During the days my father was a policeman, we received at least 200 Christmas Cards, from all of his FOP, collogues, and the myriad of people and friends he had met while a Foot Patrol Man walking the neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. It was a treat to hang the cards all over the mantel in the living room and making a path of cards leading up the wall to the second floor and the little nook overlooking the first floor. Most cards we received were generic, but we did receive plenty of cards, my younger sister and I referred to as “even though these are real Christian cards, we will hang them but swear we are Jewish…” (These were the cards with lots of crosses, and some of Jesus actually with the Crown of Thorns). We also received plenty of Christmas gifts, lots of alcohol, and from one really wealthy friend of my father’s a box complete with 500 pieces of a variety of chocolates. “White Christmas”, the movie was on television, and back in the day in black and white, and we never missed “It’s A Wonderful Life.” We understood, that for many this day was of love, albeit, prior to and post, many of the same people who wished us “Peace on Earth,” sort of kind of mumbled those words. There was a local Catholic Cardinal in Pittsburgh, back in the ’50s who, even though it was Christmas time, reminded the world, that, of course, it was the Jews who killed Christ!
This Cardinal, at the time, frightened me, but my father would tell all of us, that if we just looked around our living room, it might seem that more people loved the Jews than hated them. He was correct, and all of us stopped wondering about the FEAR, and embraced the love!
In Pittsburgh, back in the day, when Climate Change was still in its infancy, and snow still fell in December, our Christmas vacation was filled with sled riding down the hills located in Schenley and Frick Parks, and of course piling at least eight people in one car with no seat belts, and driving to the restricted neighborhoods (Restricted in as no Jews, no Blacks, no Irish and no Dogs) and viewing the amazing amount of Christmas decorations on houses many of us in the row homes only dreamed of once calling home!
I wish a Merry Christmas, or as my Father-In-Law, insists Happy Christmas, because it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, to all who still believe that their God is not a Trump supporter, not a member of the Swamp living anywhere Trump sets up his home, be it the White House/Mar-A-Lago/Trump Tower. I wish a merry Christmas to those American’s appalled by kids sexually harassed, denied medical care and separated by their parents because they all have brown skin. I wish a Merry Christmas, to those who can’t understand why funding for the SNAP program is being cut, and why, the streams and rivers in communities where coal ash flows freely, usually a poor community or Flint Michigan, is actually a thing supported by those who sell Christianity in exchange for Snake Oil. And I wish a continuous Cha’g Se’Me’ach as the lights of the Menorah still glow, to those Jewish Families, who find Stephen Miller the most heinous of Anti-Semites, Sheldon Adelson and Bernie Marcus blind, deaf and dumb to Trump’s embracing of White Supremacists, and are totally embarrassed by Mr. and Mrs. Kushner, who could give one fuck about anyone’s life, Jewish or non-Jewish.
There is an article that the protests in Hong Kong, remain alive and angry, even during this supposed Peaceful Time of year…I applaud them because Silence equals death, and Silence is just an easy way for Evil to speak louder! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Peaceful Kwanza!
