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