cats

I just figured out that there are three cats living in my basement stairway. As I noisily took out this morning’s recycling two of them ran out of the stairwell and took off over the chain link fence. Down two or three yards they ran. As I looked over the stairwell, I didn’t imagine I’d see anything since I’d obviously just frightened the residents, but one cat remained, legs tucked under against the cold. This shouldn’t surprise me since I’ve seen cats in my back yard several times, these same cats I’m pretty sure. And I’ve heard cat fights nearby. But I am saddened to think of these cute cats living outside in this terrible cold. We’ve been having pretty bad weather so far – it’s been cold and we did have that enormous 22-inch snowstorm. That couldn’t have been comfortable for them. I am inclined to put out food for them, but I know what that would mean so I’m hesitating. One is a Siamese, one tabby-stripped, and one mostly black with some white. They clearly live here, I’ve seen them in the back yard. What to do, what to do. I feel the generous spirit of the new year. But I fear I will soon be caring for a gaggle of cats. Hmmmm.

SQ 6

Noel
Born is the king of Israel
Really? The king of Israel? This seems an attempt at deep co-opting of one religion by another. Clearly – clearly – by the time this carol was written it was clear that this guy Jesus was not the king of Israel. Not even close. In fact, he was sort of the opposite of the king of Israel – Israel being the land of the Jews. Israel had long since been separated from the religion that Jesus followers founded. Yes, it’s true that Christians had been wandering all around this portion of the globe for many years, doing all manner of distasteful things. But to make this guy king of a land and religious people that do not share the path his followers have taken seems akin to the Mormons converting the dead. They do, you know.

SQ5

I’ll be home for Christmas

Presents on the tree

On the tree? This line has always confused me. My limited experience with xmas gift giving has been with presents under the tree. I’m not even sure how one would put presents on the tree. Attach them to branches with alligator clips? Hang them with those easily bendable ornament hooks? Toss them lightly over branches as we do with tinsel? (This last one would work only with fabric gifts, unwrapped at that.) I could swear that sometimes I hear people render this line as “presents ‘neath the tree,” or “presents ‘round the tree,” but I’m not sure I’m recalling that properly. It could be simply my yearning for reason. I really have no answer for the question of what this line means. If anyone might be reading this blog and has a thought, please feel free to share it.

SQ 4

Deck the Halls
Don we now our gay apparel
Well I don’t think it’s so odd, but many of my gay friends are completely enamored of this line. I suppose the image of getting into all that holiday attire – velveteen pants, wide suspenders with enormous buttons, floppy ties, tailcoats and top hats – can seem intriguingly ridiculous. It certainly does make a man look a dandy. And those women, in their long petticoated dresses, bonnets tied on securely. Now what am I thinking of? It’s those Norman Rockwell-ish illustrations that always accompany this song. So I suppose our gay apparel could be a different conception now. Chaps without jeans, leather military hats, mirror aviator glasses for the men. Heavy flannel shirts, wide belts, ill-fitting jeans and motorcycle boots for the women. But why must it be stereotypically thus? What qualifies as gay apparel? What century’s definition of gay are we applying here? It could be merry apparel, brightly colored apparel, homosexual apparel (but only men, because women long ago claimed a separate label: lesbian. I’ve always thought saying gays and lesbians was like saying people and women…but no one consulted me). And what, exactly, is homosexual apparel, anyway? Any apparel a homosexual is wearing? A specific sort of apparel? Is there a gay uniform? Maybe it’s the “donning” that seems so strange.

SQ 3

O Holy Night
The soul felt its worth

Exactly what is a soul worth? And which soul is this that they’re talking about here. This Jesus guy has to appear first and then “the soul felt its worth.” So you don’t feel your soul or its worth until the savior comes? How does this work? Is it the soul of the entire world? I thought inanimate objects didn’t have souls. It seems peculiar to imply that no souls felt worthy until this guy comes since people had been populating the planet for quite some time before he arrived. So we walked around feeling worthless? Why engage in anything then? Like inventing an alphabet, or figuring out how to farm, or looking after your children…or your dead? Seems like we’d been doing soul enhancing activities for some time already. Or had we…?

seasonal queries

Onward, Christian Soldiers

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war

Well if ever there was a line to make the rest of us non-christians fear – this be it. Here it is buried in song, the real purpose and objective of the Jesus-worshippers. It’s a war: a war to move the rest of us to belief. They’ll hope for a revelatory moment – Paul (nee Saul) on the road to Damascus – but they’ll make battle if necessary. This ain’t no idle threat, neither. Think of the hundreds of years of crusades we’ve endured while Christians saw it as their mission to bring and defend the cross. Missionaries traveling into the deepest, most remote, parts of civilization to bring the “good news” to savages who hadn’t heard yet, converting people at any price. Yes, indeed, it’s a war. And a war is as good a bit of material for a holiday song as anything. It’s the tiny fish bone buried in the joyousness of the season, it’s the buried treasure of Christianity, it’s the id of Christmas. “Wahooo, we get to fight.”

seasonal queries

I'm back! The blog continues...

Every holiday song seems to contain a song of questionable seasonal-ness. Herewith a sampling to take us up to the dreaded day:

Winter Wonderland

To face, unafraid, the plans that we’ve made

At first it seems ridiculous to come across such a line in a song of holiday cheer. Why would we be talking about plans of such immensity that they might frighten us here in this song about how lovely it is to be walking in the snow. Might we be, on our wintery perambulations, contemplating the buildup in Afghanistan? Why, when bundled cozily for a winter stroll with a partner, would we be thinking about the quarterly taxes due on the business we’ve just launched? The line seems decidedly out of place.

The carol sings about having a snowman perform your nuptials. Are these the plans to which it refers? Plans to have Frosty “do the job when he’s in town”? Maybe we’re worried that these plans might cause consternation among the guests, render our marriage illegal, or simply make us look fools. It could be the boldest step anyone’s ever taken with a marriage, the wedding planner was at first shocked but came around as we discussed the possibilities for snow globe guest favors.

On further contemplation we might see it is a serious line dropped without warning into a frivolous song. A poignant reflection of our understanding that no matter how lightly we approach the lifelong commitment marriage is meant to be, it can still unearth feelings of discomfort and unease. Lightheartedness is trumped by wedding anxiety.