I have mixed feelings about saying goodbye to Christmas 2010
as 12th Night approaches.
I won’t miss Paul McCartney whining: “Simply having a
wonderful Christmas time,”
I know, I know, I wanted to marry him when I was 14 years
old. But the magic vanished when he stopped singing and writing with Lennon.
I won’t miss Bruce Springsteen’s screaming “Santa Claus is
Coming to Town” or Madonna’s sultry “Santa Baby.” Please remember “Santa” is
still Saint Nicholas (277-343 AD), whose persona was forever changed from the
religious to the secular by Clement Moore’s 1822 poem.
I won’t miss any singer (other than Josh Groban) trying to
prove their legitimacy by singing “O Holy Night.” Enough already!
I won’t miss the cast of hundreds in the 1984 Geldorf-Ure
song asking me, “Do they know its Christmas?”
No, they don’t know and they won’t miss it either, just like
I won’t feel left out when billions of Chinese usher in the year of the Rabbit
with fireworks on Feb. 3.
Oh and by the way”…“Gong Xi Fa Cai”
I won’t miss the Hyundai commercial that features that wispy
couple singing “Jingle Bells” in a recording studio around a Hyundai. I have no
idea what the voice-over is telling us about the Hyundai.
Similarly I won’t miss the Honda Civic commercial that
features a voice singing, “Holiday, holiday and the best day of the year.”
Evidently no one clued in the ad company execs that the next
line is “Little Mattie Groves to church did go some holy words to hear.”
In the 16th century folk ballad recorded by John Jacob
Niles, Jean Ritchie, Joan Baez, Doc Watson and a host of others, Mattie Groves
has a tryst with Lord Arlen’s wife and gets a sword run through him when Lord
Arlen catches him with his pants down so to speak.
Merry Christmas to you, too, Honda!
Now, for most of my adult life I have spent a rather subdued
Christmas where I grew up on the Main Line. We would have brunch, open
presents, take a walk through the nearby Jenkins Arboretum and then return home
to a warm fireplace and a quiet Christmas dinner.
But this year, Christmas day included my husband’s three
pre-school aged granddaughters, whose day centered on a new toy called “Hide
and Seek Jo Jo”— a wide-eyed, turquoise rabbit chock full of batteries and
enough computer chips to navigate a lunar landing.
Jo-Jo covers his eyes with his long ears and counts to 10
while the children hide with the magic carrot. Jo-Jo then tracks the magic
carrot, spinning around and celebrating when he finds it…theoretically.
Our Jo-Jo would invariably run into a wall and start going
around in circles like a whirling dervish.
It wasn’t until the three little ones got bored, that they
realized Sally didn’t require four AA batteries, didn’t run into walls or spin
around in circles and could hide in really awesome places.
And that’s how on Christmas day I wound up hiding in our
laundry closet, sitting cross-legged on top our washing machine enjoying some
peace and quiet while three little girls searched all over for me leaving Jo-Jo
on his side still kicking and singing “I’m coming to find you…can you see me?”
I think I need about 365 days to re-charge my batteries.
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
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