It is 52 degrees today and a climate for a pleasant walk. The beauty of winter was exhibited on the campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. I love the appearance of winter trees reaching their spidery arms towards the sky. In our neck of the woods the Covid19 vaccine is not being offered to everyone that is 65 or older…that is good news! Our campus is on break and the stillness and pristine solemnity of the winter landscape is inspiring.

Focus is fantastic! The President Elect seems to be laser focused on addressing the pandemic crisis that has engulfed our nation. This includes the vital economic assistance that is so desperately needed for the millions of displaced staff and small businesses who have been devastated by this virulent virus. Focus is cathartic for a restless mind. The more we are torn between the things that we can not change and those that we can…is tearing us apart. So often our belief in a cause that is ensconced in a big lie is a handy method of avoiding the dark problems of our own lives.

Better days are ahead of us. We have experienced many dark and depressing days…but the scripture tells us that ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ Or, as King Solomon told us, ‘The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.’

Prayer or meditation is a great enhancer of a peaceful mind. Both bring a centering of mind and soul. Modern life exposes us to a variety of stimulus that is often overwhelming. The demands of our work place and our family and our social circles or faith community causes us to feel like the person that has bills at the end of the month and not enough money to pay them. Often we choose to put all of the debt notices in our top hat and pull out one at a time until the money runs out.

Peace comes from clear goals and keeping our train on the track. There are many sidetracks in life. I will never forget the young man who visited our little church when I was a lad. In those halcyon days it was my custom to spend the weekend in Elkville, Illinois. I rode the Gulf Transport from my home in Eldorado to Carbondale, where someone from our church would come to pick me up and take me to Elkville. I customarily slept just off the sanctuary in a sleeping bag and one Saturday night the pastor had taken in a young man who was traveling across the country. He was a friendly fellow and the next morning he asked me if I would consider being his disciple as he was going to start his own church. Life is full of decisions…but I was not enticed. He seemed convinced of his track in life…but it was not mine. So there are many detours and alternate routes in our lives and it pays to have a vision of who your are and where you are going.

It feels especially cold today. As I engaged in a small walk through campus woods I felt the winter winds cut me like a knife. My Christmas ornaments are gone. However the bare winter trees are lovely in their seasonal spidery structure that reaches toward the grey sky. This week has whisked by and has been a difficult one for our nation and for our family. Brody our 16 year and 8 months and 3 day old Boston Terrier died on Monday. Jamie, Jonathon’s Leopard Gecko, who was over 24 years old died on Wednesday. Later Wednesday our Nations Capitol was rushed by insurrectionist who actively engaged in an attempted coup and the thwarting of our democratic free and fare election.

Over my 31 years as a supervisor and manager/administrator at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale I discovered that lies travel rapidly while truth is often doubted and examined incessantly before being accepted by others. It takes years to develop a good reputation that can be destroyed by a single lie. Mark Twain said, ‘A lie will fly around the whole world while the truth is getting its boots on.’

Insurrection that is based on a lie…is a tragedy. Some of the insurrectionist were wearing, ‘Camp Auschwitz’ and ‘Six Million Was Not Enough’ Tee shirts. Five people are now dead as a result of the Capture of the Capitol. The coup volunteers were proud of what they had accomplished. They took thousands of selfies. One man smiled broadly as he sat in the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s chair and when he left he displayed for the cameras mail that he had stolen from her office. Another member of the president’s coup project grinned as he had under his arm the Speaker of the House’s podium. Yet another member of the treasonous mob sat in the Senate Chair of the President of the Senate…that had been occupied a few minutes prior by the Vice President of the United States. He wore horns on his head…and seemed at home in his capture of the Capitol and the fulfilling of the mission that the president had set him and others by his speech earlier that day.

Coddling of a plethora of lies has resulted in a precipice that our country in tottering on that leads to a very dark valley… Those that support sedition are often the first to suffer at the mercurial whims of the dictator and strongman and fascist that they supported to his ascendancy.

Appeasement does not placate a Cult Leader. It is impossible to genuflect enough to please every quickly changing emotion and manic whim of the precious leader. The most profound trick to pledging fealty to an all powerful leader is that rather than your freedom of thought and actin and deed…you have committed to the prison of performing the lies and conspiracy beliefs of your all too human…sick lord and master…

I read the other day that some quantum physicists have a new theory that life is merely a simulation and that nothing is real. Now isn’t that a ‘Fine kettle of fish?’ The new hypothesis caused me to think of a movie that I enjoyed a few years ago called ‘Another Earth.’ In the science fiction flick there appeared another planet on Earth’s horizon that looked just like Earth. The mirror Earth idea contained the ‘Broken Mirror, hypothesis that postulates that once your mirror double, on the other Earth learns about you the mirror is broken and that your synchronicity is altered. Brit Marling’s character, Rhoda, convinces, John, who’s family was killed when her car struck their car due to her being intoxicated, to take the ticket to Earth II that she won due to an essay that she had written. Rhoda believed that John’s family was still alive on Earth II.

Indeed there is more that we do not understand than what we think that we know. For instance we are witnessing a complete break…almost down the middle of our nation…with what accepted truth is. One profound truth that I learned on my visits to Europe is that the United States is a very young country. I really did not understand the significance of this until I observed it in the context of my travels. Once you witness the magnificent stone work and castles and the quite splendor of Notre Dame…you understand that maybe we really do not know it all… In our hubris and for political expediency and to facilitate having an ongoing job that pays ‘good money’ some of us are all to willing to sideline truth for our pocketbook.

One of the most exhilarating and frightening times that I experienced was during my 5 years as the president of the Civil Service Council. I spoke with some boldness for my constituents, many who had no voice in University governance, and I feared the retribution of speaking truth to power. I believed that truth was uncompromising and that to lie or to obfuscate on behalf of the 2 thousand people that were counting on me…would be a primary cause of me not being able to face my reflection in the mirror. A world of winks and nods is not for me.

So this is our world…’the good the bad and the ugly.’ Each of our actions has an effect on someone. Cause and effect is real in this world. Kindness captivates the imagination and anger repels the spirit. Let us seek kindness…and trust that our mirror image on Earth II is doing the same…and the mirror has not been broken… At the conclusion of ‘Another Earth’ Rhoda sees her Earth II doppelgänger in front of her garage…and the screen goes dark…

The New Year has come to us with less fanfare that is customary and more hope that in recent history. I walked through the Campus Woods today and discovered that the Christmas ornaments have been removed…just as they should be. This is my first year in sometime that I have not constructed some New Year Resolutions. A return to normalcy would be nice. You know, normality is often undersold. Normalcy brings the sunrise each morning, and the sunset each evening. The monotonous of normalcy kept me returning to Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale for 32 years and 2 months and 3 weeks. We in the United States expect to remain the beacon of normalcy for aspiring democracies around the world. Democratic governments are decided by the will of the people and it has been said that, ‘people get the government that they deserve.’

First Presbyterian Church @ Carbondale has taught me that nothing gets done unless you do it. In this life, ‘God’s hands truly are our own.’ The christian life is similar to what Albert Einstein said when asked how it felt to be a genius and he responded that, Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.’ If there are hungry in our town…we need to feed them. If there are homeless…we need to provide shelter for them. If there are young families that need diapers for their infants…we need to provide diapers for them. If there are people that have no washing machine to launder their clothing…we need to provide soap for the Laundromat and quarters to pay for the washing and drying of the clothes.

So we require much from our New Year and a specific encouragement is that 3 vaccines are now approved. If things go as forecast the spring will bring many of us a jab in the arm…or maybe two. We will be able to return to the sweet fellowship of our family and friends! Travel is in our future! Our favorite restaurants are awaiting us… and for we retirees…a Tuesday afternoon movie! Theatre will return and the sound of singing will once again be heard in our land… Our Pandemic has taught us that some things are out of our hands…but many others are not.

2021 will bring us the success and happiness that we work toward. Many years ago I discovered that there is no magic inherent in the New Year. The magic is within each of us. We can be in the best year of our lives…if we believe…

Belief is vital to our stupendous 2021! Normalcy and hard work and dedication are components to out New Year…but equally as important is the magic of our faith! Faith is the fire in the boiler of our life’s furnace that keeps us seeking God’s will for our lives. Our guardian angel whispering in our ear…is our reason for living! Believing that there is something that is far greater than we are and someone that has the plan for our lives…is a comfort and a roadmap for a long life. Remember my senior citizen friends…we are. not old…we are vintage! 2021 is an open door leading to success and victories and happiness that we can only imagine! The New Year’s Horn of Plenty may ask us to step outside our comfort zone…or to reimagine a goal or a challenge…but then again isn’t that what makes life worth living?

Fifty-nine degrees on the first day of winter. Very pleasant compared to what it could be…and will be in the future. The Winter Solstice marks the shortest night in the year. Contrary to what almost everyone says regarding being lovers of long days and short nights…I must disagree! I worked evenings and nights for much of my career. I became accustomed to life after the sun sets. It was an acquired taste… Several years ago when my step-father was alive we would visit he and my mom after Christmas and often stay a few days with them at their home in Eldorado, Illinois. About 2 or at the most 3 days after Christmas Earl would gaze longingly out of the kitchen window and announce that the days were getting longer… MJ would heartily agree with him…and they were happy.

Advent is here…and so we wait. We wait for the birth of the Christ child in the manger surrounded by the animals of the stable. Life has been very strange for us in 2020. I remember…almost like it was but a year ago…how excited that I was to be entering the year 2020! We had a trip to Maine planned for the Spring and in 2021 a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. In January I recall hearing a small news item regarding a strange new virus in China that caused the government officials to lock down the town of Wuhan and it sounded very bad… There are illnesses across our globe…I did not visualize a pandemic. Life changed in sudden and dramatic and devastating ways…and we were not prepared. 319 thousand of our families and friends and neighbors have died of Covid-19. Over 3 thousand citizens are dying each day. Restaurants are closed accept for take-out…many small business have gone out of business…our church has not gathered in our building since March and it will probably be at least March 2021 before we are able to reconvene. So…we wait to receive our vaccine. We wait ‘For the peace of God that passes all understanding…’

We are each others answer to sadness and despair and depression. It has been abundantly clear to me that during our year of isolation that the popular American singer and actress, Barbara Streisand, was right when she sang, ‘People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.’

Pastor Kerry was reflecting on Joseph and Mary of the Christmas Story. When we see our Nativity sets or paintings of the birth of Jesus…we see a beatific Mary and a humble and quiet Joseph and we assume that their long journey by donkey and walking to Bethlehem… was like being on a cloud of glory and rapture. Mary was told that she would give birth to a son and to name him Jesus and that, ‘Don’t be afraid Mary. You have found favor with God. You will become pregnant, give birth to a son, and name him Jesus…’ The angel came to Joseph in a dream and explained to him that Mary was pregnant with the Son of God and that she was a chaste woman and that he should marry her. Mary and Joseph’s lives were disrupted and turned upside down! Life is not always simple!

There were more Christmas ornaments along the Campus Woods path, today. I have noticed that folks are now taking photographs of them and enjoying their hope and beauty. We are all taking more time to notice the splendor that we have been dropped into…as if from another world. When I see lovingly placed ornaments I think of the good will for all men that Charles Dickens spoke of in a Christmas Carol. The lovely smiles of others…which now I only see on Zoom due to the necessity of wearing a face mask, I see the happiness of Tiny Tim, who according to his father, sang louder than anyone else in the Christmas Service! When I see the bright visage of Santa Claus…and the ‘twinkle in his eye’…and the ‘smoke coming from his little pipe and encircling his head like a wreath…’ I see the little Laughing Santa of my youth and my happily turning the crank on his back and laughing along with him…at the joyous possibilities ahead for us…

Darkness has clouded our horizon for much of 2020. I recall, as if it were yesterday, our church board meeting in the beginning of this year and voting to close our church to public meetings…perhaps until Easter. We had a May holiday planned to visit Maine…that in late February I thought we might be able to attend… We changed our Maine plans to September…and I felt fairly confident that it would be safe to fly to our favorite State by then! It has taken me sometime to realize, and for me to absorb the realization that we have never been in a situation like we are in…before 2020. I heard from friends and family that we had very little Covid-19 in our rural areas of Southern Illinois. It was a popular question for virus deniers to inquire, ‘Do you know anyone that has Covid-19?’ This was early on…things have changed! But, now the first vaccines are being given in the United States and the beginning of the end of our terrible scourge is here!

I keep a close eye on the United Kingdom. We have spent sometime there in the past few years. London has been moved to their Tier 3, which is the strictest of their lockdown policies surrounding the pandemic. The UK was the first to approve the Pfizer vaccine and they are currently inoculating their aged residents and frontline hospital workers. There is now a clear light at the end of our coronavirus tunnel!

Christmas time is bringing a wonderful gift to the human family! It is said that the Christmas Star is visible for the first time in 100’s of years. I have been humbled and amazed and silent in the face of an unprecedented outpouring of love and support as we humans reach out to help our brothers and sisters! The health care worker and frontline essential workers in our country are inspirational!

Time is most valuable! Over the past 10 years of retirement I have looked back, often, at what has been a wonderful life and yet with road bumps and challenges all along the path. The gift of life and its manifold blessings is something that has dawned on me as each year quickly passes by. When I was young I worried on a regular basis that I must seek available promotions and work diligently in my endeavor to ensure that I would keep my career going… with Southern Illinois University@ Carbondale. Having lived in mean and rough circumstances it was of paramount importance to guarantee that MJ and Aaron and Jonathon…did not have to experience some of the challenges that I had seen… A friend told me…late in my career…that she had discovered my secret for success…and that was that I utilized being underestimated to my advantage. She ‘hit the nail on the head’ as I often likened myself to the television detective, Columbo, who wore the rumpled raincoat and appeared to be somewhat bumbling and perhaps cluless and a bit of a rambling speaker…until he revealed, at the end of each weeks hour long broadcast, his solving of the case!

Remarkable challenges have faced us during 2020! Our scientist and epidemiologist and Dr. Anthony Fauci were not wrong regarding the virus…their herculean dedication has proven to save many lives! We have survived thus far and we will continue to meet the challenges of the coronavirus until it is no longer a threat!

Christmas is a specific season on our calendar. Advent is specified on our church calendar. We bring the fir and pine trees into our homes and decorate them with brightly colored ornaments. Brilliantly wrapped gifts are the order of the festive season…and children’s eyes are all aglow with the wonder and delight of expectations regarding what good thing is going to come next… The Christmas Tree and the wonderful gifts and the good will and love…are all simply physical manifestations of the hope that lives in our hearts! Let this Christmas joy keep us safe throughout 2021 and reveal to us the limited time that we all have on this earth…and the good that we can do for our fellow human beings…

Two weeks before Christmas had finally arrived! Parker woke up to her dreams of the numerous colorfully wrapped gifts that were under her Christmas tree. It was a nine foot live fir tree and she and her father and brother and sister had hiked into the woods to cut it down and drag it to their staton wagon and tie it on top of the car and divert the ropes through the open windows for additional security. There was six feet of snow and it had been a laborious trek to the tree! They had placed it in their large living room and still had to saw the top off of it to fit it under the the roof. Parker had planned on a rendezvous with Porter and Chet to facilitate their mission from Santa Claus and his wife, CC, to endeavor to raise the holiday spirits of their little town… Chet had mentioned that the 14 foot tall and 3 dimensional Santa Claus that customarily stood in front of the bank was suspiciously absent and that this missing Santa icon had never been absent 2 weeks before Christmas! Porter said, ‘I was with my mom earlier and as we drove through Eldorado…there were no Christmas decorations!’ Now Eldorado had some lovely holiday regalia! There were customarily brilliant city decorations that were fastened to light posts at both sides of the Main Street and stretched across the avenue. Now…there were none…

Parker remembered that in class today the bulletin boards in their 3rd grade classroom had been stripped bare of their Christmas Crafts that they had lovingly decorated them with! Chet said in a somber and deep voice, ‘Someone is attempting to abduct Christmas…’ ‘Well…I am sure that the Christmas movie at the Orpheum Theatre will run as normal and I saw the Lion’s Club park their vans near the front entrance…with the Christmas Baskets for all of us kids!’

Saturday morning arrived and Parker and Porter and Chet made their way to the 9:00 AM showing of Charles Dickens famous holiday novel…’A Christmas Carol.’ The Theatre was full and all of Eldorado’s youth who were craning their necks to see where the Christmas Baskets were being staged for delivery immediately after the movie. The lights were dimmed and the movie began…’Frankenstein!’ Parker proclaimed, ‘Something is terribly wrong!’ As the kids sat through Frankenstein…as it was a Halloween favorite…they anticipated the precious Christmas Baskets that would be full and brimming over with Christmas candy and nuts and fruit and a Superman Soakie or a Barbie Doll… As they filed out into the lobby…there were men in rough clothes with no smiles on their faces and their hats had emblazoned on them…Liars Club! They handed a course cloth bag with one word affixed to the material…Coal… When they looked in disbelief they noticed that John…the proprietor of the Orpheum and his wife, Delores, who took the ticket money and handed each person a ticket, were laughing hysterically…and their eyes were maniac and cruel…

Chet said, ‘We must go back to the North Pole and ask Santa what we should do to fight this terrible populist wrong…’ And with Chet’s proclamation…the three of them were back at Santa’s workshop! Santa invited the forlorn children to sit down and had Elvira the elf to bring them some hot chocolate with marshmallows. He told them that what they had experienced in Eldorado was happening all over the world. People had lost hope…and hope was what Christmas was created from. Their political leaders and many of their religious leaders had told the people lies that were designed to enrich them…with little or no thought as to what the lies would do to the poor people who placed their trust in the wolves in sheep clothing. Suddenly the old ways, that the majority of humanity believed were the best ways…were being discarded for the words of Con men and women! The ideas that build the United States America were now thought to be shop-worn and archaic. The precepts of compromise for the betterment of all…which the Constitution was founded upon…were considered weak and ineffectual…power equaled strength for the privileged and the weak…were losers… CC spoke up, ‘You see Parker and Porter and Chet…Santa and I really need you to restore confidence in the hope and unity of humanity…without that…we are all lost and the best of us…will disappear!’

Campus Woods was joined by me once again… I cannot resist it when the Christmas decorations are adorning the trees! Also, I awakened this morning to a flock of geese on our pond. This does not happen often and it is a delight to see them enjoying themselves at Christmas time! As I enjoyed the peaceful confines of the paved path…it occured to me that our campus woods with its’ lovely decorations that are placed by kind walkers…is a safe harbor in our present pandemic distress. Most people that I meet on the well trodden path are wearing masks and practicing social distancing. I was snapping so many photographs yesterday that someone asked me if I was the person who had decorated the trees. I answered that I was not but that I did enjoy photographing them! Our world looks kind and loving and giving to me at this time of the year. There is a special dispensation of grace and consideration that engulfs my thoughts and emotions at Christmastide…

‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.’ Proverbs 13:12. Our hope is being fulfilled in that not only has the United Kingdom begun, today, vaccinating their citizens…and a vaccine is believed to be approved for the United States before the end of the week! Very few of us have lived through a pandemic…unless you are over 100 years old…and it has been a life changing ordeal for our planet… This is the year that we can look clear eyed into our future and visualize a world that is free of this terrible virus! Perhaps we have been a bit drunk with our smart phones and our smart cars…and the race up the capitalist ladder as we seek success and fulfillment and…peace…

Lady and the Tramp was playing at the theatre in Chicago. I was 4 years old and excited about our trip to the big city. We lived in a suburb called Sauk Village. Mom’s best friend, Ivy, was going as well as her children, Susie and Steve. Susie was my girlfriend…although she did not know it. Each time that I saw Susie…she hugged me and kissed me…and I thought that was…very nice! Steve had marionettes and he was an expert puppeteer…as far as I was concerned! It was during the Christmas season…and ‘visions of sugarplums were dancing in my head!’ I recall the bright lights of the theatre marque being so bright and moving rapidly. When we sat down in the darkened movie theatre…I sat next to Susie. On the humongous silver screen began the Disney classic…and I was mesmerized and I fell in love with Lady! To this day Lady and the Tramp is why favorite Disney movie!

Our Christmas Tree in Sauk Village was so tall that I could not see the top. I recall thinking that is was the most wonderful tree that I had ever laid eyes upon! When Christmas morning arrived I saw mom and dad being in high spirits and jubilant with the holiday atmosphere. Not only did it seem that I could do nothing wrong…but that I could, more or less, do what I wanted as it was that special day of the year…Christmas! It was a bit like a dream covered with cheese cloth or gauze…it seemed surreal…

I have been engaged in my favorite pastime as a member of the committee of elders in the First Presbyterian Church. I can think of nothing else that gives me more joy than collecting a Christmas bonus from my colleagues, on Session, for our staff. Tomorrow I will deliver the Christmas cards with the bonus contained inside of them. I know that it will be welcomed by the worthy recipients!

Our lives are a mystery wrapped in an enigma and are subject to several interpretations. One of my favorite Christmas memories is the Union Christmas Party that was held each year by S.E.I.U Local #316 at the Ponderosa Steak House. This was an. event that for most of may career I was an invited guest. I relished walking from table to table and shaking hands and speaking with the Building Service Workers and the Sub-foreman and the student staff. I was always greeted with wonderful hospitality and love and kindness! Those who I spoke with were glad to see me and I was happy to see them! Many of the staff exclaimed their appreciation for my coming by to say hello…and I responded that I was honored that they were my valued colleagues and friends… I thought of Vice President Dougherty and his speaking to every member of our Building Services Christmas Party…so many years ago… I understood that I was blessed beyond my ability and that it was the members of the team…that I was but a player on…that was the secret of my success!

Campus Woods was resplendent with Christmas Ornaments this afternoon! It had been a few days since I had walked there and I was amazed at how the adornment of the trees had multiplied! The temperature today is in the lower 50’s and many Christmas walking revelers were taking advantage of the late fall warm-up.

I remember memorizing Clement Clark Moore’s famous Christmas poem, ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas,’ and how my mom loved to hear me recite it. She was so fond of my recitation that she gathered all of my aunts and uncles and cousins together to be the audience for my performance! I could recite it with ease and still can do so for much of the narrative.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; the children were nestled all snug in their beds; While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads; And mama in her kerchief and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave a luster of midday to objects below, When what to my wondering eyes did appear, But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer, With a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick….’

Or…the many years that our family made the trek to St. Louis, Missouri to the headquarters of the Famous Barr Department store chain…to watch the Christmas Bears on the 7th floor. Now the Christmas Bears were animatronic and not only did Aaron and Jonathon thoroughly enjoy observing their Christmas antics, which included trimming Christmas Trees and wrapping Christmas presents, but MJ and I…and often Grandma Fernie reveled in the miracle of Holiday dreams! The annual sojourn to see the Christmas Bears was a major component of our holiday revelries!

There was the year that I made the executive decision to travel to Famous and Barr at the St. Clair Square Mall to acquire Christmas gifts unimpeded by anyone but my own desires to fulfill the ‘Visions of Candy Canes dancing…’ in the heads of MJ and Aaron and Jonathon! I had such fun! My Christmas dreams had no price tag! From a $125 key chain by Dooney and Bourke…to stuffed Christmas Bears and Game Boys for the Boys…I was in Nirvana… The event marked my only time of such solitary freedom in fulfilling my Christmas gift wish for my precious 3…or as Grandma Fernie said of me…’Jay sure loves Christmas!’

Porter yawned and rubbed his eyes…they felt like that they had sand in them. Beside him was Parker and Chet and Steve…but Neva was not present. ‘Were are we,’ Parker asked? Chet replied that during the height of their excitement at the North Pole, Mrs. Claus, or CC, had asked them to follow her into a darkened room off of the grand hallway of Santa’s castle. Steve said, ‘The last time I saw Neva…she was laughing and working on her tiled tables.’

Out walked a jovial person in the clothing of an usher…a person of great importance. ‘How are you fine folk today,’ he asked with a laugh! ‘We are well’ said Parker. ‘Where are we,’ inquired Chet? ‘Why you are in the fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri,’ replied the jovial officious usher….who looked much like Santa Claus… ‘Please follow me and I will show you Christmases of days past and of the great author, Charles Dickens, time! ‘Mind how you go…,’ said the usher.

The Ghost of Christmas Present stood before the group and his resonate bass voice and majestic presence overwhelmed them! He spoke of good deeds and bad. He spoke of children who were fearful and hungry. He sang of the mystery of Christmas… He noted that Mr. Scrooge would be visited by him and two other specters on Christmas Eve night. He laughed with the joy of his temporary position of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Chet said, ‘What is the answer for our dispensation…how can we unite others in love and the true meaning of Christmas?’ The G of CP responded with a swirl of his lustrous green cape and a gesture of his hand toward the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Christmas Past presented herself with a sad and sullen dance and a look about her eyes of things lost… She recounted the wonderful start in life of one Ebenezer Scrooge. How that he loved his sister and how that he had been engaged to be married to the love of his life, Belle, and his loneliness and sadness at being left at school… Scrooge had remembered his poverty and penury but had forgotten the love that his sister had for him and his love for Belle… As he began to earn more and more money and to become financially successful he had replaced his human affection for the insidious dedication to capital gains!

Steve asked the twinkling eyed usher how their group could take the message of a Christmas Carol to the people of their time? The usher… reminded Steve of the famous W. Clement Moore poem The Night Before Christmas, ‘With a wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread…And laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod up the chimney he rose!’ Steve looking perplexed called out again…’But what about the message?’

Marley…or should I say the ghost of Marley cut quite a figure! His chains were ponderous and his wailing and screeching were nerve racking! He bemoaned his avarice and greed and his disregard for those in need during his life on earth! He cautioned Parker and Porter and Steve and Chet to not follow his example…but to reach out to their fellow human family and strive to make their burdens lighter and their existence happier. Parker asked, ‘How do we return to the North Pole to finish helping Santa and CC?’ ‘Just open the door and walk through,’ cried The Ghost of Marley… Parker opened the door and they walked into the brilliant light of the elves workroom and Santa called out, ‘We leave in one hour!’

Neva began to speak of her childhood Christmases, ‘When I was a little girl we did not have any food to eat and mom led us through the forrest to forage for persimmons.’ ‘I loved receiving a fruit basket for Christmas that was full of apples and pears and small candies and delicious grapes,’ Neva went on to say.

Chet told the group, that two years ago he had received a Daniel Boone action figure, that was modeled on the actor, Fess Parker, and he knew that his classmates Tommy would probably not have any gifts due to the poverty of his family. He said that the happiest he had ever been was when he had given Tommy his Daniel Boone…and that the look of surprise and happiness in his eyes…was priceless!

Porter fondly remembered getting a Christmas Basket from the Lions Club of Eldorado, Illinois after watching a Holiday movie at the Orpheum Theatre. There was candy and cookies and fruit and nuts…and a Superman Soakie in the large brightly wrapped gift basket… He had wondered at the goodness of the smiling men and women that gave him the wonderful present…and he did not even know their names…

Steve was lost in his thoughts about the Christmases that he had enjoyed with Porter and Neva…at their country home. Neva had awakened him on Christmas morning by proclaiming in a loud and commanding voice, ‘Hit the deck…you rubberneck!’ The coffee cake and the roast and potatoes and the fudge and divinity…were to die for!

Elvira the Elf reminisced about Santa and CC taking her into their home and treating her as a member of the family. Her mom, Eugenie, and he dad, Elbert Eskell, had died in the Elf Wars. Suddenly Elvira announced, ‘I have just had a revelation…we can bring to each home that we leave gifts at… a movie of the happy days in the past of each human occupying the dwelling… and it will be fastened with a lock whose combination requires the viewing of the film before the gifts can be opened…