that it has robbed the lives of 1 of 100 of our senior citizens…of which I am a member in good standing. I recall the halcyon days of our University Mall when the halls were crowded with Holiday Shoppers and the stores were resplendent with Christmas decorations and Holiday music and sales that were compelling. Now…most of the stores are shuttered…Aaron and Jonathon and my favorite Pub…that I referred to as ‘Cheers’ …is shuttered…and Carbondale’s recovery is slow…but its people are strong…

Aaron and Jonathon and I love to visit Electric Larry’s Emporium. The owner is such a nice person and he has so many eclectic items of supreme interest to a Baby Boomer…like me. I have great respect for his opening a small business in our difficult Retail Environment. I purchased a lovely 1950’s Vintage Turquoise Ceramic California Pottery Ashtray…Saturday. There were two of them and I am thinking of going back to buy the other one.

We seek the Spirit of Christmas and the kindness of the Reformed Scrooge…and the faith of Tiny Tim. We long for those who will not judge us…but who will be kind to us…and love us…and take us into their family… We all wonder why we can not have Peace On Earth…as it seems that almost all of us want it… I enjoyed a Facebook Illustration a few minutes ago which showed a young woman holding a lovely Vase…she dropped the Vase and it shattered into shards…the third panel displays her holding the broken pieces…glued to a piece of cardboard and framed with the caption…Mosaic… Our lives are indeed…Mosaics. We all have been broken…many times…and yet we walk forward with our beautiful hues and brilliant colors and interesting shapes and molding that has been created by fire and pressure and now we are Diamonds…seeking acceptance and love…and kindness…

‘Nine days until the Big Ride’…said Humphrey the Lead Factory Elf. Santa looked at his right-hand Elf…and thought, ‘I am tired…and no one ever considers that I would like a Christmas Gift…from time to time.’ Humphrey noticed the dejected and downtrodden look on Santa’s round and usually florid and jolly face. Santa’s Meerschaum pipe had been cracked at the Christmas Party that Billy B. and Chet and Jane and Daryl and his dad…The Wiz had invited him to when Chet had jumped off his lap when the Hillcrest Third Grade Class had simultaneously pulled 30 English Christmas Crackers. Mrs. Claus…Carolyn… had bought him some Christmas Pipe tobacco…but now he had no Meerschaum pipe to smoke it in. The Christmas Pipe was a big deal to Santa…after all he had been interviewed by Clement Clarke Moore for his famous poem…A Visit from St. Nicholas…where he is portrayed as, ‘The stump of his pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath…’

Billy B. knew immediately what to do after Humphrey telephoned him about the Great Christmas Pipe Quandry. He went to visit his friend at Yesteryear Tobacconist in Carbondale, Illinois, and told him of Santa’s unique Christmas Pipe needs. Mr. P. the famous Rugby Player…said that he would get to work on the new Meerschaum Pipe for Santa and that he would work night and day and throughout the weekend and would have it ready for the Jolly Old Elf…Monday night…after dark…as it became dark in Carbondale…before 5:00 P:M: Mr. P. went on the say that he was ordering Santa some special blend of Christmas tobacco and that one was entitled…Christmas Eve…and the other was…Christmas Morning…

Monday afternoon at 4:45 P:M: Santa and Humphrey and Chet and Billy B. arrived at Yesteryear Tobacconist…and Mr. P. opened the door with a wide Christmas Smile on his face. Santa was so pleased when he laid his eyes on the new glistening Meerschaum Christmas Pipe that Mr. P. had painstakingly handmade for Father Christmas. Santa said, ‘You know I am just not myself without my trademark Christmas Pipe…and the new Christmas Tobacco is to die for…’ Chet asked Santa, ‘Santa…would you be willing to acknowledge Mr. P.’s manufacturing of your Christmas Pipe…?’ Santa replied that he would like for Mr. and Mrs. P. to move to the North Pole and be his exclusive Christmas Pipe Manufacturers…and that he knew of a lot of potential customers…’ Santa then said, ‘I will put out ads for your pipes on Facebook and all social media…as well as television and print media.’ ‘Mr. P….you will be known as the Master Pipe Maker for Santa Claus…and you will have more business…than you can handle!’

Humphrey Bogart said, ‘Heres Looking At You…Kid…’

Have you ever sought Waldo? During the 1980s the Books regarding ‘Where’s Waldo’ were all the rage. I have spent a significant amount of time seeking Waldo… You would think that Waldo would not blend in so well…what with his colorful sock hat and his bright striped shirt…but he can get lost pretty easily. So…when I would find Waldo…it was a time of great joy.

Christmas Traditions change through the years. A long time ago I often heard of offices and churches and social groups drawing each other’s names out of a hat and thus becoming the Secret Santa for the unsuspecting person whose name they had drawn. The fun was in buying a Christmas gift for someone who you knew on a casual basis. Usually, there seemed to be a dollar limit involved and a Christmas Party where the participants would gather together to exchange gifts and to discover who their Secret Santa was. Then entailed much laughter and rejoicing as each person unwrapped their gift and saw either a gag gift or a necktie with Santa and his elves…or an Ugly Christmas Sweater…

There is a bit more of all of us seeking our Secret Santa. For every 100 elderly in the United States…1 has died of our Pandemic. Recent studies have illustrated that there is a plague of mental illness among our young. School Shootings have become common…in the Land of the Free…and the Home of the Brave… In our Crusade for ‘Protecting my Rights’, we have discovered that our rights can result in terrible Wrongs…for our neighbor.

Sound Bites are…our literature of choice in 2021… Slogans…are our Poems. Truth is what pacifies our personal belief system…

We search for the Christ Child born in Bethlehem… We search for the Baby that was lain in a manger…because there was no room for him in the inn… We search for Peace among the noise of materialism and idols and icons…

Mame had it right when she sang…’We need a little Christmas…right this very minute…’