4 Vintage Seasons Greetings: Christmas Daybook, 4
My Christmas daybook for these 12 days of celebrating. We'll be spending Christmastide with some favorite short films and video clips. Join me, won't you?
Watch: Enjoy classic Christmas animations by illustrator, animator, and editorial cartoonist R.O. Blechman.
CBS Christmas Message (1966)
CBS Season’s Greetings Ad (1966)
More about R.O. Blechman: Among Blechman’s best-known works—sparingly drawn with his trademark wiggly line—are the talking pink stomach from a 1967 TV commercial for Alka-Seltzer, numerous illustrations for The New York Times Book Review featuring his big-nosed Everyman, the PBS Christmas special Simple Gifts, and a sixty-minute animated film visualizing composer Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale). The latter three-year production won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animated Programming in 1984.
The Feast of Holy Innocent
Poet and Anglican priest Malcolm Guite writes in his blog the meaning of today's remembrances in the church calendar:
The Holy Innocents (Refugee): "...today, the fourth day of Christmas, is the feast day of the Holy Innocents. It is the day the Church remembers the story, told in Matthew’s Gospel of the appalling cruelty and wickedness of Herod in ordering the massacre of innocent children, in a bid to protect his own power base. Appalling, but only too familiar. What Herod did then, is still being done by so many present-day Herods. This scarred and wounded world is the world into which Jesus was born, the world he came to save, and amongst those brought by his blood through the grave and gate of death and into the bliss of Heaven are those children of Bethlehem who died for his name without ever knowing him. But he knows them, as he knows and loves every child in Syria, and he says of them, to every Herod, ‘Whatsoever ye do unto the least of these, ye do it unto me.’
Read: AM: Psalm 2, 26; Isaiah 49:13-23; Matthew 18:1-14
PM: Psalm 19, 126; Isaiah 54:1-13; Mark 10:13-16
Pray: Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Feast of Holy Innocents
We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Do: Bless the children in your family, community, and beyond.
The Blessing of Children by Parents or Friends of the Family
O God our Father, whose Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, once embraced the little children who were brought to him, saying, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and their angels always see the face of my Father;" Look now, we beseech thee, on the innocence of these children: Bless them and protect them this night and throughout their lives; (the parent makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of each child) in thy grace and goodness let them advance continually, longing for thee, knowing thee, and loving thee, that they may at the last come to their destined home and behold thee face to face; through Jesus Christ, the Holy Child of Bethlehem, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Then, taking the head of each child in both hands, a parent says to each one: May God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit bless you and keep you both now and for evermore. Amen.
The Feast of the Holy Innocents - "Childermass"
This is a day when children should have preeminence in family life, leading the family prayers, making decisions about family activities for the day, having a place of honor at meals, and so forth. Households that do not have children might "adopt" a neighborhood family or two with their children and make a party at which the children are the guests of honor.
The story of the Holy Innocents is one of the most poignant stories in all of Scripture, "Rachel weeping for her children... because they are no more." It is a day to give thanks for the children in our lives, whether in our own families or in the larger family of the Church. And it is a good day to revive the ancient custom of parents blessing their children at the end of the day, as part of their nightly prayers.
You might also appreciate:
Away From the Manger (The Refugee King), Words and music by Liz Vice, Wen Reagan, Bruce Benedict, Greg Scheer, and Lester Ruth | Performed by Liz Vice (lead vocals) and Hannah Glavor (guitar and backing vocals) (2018)
The Massacre of the innocents - Praying with art with Geoff Wheaton SJ
Playlists for Christmas
Christmas Eve (for my Momma): The quirky, sometimes kitschy, a little bit emo, and often melancholy playlist I made when we lived so far away from my parents. Now we live far away from other people we love, but the title of the playlist will remain in honor of those first homesick years.
Ring the Bells: A bit more traditional playlist (but still highlighting the lesser-known music of the season).
All 12 Days: A playlist for a festive and full Christmastide:
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1).