Christmas rapping

A mother of two young children rolled her eyes recently when I asked if she was almost ready for Christmas.  She seemed stressed at the thought of what still needed to be done to make the holiday special for her family.  I said to her that these Christmases with her starry-eyed children should be the best of her life, and that one day she would actually miss all the craziness leading up to the holiday.

The young mother smiled, possibly thinking about her beautiful children's happy faces on Christmas morning, perhaps also about her own childhood and mom, and didn't seem stressed any longer.  It's interesting how the cycle of life plays out in front of our open eyes, open minds, and open hearts at Christmastime.

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It must have been hard for my mom to get the gifts that my brother and I wanted most when we were growing up in New York City. But she somehow always managed to do so, sometimes traveling a good distance around town get a particular toy that was on sale or hard to find.  Come Christmas morning, those gifts awaited my brother and me under the silver artificial Christmas tree that lit up the living room of our apartment every December.

Gracias, madre.

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Christmastime is one of the things I miss most about working in New York.  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year around midtown Manhattan.  While some people complained about the crowds, I found it fascinating to see people from all around the world enjoying the sights and patronizing the stores of the city in December.  I remember lots of smiles on happy faces and gloved hands holding many shopping bags on and around Fifth Avenue.

For a few years, I was lucky to be able to see part of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree from my office window.  I constantly looked over at it, I guess just to make sure it was indeed the famous tree.  A couple of times the company I worked for held a party on the night of the tree lighting ceremony, and we would go to the roof of our building and look down at the huge crowd just as the lights went on.  I never took the tree for granted, and knew that one day I would miss having it such a part of my life.  Indeed, I do.

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During the holiday season, I enjoy indulging in a glass or two, perhaps three, of egg nog.  Since I lived in the Trenton area for 18 years, however, I now hesitate to settle for anything less than the Halo Farm brand of egg nog.  To my tastebuds, it really is a cut above the others, tasting like the world's greatest milk shake.  Spice it up with a little rum and I'm ready to drive around with Santa Claus and help him deliver toys to homes with chimneys.   

Now that I don't work in New York and frequent its Latin cafes, the holidays are usually also the only time I indulge in stewed salted cod, a.k.a. "bacalao."  A sure sign of the season in our home is when the dead fish sits in a bowl filled with water on our kitchen counter for days leading up to Christmas.  When it's sufficiently softened and desalinated, my wife will season it with onions, peppers and garlic, and cook it in a light tomato sauce with potatoes, celery and Spanish olives.  It goes great on a plate with white rice and black beans, or alone in a soup bowl!  

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One of my favorite Christmas pop songs is "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses.  It was recorded in 1981, when my wife and I celebrated our first Christmas together while living in an apartment in Clifton, NJ.  I often think of those days when hearing that song -- although I try to forget my frustration with trying to put up a real Christmas tree for the last time in my life.  

Many people may not recall the Waitresses had another popular song, "I Know What Boys Like," that did not at all evoke the holidays or the spirit of giving, for that matter.

* * *

I'll always remember when we drove through the streets of Philadelphia to take the interim pastor of our Lawrence, NJ church to his home when he missed the last train from Trenton after preaching on Christmas Eve.

My wife and I and our two sons, who were 15 and 11 years old at the time, were exhausted after hosting almost two dozen family members at our Robbinsville home for Christmas Eve dinner, cleaning up while saying our good-byes, and then dashing off to church.  We couldn't, however, just leave our pastor to sit at the train station for hours or pay a king's ransom for a taxi ride home.  So, without thinking twice, we extended our night a few more hours and took him home to his family in our minivan.

We were quite tired that Christmas morning after just a handful of hours of sleep.  But, at the same time, we were energized by helping someone who traveled a long distance to remind a group of Christians about the true meaning of Christmas.

Normalizing Cuba-US relations

The following was written in response to inquiries from family and friends immediately after it was announced that the US and Cuban governments were taking steps to normalize relations. 

Thanks for thinking of me and caring about Cuba and Cuban-Americans. I have positive, albeit mixed, feelings about today's announcement.

The Castros have a lot of blood and theft on their hands. Their oppression of countrymen during the past 55 years is unforgivable. Ultimately, however, it is the Cuban people who will benefit from normalization of relations with the U.S. -- as will the American people.

As long as today's announcement will not exonerate the Castros -- history should place them along Stalin, Hitler and other tyrants -- I agree the time has come for a change. While I sympathize with Cuban-Americans who lost loved ones to firing squads, or knew of people who rotted in jails for daring to speak out for values that Americans take for granted, or had what was rightfully theirs confiscated by a one-party government, I laud President Obama for making the courageous decision to put the welfare of everyday Cubans above politics.

It is these everyday Cubans, most of whom have never lived under a leader not named Castro, that we should think of and hope for today.

Again, thanks for caring.