A New Miss Read for Christmas!

Christmas at Thrush Green by Miss Read

Or, more accurately, by Miss Read (Dora Saint) and her long-time editor, Jenny Dereham.  But it is a Thrush Green story, with all of our favourite characters and the daily village dramas that Miss Read fans love.

If you’ve never read a Miss Read book before, this is a good one to start with. The first few chapters interweave introductions of  all of the characters into the narrative; you feel you know them right away.

There are carollers, church-goers and anti church-goes, Dottie Harmer and her animals,  Dimity and her vicar-husband, Ella, Winnie, Nellie Piggott and her Fuchsia Bush cafe,  and, of course, the Misses Lovelock. The small boys Jeremy and Paul are now teenagers, the Curdles’ children are growing, and age is creeping up on the people we’ve read about for all these years.

Ella’s is the central crisis in this story: she is going blind from macular degeneration. But other crises arise in other families, social gaffes are noted and overcome and a firm sense that Thrush Green will always be Thrush Green rests lightly over the whole book. A lovely Christmas time read.

Miss Read’s other Christmas books look very well-worn on my book shelves. I re-read them almost every year. These include Village Christmas, No Holly for Miss Quinn, The Christmas Mouse and Winter in Thrush Green. I also like to read The White Robin around Christmas or New Year. It’s such a hopeful, sweet story.

Quakerly Christmas

©2008, Ramona K. Silipo. All rights reserved.

Friends (Quakers) have a testimony against holding special days (holidays), presumably based on the concept that each day is a blessing and that we should have one standard of behaviour for every day of the year. This means that many Friends do not celebrate holidays such as Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving (USA and Canada). However, many Friends do celebrate, albeit modestly in most cases. My home meeting in California, for instance, has a Christmas event presented by the children, followed by a pot luck meal. This year, there is carol singing each First Day for those who want to join in. And so on. As with all the testimonies, it is left to each person to discern what, if any, recognition of Christmas to express.

My experience, both before and after becoming a Friend, is that nothing in my personal or family Christmas traditions seems antithetical to living as a Quaker. As a matter of fact, I find that at Christmas time many people are more alert and open to answer that of God in everyone; and people are often more aware of their need to be generous, forgiving and patient with others. I see nothing negative in setting aside a specific time of day or year to stop and consider how one’s life might be more enlightened and enlightening.

My personal and family traditions are pretty simple: a nativity set from my childhood with candles lit each night, a tree decorated with homemade ornaments and old glass ones as well, inviting people with no family or friends in the area for dinner, and a Christmas Eve with closest friends at which we eat soup and bread for dinner, read Christmas stories and light candles to remember friends who have died during the year. (This began during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, when we lost several friends each year. We’d stand around the table, all too aware that one or two of us would probably not be there the next Christmas. Thank God, we haven’t had to light any candles  for many years now.)

Reading to each other and the children is a lovely bonding activity. Story telling is as ingrained in human history as music, and the stories of Christmas are always a joy to me. Stories are usually more symbolic than literal, so I don’t see that Christmas stories in the form of carols are a threat to good Quaker order in any way

For me, the joys in life are simple– friends, family, dogs (or other pets), good times, talking, laughing, music, theatre, art– nothing spectacular. At Christmas many of these joys are magnified and appreciated more. We all strive for the Quaker ideal of living in the Light every day, but, so far, I’ve not met anyone who’s achieved this ideal. Until we do, it seems not only appropriate but very positive to set aside times, like Christmas, to remember our best moments in life, reinforce long-cherished relationships, and create new opportunities to move forward toward the Light every day.

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day.

The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, with gorgeous illustrations by William Nicholson, can truly wear the designation, A Modern Classic. First published in 1922, the original edition is now available again from Doubleday, in their “A Book for Young Readers” series. It’s also available in paperback and in various editions with more contemporary art. I recommend the original, however, because the words and pictures are perfect together.

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time . . . “

This is a wondrous book to read to the little ones, and one that older children can read to younger siblings.

The story begins at Christmas, when a sweet stuffed rabbit sits atop the boy’s stocking. It becomes a sweet, but not overly sentimental, story about love and loyalty. The philosophy is deep, but not complex, and the nature of love is its center.

I attended a wedding once where The Velveteen Rabbit was the principal reading. It fitted perfectly.

Bridging In and Out

©2008, RK Silipo. All rights reserved.

Note to a friend:

Self sufficiency is selfish, in that it denies friends the opportunity to care for you. Independence is good, especially for women. But when we try to do everything for ourselves, we get too self-focused. Not only do we become preoccupied with our needs that are not being met, but we also shut people out by denying to them that we have a problem and need their help. Being a friend is a gift, but allowing someone to be a friend to you is an even bigger gift.

Friendship is never a burden if it’s true and deep. Sometimes it might be a test, or a difficult passage that friends get through together, but not a burden. I do know what your teacher means, though. It is very much a part of your insight right now that you need to be out in the world. Start with your friends, the people you know, and then fan out. Your friends love you no matter what, and will make a bridge for you into the wider world where people might not be so kind and caring. The thing about a bridge is that you can move across it in both directions– outward into the world, but also back across into the homeland with your friends. You can visit both sides anytime you want.