The Christmas House… Reloaded

The “CHRISTMAS HOUSE” is an incredible experience. Nestled on a dark street in a quiet little town called Washingtonville, NY, it is Christmas on steroids. And that’s just the outside of the house… Every room inside is loaded to the gills with Christmas doodads and whatzits. Classic stuff too; trains, little villages, a hall of thematic trees like the Irish Tree, the Sports Tree, the Penguin Tree, and… the Creepy Singing Tree Which Has Lips and Big Eyes (my personal favorite. I’m not going to explain it to you. Just go! You’ll find it downstairs and to the right. Or should I say, it will find you!)

Each year, before heading home from NY, my wife, myself, and a bunch of the family make a pilgrimage to this mecca of music and lights. It’s open from December 20 to the 30th, from 7pm to 9pm.

The CHRISTMAS HOUSE: It’s mind-boggling, it’s sensory overload! The Palmer family will greet you, dressed all in North Pole attire. And donations are gratefully accepted to help offset the electric bill, which I would guess is somewhere around $139,082 a day!

PS – the CHRISTMAS HOUSE happens to be a beautiful family tradition for many in the area and beyond, dedicated to the memory of Christopher Palmer, who LOVED Christmas like crazy, as you’ll see. Check out more info here.

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Open Up and Say AWE – from the CS&T column "Catholic Currents"

One of my favorite words is… sehnsucht. I realize you probably weren’t expecting that one, and you may have trouble even figuring out how to pronounce it. My apologies. Sehnsucht is a German word that captures (and at the same time can not actually capture) that mysterious longing in the human heart for Something More. In a sense, it’s a uniquely human word. It describes the human condition. It names us and claims us as the special ones in the galaxy; the ones whose “hearts are restless until they rest in”… well, let’s get to that answer in a moment.

All of us at some point or another have experienced sehnsucht. Many of us feel it intensely at this time of year. It glimmers in the anticipation of Christmas and it can also elude us as Christmas slips away again. It is the proverbial wind in the hand, moving past us and through us but never remaining too long within us. Sehnsucht is like feeling nostalgia for something you actually never had in the first place, but you believe is still out there waiting for you “just around the river bend.”

C.S. Lewis was captivated by the concept of sehnsucht. In The Pilgrim’s Regress he provided examples of things that can wrap an image around it, like a suit of clothes around the Invisible Man: “…the smell of a bonfire, the sound of wild ducks flying overhead, the title of The Well at the World’s End, the opening lines of “Kubla Khan”, the morning cobwebs in late summer, or the noise of falling waves.”

Music is one of the brightest wrappings to give form to our elusive yearning for meaning in life, and Christmas music doubly so. Chanting choirs, children’s voices, songs we’ve heard for generations, and some new ones that have a spark of longing in them. Even the “Grinchyest” of hearts has a favorite tune.

Although I’ve heard Gloria Estefan’s song “Christmas Through Your Eyes” in seasons past, this year it really struck me. I think it’s the presence of our little boy, who’s just over a year old now. We’re looking backwards to our youth and forward through his! Gloria too is captured by the innocence of young eyes and the pure wonder reflected in them. Like an expert spy, the power of her music has slipped past the guards of doubt and cynicism and touched the very core of who we are, all of us, deep down; Children of God.

Till I had you I didn’t know
That I was missing out
Had to grow up and see the world
Through different shades of doubt
Give me one more chance to dream again
One more chance to feel again
Through your young heart
If only for one day let me try
I wanna see Christmas through your eyes

It’s been said that boredom is a relatively new term. The French coined the word ennui to describe that listlessness we see around us, the great shuffling of modern feet through a world that’s being stripped of its inherent transcendence. We’re like the character in the film Joe versus the Volcano, trudging off to work, scraping our shoe against the sidewalk crying out “I’m losing my sole.” But in the wisdom of God, and through the fruitfulness He endowed us with, we have the grace to “feel again through your young heart.”

With everything human, however, there must be a choice. We must decide in this walk of life to look up, to resist the gravitational pull of skepticism and mistrust. We must acknowledge the restlessness too, and let the hole in the center of our hearts remain open. Not easy work by any means, especially in this season when we are bombarded with the temptation to cram material, finite things into that hole in the center of our chests. But our hearts will be restless until they rest in God, so Augustine reminds us.

I see the rain, you see the rainbow hiding in the clouds
Never afraid to let your love show
Won’t you show me how
Wanna learn how to believe again
Find the innocence in me again
Through your young heart

I remember a little shard of poetry that says “Two men looked out through prison bars. One saw mud, the other stars.” So where are we in all of this? Are we amazed or dazed? Have we got the wonder, I wonder? As the assault on family, faith, and fertility rages on in our culture, perhaps we’d all do well to heed those street signs that say “Watch Children.” We need to see again, and not just Christmas, but all things through their eyes. For to just such as these is given the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you believe this? Did you know that your heart is the place He wishes to dwell? Let’s make our hearts that manger this year. Let’s acknowledge the longing in us by naming Jesus in one of His ancient titles: Desire of the Everlasting Hills. Let’s make room within for the Child in all of us.

Help me find a way, help me try
I wanna see Christmas through your eyes

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Night Vision

(In the spirit of “going green” this Christmas, parts of this reflection have been constructed from recycled material)

What a bizarre time this is; the Christmas season. Never is there a period of such polar opposites as there are at this time of year.

All around us we are bombarded with the imperative to consume, collect, grab, and grasp. There are lines of impatient, honking, beeping, cranky souls snaking through the shops and malls all around us. Incredible pressure is laid on people to find this or that gift for this or that niece or nephew, cousin or coworker. It can bring out the absolute worst in people (and let me add, the best).

THE WORST: I watched a woman in her 50s sitting in her car with her elderly mother curse out a car behind her for honking at her… one honk. And it was one of those friendly little honks too. Grandma just kinda slid deeper into her seat, clutching her purse.

When Sunday comes, we roll off to Church and hear just the opposite. “It is better to give than to receive” – “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” – “wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.”

The radio plays as we whiz through the thousands of cars in the parking lot, like vultures looking for an open space… “Away in a manger, no crib for his bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.” We drive home flustered, past little glowing, plastic nativity scenes of a man and a woman kneeling in the snow, gazing down at a little plastic Child. A whole plastic, glowing mob of souls gathers round the Babe; kings and shepherds, the rich and the poor (and occasionally a big plastic Snowman or the Grinch, which is a whole other story).

What do we make of all this?

I was out shopping last year, trying to stay focused, trying to recall what we are moving towards in these next couple of days. Standing in a massive line at Borders, with Mr. Cranky Pants on his cell phone behind me, a youth in angst blurted “Merry (expletive) Christmas” to my left, as only a youth in angst can do. I prayed for a great awakening. I prayed the whole glitzy, glamourous scene would vanish, roll back like a stage curtain, and we would all find ourselves kneeling in that cold cave in that backwater town of Bethlehem. Unplugged, unknown, and alone… looking down at a very poor couple who had to find a place to rest their newborn baby… and the only “space” they could find was a feeding trough for animals in a stable. Scandalous.

That would make the news, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t that stop us in our tracks? Hmmm, I don’t think so. You learn when you go out into the wild, for a campfire, or a night of stargazing, that bright light can take away your night vision. Perhaps we’d do better to unplug ourselves for a little awhile in this season of lights, and maybe we’d get our vision back.

We’re told to be good consumers, to boost this failing economy. But this consumption of things will no more help our country than it will satisfy our souls. Someone else has come with a better plan for our salvation. He lays in a manger (the word means “to eat”) and he is born in Bethlehem, which means literally “house of bread.” And he looks at us all, racing about stuffing our stockings and stuffing our trunks with things. And he says, “Take and eat, take and drink; this is my Body, given up for you.”

We are invited to consume, to eat and by eating become one with the Love that has become our Food. This is the Love that truly satisfies! This is the Feast of Christmas!

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

To Consume or Be Consumed, That is the Question!

What a bizarre time this is; the Christmas season.Never is there a period of such polar opposites as there are at this time of year.

All around us we are bombarded with the imperative to consume, collect, gobble, and grasp. There are lines of impatient, honking, beeping, cranky souls snaking through the shops and malls all around us. Incredible pressure is laid on people to find this or that gift for this or that niece or nephew, cousin or coworker. It can bring out the absolute worst in people. I watched a woman in her 50s sitting in her car with her elderly mother curse out a car behind her for honking at her… one honk. And it was one of those friendly little honks too. Grandma just kinda slid deeper into her seat, clutching her purse.Then comes Sunday, and we roll off to Church and hear just the opposite. “It is better to give than to receive” – “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” – “wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.”

The radio plays as we whiz through the thousands of cars in the parking lot, like vultures looking for an open space… “Away in a manger, no crib for his bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.”We drive home flustered, past little glowing, plastic nativity scenes of a man and a woman kneeling in the snow, gazing down at a little plastic Child. A whole plastic, glowing mob of souls gathers round the Babe; kings and shepherds, the rich and the poor (and occasionally a big plastic Snowman or the Grinch, which is a whole other story).

What do we make of all this? What is this all about?

Yesterday I was out shopping and trying to stay focused, trying to recall what we are moving towards in these next couple of days. Standing in a massive snake of a line at Borders, with Mr. Cranky Pants on his cell phone behind me, a youth in angst blurting “Merry (expletive) Christmas” to my left, as only a youth in angst can do, I prayed for a great awakening.I prayed it would all vanish and we could all find ourselves kneeling in that cold cave in that backwater town of Bethlehem. Unplugged, unknown, and alone…. looking down at a very poor couple who had to find a place to rest their newborn baby… and the only “space” they could find was a feeding trough for animals in a stable.Scandalous. That would make the news, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t that stop us in our tracks?

We’re told to be good consumers, to boost this failing economy. But this consumption of things will no more help our country than it will satisfy our souls. Someone else has come with a better plan for our salvation. He lays in a manger (the word means “to eat”) and he is born in Bethlehem, which means literally “house of bread.”And he looks at us all, racing about stuffing our stockings and stuffing our trunks with things. And he says, “Take and eat, take and drink; this is my Body, given up for you.”

We are invited to consume, to eat and by eating become one with the Love that has become our Food.This is the Love that truly satisfies! This is the Feast of Christmas!

______________________________________

Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Flashback – The Nativity Story: A Review

I know, another flashback episode…. sorry gang!
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From a private screening of the New Line Cinema movie “The Nativity Story.”

The film chronicles that year in the life of Mary and Joseph that forever altered the course of human history. It’s the Christmas story, told beautifully in rich, earthen tones. The journey takes us from a windy garden annunciation of Gabriel to the Holy Birth soaked in starlight, ending with the flight of Mary and Joseph with the Child into Egypt.

First Impressions:
For me, the real treasures of this film lie in its attention to detail; the humble village of Nazareth is recreated with such evident devotion that this alone makes the film a joy to watch. We are invited to enter into the daily life of Mary, Joseph and their kin. We move with their schedules, we perform their everyday rituals, and it slows us down. These scenes are so rich with authenticity! Mary’s coarse cloak, handwoven and weathered, brushing past the wheat; Joseph at his wood-working table, layered with sawdust… each speaks to us of the Divine descent into our time, our work, and our sweat; they pull back the glitter and the lights and show us again the gritty reality of the Incarnation, and the time and place in which God ordained that He would come. The olive press and the crushing of grapes for wine, so deeply foreboding of what lies ahead for Jesus; the gleaning of the grain in the fields hints at a “gift of finest wheat” that will soon come to fill us. The tanning of animal hides, the stirring of goat’s milk, the planting of seeds and the tilling of soil. All seemed drenched with light and pregnant with meaning.

Another charm of this film is in the intimate interactions of Mary and Joseph. A favorite scene for me was of Mary washing the travel-worn feet of a sleeping Joseph by a rocky stream. Again, a foreshadowing of what their Son will do for His Apostles. So we see in the parents what will come to be in the Child.

Oscar Isaac was so refreshing in his portrayal of Joseph, the humble blue collar saint. He gave him a weight, a maturity, and a chivalry that is so desparately needed today. Well acted with convincing emotion, Joseph too makes the movie a must see.

There are well placed pieces of humor, of the most innocent kind. The music is stirring, with subtle hints at the classic Christmas hymns and melodies we all know so well. They are woven almost seemlessly into the score and we smiled when we caught them. The cave that served as the birthplace of the God made Flesh was an open invitation to prayer, and that was almost tangible as we sat in the theater.

The Nativity Story has its limitations, as all our works of art do. The opening scenes were a little too Peter Jackson-esque. Joachim and Ann seemed a little cranky most of the time. And Mary was overly distant, almost stoic at times. But who could ever come close to conveying the emotion and the love of the Immaculate Virgin anyway?

Overall, I found myself thanking God for the gift of this movie. The timing is just right, in more ways than one.

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For videos of the making of the film click here!

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org

Flashback Episode: The ICLAs are Coming! The ICLAs are coming!

(Originally posted in December 2006.)

Well friends, Christmas fever has once again gripped the nation, and it’s hotter than a string of big bulbed Christmas lights from the 70’s! I think you’ll agree with me in noting that THIS Christmas is going to be bigger, bolder, and brassier than ever! Why? Because of INFLATABLE CHRISTMAS LAWN ART!! (The aforementioned oddities will hitherto be referred to as ICLA’s)

Now I don’t know if the ICLA’s have invaded neighborhoods west of the Mississippi yet, or even across the sea (any reports?) but let me tell YOU…. they are crawling all over the mid-eastern seaboard. Maybe they came from Sweden? IKEA? ICLA? Whatever the case may be, these massive Christmas mutants are taking over! Picture Godzilla with a wreath around his neck! Big, puffy pieces of plastic in yuletide shapes. We’ve got Santas, Frostys, Elves, and Reindeer…. even the Grinch gets a spot on the lawn!

Sure, they seem kinda cute, but don’t be fooled America! Remember the story of the Trojan Horse! Some of these Christmas creatures are bigger than the houses they are “decorating.” I’m not kidding. I saw one peeking into the third story of a south Philly rowhome, and he looked HUNGRY.

Thankfully ICLA’s can easily be unplugged, or tackled by a 9 year old (which is hilarious to watch). But imagine if these things were intelligent! Think about it, America, for two seconds!

Now this is just my conspiracy theory; it’s one among thousands, granted. But I believe the ICLA’s are actually filled with a mind-altering gas that has been created by none other than the BIGGIEMAN! (click for previous post on America’s most fiendish foe!)

That’s right! Unbeknownst to the Jones’, their “front yard Frosty” is really puffed up with a deadly toxin that seeps out into the neighborhood, hypnotizing us all into thinking that BIGGER is always better. What happens next? Open your eyes America! Do you remember these gargantuan Grinchs five years ago? Were there any super-sized Santas on your street even four years ago? And look at us now. I feel like a hobbit sometimes just walking to the deli. And some of these ICLA’s, especially the reindeer, their eyes just seem to follow you! IT’S DOWNRIGHT CREEPY!

Here’s My Battle Plan…

Let’s form a resistance movement! We’ll call ourselves the POPCIOWAMWOODs! (which of course stands for People Only Putting Candles In Our Windows And Maybe Wreaths On Our Doors).

We’ll show that BIGGIEMAN! Bigger is sometimes better, but smaller and simpler is best. After all, that’s how He came into the world, isn’t it?

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Inspiration for the New Evangelization
http://www.missionmoment.org