Holidaze

I have to admit that at our house the holidaze have taken a back seat this year. With all of our political activities and the emotional rollercoaster ride we've been on courtesy of Election 2004, we haven't gotten into what's called the "holiday spirit," if there is such a thing in American culture beyond shopping anymore.

Our Xmas was always more earthy than the one shown in tv ads, with more emphasis on real greens and mistletoe and flaming light to ward off the winter darkness and deadness. Less presents and tinsel, more hanging out by the fire and listening to olden holiday music while munching and sipping and reminiscing.

There was always a tall and brawny pine dominating the den, with a fire blazing in the fireplace and lots of candles and corny decorations from Christmases past scattered about the house. Ornaments that date back to the 70s, the schmaltzier the better. ALL of the candles would be lit at once on Xmas eve, and when they were almost burnt out, a viewing of some black and white Christmas movie from simpler times.

But this year is different, perhaps because our peace sign was stolen a few weeks back. We built it from hula hoops -- one large one for the outer ring and pieces cut up to form the interior legs. We wrapped all the parts in twinkling Christmas lights and hung it on the front of our house before Christmas last year. It's been there ever since, lighting our corner each evening, beaming the peace sign to all the drivers pausing at the stop sign. Aimed at reminding neighbors and passers-by that there was a war on. And a bad one. And that we needed to focus on peacemaking, not warmaking.

Well, a few weeks ago someone had the audacity to walk up the healthy rise to the front wall of our house, unplug the lights, grab the peace sign and disappear in the dead of night. We didn't hear a thing and didn't discover the theft until the next morning. What a creepy feeling to realize that some cowardly thug hated the thought of peace so much that they felt obligated, perhaps even justified, in sneaking right up to our house at night and pulling down the hula hoop symbol of peace.

Can't you imagine just what this thief was like? Standard issue right-wing bully, patterned on the brutish empty vessel that occupies the White House. I wonder if this slug felt a sense of "moral" superiority as they assailed our free speech rights and plowed onto our premises, intent on destroying an "unholy" visual challenge to their greedy warmongering ways.

We're building a new peace sign, bigger and brighter, to replace the one that was stolen. Rope lights instead of tiny twinklers. Attached much more securely. Up higher on the house. We're thinking of adding an adjacent blazing cross and a sign that says "Peace on Earth" just to rub in the Christmas message. But we don't know if we'll go that far. We don't want to tempt the bullies so flagrantly and risk the destruction of things more dear to us than a lit up symbol.

But I think the new peace sign, and some blue lights on the eaves, will be it for our holiday decorations this year. Hard to feel festive with democracy dying all around us and brutes on the move. Hard to justify spending money that enriches the sleazy purveyors of a corporate greed that have rendered the original meanings of Winter Solstice or Christmas or Hannuka pretty damn moot.

We'll still have a fire and burn the candles and watch old movies and sip cocoa. We'll buy some small gifts from small businesses and artists and outfits like the Heifer project. But we'll leave the frantic and materialistic schtick to those who truly enjoy consumerism at any price -- those who would take the peace out of earth, whatever it takes. --B.W. (and M.E.)