The Precious Firstlings

Vintage Card
“Christmas Cards from the Cremers” is a brief chapter from the book A Nursery in the Nineties, the autobiography of Eleanor Farjeon, who also wrote the lyrics to “Morning Has Broken,” way back before Cat Stevens made them famous, and the clever little poem “Cats Sleep Anywhere,” which has been illustrated as a children's book many times. Recalling the Christmas presents that she and her brothers received as children, Farjeon writes:

"Among our benefactors were . . . the Cremers. . . .

Mr. Cremer kept the best toy-shop in Regent Street. There had been a Mrs. Cremer; there were two Miss Cremers. As long as old Mr. Cremer continued in life, Christmas brought us cases full of the most fascinating toys. . . .

When Mr. Cremer died, the two Miss Cremers went to live in the Isle of Thanet [the name for the area just north of Dover, not really an island, and not very far at all from London]. At Christmas now "The Cremers" meant cards only. But they were always the first Christmas cards we received--dear little robins perched on babies' cradles, dear little girls in bonnets, with bunches of holly, "To dear little Harry, dear little Nellie [this was Eleanor], dear little Joe, dear little Bertie--with love from the Misses Cremer." They came like heralds, early in December, when Christmas was three endless weeks away. Mother's voice calling: "The Cremers' Cards have come!" brought us running. We looked, and knew that Christmas was coming too.

But posts are so uncertain, and Thanet and London not quite next door, you know, and it would be dreadful to a pair of fond, remembering spinsters should their cards ever arrive a trifle late. To make quite sure, they began to despatch their Christmas cards in November.

"Children! the Cremers' Christmas cards!"

"Already?"

Christmas is not yet due for a full month. We run to collect the precious firstlings (emphasis added).

And years pass, you grow older, the things to be done, the occasions to prepare for, press a little more irksomely each year on ladies who, if they cannot still send cases of toys to little Harry, Nellie, Joe, and Bertie, must never disappoint dear children of their Christmas Greetings.

"The Cremers' cards!" calls Mama, somewhere about Guy Fawkes' Day [November 5th].

We return, one September, from the summer holiday. The golden weeks beside the sea have waned, but London streets are sunny, it is weeks yet to the time of fog, and fires.

Laughing too much to speak, she appears waving the envelope. "No!" exclaims Harry. But there they are, the Cremers' cards have come. "To dear little Harry, dear little Nellie, dear little Joe and dear little Bertie." The robins, and the little girls in bonnets.

Two of us at least are over twenty, and tomorrow it will be October the First (emphasis added).

That was the last of the Cremers' Christmas cards. Then time went back on them" (313 - 17).


Time went back on them. Sigh. One day, it will happen. . . .

The First of Many Things

First Day of December, First Day of Hanukkah, First Snowfall
In 2010, they all occurred on one beautiful winter's day!
I have long been curious about all of Jostein Gaarder's titles (e.g., Sophie's World) but The Christmas Mystery is the only one I've read so far. Gerry's mom placed it beside my bed when we went to England for Christmas 2002, so I read it to myself that year, and then the next year to Ben and Sam as a read-aloud for Advent 2003. The cover is brightly illustrated to resemble an Advent Calender, with miniature pictures of angels, castles, ships, sheep. Each chapter begins with a similar illustration, opening the door to another place and time. We followed along on a world map to track the fascinating progress of the characters, as each day they crossed another threshold, disappearing into world history. We learned so much on this intriguing journey and could hardly wait to see how the mystery would resolve itself on Christmas Eve.



As you can see from Ben's cut and paste Menorah project (1994), Hanukkah was a very popular holiday in the Philadelphia Public School System. Another year we carved a menorah onto the face of a nice wide pumpkin; I wish I had taken a picture of that!

"Light one candle
for the wisdom to know 
when the peacemaker's time is at hand."
~~ Peter, Paul & Mary ~~

My beautiful Dancer's Menorah
antique brass by David Klass

. . . last Month's Turkey - o - Lantern

and our first ever O Christmas Tree O Lantern

First Sunday of Advent

First Week of Advent: The Hope of Prophecy
For the last fifteen years or so, I have had a little tradition of making a set of cards for my mother, one for each of the four Sundays in Advent. Each year the design is different, with a new theme of some kind.

As my transitional ritual from Thanksgiving into Christmas, I always devote a few hours of the long weekend to getting the Advent cards ready and (hopefully) getting the first one in the mail in time for Sunday. Some years I fall a bit behind on that optimistic deadline; but as long as the first one arrives somewhere within the first week of the season, it's not hard to keep mailing the others out in a timely, weekly fashion.

This year, I had the idea to design them as Valentines, using red lace doilies, ribbons, and a handful of fancy little gift tags that I found on amazon, featuring sentiments that lend themselves nicely to the symbolism behind each candle on the Advent Wreath.

Week One, the Candle of Hope
Dispelling the Darkness:

We must never be afraid to go too far, for truth lies beyond."

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

~ both passages by Marcel Proust ~

Second Sunday of Advent

Second Week of Advent: the Peace of Bethlehem
Each year, I hope for the peace and presence of mind to celebrate a true Advent, always searching for that calm at the center of the holiday storm. Yet, despite my best intentions, my guest room is currently a disaster area of half-begun Christmas projects! When will they ever be finished? Help! Well, at least Christmas music is playing in the background as I write these frantic words!

As my friend Cate, a charming gardener of the soul, wrote in this morning's e-mail: "Second Sunday already? Eeek! Must do, must do . . . Hope to finish the tree today (or close to it)."

We all know in our hearts that these should not be the watch words of the day; yet it seems so: Must do, must do . . .

Instead, how about: Let us find peace . . .

Week Two, the Candle of Peace
Leading the Way:

"We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels,
we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."
~Anton Chekhov~

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
~Marcel Proust~

Third Sunday of Advent

Third Week of Advent: The Love of Angels
My Uncle Gene (one of my dad's younger brothers) always had a lot of good Christmas stories that read just like the oft - anthologized Christmas chapters from Little House on the Prairie. For example, I like the one about the family friend by the name of George Rogers who dressed up as Santa and delivered a dishpan full of candy and toys using a wooden sled to imitate Santa’s sleigh. A few Christmases ago, Uncle Gene told my siblings and me a story we had never heard before about our dad Willard:

Dear Kids,

I’ll wax nostalgically with you for a bit. It would seem to be the season for such things. Old memories, taken out and polished up, become as jewels and this one is such. It concerns your dad, and took place many, many decades ago in the long ago days of the 1930’s.

As you know, we attended the small white frame church building located about half-way between Oilton and Drumright, Oklahoma. It was home to a fairly large number of “Saints” who came from oil lease communities and small towns within at least a 20 - mile radius. The leader of the little flock was a severe appearing gentleman named Benjamin Franklin Pollard, or as some called him, BF, shortened by the older smart alec kids like Robert [i.e., our eldest and much - admired uncle] to “Beef.”

At Christmas time there was always a program along with a tree, and Santa would come in at the end with a bag of small treats for the kids, there being a very large number of us. With the Bunch family (7,) the Carriker tribe (6), and the Rogers family (6,) it accounted for 19 young - uns. There were also some singles and smaller family groups, so all told there was a passel of kids.

On this particular Christmas the kids were putting on the program, as usual. Strangely, I have no recollection of what anyone else did for entertainment; but I well remember little old Willard’s contribution to the festivities:

"What shall I give Him.
As poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would give a him a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part—
Yet, what I can I give Him,
I’ll give him my heart."

~~ With love from Uncle Gene
How touched we all were to imagine our dad as a little tyke memorizing his part for the pageant!

My sister's response summed it up for all of us:

It certainly makes Daddy
seem a little closer this season.
Love to all, Peg

***********

Week Three, the Candle of Love
Quickening the Pace:

"Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.
~ Washington Irving ~

Love is time and space measured by the heart.
~ Marcel Proust ~

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Fourth Week of Advent: The Joy of Shepherds
Week Four, the Candle of Joy
Waiting Almost Over:

"A joy shared is a joy doubled."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~

"There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
~ Edith Wharton ~
"Nearly all the best and most precious things in the universe you can get for a halfpenny. I make an exception, of course, of the sun, the moon, the earth, people, stars, thunderstorms, and such trifles. You can get them for nothing. Also I make an exception of another thing: The Spirit of Christmas!"

from "The Shop of Ghosts" (1909)
a Christmas story by G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936),
one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century

All the Year

Christmastime Is Here!

The Firm Resolve of Ebenezer Scrooge:

"I will honour Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

from A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens

When it came to keeping Christmas all year long, my friend Marv was an expert. He wrote the most amazing Christmas letters, beginning one year with the best ode to Christmas that I've ever read anywhere:

"Still, as always, I look forward to anything 'Christmas,' be it sacred or profane. Quite frankly, I love it all: commercial or spiritual, mall or church, crass or sublime, jaded or sentimental, slow or frantic, sad or comic, regretful or nostalgic, adult or childish, wrapping up or ripping open, giving or spartan, on-line or in line, pine or palm, white or tropical green, it just does not matter; it's all moving and wonderful, magical and grand (and I wish it lasted all year)." ~Marvin Charles Hamilton III, 1955 - 2011