Yes, yes, yes, I will write more about yearly meeting...I know you're all clinging to that faint hope with great anxiety.
But first....just last night, as I was having a little goodbye dinner with Jeff (who is up in the air right now, so say a little prayer, please) I was thinking how well this plain thing has been working out, even if I still struggle with parts of it. There used to be all this stuff I wanted, and suddenly I realized that I wasn't being heroic anymore in not buying it...I just didn't think about it! I was cured of wanting stuff! Hooray.
And then, oh, then...
Must. Consume...
and, then...
Must....buy...
Since I know that most of you read this blog hoping against hope I will someday drop Amanda-Gift-Giving-Hints, and since I know that since it's already August, many of you are frantically trying to finish your Christmas shopping, well, now you know.
:)
Of The Best Stuff, but Cracked
16 comments:
Post the address of the Cambrige meeting... a Christmas present may arrive for you c/o there ... oh... sometime before Christmas
You've been good.
Yours truly
Santa Claus
PS
A word about the North Pole these days... you may be wondering why I say, let me send this care of your home meeting... well, nobody has chimneys anymore... frankly this makes things really hard come December... especially since the elves are usually giving me a hard time all year, my nerves are frayed and well frayed by December 1st, Ms. Claus is spending more time at her Women's Group meeting these days, and is a Buddhist to boot... no more her singing the Jolly Holly Christmas while making mince pies, noOOoo ... now it's Nam Yo Ho Renge Keo and a TV dinner... so, well... sending you an early Chirstmas gift would bring a smile to this old face and may throw a scare into these trade union talking elves... excuse me... little folks ( part of the new contract... no more calling them elves... ) One of the gifts is not out until September ( and you'd think one lousy elf could ... excuse me, LITTLE person could whip up one little knock off DVD, but noooOOOOooo.... ) well, anyway, let the LITTLE workers worry about MAIL ORDER!!!!!!!!!! It would make me a happy Saint. And... I hope, believing in Santa Claus will make the days shorter until a certain plain Quaker gets back from England with surprises and stories to tell...
PS What am I thinking... Cambridge meeting is on the list... you know... the famous list... Christmas is on the way...
Santa
Oh dear! I was actually just poking fun at myself and the long arm of consumerism! There's no need to surprise and confuddle the poor meeting with non-sequitur muppet products! Thanks, though.
And Mrs. Claus is a Buddhist? I would have chalked her up to the yoga contingient!
:)
Ho ho ho! it is on the way! Maybe it will help spread Christmas joy in Cambridge!
Chirstmas joy
Santa
Yoga... yes... well... she tries... but a thousand years of Chrismas pud... well, now that she is on a macr-biotic diet... perhaps in a few... hundred years... she does try, the dearie... Don't forget to send her Christmas greetings when you send your wish list to the North Pole, she does love that!
Happy Christmas
S.C.
Oh, I remember Fraggle Rock. I loved it on TV. I don't have a DVD player, so a DVD from Santa would not help me in this. OTOH, I do have lots of old BETA VCR tapes and LPs I cn't seem to bear to part with (my age is being revealed). This kind of stuff just piles up and years later, you wonder why you ever wanted it. You are right, Amanda, such desires are a "lust". Another term might be covetesness (sp?). Stick with Geo. Fox, who "at a time called Christmas" sought the poor and gave them alms. That likely feels better and helps more than getting something from Santa. You, do however, seem to have the ear of the "jolly old elf". Have I really been THAT bad the last several decades for him to ingnore me so completely?
Hey anon...actually, I don't have a DVD player either, which makes the desire to aquire (heh. Cheesy rhyme.) even sillier. However, I have lots of friends that do. I like taking advantage of other people's consumerism! (Just kidding, guys. We're still on for movie night, right?)
This isn't the place or season to start this convo, though I do intend to have it later in the year. As kids, were never encouraged to believe in Santa Claus, though we did have lots of little magical traditions. A bunch of online friends and I were having the hypothetical "Will our hypothetical kids believe in Santa" conversation a while ago. There were some fabulous points made about all the social and philosophical reasons the american Santa Claus is a harmful myth. One lady summed it up perfectly:
I think Santa is a god of capitalism and I loathe the whole idea.
I realize this is a bit harsh, so don't kill me. You all are perfectly free to believe and teach your children to believe as you like.
But another take on Santa...is the social and class problems that can arise around the holidays. I have a friend who grew up pretty poor and none of the kids in her neighborhood believed in Santa. She says the moms all made it clear to them that it was just a fun make-believe thing. In her case, it was also complicated by race (she grew up in LA and lived in a poor, Black neighborhood, but went to a very wealthy, mostly white school). She said her mom didn't want the kids to think Santa loved white children more than Black ones.
I figure I'll not pull any huge charade about Santa, but tell my kids (like my friend's mom) that it's a fun makebelieve game and just have "Santa" fill stockings. No ponies with bows around their necks under the tree...
More recently, I have this experience, which would have knocked me right off the fence, if I'd been at all conflicted about the matter:
I had the most awkward moment when I was a nanny to a precocious eight year old girl. She tended to ask me a lot of questions about God and religion and things, 8 being an age where I've noticed kids get into that sort of thing. Out of respect for her mother, I was very careful not to mess with these issues, so when she brought them up, rather than preaching to her, I just asked her questions about what she believed. One day, we were walking home from school, and she came out with:
"You know, I just don't know if there is a God or not. I mean, you can't prove it. So I guess it doesn't really matter. So I don't know if I believe in God. But you know what I do believe in?"
Me: "Um, no, what?"
Kid: "Santa. Because you can prove that Santa exists, even though you can't prove that God exisits. Because...[big convoluted pseudological reasoning, including the phrase "plus, my mom wouldn't lie."] Right? Isn't that right, Amanda? Don't you think so? Huh? I mean, I'm right, right?!"
I was horrified, and mumbled something vaugely "Yes, Virginia" and then suggested we get ice cream. Most. Awkward. Nanny. Moment. Augh. I shudder remembering it.
Gee Anon... How do I know if you were good or not? I can't look you up on the list... look, I do pretty good work, racing around the planet in a single night, but I am not bleeding physic, am I?
For all you know... I bring you what you ask for, without you knowing it...
As to Amanda having Santa's ear... it is simply the wonderful sense of belief that young folks have... and I would not be surprised if she thanked Santa with a gift or two to the poor, would not be unlike her, according to the famous list...
I agree, folks should not tell their kids lies... You never met Santa Claus, Anon?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Merry Christmas, to all, everyday
Santa
By the way Anon... you can go to my web site and click on the naughty or nice o'meter, just click on my name.... or use this link...
http://www.claus.com
Your friend,
Santa
Ough! Erich92guillermo!!! Nothing for YOU under the tree! Sawdust and coal in your stocking!!!
Santa
Grrrrrrrrr....
Dear Amanda:
If you feel a tad uncomfortable about getting an anonymous gift, a word about Santa...
He's funny about gifts... he hates getting gifts on his birthday but gets silly about giving gifts to others on their birthday... and does the anonymous giving thing a lot... sits around smiling about it for days... so don't feel singled out... he's just kind 'a nuts about giving and only does it once a year... or so.
Affectionately
Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
I have only one comment to add to this - IF you find an anon. gift at the meeting - you better share it with me!
And while we did not encourage you to belive in Santa - we did tell you about St Nick - his predecessor...
Now I have to go wake a bunch of sleepy heads to tell them to take puppies out and then try to attack the day while nursing a whack of a whiplash/sinus/allergy headache! Santa you can send me some sinus/tylenol and that will please me very well! :-)))
Oh my... Mum2twelve:
YOU! Have been SO good, as you know... and how can Santa ( or St. Nick... ) ignore such a modest little gift request...? I actually don't encourage the elves... I mean LITTLE WORKERS... (oye!) to whip up any drugs here on the North Pole... one of those things you don't want elv... little workers to be up to... but DO post the name and address of your church on your blog, as an experiment in Christmas Existentialism... and I am sure a little packet of none elf... (Little Worker) produced sinus/Tylenol might show up in some bright paper... : ) As, Rudolph says, I tend to respond to a gift a year, so, frankly, if I were you, I'd have wished for a swimming pool or a trip to Hawaii... though those kind of requests usually have to be vetted by Ms. Claus... who was an accountant before we got married... so ... well... with billions of kids around the world and all... no, actually Tylenol is a good request...
I'm sure the small gift will make the rounds of family and friends... knowing that you raise the kids right... ah... properly. ;-)
The "myth" of Santa, just reminds all that when a friend lifts (gifts?) you over the little bumps in life... or the big ones... we must remember that God sends friends to make our way a little easier... asking for a small bit of help of a friend is really putting yourself in God's hands...
Merry Christmas to all...
Santa
PS Ms. Claus says... if you don't want to chant Nam Yo Ho... have a nice cup of tea and chant HO HO HO, at least once a year, if not every day.
Oh my... Mum2twelve:
YOU! Have been SO good, as you know... and how can Santa ( or St. Nick... ) ignore such a modest little gift request...? I actually don't encourage the elves... I mean LITTLE WORKERS... (oye!) to whip up any drugs here on the North Pole... one of those things you don't want elv... little workers to be up to... but DO post the name and address of your church on your blog, as an experiment in Christmas Existentialism... and I am sure a little packet of none elf... (Little Worker) produced sinus/Tylenol might show up in some bright paper... : ) As, Rudolph says, I tend to respond to a gift a year, so, frankly, if I were you, I'd have wished for a swimming pool or a trip to Hawaii... though those kind of requests usually have to be vetted by Ms. Claus... who was an accountant before we got married... so ... well... with billions of kids around the world and all... no, actually Tylenol is a good request...
I'm sure the small gift will make the rounds of family and friends... knowing that you raise the kids right... ah... properly. ;-)
The "myth" of Santa, just reminds all that when a friend lifts (gifts?) you over the little bumps in life... or the big ones... we must remember that God sends friends to make our way a little easier... asking for a small bit of help of a friend is really putting yourself in God's hands...
Merry Christmas to all...
Santa
PS Ms. Claus says... if you don't want to chant Nam Yo Ho... have a nice cup of tea and chant HO HO HO, at least once a year, if not every day.
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