It's the Holidays - and Friends Help

I am buried and overwhelmed and wearing my Don Quixote hat these days when my general outlook is more Sancho Panza on a good day and Aldonza on a bad one.

But I have a friend named Liz. She's a new friend but I met her Doing Things. Things I mean to write about here but keep quiet when push comes to shove because the desire to hide has gotten larger than the desire to share. Doing Things is how I keep it from growing too big.

Liz and Nathan sent me a package in a plain brown wrapper. I have said before that you cannot stop The Taunting, but this year the windmills and the Don Quixote of it all made it very, very close. But here it is the Taunting in it's plain brown wrapper - it followed all the rules - I knew it was coming but I didn't know what it was, it had packages that needed to be opened in order. And shockingly and beautifully it had Poppets. A Poppet. You cannot lie to a Poppet.

One of the Red Poppets came over to help and check out the Paper Poppet. Like all good taunting Packages this one came with instructions. The Paper Poppet is so beautiful and so full of Poppet that it was decided that he was going to have to find a way to be. He has decided that he would like to be a Billboard on a rooftop in Poppetropolis or perhaps a wall mural in the side of a building but he thinks he would prefer the rooftop view.


The Paper Poppet carefully removed himself from his charge much to the delight of the local denziens. The Choco's appeared joyfully on the scene. Not only was it chocolate it was chocolate that they had never tried before! NewThings!

And then they noticed that they needed to call over their friends and shouted across to the circus where the Coffee Poppets had been working out logistics for a food stand.

Because there is very little that makes that particular social circle as happy as things that combine their two passions, and here it was!

In bar form for relatively easy transport!

Plans and recipes were being discussed with logistics being undertaken and plans made to return for the others  . . . which left Red alone until Merri wandered by with her red balloon.

Packages are very exciting. It's all the wondering; "What could it be" and the excitement of red yarn.

Merri helped Red with the package and they spent some time guessing because they knew that Liz is a Maker of Things, and that meant that the inside could be almost any Thing.

And when it was opened the Thing was the best kind of Thing - A Thing from a Friend that could live in Poppetropolis and also BE a Friend!

They have all informed me that her name is Scarlet.

Sunray is looking into a rental for her now.

Holiday Briefing: Logic- The Destroyer

Does it seem odd to anyone else that the winter is when we have our Must See Them Holidays in our very, very scattered culture?

We seem so surprised when actual Winter gets in our way.

It's also odd that we put the first semester finals right smack dab inside the cluster of holidays. It pretty much presumes the traditional dependent student; as opposed to say the parent of children or head of household who is expected to create the feelings and events that are supposed to inform all of those fond associations with the season.

And thus the Holidays came.

The Taunting was impacted ( but not stopped - you cannot stop The Taunting). Unlike previous years the presents needed to be hidden only to be revealed on the day of. Part of that was practical - the theme this year was Chocolate. All Chocolate, all the time. Godiva, Hershey's Nestle's, Lindt, Mars, a little boutique outfit that made World Peace bars . . . every night a different chocolate ending with specialized chocolates for each of the Children ( who are not so Childish Anymore - as proven by the eighth candle's Bailey's infused chocolate bar for The Girl).

The secondary Taunting gifts involved clothing. Things delayed due to recession but needed anyway were made fun. Sales were shopped. Artisans were traded with. But we kept the holiday ridiculously low key, lower key even than the Cheapass Taunting of 2009. Last year it was because I was closing down my projects, and knew that things were ending. This year it is because I returned to school to create new beginnings, however the semester was ending.

Here is the catch - I thought I had taken a relatively balanced load but they were all production classes that had final projects before final exams. Although I sort of knew that, in practical terms it escaped me. There were 4 tests in rapid succession in Logic and in order to combat my LD it takes about two days to prep for a test, having done it in a very intense way this last month I discovered what I'm really doing is rewiring my brain temporarily; but so completely that after working on a logic test I was unable to use language properly for two to three days afterwards, creating amusing malapropisms for friends and family and actual Conduction Aphasia for me.

When I first took the Logic and Object Oriented programming classes I had this idea that I would develop strategies that would help other people with symbol processing disorders be able to take and pass the class, however about 2/3 of the way through I realized NO ONE with my disability is going to take these classes to this level - they'd have to be masochists and have unlimited time ( or a psychotic need to prove that they are able to pass the class anyway - at least that's what my mirror tells me) Instead I've developed a series of strategies that can help any number of other people with different LDs, or people who are not naturally adept at the structured thinking these classes require, but if you have a hard core symbol processing disorder, as my programming professor says: "There's nothing wrong with being a poet".

Everything was going well, although I was sleep deprived and then I thought - "I can modify this technique and maybe get some rest."

This was a huge mistake causing me to get a truly dismal grade on the one test I couldn't drop as the lowest score. How bad? 25. There's an average killer.

I found a scoring error and got an extra 13 points but it pretty much meant that I had to really, really invest in the final - 4 days of drills and prep. 4 hours of actual test.

But I did survive, and the Holidays happened without me speaking properly. The last final was on the 21. The trip to Grandma's House was determined to be an Xmas Day Trip. My Perfectly Normal Mother-in-Law was pronounced healthy enough to leave her house for Xmas Eve.

There was much rejoicing.

So really, everything was as good as it could be. And then finally my grades were posted - I'd gotten a 100 on the final and because of weighting managed to get an A for the class. Had I scored lower it would have been a scholarship affecting C.

Huzzah! But I was exhausted.

Anti Claus however had no patience for that sort of nonsense and broke in to make copies of our keys, and deliver a sonic screwdriver that actually is a screwdriver, kick ass motorcycle boots and small bombs of pixie dust to the Children. I think I was Found Boring this year.

I think I found myself a bit boring this year.

But I was not the only person in the family and some of the other had been waiting for Xmas day for some time. They had plans.

We travelled out to Grandma's house, where Grandma's Gingerbread Poppet had found the perfect tree, and the Perfectly Normal Husband brought all of his Holiday up with us. It is obvious that the family would like a return to things being arty.

New Poppets have joined the house - Aunti Claus brought some for the Children ( apparently she didn't approve of a Poppet-free holiday. They are Candy Cane Poppets but they look a little blood spattered - one wonders where they accompanied her first before landing in the stockings)

My parents gave me a photobox. My Perfectly Normal Husband gave me a vampire, a wizard, a literary Death and a Tinker. Someone got me a Magic Trackpad.

I just like saying I have a Magic Trackpad.

Now here's the thing about Grandma's House. It's pretty much the test model for "lake effect" snow. So before leaving, pretty much the only non syllogistic thing I understood was the weather report for Grandma's House. And the report was "There might be some snow" and no one thought it would be much, but we warned all of our fellow travelers to inform loved ones and offices that there was a chance we would be snowed in at Grandma's House.

Then we got all pre-occupied with The Boy getting sick and my amusing attempts to communicate. And so we went over the river and through the woods, as we do yearly and played with dancing trees and had yummy food and shared a few bottles of wine and sort of showed the youngsters what "keeping a weather eye out" looks like it in the digital age.

Things were moving along nicely but we were starting to go - "Hmmn . . . Gee. Might need to stay an extra day or two, " when all of a sudden the word "Blizzard" started popping up on our weather eye screens.

Well they weren't kidding. We played it hour by hour but had to leave Grandma's House in a flurry all of our own because they were calling for a Blizzard at the House too.

Grandma's got about 20 inches, we got about 10. We raced the storm home and won by an inch. The other 9 fell after we were settled back in, but it wasn't much of a visit. The poppets didn't even get to come out and play with Grandma's holiday decor.

But we did spend it together and the food was wonderful.

Here is the thing I learned last week. If I were not inherently logical, I would not have been able to succeed, but to immerse myself to much in logic damages me and everything around me. There is a reckoning. The Art part came easier to me, but there was no balance in that either. The two need to be combined instead of in opposition. There was not enough time with family and just being. 6 Days - but a microcosm of the year.

And on the 7th day the Poppets came out and said - "Wake up sleepyhead! You need to play with your toys."

Well. I suppose I'm not back into right thinking for Poppets yet, I just started playing with my toys today. However I am very grateful for my friends and my family and my project teammates at school, because I am thinking about things as though they might be fun again.

That's a pretty good way to mark the solstice I think.

No one makes graphic novels about the adventures of getting the family together for a photo, but there are all sorts of stories when you do. This year I'll bet there were all sorts of adventures behind all of the holiday photos. Stories that will be told each time the album opens.

A fictional version of ourselves for the Dreamtime:

New Year's coming . . . .

The Taunting 2010 - Mulligan

The Poppets and I are just not ready this year. We would like a do over.

This might be the Time Travelling Taunting - Candles were lit, Giant New Computers were set up, fried foods were ordered in, there was gelt, and papers due the next day were written around midnight.

My Perfectly Normal Mother in Law went in for Very Serious Surgery yesterday, it was planned, but it was spinal surgery. It was a long day and we were all worried for everyone (Perfectly Normal Husband was his usual strong competent together self but obviously nervous-ish) Unfortunately her brother and One of My Favorite In-laws also went in for triple bypass surgery. That was not planned, and perhaps at their ages they should be over sibling rivalry.

So the really good Channuka news is that everyone did very well with their respective surgeries and they will both be able to walk properly and keep their hearts beating regularly and have their families lovingly tease them even though the Taunting is not their holiday. If they don't have dietary restrictions I will be making them lemon squares for theirs.

If they do I'll modify the lemon square recipe until I can make lemon squares for them. I'm pretty good at that sort of thing.

So while the Poppets and I were not really on top of things a friend of ours found this - most channuka stuff is kind of lame, especially song rewrites by hipster jews or actual religous types - but this is an acapella group that has found the perfect balance and thus created an awesome "Smile Out Loud" moment, instead of the usual cringing thought of "Really is that the best we can do?" sort of thing.

Thank you Maccabeats for being on key and really entertaining; Merry Channuka - the Poppets thought you were neat and they were sick of Adam Sandler!

The Taunting - Cheapass Edition - Dramatic Recreation

OK, I may be spectacularly late in posting the summary of the Taunting but my Terrible Tardiness is matched only by my Magnificent Single Mindedness - I just kept feeling like I couldn't move forward with anything else unless I could manage to finish this. It would be like admitting defeat in the face of things that kept happening in December. And then January. Things were beginning to threaten February too but I'm gonna show those pesky Things what's what.

Also, I realized that the holidays started for me in September and kept coming every single weekend until the first week of January. It was like an avalanche of Holidays. And when I got to the bottom of them I collapsed.

Whew. And now NEW holidays are happening - because time keeps moving forward. Which is, frankly, a little annoying. Things are happening for the big Hallmark Holiday coming up and it's not right to write about them without giving the last major holiday it's due.

So we left off (or more accurately I left you off) here.

Where I mentioned that since the Taunting had snuck up on me I didn't handle the display the way I usually did - so I did something else. Even more Tauntingly. It ended up that the makeshift wrapping system fit absolutely every present for every night. So I put all of the presents in two suitcases and every night before the candle lighting went upstairs wrapped the evenings clues . . .I mean presents into the scarves with the really cool paper that Uncommon Goods used instead of styrofoam and handed the tied scarves to the Children.

So every night sort of looked like some variation of this:

As you can see, the Poppets from Taunting 2008 were helping to supervise, and they were curious as to how a non-Poppet based taunting works.

So the First Candle had given the Girl recycled kimonos that held things together and the Boy got a timepiece that looked a bit like a spaceship had landed on his arm. It's in the link I put up above.

The Second Candle the Children both got bento boxes:

Bento boxes are magic, that's why the Tiny Wizard wanted to show them to you. The Ronin Panda is for the Girl and the "Lunch System Black Box" is for the Boy. The paper that is surrounding them is the wonderful un-styrofoam packing paper. Bentos end up being a really good way to keep your sandwiches from getting squished in your backpack. And you can pack salted cashews without having to use a lot of little ziplock baggies.

Using bento is green too.

Now there were two nights - the Children were not yet willing to hazard guesses.

You remember that there is always a theme right?

Third Candle came.

We lit the candles, sang the songs, and the Children opened their cheapass - I mean "green" wrapping on their gifts.

The Ninja is by the Nom Nom Nom insulated lunch bag, and Choco Poppet is by the Happy Bees lunch bag making sure that they each go to the right Child.

The Children were willing to hazard a guess that the themes had to do with food, but were slightly confused about how kimono based shoelaces fit in with that.

Fourth Candle came and then things changed up a bit - The Girl got a bag of Zen and the Boy got a Sonic Screwdriver and this really cool Tardis T-shirt.

Well neither of those things had anything to do with food. Now they were confused.

I should take this time to point out that one of the advantages Hanukah not having a Hanukah Fairy or anything similar means that when your Children are not quite childish anymore there is some room to maneuver. The Girl had wanted something that was artisan made and quite expensive and basically the equivalent of her entire Hanukah budget. So we obtained the artisan made thing for her with the understanding that it basically was her Hanukkah present - but you cannot stop the Taunting!

So she was Taunted regardless . . . which means she knew the gifts all led to something specific. And she started throwing out some ideas for the Boy's Theme, but wasn't willing to guess at hers. But gentle readers, you may start noticing a bit of a disparity in the gifts moving forward and I didn't want you to assume favoritism.

Fifth Candle - the Boy's gift is being shown by the Skeleton Who Wants to Run a Flower shop doing his impression of James Cameron.

It's a globe that floats - he's wanted a globe for some time.

The Girl got a handmade Peace bracelet made by Pammy J. So as you can see there are also nightly themes where their presents relate to each other and back to the bigger themes for each of them. So Fifth Candle was a gimme - It was World and Peace. Although the Poppets did point out that the Children hardly ever disagree with each other, but they didn't really seem like they could spread World Peace around.

I told the Poppets it was OK as long as they tried. And they managed to try it without using nuclear technology.

The Sixth Candle brought the Boy a Donegal Tweed hat with an Asian Dragon and the Girl got a Lucky Cat coin purse from Japan. Orange and Violet approved. They both figured that they weren't going to get it until Eight Candle at this point.

And on the Seventh Candle The Girl got a Djinn, trapped in a sweatshirt and the Boy got Time trapped in gears under glass. "But wait" you say. "Didn't he get a watch at the beginning of the Taunting". Why yes, yes he did. You see, we have all sorts of important milestones in out family for girls marked with a piece of real jewelry that can be kept or handed down to future generations. But there have been nothing BUT girls born into our family for four generations until the Boy. The jewelry given to the girls is to learn things about trust from your elders, taking care of things, learning the differences in material value and craftsmanship and maturity. We have markers for the first real ring, (usually engraved with an initial, that the child picks themselves at a real jewelry shop) when you can pierce your ears. (6th grade for me and the Girl - younger for my sister and my niece).

When the Girl turned 16 I gave her the gold necklace that my parents had given me on my 16th birthday. And when looking for the first sports watch I realized that there was no equivalent tradition or items for the Boy. Who was going to need a dress watch. So the First Candle was a sports Chronometer, but the Seventh Candle was a Sturhling Winchester Skeleton watch in Rose Gold. Because the Boy has excellent taste in Jewelry for others and he like to make things work.

It's a really cool watch.

And he also got a copy of Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius - 28 projects to build for yourself.

It's a great book, but some of the projects are actually illegal in some states, so build with caution.

And then finally it was The Eighth Candle - this is when the Big Presents are given.

The Girl's Eighth Candle was actually acquired in the summer, long before the negotiations over very expensive artisan made things. So all of the things she had received were actually the lead up to her receiving a Zen Poppet.

There are only 5.

I have one too, so we own 2/5 of all the Zen Poppets in the world. Someday I shall take a picture of them having tea together.

The Girl really needs some Zen, and Poppety Zen is the best kind of Zen.

The Boy has now reached the same height as me. I am not exactly short. And he has wanted a leather duster for a long time. I happen to have a leather duster. It hits us mid calf.

The thing the Children love about my duster is that it doesn't look fashionable, although it can be. It just looks like it's Mine. I've worn it to the desert, to the symphony, thrown it on the floor in open space rehearsals, worn it to Europe slept on it in tents in the rain. It's weathered. It's mine like the pointy hat is Elphaba's. It doesn't matter that they weren't originally made for us, once they were Ours there were no other defining characteristics. Oh that's the Witch's Hat. Oh that's Drinne's Leather Coat.

And ultimately, that's really what the Boy wanted for himself.

But my duster is black, and the Boy is not dark, and he is young. There are people who signify THINGS when they see young men in black leather dusters. And those are none of the THINGS that belong to the Boy. He is not interested in playing with other people's symbols.

So I found a vintage full length Dark Brown leather trenchcoat from London. Because it matters that it was long, not that it was black. and it looks smashing with the Donegal hat with the Asian Dragon and it has an inside chest pocket that is perfect for holding the Sonic Screwdriver. It's like it was meant to be. And now the Boy has exactly what he wants and doesn't look like anyone else.

I'm sure you've guessed the themes by now.

It only took about an hour for it to be His.

Which is the way it should be.

And that, finally, is the tale of the Taunting of 2009.

Better late than never.

The Taunting - Cheapass Edition

Do you all remember The Taunting? It is my family's personalization of our Americanized Holiday celebration.

As time goes on and I study more, I am harboring a secret suspicion that Judah and the Macabees became a macho male veneer on a holiday that had been celebrated by Jews previously that celebrated Judith. I've done a presentation on Judith in art and history- she is fascinating in the mixed up worlds of art history and political history . . . . but that is another truly wonky, geeky, potentially controversial story - for another time and perhaps a different audience.

Questions like Judith burn through my brain - but the someone to tear through the questions with me, well that doesn't work out so well. Their brain would have to be burning too. It's tied up with Western religion and history and art and the role of women and the values of monarchy. Too complicated, to much trust needed to have the conversation. No one wants to play with me. . . . .

So my fevered brain and I put all of our energy into the Taunting instead. And indeed, Channuka snuck up on us this year, and I "lost" my job 4 days before it started, (it's not lost, just ending in a few weeks, but in the Meatworld the effect is the same) and I was far too optimistic about time estimates for some artwork I was trying to do. So as a result the Taunting was planned, but the execution was not out of Phase II:Find Key Elements. Phase I is Create The Theme.

Every year at the beginning of Channuka, I put all of the presents out at the first candle. They are numbered, there are 8 for each child (who aren't so childish anymore) and each present is a clue. Every Taunting has a Major Theme, and every night has a Minor Theme. You have to open the presents in order. The "big" present is always the 8th Candle.

The wrapping is part of the Theme - and last year it was Poppets. And Chinese Takeout Containers - My sister was the one to get the wrapping theme. It's an in joke. But this year, we opted for The Taunting - Slacker Edition:

As you can see things were ordered and arriving - instead of hiding the packages as they came in I stacked them all in front of the portal mirror and set the Poppets from Last Year's Taunting to guard them.

The Slacker Taunting actually is related to a legendary event called Slacker Camp. When My Perfectly Normal Husband was simply My Accountant Who I Brought With Me to the Desert, Because You Only Bring The Things You Really Need, we set up very elaborate, generous interactive performance art and helped everyone who needed it with their own.

Then we went to a local event about 3 -4 weeks later and brought everything we needed and enough for lot of other people, and offered to share and give instructions but only performed the barest minimum needed. Those who had known us from the other events saw the art in it, and those who had just met us thought it was a brilliant conceit while they ate the steaks that we brought but they cooked.

It was interesting for us, because we are people who do, and help, and plan, and execute. It taught us things like letting go of complete control, and that if we give that out into the world, good people who are fun to hang out with will come to us and give us their enegry, work and company. However I must admit - we were only willing to do Slacker Camp once. It's not our nature.

So the same way Slacker Camp was not conducted in a vaccum, The Taunting - Cheapass Edition was also held within the context of Tauntings gone by. Good traditions grow new stories.

When the first Box arrived it was approximately 4 feet tall and 5 inches square and I had no time to unpack it so it stayed in the livingroom and I declared that the Cheapass Taunting had begun. The Boy asked if it was one gift but it actually contained several - it would take me three days to be able to get enough time to unpack it. The Taunting had begun! It Taunted me too.

On the First Candle I had a lovely stack of Amazon Boxes. ( because I'm a Prime Member and they deliver in two days with free shipping for me) and a few boxes from other places.

First Candle also happened to be Shabbat and it was such a Slacker Channuka that I hadn't bought candles for the Channukia ( menorahs) so we scavenged the leftovers from previous years.

However The Skeleton That Want's To Run A Florist Shop came up with a backup plan.

He likes to arrange things. He gathered a group of the minis and they put together Poppets Pretending to be a Menorah.

See - the mini wizard's wand is pretending to be the first candle and Wind is the Shamesh.

I reused the Chinese Food Gift Containers from last year's Taunting. See Slacker Channaka is Green!

We lit the regular candles, The Boy got a timepiece and The Girl got recycled kimono fabric made into fabulous shoelaces, which in turn ended up looking a lot like something Mini Poppets should dance with.

So they did.

Last year it was the Calender that caused Chaos because of the Great Holiday Overlap. This year the Chaos came because I was tricked into believing in The Week That Was Not There. But just you wait Calendar . . . . I'll get you my pretty, and your little ticking minutes too.

The Taunting can be messed with, but it cannot be stopped.

We emerged from the eight days victorious - The next entry or two will tell the story.

But First, A Word From Our Sponsor

The Indie Shop Owners

There are other inhabitants in the Sesame Street neighborhood. Of course like any good area that is a target for re-gentrification , it is also haven of cheap rents for young artsy types. Alex and Cait have moved into the neighborhood with a love of odd things, loud music, manga and anime, they are looking to open a music/book shop in the area. Please feel free to let them know what titles you think they should be carrying.

You might have noticed that Cait and Alex are Not-Poppets. This is very true. The Ambassador noticed this too. The same way that Oscar and Big Bird noticed that they are not birds or grouches. They invited the Ambassador over for sushi. He was very flattered that they moved to the neighborhood because of his plans for the block.

This is the Dreamtime where you are always the size you need to be. For those of you who might wonder how Cait and Alex got that way because you know them here in the Meatworld, you can see how they had the help of the Sourceress Stacy who transforms one thing into another.

If you aren't familiar with the Meatworld and you wonder what type of  Sourceress Stacy is you can check her sources for Cait and Alex on your very own. Do not doubt the power of the Source.

These are the Not-Poppets you may have heard of in the Taunting. You will hear from them again. Now, on with the show . . . .

What We've Shared

Not everyone understands or relates to Poppets, although there are a number of people at work who are intrigued by them I'm not sure that I'd gift Poppets randomly. They are cute but they sort of freaked my Rabbi out and I didn't even show her any of the "darker" ones. So it was with great joy and surprise that I found both my nuclear and extended family liked them. Some show all the signs of obsession that indicates incipient fandom and some sort of get it on the art level. So we were able to share some Poppets outside The Taunting. 

                 The little humbug flew to the east coast to be shared with my Sister. I love my Sister so much that it was more important to get one for her than for myself, so she owns the only humbug in the family. Isn't he cute?

My Nephew was also interested in things Poppety and along with some transforming magnetic Japanese ping-pong balls, we gave him a Shamrock Poppet to call his very own. It's what every Irish Jewish kid should have for Christmas!

Here is the Shamrock Poppet hanging out with Father Christmas making sure that he gets the stories straight. Father Christmas is really part of the Faerie and so are most Irishmen. 

As a member of the Magical Establishment, they are of course welcome at Grandma's house, especially when they are all attractively European about it. The Shamrock Poppet and the Nephew can now practice telling stories to each other.

Last but hardly least, is the Poppet Most Desired.

My six year old niece got the idea of Poppet right away, and some of the pictures posted in the blog have been taken with her creating the shots. But she's too little to use my very expensive camera and so she had to take pictures by proxy. The poppet my niece wanted more than any others (at least based on the oh-so-subtle hints) was a Question Dogma Poppet. We don't know why, but we do know it was a Perfectly Appropriate Aunt Gift. So if necessary, my Sister can just blame me for being a Bad Influence. It's OK, I have a really kick-ass outfit for when I'm being a Bad Influence.  But it was somehow wrong to give her a Poppet of her own, without the ability to take her own pictures - so what you see here is the picture she took with her very own Fisher Price - Damn-Near-Indestructible, Pink So-Her-Brother-Won't-Go-Near-It camera.

No, it's not very high quality. But it runs on batteries, it's digital, it's hers and she doesn't have to ask permission. Her mom has gotten her other Poppets to play with as well, I look forward to the pictures.

Of course there was also the Limited Edition Winter we gave my Perfectly Lovely but Perfectly  Normal Mother in Law. And the Gingerbread Poppet I gave Grandma. By the way - it ends up my Mother already had a house for Ginger.

So the contagion has been spread. My Sister actually called me to see if  I saw the new Steampunk Poppets, I had but not the newest listings - thanks to her I saw the newer pics. My Sister saw Steampunk Poppets and thought of me. . . . . that's so sweet. It's kind of cool to have something in common so organically. When I showed her Poppets she showed me the Blue Dog by George Rodrigue. She shared an artist that was meaningful to her the same way Lisa Snellings Clark's work affects me. 

It might possibly be the closest I ever felt to her, and we've been through some stuff together. But this was just sharing, possibly the freest most incidental sharing ever, but that's why it connected with me so much. Nothing was at stake, and I didn't have to explain because she just understood. 

I treasure that moment, because I don't try so hard to explain or justify myself to her anymore. And she can call me up now and tell me the history of voodoo dolls really being about healing and not curses. And we can both celebrate sprawling brass chandeliers.  It wasn't always the case and it's awesome (in the religious, "full of awe" sense of the term) to me that we have that sense of sharing now. That should be celebrated and treasured and ornamented with Poppets and Blue Dogs. So this year was Poppets and I'll see what I can do about the Blue Dogs in the future. 

The Taunting - No Matter Where You Go - There You Are

It was the day of the Eighth Candle. The Taunting would be complete. The largest and most aniticipated gifts are usually given on the Eighth Candle. There is a reason for this - let's say that what the children wanted most was a game system. Well, that would be a big gift and it would upstage all of the other gifts. You don't give a gift like that on the First Candle. Also, since you know it's your Mom and Dad Type Units providing the gifts, you also know they don't have the whole state subsidized North Pole thing happening. So, if you asked for a ridiculously expensive thing you can hope that it's going to be there on the Eighth Candle, but you know if the Parental Units are both unemployed it's probably not going to be there. If you're the right kind of kid that's OK.

If you're really the right kind of kid, you tell your Parental Units that what you would really really like is the Nintendo Wii, but it's OK if it's the big Channuka gift and it's even more OK if you don't get it until January, because there's some parent out there desperately trying to convince their kids that there's some kindness and magic out in the world, and it's important to those parents and kids for that Wii to be under the tree and it was enough for us just to know it was coming. 

I live with that kind of kid. We played out that scenario last year when Wii's were scarce, we were able to specifically pass on some available Wii's and give them to co-workers who needed them. We were able to gift wrap the certificate that the Wii was paid for and enroute sometime in January. The kids asked the non-jewish family members for Wii games and supplies. The non-jewish family members really had a hard time understanding why they were asking for games they couldn't play with yet. Over and over we explained - Yes the kids will be JUST as thrilled that the games will be there when the Wii comes in. They're OK with the whole delayed gratification thing. Yes. . . they are actually under 21 and American and honestly - it's  really OK - if you're really worried about it you can donate to the charity the Boy Child started - that's really important to him and will make him happy. . . . yeah Her too. . . . .

So you see when you have those kinds of kids, you want the last candle of The Taunting to count. So yeah, this year the Taunting is directly related to how awesome they were last year. And because this year The Taunting was involved in Overlap, what they were expecting to be the Big Gifts were actually given to them the same morning Auntie Claus dropped by. So they had no idea what to expect. It's the beauty of The Taunting. It's not about your list, or magic or anything else except the fact that I love you, and care about you enough to mess with your head. 

If you are my kid and you haven't understood the connections before Eighth Candle, Eighth  Candle is where it all comes together and you ask me questions or tell me what you thought and I answer you. Sometimes they come up with connections I didn't see. All the secrets are laid out and I get to find out if I read you right. If it works well, we all know a little bit more about each other and we get cool stories to tell our relatives. Of course this year The Taunting didn't just have the Overlap, we also had the Plague.

We had arrived at midnight the night before, the Girl Child was down. The Wayward Poppets had arrived home and were gathering to tell their stories and create new ones, but by the afternoon the Plague had afflicted the Perfectly Normal Stepfather and only the Boy and I were upright. 

The Taunting cannot be done by proxy, but the candles have a religious requirement to be lit before the end of the night. We waiting for a window when the Girl was able to be awake and the Perfectly Normal Stepfather had dragged himself down the stairs announcing that he damn well wanted to watch the Children open the Eighth Candle Taunting, but he needed to do it REAL SOON and far away from those of us who were not afflicted.

The Boy and I lit the candles and said the prayers loud enough for the afflicted. There is a favorite book of mine from childhood called the "All-Of-A-Kind" family. There were five little girls in 1915 or so and they came down with a fever during Passover and only one of the girls was able to be at the able with the parents to read the story and say the prayers, they made the living room a sick room and made sure the other girls didn't miss their parts even though they had to be quarentined. This reminded me of that. I'll probably write more about that too someday.

We came in and the presents that were Channuka, but not Taunting were opened. There was much quiet appreciation. Then we had them open The Last Takeout Boxes. 

The Boy opened his first, the Ninja immediately proceeded to blend into his surrounding. The kindred spirits communed. The larger Ninja immediately identified that the little Ninja was a Red underneath his Fake Pants, but he was still a Ninja, and now he was where he needed to be. 

And then the tired, poor, huddled mass, yearning to be healthy opened up her Takeout box and emitted a tiny quiet little squee. The Girl loves all things from Japan and some things from China. It was wonderful that these two little folk we ready to adventure out in the world just when we needed a big finish for the Taunting. The Girl has not looked at PoppetPlanet since I announced that Channuka presents were being purchased. She has seen pieces that I did not want her to miss - like Little Pink's Window but she had never seen Cherry Blossom, so she couldn't possibly expect her. 

It's like a Poppet Pretending to be from the House of Flying Daggers. But she's so sweet you don't even notice she's wearing Fake Pants. 

These were both One of A Kinds. These were poppets that meant that there was faith the Children would take care of them. These are toys that recognized that the Children aren't so Childish anymore, but they shouldn't leave everything behind on their journey forward. 

Here are the Poppets of the Taunting. This is the picture of my children's voices being heard. 

I hope I've heard them correctly, I hope they've heard me listening. 

The Taunting is now Completed. 

My sister got takeout box  inside reference on the first try. Kudos to her. 

The Taunting - Travel Edition Sixth Candle

Our travel tale continued with wayward Poppets at the fore. Skeletons were scheduled for the sixth night and Little Love Remains had shown up weeks in advance ready for her close up ( as long as she could wear her mask). When she arrived she showed off her practical side since her mask had it's very own little velvet bag, but her companion the Skeleton Playset had wandered off on his own. The Alien Poppet had delayed departure to make sure he was coming along, but they had separated on their way together. 

You can't stop The Taunting, so with the help of the House Reds, we messed with it instead . . . . The Sixth Night Takeout containers were brought to Grandma's house, they stayed under the fruit bowl until those candles were lit. Little Love Remains was met with squeeing and "OMG that is SO cute." (Much to Grandma's confusion)

And then the next Takeout Container was opened and out popped . . . .

It was the Most Adventurous Red In The House . . . Pretending to be a Skeleton. We thought he did a very good job as a stunt poppet. The Most Adventurous Red in the House usually lives in a Ram's Horn called a Shofar, and when that Shofar when to Synagogue this year for Rosh Hashanah, he somehow or another made a daring leap in the bag and went along too. Somewhere on the way home he got into another adventure he hasn't told us about and is sporting a bit of a chip on the right side of his forehead. 

He is very distinguished and afraid of nothing. He knew that the Little Black Poppet that had been displaced by El Gatto, had found the Skeleton and they were on their way, but they would not make it in time to Travel. It was totally his idea. He might also have just wanted to Go To Grandma's House. He does like to travel. Thus the Sixth Candle Taunting was saved.

The Taunting - Travel Edition Fifth Candle

On the way to the fifth night we were experiencing technical difficulties on the inside of the Taunting and on the Outside.

The Taunting is carefully balanced and full of ying and yang. I do not know what The Taunting would look like if there weren't two children and they weren't different genders.  I do know it would still be there, and it would still celebrate each child's individualities and similarities simultaneously. The Taunting is not about being even, the Taunting is about being heard, even if they don't realize we were listening.

So thus when we put together the Taunting, we realized there was a problem - the balance on the fifth candle was off! It was a Poppet Emergency! Despite the best efforts of Poppets and People alike, the tiny culprit that threw off the balance prevailed and settled into the Takeout Box. That was the technical difficulty from inside and outside. Then there was the difficulties that come from the Overlap. We were not going to bring our channukiot (plural of channukia) because Grandma, of course has one. A decision was made that group photos of The Taunting participants would just take place at the end. During the Travel Edition individual crews would take photos with Grandma's Menorah (Grandma doesn't like to put on airs either).

Then  . . .  disaster! The charger for the camera was missing. Which of course was discovered while getting ready to leave because the camera was on low battery. It seemed that the Taunting would not be Blogged. But then . . . . .Salvation! Our friend who has no Overlap, had the same model of camera and we could stop by and pick up her charger. Then  . . . Disappointment. It was just a little off, but then  . . . . Hope and Redemption! She found a AA battery operated Canon and sent us on our way promising that the Taunting would still be aired. We felt very religious, after all that disaster and salvation and hope and redemption, and we also had someone who was keeping Black Death in his pocket so I'm sure we were acting out someone's religious narrative somewhere, even if it wasn't a terribly serious religion. I'd like to think it might be the religion associated with the small God in Dirk Gently's Refrigerator.  Most importantly we could keep our promise to air the Taunting.

And initially it was all OK. For the Fifth Candle, one recipient was given Monday's Poppet.

 

She was most appreciative, having eyed the little feline type friend for a while, but you and she both realize that Monday's Poppet is only pretending to be a Cat. 

Our problem was with the other Takeout container, because you see, Poppets are generally polite if pressing, but Cats are Cats, and there is really nothing anyone can do about that. 

When the other recipient opened his takeout container he looked in and found this

The note reads:

"I am keeping this space warm until a little Black Poppet arrives.

Then I might move.

El Gatto"

And then the borrowed Cannon promptly ran out of AA Battery life, which is when we found out that Grandma's house may be very powerful and it may very well have been both Christmas and Channuka, but no one in the house was capable of finding new batteries for the camera. And that was the last picture taken on Fifth Candle. We think El Gatto did it and just didn't want to move to take a photo.

Where was the little Black Poppet? His story will come later, there were other Poppets wandering but not lost this Taunting, and there were still three candles to go . . . .

You can mess with the Taunting but you cannot stop it. 

The Taunting- Travel Edition

Tonight is the Eighth Candle. The Overlap created the Chaos that was expected, but that didn't stop The Taunting. Traditions must be upheld, even Aunti Claus knows that The Taunting can be messed with, but it cannot be stopped.

On the morning of Christmas, before the trip to Grandma's, Aunti left a mini version of a taunting of her own, following all of the rules we use but leaving it to us to figure out. Gifts from Aunti are never simple. The gifts were unlabled and exactly the same size. The children ( who are not really so childish) figured out that she was using wrapping paper code, binary for the boy and non-denominational capitalist greetings for the girl, and they opened their Black Death and Mad Cow Disease petri dishes, and found Not Poppets in their stockings. The Not Poppets will get a post of their own at some future point.

The boy was very happy with his collection of Black Death and now carries some in his pocket because it's cute, and fluffy, and Black Death.

Then the team packed up and sent itself to Not Really Upstate New York to Grandma's house, where Grandma lets the butter sacrifice itself freely into baked goods and Santa is NEVER confused.

 

And a wondrous time was had by all with food and love, and some stories. And dessert-lots of dessert

The love of butter and dessert is the reason we gifted Grandma with a Gingerbread Poppet.  Upon introduction Grandma looked at her and wondered "Do you think she wants a house?"

So you see, although Grandma thinks the boy and I are a bit nuts with the embassy project, the apples have certainly not fallen far from the tree, Christmas or otherwise.

You can also see that Grandma's Gingerbread Poppet found places suited for her at Grandma's house with very little effort. 

The Taunting however could not be denied. Three days we were going to be in Not Really Upstate New York and that was three days that needed to participate in the taunting. On the table where Anti Claus once had a really mod silver tree was a bowl of fruit, and no sign of Aunti at all.  It seemed to be the place to be. The Taunting, Travel Edition was set up.

Found Interesting

 Once upon a time , there was a little girl who lived in Brooklyn, because all of the really interesting stories start in Brooklyn. She had no magic at all, but none of the things that were magical really believed that, because when their world broke apart she would hold enough pieces of it together that they thought it was magic. But it wasn't magic, it was work.

The little girl grew up knowing she had no magic , and she was pretty sure that no one else did either. Which meant that when she grew up and got married she didn't realize that sometimes legends are true, and the fae could bend and steal time.  She would have made sure to have a rule against marrying such creatures had she known. She went there unknowing and when she left that realm, everything was different.  Her own world had broken apart and she worked very, very hard to put enough pieces of it back together again. 

There are no Jewish Faeries, so she was pretty sure that if her children had any relationships with Jolly Old Elves it would have to be through her mother, who kept regular correspondence with magical things, or their father when they visited that realm where magic was real.  And for years that was so, until the year it wasn't, and the poor confused Elf paid a call to a house with a fireplace and a tree that lived in it. But the tree had a vulture, and the lights were all candles. He was invited in, although hesitantly, because she was holding together her children's broken world and it was still having it's glue set. 

That was the year they learned. 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, 

surprised, since there had been no stockings planned there,

While Santa has stopped by for good girls and boys, 

There were hints of something else in the toys. . . . 

That year there were signs of happy snarkiness, and counterculture items that could not possibly be Santa approved. Black leather cuffs and Bunnys telling people to throw rocks. And thus they discovered that the Stockings had been infiltrated by Aunti Claus,  Santa's cooler rebellious younger sister, who hangs with dwarves that work at West Coast.

Santa Claus visits all the good little boys and girls, 

Aunti Claus visits all the interesting ones.

 (Yes, it is prounounced "Anti". That's because she spends a lot of time in NYC and because she likes it that way)

The next year Santa came again with mysterious stockings and behavior based rewards, but Aunti broke in too, and rearranged The Taunting - putting the 8th night presents in the stockings and breaking the house rules giving the children matching Ipods. That was when they learned the other part of Aunti's MO:

Aunti Claus gives you the presents that your parents don't approve of. 

On the third year the broken world was set, the woman who had no magic wanted to celebrate with her mother, the children's grandmother, who was the family's connection to the Tooth Fairy and Santa, and House Brownies. The youngest child was concerned . . . . Would Aunti Claus be able to find them at Grandma's house where everything was good and properly Christmassy? Could Grandma ban Aunti from coming in like all of the other questionable magic types? Grandma was very powerful.

That was the year they learned their third truth about Aunti:

Aunti Claus is a Ninja 

She comes in through the front door, you just don't know it. 

Not even Grandma.

That chimney stuff might mess up her outfit. Santa covered the living room in Christmas splendor - Aunti found a cool little blue and silver tree in the dining room,hung out her stockings filled with in-jokes and sarcasm, and left two working light sabers underneath the understated yet diva-like tree. The light side of the force was for the boy, and the dark side of the force for the girl because after all, the girl had the T-Shirt "Come to the Dark Side, we have Cookies"

The Children are older, the world is slightly more brittle, and if the young boy is asked the immortal question, "Do you believe in Santa Claus," he looks at you with Faerie Ninja eyes and smiles a secret holding smile. He answers, " I believe in Aunti Claus"

And Aunti Claus believes in him, because this year, there was no sign of Santa at the home of the Woman with No Magic, but there were Poppets in the Trees for her, Diseases in Petri Dishes and Extra Brain Cells for the children, Sharp and Unsafe Objects for everyone, Devil Ducks and Tiny Power Tools to be shared by the child and his mother. The daughter was was gifted with Software the Mother Did Not Approve Of and the ability to draw pictures with air and electrons. Everyone in the family was Found Interesting this year. Even the Perfectly Normal Stepfather, who got a collectors edition Red Swingline Stapler.

It is clear that Aunti Claus supports the Embarrassed Embassy Project.

They reveled in the binary of it all, then  packed up to travel over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house, where Santa still behaved as expected. Just because her children were Interesting, didn't mean they weren't Good.