12 Blessings of Christmas
Church Christmas Tree
Stevan Dohanos
December 27, 1952

Grateful for the studded snow tires that anchor my car to the frozen earth, I follow the old dirt road as it crosses an icy creek, then winds through the snowy woods that extend for miles through the Vermont mountains.

It’s an incredibly beautiful day. Spotting the simple, 200-year-old Quaker meetinghouse in a sunny clearing ahead, I carefully slow to pull off the road, then stop by the freshly plowed path to its door.

To the north, there’s the sound of wood being chopped. To the east, a dog barks. But here there is only silence. As it has for nearly two centuries, this simple country church sits in a profound stillness rich with a sense of Presence. Leaning back in the sun, I relax for the first time in weeks.

This is my favorite time of year. My car is loaded with freshly cut pine boughs, candles, baskets of pine cones, dried seed pods, and lemon balm, plus garlands of balsam that I’ll use to drape over the door and decorate the deep windowsills of the old meetinghouse. But as I sit here in the warm sun, the rich fragrances of woods and meadow hold me in my seat—and remind me of the joyful blessings that will be woven into my life over the next several weeks.

1. The Blessing of Community

The Blessing of Community
Tree in Town Square
Stevan Dohanos
December 4, 1948

During the holiday season, the entire world seems in harmony: Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, Buddhists remember the enlightenment of Siddhartha, Jews recall the miraculous temple lamp that burned for eight days, Muslims welcome the new year based on the lunar calendar, and even nontheists join the expression of goodwill with colored lights and electric Santas that wave to passersby.

Down the mountain in the village of Bristol, the Christmas season begins on the first Saturday of December when villagers sweep the snow from their steps, light the village Christmas tree, and members of three churches around the village green hold their annual Christmas Bazaars.

“It looks like an old-fashioned Christmas card,” chuckles my friend Laurie Kroll. “Wreaths and greens are everywhere. St. Ambrose has a silver tea on one side of the green, First Baptist has soups and sandwiches for lunch on the other side, and the Federated Church around the corner has Santa.”

The members of each church have been knitting and baking for weeks to produce an abundance of foods and crafts, and each church becomes a small marketplace with tables of homemade jams and pickles, knitted hats, fruit-studded braided breads, and every kind of holiday ornament imaginable. It’s a fundraiser, sure—”One year we made enough to buy a new vacuum,” Laurie remembers—but more than that, it’s a time of coming together and remembering what we share.

2. The Blessing of Giving

Thinking about my friends in Bristol, I realize that there are probably few of us who won’t admit that gift-giving has strayed far from its humble beginnings of homemade crafts and food—particularly when we have to cart piles of wrapping paper and plastic packaging to the recycling center after Christmas or pay our credit card bills in January.

A few years ago, this really got to ecology author and activist Bill McKibben, who lives a few hills over from me near Ripton. “A bunch of us in what was then the Troy conference of the Methodist Church, were thinking that there was a lot of waste at Christmastime—all those batteries!” Bill recently messaged me. “But when we started talking with folks about new ways of celebrating Xmas, we quickly found out that there was something deeper here. People really dreaded the approach of Christmas, because it had all become too much—and they were incredibly receptive to the idea of doing it differently, with an emphasis on gifts of service.”

Bill and his friends persuaded a number of families to commit themselves to doing things for those with whom they normally exchanged gifts—walking an elderly aunt’s dog when the temperature drops into the single digits, for example. Bill subsequently wrote a book called Hundred Dollar Holiday, in which he proposed spending no more than $100 per family at Christmas. The result? Less running back and forth to the mall, less time spent desperately looking for hot toys and sales, less time tuned out with electronics—and more time spent sitting by the fire with family, sharing a potluck with friends, or taking a long walk outside, alone in the freshly fallen snow.

The 12 Blessings of Christmas The Saturday Evening Post

Freedom from Want by Norman Rockwell was published in the March 6, 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

There is no holiday, except Christmas, that has more tradition surrounding it. What does July 4th or Labor Day have that compares with the wealth of traditions surrounding Thanksgiving? The big turkey dinner, the football games on TV, Macy’s parade, the start of Christmas season—all in honor of a three-day feast in Plymouth Colony that occurred 391 years ago.

While we know the traditions, we’re still fuzzy on the meaning and origins of the day. For instance, we’re not quite certain that the 1621 Massachusetts feast was, in fact, America’s first Thanksgiving. An earlier thanksgiving-like feast had been held in the Colony of Virginia in 1610. And residents of St. Augustine, Florida, talk of a thanksgiving celebration held by Spanish colonists in their city back in 1565.

Furthermore, as Roger Butterfield’s 1948 article “What You Don’t Know About Thanksgiving” points out, the Pilgrim feast of 1621 did not launch a yearly tradition. There is no record of a similar event the following year. In fact, the 1621 festival was not a “thanksgiving feast” but a simple harvest celebration. The first event dedicated to giving thanks to God was held in 1623 after a heavy rainfall resulted in a larger harvest than expected.

Pilgrim by J.C. Leyendecker appeared on The Saturday Evening Post cover November 29, 1924.

It really wasn’t until 1777 that the Continental Congress spread the idea of a thanksgiving day beyond New England, when it asked colonists to set aside December 18 as a day of prayer to God for an independent and strong nation. That same year, George Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving day to celebrate the victory at Saratoga.

Not everyone welcomed this idea of a government holy day. When a congressional bill proposed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789, two Southern congressmen shot to their feet to protest, as Butterfield writes. “They did not think, they said, that the people had anything to be thankful for in their new government, and even if they did, the president and Congress had no right to tell them how and when to express their thankfulness.” Ultimately, President Washington overrode their objections and proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving for that year.

But it was very different from what we know today. For most Americans the holiday was honored by fasting and prayer.

Thanksgiving would not become a national holiday until 1863, and its designation was more political than religious. Though President Lincoln called it “a day of thanksgiving and praise for our beneficent father who dwelleth in the heavens,” his principle goal was to reinforce the sense of union in loyal states through a commonly celebrated holiday.

This Currier and Ives print, Home to Thanksgiving, helped popularize the holiday.

Americans have honored Thanksgiving every year since then. And while we agree on the importance of the holiday, there is less agreement on what giving thanks should involve. The more traditional, religious idea emphasizes mortification and repentance. As the Post editors noted in 1877, government and commerce stops so we can have a day to express gratitude for everything, including hardships. After all, “our trials are invariably for our benefit, and that we are made to suffer apparent evil that good may result. The ways of God are inscrutable, and it’s a blessing to morals that they are so.”

Yet these same editors, just three years earlier, had seemed to recognize that some measure of joyous celebration was to be expected, even encouraged. As they wrote in 1874:

There’s a deep fund of vitality in the human breast, and the most solemn or most sorrowful observance cannot induce a major of the people to wear long face and penitential hearts. And who can blame them? We have all legitimate causes enough for depression without suffering ourselves to be legislated into the blues, while our hears are merry and our horizons clear

The right to laugh or cry is one of the reserved rights of the people, not delegated to Congress, but retained as a constituent of individual freedom.

So if we find indecorously joyful faces shaming the solemn occasion, we can console ourselves with the reflection that laughter is better than tears, and that the making of happy people is the crowning glory of a good government.

But now joy is our business. We celebrate the good that has come unto us. And God is best thanked for His gifts by clear brows and smiling faces. The let us shout and be merry, eat our fill, and laugh to our heart’s content while east and west, north and sought, the wail of the turkey is heard in the land.

The True Spirit of Thanksgiving The Saturday Evening Post

Community members singing Handel's Messiah at the Middlebury Congregational Church. Photo by Ernest Longey.

Chattering madly with friends and neighbors, they’ll pour into the church, unwrap their mufflers, grab a score of Handel’s Messiah from a pile stacked by the door, and slide into a pew.

Everyone in the community is welcome to come and sing or bring their instruments and join the orchestra. There are no rehearsals, only a couple of carols to warm up. Soloists will include community members like tenor François Clemmons, who played “Officer Clemmons” for decades on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when we were kids.
(Read more in “The 12 Blessings of Christmas,” Nov/Dec 2012 issue.)

Get in the holiday spirit with these videos from Middlebury Congregational Church’s 2009 Messiah Sing.

The Blessing of Music The Saturday Evening Post

But what most people think of as the flowers are actually colored bracts or leaves, which surround a small, yellowish-green structure that is the true flower.

Today’s poinsettia is much improved from the poinsettia of years ago, thanks to plant breeders. Although red is still the most popular color, pink-, salmon- and white-colored bracts are also available. Even speckled pink, red and white bracts are now available in cultivars, such as Jingle Bells and Monet. Even more recent on the scene are those with variegated green and yellow leaves, bracts that have sharply pointed lobes that resemble holly leaves and a few that have ruffled bracts.

New cultivars tend to have a greater number of large flowers on more compact plants. Poinsettia trees are also popular as are hanging baskets. Like many other florists’ plants, dwarf poinsettias can be found that pack a lot of color in a small package.

Extend the Beauty
The long-lasting nature of today’s poinsettias can only be enjoyed if they receive the proper care in your home. The best way to extend their beauty is to match, as closely as possible, the conditions in which they were produced. Poinsettias are raised in greenhouses where cool temperatures can be maintained between 60 F and 75 F with high relative humidity and high light intensity.

These conditions will be difficult if not impossible to match in the home. Natural light intensity tends to be quite low and of shorter duration in the winter. And as we heat the air indoors, the air becomes drier so that relative humidity often drops below the level of plant and people comfort.

Make the most of the situation by placing your plant near a sunny window, but do not allow the foliage or flowers to contact cold window glass. Artificial light may be needed to extend growing periods. A humidifier will increase both plant and people comfort. Grouping plants together on a pebble tray will help raise humidity around the plants themselves. Both hot and cold drafts can cause leaf drop, so avoid placing plants near doors or heating vents.

Both under- and overwatering can decrease the life of your plant. Plants that are allowed to wilt will begin to brown along the edges of the leaves or may drop leaves entirely. Watering too often will prevent proper aeration of the soil, and roots will begin to die and decay. Poinsettias should be watered when the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch. If your pot was wrapped in foil, be sure to poke a few holes through the bottom to allow water to drain away.

And if you’re giving a poinsettia as a gift, be sure to protect it from frigid outdoor temperatures during transport. If you make your purchase from a florist or other supplier, be sure they wrap your purchase. Get the plant from the store to your car as quickly as possible. Preheat the car beforehand to prevent further chilling injury. Plants left in an unheated car can be injured or killed quickly, so drop the plants off at home before running other errands.

Poisonous Plant?
The poinsettia is often listed as a poisonous plant; however, there is no scientific evidence to support this conclusion. Even in studies where rats were fed poinsettias, the rats showed no evidence of poisoning. Some people are sensitive to the milky sap in the plant and may develop a skin irritation if they are in contact with that sap. It is always best to keep plants out of the reach of children and pets.

For more information, visit urbanext.illinois.edu/poinsettia/index.cfm.

B. Rosie Lerner is an extension consumer horticulture specialist at Purdue University.

Poinsettia Pointers The Saturday Evening Post

One way to get a break from work is to dump it all on someone else. The boss in Dick Sargent’s 1961 cover arrives at his office and finds it loaded with paperwork. No problem—Miss Secretary’s break is now over, and the boss can practice his putting. The boss calls it “delegating,” although the overwhelmed lady may have another word for it.

Shade Tree
Richard Sargent
April 12, 1958

Artist Sargent also shows us the fine art of slacking off from home chores. The man on the April 12, 1958, cover is resting peacefully under a shade tree. No one said you couldn’t enjoy the shade before you planted the tree.

Linemen Listen to World Series
Stevan Dohanos
October 4, 1952

The October 4, 1952, cover by artist Stevan Dohanos shows linemen showing a little break-time ingenuity in rigging up a radio to listen to the World Series. Artist Lonie Bee shows a board of directors with the same idea, taking a break from directing (or whatever they do) to watch the game in the comfort of the boardroom, complete with a fancy-schmancy black & white television.

Since telephone crewmen have to work in sleet, snow, heat, and storms, we won’t begrudge them a little fun when they get a beach job, as shown on the August 10, 1957, cover by Ben Prins. Sunbathing, enjoying a cup of coffee, and even roasting a hot dog—not a bad day at work.

Men Working
Stevan Dohanos
April 12, 1947

No slacker when it comes to painting slackers, artist Dohanos shows us that painting a “Men Working” sign is apparently hard work. When the Connecticut cop who runs the police department’s sign shop awakens from his after-lunch snooze, we assume he’ll finish the sign. Working and resting at the same time is the clever constable in the June 5, 1926, cover by artist Alan Foster. He rigged up a chair and umbrella so he could still reach the “stop and go” sign to regulate traffic. He even packed a picnic basket and liquid refreshment. (We’re sure the jug contains fresh water.)

Milkman Meets Pieman
Stevan Dohanos
October 11, 1958

Post editors referred to Dohanos’ October 11, 1958, cover as “a fine example of business reciprocity, each man helping to stimulate consumption of the other man’s product.” That’s a fancy way of saying, “I drive a pie truck; you drive a milk truck, so maybe there’s a good break idea here.” Another break idea occurs to the young man with the “rush order” of groceries to be delivered on the May 9, 1953, cover. He has apparently passed this stream far too many times not to come prepared with a fishing pole.

Man Daydreaming of Adventure
Norman Rockwell
June 7, 1924

Of course, there’s the good old American custom of daydreaming at work. Constantin Alajalov shows a travel agent staring out the window at a dreary scene, perhaps dreaming of an adventure of her own. The scene is not new, as Norman Rockwell shows in his cover of June 7, 1924. It’s hard for an accountant to remain satisfied with the tedium of keeping the books if he has been reading too many high seas adventures in his spare time. Whatever your adventures this Labor Day, we hope you have a well-deserved and relaxing break from work.

Gallery

Classic Covers: Work Break The Saturday Evening Post