Letters to the Editor
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the magical bunny
I can relate. Ours is the Magical Bunny (also known as the Great Rabbit Spirit).
Though we didn't have to invent it, our son did, I think, because he wanted to believe in something, but on his own terms (he has his reasons--we have really complicated cultural backgrounds and live in a foreign country with entirely different traditions--imagine two generations of "interfaithage" beyond your family unit and you get the idea).
According to my son, The Magical Bunny not only brings presents on Easter and around Winter Wonderday, she also created the universe by scattering her droppings in the sky and gave life and spirit to all the living and inanimate things on earth. She also appears anywhere where light reflects off an object and creates a flash.
We are hoping to incorporate some of the traditions of Festivus into our celebration this year--especially the airing of grievances and wrestling for supremacy. I like the idea of hanging out pants. Might try that, too.
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we too have a mystery icon deliver gifts
we began with an interfaith concept of a neo pagan, judeo, christian bubbling up and named our creation kwanzabuck, after a 7 point buck that was visiting our village and leaping over garden walls.
he is a man-buck, with a papermache deer head, large antlers and a mexican serape draping his body, he has a bag of gifts and glowing flashlight eyes. the kids get to see him, he does not speak, just hands the bag over and disappears.
i love snowchicken. the nest is brilliant. the pants are inspired. thanks for the article.
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Great Article
The truest family traditions are the ones invented by the family. I also like Sabina's Kwanzabuck.
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Nice one
One of my favorite holiday traditions belonged to a classmate in high school. Her father used to climb up on the roof after the kids were in bed to clomp around and make tracks. They didn't have that tradition for interfaith reasons, but the spirit is the same - striving for some magic, not just settling for Santa and presents, or Chinese and a movie. And Irving certainly fills that bill.
One aside - unless Irving is part duck, he has wattles, not waddles.
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The illustration
Goatse?
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That is so cool.
I think it is great! Why bring all that turmoil in to your family when you could just make up your own holiday. It takes some courage to stand up against cultural norms.
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Christopher!
Ok, you've just been added to my short list of favorite writers!
Excuse me, I have to Google you!
:)
S.Rockey
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Fabulous!!
Why didn't we think of that? I love the snowchicken. We just might build a nest next year.
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Based on the front-page teaser . . .
. . . I thought I'd be reading a Daniel Pinkwater story.
A gift-delivering chicken would fit right into his cosmology.
I recently watched, on my new HDTV, "The Polar Express." Beyond the disturbing hi-res uncanny valley animation, there was something really creepy about the basic theme of the enterprise. A kid old enough to see with his own eyes that Santa, isn't, gets dragged to the top of the earth and smacked on the face with great wonders to restore his faith.
There needs to be a better exit strategy from childhood beliefs. One that will lead the kid to being a world healer.
Bok, Bok, Bok!
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I guess you don't mind having your kids beat up a lot
Cuz, you know when they try to explain that mess to their school mates, well you know how children have multicultural tolerance coming out their asses...good luck with that though.
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Not quite "interfaith"
This was hilarious, but this isn't an "interfaith" family. This is a Jewish family with some new secular "traditions." Why should Noxon's wife be able to reject the one remaining aspect of his upbringing, but impose all of hers on him and their kids? As long as they're all happy, it's all good, but it's not the same as a family where, for instance, both sides get equal time (even if it's zero) and you let the kids decide for themselves. (Yeah, we're actually trying to do that with our kids.) And these days you have to work mighty hard to claim that Santa Claus is in any way Christian, considering that even most of the Christmas specials featuring the Big Guy fail to mention the actual source of the holiday!
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I've seen the light, and the light clucks.
Wow, I think I'm a believer.
Do you recommend Irving himself,
perhaps his intercultural helper Juan El Gallo Magi, could come visit Miami Beach.
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May I suggest...a Red-Eyed Flying Polar Bear?
Re: "There needs to be a better exit strategy from childhood beliefs. One that will lead the kid to being a world healer."
Check out Reggie the Red-Eyed Flying Vegetarian Polar Bear - she only brings carrot juice and spinach pie - but is an expert on global warming. http://www.sonyachloe.info/reggie.html
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Inspiring
I am still laughing, I can just see the kids faces when they discovered the feathers in the nest. Ho Ho Ho.
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I agree with the Ph.D.
Noxon's wife has it her way. She loathes not just Christmas as a Christian holiday and the story of a Christian savior, and not just the commercialized kitsch that surrounds it in this country (which I find quite universally loathsome), but also the most harmless, inclusive, secular family-oriented traditions related to it.
Yet her Judaism is so precious to her, she needs her kids sent to Hebrew school and absorbing every bit of the traditional Jewish observances. I have a feeling if Mr. Noxon even said he'd go along to synagogue with the family but not wear the kippah (which is an indication of Jewish faith, after all), she would throw a tantrum like no other, even though he simply wished not to align with her religion rather than to express one of his own.
If the author knew what he is getting into, he may have little choice but to continue to have a solely Jewish (not interfaith) family that he feels little involvement with, or to abandon the marriage altogether. Give the tone of the article, he is resigned to let the wife rule and be passive regarding faith and religion. But there is no question that she is being extremely unfair and controlling, as much as any evangelical Christian spouse.