Christmas 2009 in Arlington

Season's Greetings and Peace to all! We enjoyed a quiet Christmas together in our new home. Even though we are still dealing with unpacking boxes we managed to get a beautiful tree in Arlington. Selena did most of the decorating and she baked a lone batch of Christmas cookies. As part of our Christmas Eve tradition we each picked out a piece (of any kind) to perform or present. Here is the poem that I performed. I prefaced it by saying that one had to imagine that I was about 5 years old with pigtails wearing overalls.

"The Moo Cow Moo"

My papa held me up to the Moo Cow Moo

So close I could almost touch,

And I fed him a couple of times or so,

And I wasn't a fraid-cat, much.

But if papa goes in the house,

And my mama she goes in too,

I keep still like a little mouse

For the Moo Cow Moo might moo.

The Moo Cow's tail is a piece of rope

All raveled out where it grows,

And it's just like feeling a piece of soap

All over the Moo Cow's nose.

And the Moo Cow Moo has lots of fun

Just switching his tail about,

But if he opens his mouth, why then I run,

For that's where the Moo comes out.

The Moo Cow Moo has deers on his head,

And his eyes stick out of their place,

And the nose of the Moo Cow Moo is spread

All over the Moo Cow's face.

And his feet are nothing but fingernails,

And his mama don't keep them cut,

And he gives folks milk in water pails,

When he don't keep his handles shut.

But if you or I pull his handles, why

The Moo Cow Moo says it hurts,

but the hired man sits down close by

And squirts, and squirts, and squirts.

-Edmund Vance Cooke

When it was Xavier's turn he brought down his guitar, of course, and played a beautiful version of "O Holy Night". Loved it! Too bad I didn't get it on tape.

Selena presented a somber but beautiful poem by Wang Ping, a poet that she read and met in a class last spring:

"Tsunami Chant"

I'm not a singer, but please

let me sing of the peacemakers

on the streets and internet, your candles

in this darkest moment of night,

your bodies on the steps of government buildings,

your voices from the roots of grasses and trees,

from your pit of conscience.

I'm not a prayer, but please,

please give my voice to the children

in baghdad, Basra, Afghanistan,

and every other bombed-out place on earth,

your crying out in pain and fear;

please give my hands to the mothers

raking through rubble for food, bodies;

my sight to the cities and fields in smoke;

my tears to the men and women who are brought

home in bags; and please give my ears

to those who refuse to hear the explosions,

who tune only to censored news, official words.

I'm not a citizen, but please

count my vote against the belief

the that the american way is the only way,

count it against the blasphemy of freedom,

against a gang of thugs who donned crowns

on their own heads, who live for power,

and power only, whose only route is

to deceive and loot, whose mouths move

only to crus, whose hands close

only into a grave.

I'm not a worshiper, but please

accept my faith in those

who refuse to believe in painted lies,

refuse to join this chorus of supreme hypocrisy,

refuse to sell out, to let their conscience sleep,

wither, die. Please accept my faith

in those who cross the bridge for peace,

only to be cursed and spat upon, but keep crossing

anyway, every Wednesday, in rain and snow,

and my faith in those who camp out night after night,

your blood thawing the frozen ground,

your tents flowers of hope in this bleak age.

I don't posses a bomb, don't know

how to shoot or thrust a sword.

All I have is a broken voice,

a heart immense with sorrow.

But please, please take them,

let them be part of this tsunami

of chanting, this chant of awakening.

-Wang Ping

For dinner I pulled out a roast from the freezer. This summer I bought a whole beef from a woman in Pine City. She has goats and raises the calves on goat's milk! Well, the meat is superb and the broth is also very tasty. Anyway, our Christmas dinner was pulled together from things we had around the kitchen and the pantry. The down side to living out here is that you can't buy any good food in the supermarket!!! Uff-da! It's all Kemps, Gold'nPlump and Nabisco!

Keeping with Rodde tradition, Xavier and Selena gave a double ration of food to Mathias, the barn cat. The chickens also got extra greens and beef fat tonight. In the dead of winter chickens are always very happy to get anything! The dogs didn't get anything unusual because they are ALWAYS fed like princes anyway. I suppose I would give them some tripe if I had it. That would send them into ecstasy.

Well, we'll top this off with some photos of the evening.

Christmas morning from the living room window