Thursday – Christmas Eve
My father, who died seven years ago at 90, loved Christmas. Each year he wrote a Christmas poem, in his later years often taking on the persona of Mrs. Santa Claus, whom he named Aurora Borealis. A committed environmentalist, feminist, pacifist, birdwatcher, and literature lover, Aurora uses each year’s Christmas letter to envision a better world.
The activist organization Greenpeace was one of my father’s favorite causes so he entitled the collection Merry Green Peace.
Dear Friends
You ask what I do here
the rest of the year
while Nick and the boys
are making the toys
and the snow is so deep
that we’re holed up like seals
Well frankly I
barely have time to eat breakfast
since I’m working for Greenpeace
and helping the whales
and then there are polar-
bear poachers and traps
dams and developers
rights of the Lapps
not to mention the plight of the caribou!
When Blitzen and I
ride out on our jobs
we never know whether
we’ll be dive-bombing wolf-hunters
or air-lifting cubs
or giving a ride to a lost Eskimo
But it’s a good life
with so much to do
and living with Nick
in the midst of a zoo
as big as the world
makes me feel
absolutely
on top of the world
So I wish you the same
And
Support the cause!
Aurora Borealis
(Ms. Santa Claus)
My father became a committed pacifist and supporter of the War Resisters League after serving as a translator in World War II. He would allow my brothers and me to have even toy guns when we were growing up. Here’s his alternative, with a shout-out to peace activist and sublime short story writer Grace Paley:
Dear Friends
Here's a wish
For the end of the year
And a note abut how
Things have changed around here
Since the news from the south
When we finally got
The message about
The War Toys Boycott
It seems that the folks are
Fed up with grenades
All the Joes and Rambos
And the monster brigades
So we had a long serious
Talk with the boys
And designed a new line
of ANTI-war toys...
Starting of course
With a big Gandhi Doll
With a real spinning wheel
And a green parasol
And following up with
A Greenpeace Saint Nick
Who zaps the whale pirates
With his Magic Peace Stick
And turns them to birdwatchers
A Mother Theresa
A Hopi sun temple
On top of a Mesa
A Russian-American
Outer-space station
A Hiroshima Doll
With a Peace Celebration
And thousands of Japanese
Paper cranes
A fabulous Phoenix
Who shines when it rains
And our New Special Line
Called the Peaceable Zoo
With Bambi and Faline
And Winnie the Pooh
And a Horton-and-Egg
And a Ratty that rows
And a Rambling Rudolph
Who glows as he goes
And a whale you can ride
And a Chinese dragon
And a flying E.T.
That looks like Carl Sagan
Well or course there's lots more
But I'll finish this up
With a wish for next year
That our PLO Pup
Will be playing in peace
With our Israeli Cat
That our Peace Trading Cards
Will be selling and that
When your kids with their lasers
Are pains in the necks
You'll swap them a Tutu
For a Malcolm X
A Jones for a Muste
A Parks for a King
Or give them our Powerful
Grace Paley Ring
So here's to World Friendship
And here's to you all
May you have all year long
A (non-violent) ball
And here's to the Cats
With the Peaceful Paws
Yours truly
Aurora
(Ms. Santa Claus)
And here’s one more, reflecting the fact that books have always predominated at our Christmases:
Dear Friends
I wish I had time
To tell you of how
I'm riding with Greenpeace
And working for NOW
With our Reindeer Warriors
In the arctic nights
How we're fighting for whales
And for women's rights
But I'll tell you instead
Of our new reading kick...
When the factory work
Gets too hairy for Nick
And he gets really tired
From making the toys
He comes to the castle
With Blitzen and the boys
And we sit by the fire
As the blizzard blows
Reading aloud
With the fawns and the does
We eat cookies and hay
As we read to ourselves
Our favorite books
From the library shelves
Here are the things
We especially like
In Animal Farm
When the animals strike
When Mowgli lets in the jungle
And Tigger finds Winnie the Pooh
When Sophie the Seal gains her freedom
And Dolittle opens his zoo
When Ferdinand stages his sit-down
And the Princess beds down with the Frog
And Faline is courted by Bambi
And Bard puts an arrow through Smaug
When the Snark turns into a Boojum
And Toad is cured of his cars
When the Whos get rescued by Horton
And The Little Prince travels to stars...
We're having a ball
And we wish you the same
May the Animals win
In the Whole Earth Game
And may all of you have
A big book-reading year
Best wishes
Aurora
and the Rainbow Reindeer