Holidays in Glenoak
* * *
Thanksgiving came, Christmas following soon afterward. The Camdens celebrated both with the vigor typical for American families, Thanksgiving with a lavish meal and speeches around the table before it was eaten and an invitation to Eric's sister, her husband Hank and their baby to join them, which they did. This meant that no alcohol was served at Thanksgiving, because Eric's sister was a recovering alcoholic and her husband was Jewish, and since Annie had no idea if alcohol was kosher or not, she decided against serving it. This proved to be a good idea when more guests appeared in the form of Rabbi and Mrs. Glass, who took the opportunity to sit and talk about Judaica with Hank, who just sat and stared blankly at the both of them as they did.
For Simon, this in turn brought back memories of Morris, who wasn't there but who might have himself been Jewish, and who no doubt would have benefited greatly from Rabbi Glass' explanation of how, particularly during the pressure of weddings, he sometimes forgot the distinction between the Hebrew 2nd person masculine and feminine pronouns. Unfortunately for the Rabbi, his careful rereading of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being a Rabbi" always failed to produce an answer to this problem, and he was afraid to look in a regular Hebrew grammar for help, since those involved the use of English words with which he was unfamiliar, like "adjective" and "preposition".
Across the street, the Shaws too gathered in celebration. They respected the Puritans, the Shaws did, for both sticking to their rigid religious beliefs and for the way they had brought the message of Christ to the heathen of the New World, sweeping away unsavory pagan practices like respect for nature. As was traditional, they ate a turkey that Edward or one of the boys had killed, prepared to perfection with all the trimmings by Rebecca and the girls. It was a good holiday, enjoyed by all of them, the prayers at the table being led in long and great detail by Edward himself.
"We thank thee, Lord, for this blessing and this bounty, and for the sacrifice of your only begotten son, who died that we might be forgiven of our sins and enjoy the gift of eternal life at your side in the kingdom of heaven ...."
#
Christmas too was celebrated. The birthday of Christ, of course, was not a thing to be forgotten, and not a thing that could be forgotten as stores and television began their annual assault on the public with the eternal message of have, have, have, and buy, buy, buy. The Jews and Muslims of Glenoak faded into the background as this occurred, wondering as they did how their Christian friends could possibly have allowed one of their two most sacred holidays to be so co-opted, even as many Christians and their secular neighbors bemoaned this as well and settled for time with their loved ones instead.
At the Glenoak Community Church there was the annual celebration, and on Christmas Eve Eric gave a service which as always was well attended. Even the Shaws appeared, sitting quietly and in a group in one of the pews near the back, dressed in their finest, mixing with the congregation and looking disapprovingly at the Christmas tree in the lobby of the church.
"You know what the origin of that is, don't you?" Edward asked Eric later as they mingled, cups of egg-nogg in their hands.
Eric shrugged. "I think the tree was originally pagan," he answered.
Edward nodded. "That's right. So why do you have it here?"
Eric looked at his friend. Edward's face was serious, and there was something about his tone that just didn't feel right to Eric. He felt his chest grow tense; it seemed to do that a lot lately.
"It's Christian now," he said. "It represents peace and love and brotherhood. Who cares where it came from?"
Edward returned his gaze.
"I'd say God does," he said.
Nearby, Simon was edging his way through the crowd as he tried to avoid Samantha, who was, of course, radiant tonight, inspiring many carnal thoughts among the adult male parishioners, as well as a few female ones who would never, ever admit it. He got relief when Lucy dragged him into the basement of the church to dress up for his place in the nativity scene, which as in years past was staffed by Camden children and anyone else they could corral into doing it, which may be one reason that Robbie seemed to have left abruptly and without warning to be with his mother in Florida.
It is interesting how neither your humble narrator nor anyone in the Camden household even seemed to notice that he was gone, but he was. In their defense we may say of the Camdens that Robbie was not unusual in this, that the Camdens only really noticed people for short periods of time even in the best of circumstances, and then only when they had some dramatic or interesting plot going.
This is why the Camdens would soon take very great note of the Shaws.
* * *
Thanksgiving came, Christmas following soon afterward. The Camdens celebrated both with the vigor typical for American families, Thanksgiving with a lavish meal and speeches around the table before it was eaten and an invitation to Eric's sister, her husband Hank and their baby to join them, which they did. This meant that no alcohol was served at Thanksgiving, because Eric's sister was a recovering alcoholic and her husband was Jewish, and since Annie had no idea if alcohol was kosher or not, she decided against serving it. This proved to be a good idea when more guests appeared in the form of Rabbi and Mrs. Glass, who took the opportunity to sit and talk about Judaica with Hank, who just sat and stared blankly at the both of them as they did.
For Simon, this in turn brought back memories of Morris, who wasn't there but who might have himself been Jewish, and who no doubt would have benefited greatly from Rabbi Glass' explanation of how, particularly during the pressure of weddings, he sometimes forgot the distinction between the Hebrew 2nd person masculine and feminine pronouns. Unfortunately for the Rabbi, his careful rereading of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being a Rabbi" always failed to produce an answer to this problem, and he was afraid to look in a regular Hebrew grammar for help, since those involved the use of English words with which he was unfamiliar, like "adjective" and "preposition".
Across the street, the Shaws too gathered in celebration. They respected the Puritans, the Shaws did, for both sticking to their rigid religious beliefs and for the way they had brought the message of Christ to the heathen of the New World, sweeping away unsavory pagan practices like respect for nature. As was traditional, they ate a turkey that Edward or one of the boys had killed, prepared to perfection with all the trimmings by Rebecca and the girls. It was a good holiday, enjoyed by all of them, the prayers at the table being led in long and great detail by Edward himself.
"We thank thee, Lord, for this blessing and this bounty, and for the sacrifice of your only begotten son, who died that we might be forgiven of our sins and enjoy the gift of eternal life at your side in the kingdom of heaven ...."
#
Christmas too was celebrated. The birthday of Christ, of course, was not a thing to be forgotten, and not a thing that could be forgotten as stores and television began their annual assault on the public with the eternal message of have, have, have, and buy, buy, buy. The Jews and Muslims of Glenoak faded into the background as this occurred, wondering as they did how their Christian friends could possibly have allowed one of their two most sacred holidays to be so co-opted, even as many Christians and their secular neighbors bemoaned this as well and settled for time with their loved ones instead.
At the Glenoak Community Church there was the annual celebration, and on Christmas Eve Eric gave a service which as always was well attended. Even the Shaws appeared, sitting quietly and in a group in one of the pews near the back, dressed in their finest, mixing with the congregation and looking disapprovingly at the Christmas tree in the lobby of the church.
"You know what the origin of that is, don't you?" Edward asked Eric later as they mingled, cups of egg-nogg in their hands.
Eric shrugged. "I think the tree was originally pagan," he answered.
Edward nodded. "That's right. So why do you have it here?"
Eric looked at his friend. Edward's face was serious, and there was something about his tone that just didn't feel right to Eric. He felt his chest grow tense; it seemed to do that a lot lately.
"It's Christian now," he said. "It represents peace and love and brotherhood. Who cares where it came from?"
Edward returned his gaze.
"I'd say God does," he said.
Nearby, Simon was edging his way through the crowd as he tried to avoid Samantha, who was, of course, radiant tonight, inspiring many carnal thoughts among the adult male parishioners, as well as a few female ones who would never, ever admit it. He got relief when Lucy dragged him into the basement of the church to dress up for his place in the nativity scene, which as in years past was staffed by Camden children and anyone else they could corral into doing it, which may be one reason that Robbie seemed to have left abruptly and without warning to be with his mother in Florida.
It is interesting how neither your humble narrator nor anyone in the Camden household even seemed to notice that he was gone, but he was. In their defense we may say of the Camdens that Robbie was not unusual in this, that the Camdens only really noticed people for short periods of time even in the best of circumstances, and then only when they had some dramatic or interesting plot going.
This is why the Camdens would soon take very great note of the Shaws.