Happy Holidays
ImageMonth: December 2023
New Year Intentions
I resolve…
Probably to break the resolutions I make on the first! I prefer setting goals and intentions rather than “resolutions”. This year, in addition to the traditional lose weight, be kinder, eat out less and cook more, be present, I have decided to set some intentions specifically for my writing. Not writing goals, but writing intentions. Things I intend to do. I discovered this word and process from my memoir teacher (Hi, Mary!). I’m not sure why, but the word (as well as the idea of) intentions sounds more possible, more do-able, and less harsh. It has a gentle feel of the possibility of anticipated accomplishment. It’s not the boss of me, but it’s more than a pie in the sky.
Not only have I decided to set intentions, but I’ve decided to set actual deadlines for some of these intentions. My blog planner has been supportive of setting an editorial calendar for myself, but firm deadlines are foreign to me, and I’ve decided to change that.
I have so many projects that have great potential, some of which I’ve been working on for years. My Wales journey has journal entries from 1987 where it all began, and I’m no closer to a finished product. I have two very special projects that have great potential: St. Kateri’s Shrines and the Labyrinth Prayer Book (working titles only) that I need the impetus to buckle in and move them forward.
That’s where the intentions come in; with setting definitive goals for aspects of their completion, both of which I can see in the near future.
I will possibly share progress under the “writing” tag, and once the calendar turns over to January, I’ll have the next three to six months of deadlines.
Wish me luck. I know I’ll need it and the moral support is invaluable.
Happy New Year, and happy new intentions! May they remain for more than two weeks.
Mental Health Monday – Holiday Edition
I know technically it’s Friday, but hasn’t every day this week been a Monday?
Holiday time is a struggle without the added anxiety of an anxiety disorder. Or any other mental health issue for that matter. For our family, our annual struggle to get things done has been compounded by my bout of covid which I promptly shared with my husband. Thankfully, my quarantine is over and his should end this weekend, just in time for our oldest to come for dinner. It’s a never-ending dance of “what’s for dinner?”, “when is the tree going up?*”, “we missed the last two nights of Chanukah; now what?”, and of course, the ever perennial, “who’s missing Christmas presents?”, and towards me “what to do you want for Christmas?” with the genuine answer of nothing, I have enough. I’m at an age in my life that I’m looking to eliminate the clutter and focus on what’s important right now to me. I’d rather spend time with my kids even if we’re just sitting together watching TV or reading a book.
But…no one came here to read about my-world-specific tensions. We all have our own to concern ourselves with.
Here are five suggestions that you might try to settle your mind, and if you have your own that work for you, please share them below in comments. Mental health is something that affects all of us, and we are in this together. For each other, with one another. A community if you will.
- Take a breath. Stop and take a breather. Sometimes that’s all you need.
- Journal. Stop and write down what’s affecting you. Sometimes getting out the frustrations in a positive way can get rid of the holiday blues for that moment.
- Can you go to your happy place for 15 minutes. A nearby park bench. A coffee shop. Window shop.
- Lists. You know I swear by lists. They organize but they also show me the big picture and they let me prioritize so I’m not in a constant state of forgetting something.
- Reward yourself. When you finish [this hard task], give yourself a reward: an episode of a favorite television show, read a book chapter, play a word game online or on paper, grab a cup of coffee or tea. Listen to the radio for 15 minutes.
The holidays should bring joy or should at least not make things worse. Remember to take care of yourself. It can be for as little as five minutes to reset your mood and get back on track.
And there’s nothing wrong with a midday nap. Try it out.
Happy Advent and everything that follows.
(c)2023
*We did manage to get our tree up with one child setting it up, and one putting on the lights. We’ll put the ornaments on tomorrow when we’re all together.*
Holiday Update…with a Side of Covid
StandardI will still try to post one of two items before the end of the year, and if you don’t follow my Instagram, you might want to subscribe for a few, quick picture posts. Unfortunately, I am not able to accomplish all that I set out to do in these last two weeks as I have unexpectedly contracted covid. It is mild enough to pass itself off as a cold, but believe me, it wallops you in the end. Test yourself. I was very lucky that my husband insisted that I take the test before going about my meetings, which I deemed too important to miss. However, with the positive coming up, I did miss them and fortunately miss my colleagues and aquaintances with the virus, so that is a good thing.
In our house, we were unable to light our eighth night of candles on the menorah, so when I’m able to rejoin the family tomorrow, we are going to light them then. It may be beyond the eighth night, but light in the dark is always welcome, especially in these days of war and strife.
Shine bright.
(c)2023
Friday Food. Latkes.
StandardI use a box to make my latkes. I don’t do fancy additives – no basil or chives or any of the other things I’ve seen online. I might consider melba sauce, but I haven’t gone there yet. I always go back to Carmel. I think last night’s were my finest. They were crispy on the outside, none burned. I’m a both kind of person when it comes to latkes: applesauce AND sour cream. My daughter who doesn’t like them grabbed one on her way in the door from work. She still didn’t like them, but I must give her credit – she tried it even without me blackmailing her with gelt.
(c)2023
With applesauce and sour cream (not pictured but trust me, it’s there).
First Night of Chanukah.
(c)2023
(c)2023
As I mentioned in yesterday’s Inspire, I went all out this year. Antisemitism will have that effect on a person. I am halfway between don’t do anything public and do all the things. Over the next week, I’ll share some photos and thoughts each day. Lights, door hangings, multiple menorahs, dreidls, gelt, I even found some Chanukah cookies and a book: I Saw an Old Lady who Swallowed a Dreidel by Caryn Yacowitz, illustrated by David Slonim, and of course, I bought a dreidl stuffy for my new great-niece.
Inspire. December. Chanukah.
StandardI’ve been searching for the write inspiration for December, and this first night of Chanukah brought things into perspective. A little bit of perspective. While the internet and the news are filled with antisemitism and protests from people intent on gaslighting the Jewish experience and deny Jewish people the indigeneity of their homeland, I have been on a quest to celebrate Chanukah publicly. I’m a little wary about it. I live in a nice neighborhood, but I don’t put my head in the sand and think that it couldn’t happen here. I know it can.
Still….
I went out and bought blue and white lights for outside, something I’ve never done. I have an interactive menorah hanging on my front door, again, something I’ve never done. In fact, since I’ve been on my own (and with my own family) I have not put Chanukah lights in the window. That unfortunately will continue because I know that if I put candles on my windowsill, my mother would come back from the grave and blow them out with a raucous, and loud message of fire safety.
Most people don’t know the story of Chanukah; perhaps some teachers wanting to bring multiculturalism to their classrooms, and now the story of the Maccabees is being co-opted to match the narrative, anything to turn the words of Jews and their history against them. The Festival of Lights isn’t about war. It isn’t about victory. It is about faith. The miracle isn’t that the Maccabees won against their most recent oppressor. The miracle is the lights themselves. When we retook the temple, amid the destruction, they went to light the candelabra to rededicate the temple, the menorah – not the nine-branch one that most are familiar with, but the regular, ordinary menorah that is always lit in the temple. There was only enough oil to keep it lit for one night. There was no other oil. So, what did they do? They lit it anyway.
And it remained lit, not one night, not two, not three or four, not even five or six or seven, but it remained lit for eight days. One day’s oil lasted for eight days. That is the miracle. And that is why we light eight candles on a new type of menorah used just for this holiday: a hanukkiah.
Tonight, I will say the prayers (that I don’t normally say). I will fry the latkes in oil. I will fry the chicken in oil. I will light the first candle on the same menorah that I lit as a child; the one that I grew up watching the candles burn down on the dining room table that was my grandmother’s. It will be placed on that same dining room table in my own house. My kids will see the lights on the same menorah, the same table, and they will be able to see through my eyes, even amidst the clutter that seems to grow multi-generationally on this dining room table.
This year, however, this old menorah has a special, additional meaning. I saw this menorah in Toronto at the Royal Ontario Museum in their Judaica exhibit, in the Chanukah window. A copy/replica of MY Chanukah menorah sits in the largest museum in Canada. The exhibit label states that it is from Gdansk, Poland, brass, from the early 1900s.
Happy Chanukah.
(c)2023
Hanukkah menorah, “Danzig” type,
Gdansk, Poland, early 1900s.
(c)2023
You can view it lit later tonight on Instagram (link in sidebar).
(c)2023
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי
St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in Kahnawake, Quebec
When I was studying Catholicism and becoming Catholic, I wanted to know which saint shared my birthday. As it turned out, when I discovered that “my birthday saint” was St. Francis Xavier, I was a little underwhelmed. Every time I said his name I thought of Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, and I thought couldn’t I have had a better saint.
I bemoaned and ignored him, later discovering him as a follower of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who’s Spiritual Exercises and Daily Examen I was also looking into. Still, I was unsatisfied. I think I wanted someone like Joan of Arc or Mary Magdalene.
When I became interested in and devotional to St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a very local saint and the first Native American canonized saint, I wanted to visit her homes and her shrines. I’ve often been to Fonda, where she lived for most of her life, and tried to visit her tomb in Quebec. However, it was during covid, and they weren’t allowing non-parishioners or pilgrims to visit the shrine.
Where exactly is her shrine in Canada?
Kahnawake, Mohawk Territory at the, wait for it, St. Francis Xavier Mission Church.
Really. Her earthly bones, her relics are laid to rest in the church dedicated to “my birthday saint”. A truly remarkable and at the same time ordinary coincidence.
I’ve been to Kahnawake three times. The first was during that covid time when we could only explore the outside. And then this past summer, I was able to visit Kahnawake twice. The first time we visited, we knew the church would be closed on the only day we had available, but we did attend a tour of the village through the Kahnawake Tourism Center. We received a very detailed and informational tour about the area, the Mohawks past and present, St. Kateri, and a bit about the mission church. On our next visit at the end of August, we were able to not only visit and see the inside of the church, we were also able to attend mass, see the original and earliest painting of Kateri by Father Claude Chauchetiere (one of the Jesuit missionaries at the time) as well as her relic that was removed from the vault for us to observe and venerate (if we chose to).
This mission church is a permanent building and was erected in 1716. Before that it was a moveable mission that traveled with the Mohawks beginning in La-Prairie-de-la-Madeleine. They moved a total of five times each time their mission church was constructed the same as the other Mohawk buildings until this last time in its permanent location. St. Kateri’s remains were entombed here in 1972.
Inside the church, in addition to St. Kateri’s tomb, are two memorials: the first is to the Mohawk men lost in the Quebec Bridge disaster in 1907, and the second is an ironwork replica of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in honor of 9/11. Both are on the main altar. It should be noted that the Mohawk are known for their ironworking skills, and were large parts of crews building not only the World Trade Center, but the Empire State Building as well in addition to many other high-rise buildings and skyscrapers across the area.
[Photos below cut]
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Griffins and Ginger Snaps 