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Holiday Gift Guide 2016 DECEMBER 8, 2016 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • HUDSONVALLEYONE.COM

What we want to get & give

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8, 2016 2 | December Holiday Gift Guide

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December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

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Holiday awareness Getting into that spirit beyond the shopping

By Paul Smart

I

’ve entered those years when I’m no longer sure what gifts I want. Instead, I group the large expenses that come up in our home. I start around Halloween.

This year’s list has included dental work, a new gasket for our dishwasher, a complete re-do of the half-bath our son used for his toilet training, and a last batch of tick and flea protection for our pets (a nod to the changing climate, the president-elect’s beliefs notwithstanding).

Fortunately, my wife and parents are in the same boat. So are my siblings and most of our friends.

We’re all on the less exuberant side of gift-getting.

Our gift-giving extends little beyond our kids. We’re not blessed with doormen, parking valets or staff to please as we juggle incomes over the more expensive months of winter.

It’s enough for us to have kids writing about what they want to get and give. It’s different at our juncture in life from when we were younger parents, or a childless couple needing daily and weekly reminders of how much we love each other. Given the times, a lot of us need to hear reassuring words about what we get and what we give communally, or via shared government.

There are other ways to raise awareness, including of the season’s spiritual side.

As seasoned parents, my wife and I at this time of year have to make certain our soon-to-be-eleven-yearold remembers to get, or make, special things for his grandparents. We try to remember those still single among our friends and family. We still carry around older memories about the importance gifts can have when one’s not living quite as one wishes.

A larger question persists: What is it with all this obsession with gifts this time of year, even in parts of the world where the days are long instead of short, or as warm as any other season?

Very old traditions reaching back to the Roman Saturnalia and Northern European Yule, with variations in most other cultures, center on a breaking of the gloom of the year’s darkest days through revelry, often quite drunken, and foolishness. Small gifts are given as tokens of friendship and understanding that the gloom some feel is shared, or at least shareable.

Once the church elders decided to move the birth celebration for their Christ back a few months from spring, all got consumed under the Christian yoke.

That wintry impulse grew, despite some pushback from Puritans and other fundamentalist sorts, until you started seeing folks like Teddy Roosevelt joining new entities like SPUG, the Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving, in the early 1900s.

From that unpromising genesis emerged a century of steady Christmas creep. Now the seasonal publications come out as early as mid-October. There are increasing stories about the 20 percent of presents never opened or worn.

B

ut enough of the darker side of the season. There’s still something grand, as the days grow cold and dark and the stores start beckoning with endless twinkling lights, about making lists of what one wants to give, if not receive. It’s one thing when you’re trying to please babies and infants up to about the age of eight.

Ever seen a kid with his first baby piano, her first stuffed pony, or whatever contraption’s out that year that’s going to race around the floor like some crazed furry robot pet?

But what about those singles in one’s life? Is it best to hand over books, movies, bingeable TV series or music to while away the hours? Or is it better to hand out tickets to social events, clothes, or simple invitations to come more often to one’s home? Or just to make a call?

It’s hard to remember what we wanted back when.

Probably the calls and invites were best.

What should one get one’s partner or parents? I’ve tried, and written about, re-gifting. I recall how an electronic corkscrew made its way around our family until it came back to my mom. Oops. Same with a card

LAUREN THOMAS/ULSTER PUBLISHING

Is there anything that gets at the underlying beauty holidays this time of year better than the lighting of a menorah during Hannukah’s eight days? elsewhere in this gift guide). We’ll set money aside for the dishwasher and whatever car repairs Frosty the Snowman’s preparing for us over the coming months.

Thanks to the complexities of government, our dental bills will still be covered for the coming year through Obamacare, it seems.

We’re also eyeing books we can share, new slippers, socks and other things that have been traditional gifts between us each year, which we’ve grown to expect.

For our parents, we’ll arrange visits and special meals, along with the cards and pottery son Milo says he’s making. For siblings and friends we’ll do a complex Facebook/Youtube image filing. And more visits.

Finally, for everyone we suggest a quick look at www.globalorgasm.org, the website for an Annual Global Orgasm for World Peace day, which celebrates its tenth year on the winter solstice on December 21, with support from the Noosphere Project at Princeton University and The Center for Subtle Activism.

LAUREN THOMAS/ULSTER PUBLISHING

While the consumerist side of the holidays is regularly derided, it’s critical to the retail sector of the Hudson Valley economy. from my grandma, many years back, complete with a check for five dollars. Double oops. There was also that year we talked everyone into giving to a noted online charity, and then we all piled on presents to everyone anyway. Ten years later we’re all still getting hourly updates from the charity, though none of us will ever need return-address labels again.

For my wife and me, we’ll do what we can to meet our son’s wish list this holiday season (it’s published

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8, 2016 4 | December Holiday Gift Guide

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The Bearded Dragon that Henry wants.

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The Holiday Dog that kids want to see under their tree Christmas morning.

What ten-year-old boys want Parsing gifts when you celebrate your birthday alongside Christmas and Hanukkah

By Henry Goodell and Milo Smart

H

ENRY AND MILO HAVE BIRTHDAYS IN EARLY

January, and their families celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah.

H: I don’t like it because if I want something expensive I have to sometimes wait for an entire year to get presents, or the presents I get end up being smaller than I’d like.

M: I’m fine with it because my parents just give me the presents I want or say I need.

Do you ever apply pressure on your parents?

H: If I want something I have to save up for it or wait. If it’s over $20 I get it, but not if it’s under $5.

M (shakes his head): Pressure?

What about Hanukkah presents?

M: We light the candles every night and I get some sort of present each day.

H: We celebrate two or three days by lighting candles. As far as presents, I get one big one or maybe a few $30 presents and some other stuff.

M: Two years ago I got a dog. I used to get Lego surprises each day.

Do you do an Advent Calendar?

H: My grandparents do it. I don’t like it, though, because my grandparents are crafters and make everything.

M: A few years ago we had a Lego calendar. Last year we had chocolates. I guess it depends how old you are, which sort of advent calendar there is. I

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Okay, so there are girls here. Ick? Not if a boy wants to find a gift to impress someone they feel might be more than a friend. Such is the power of presents. like looking for each day and then seeing what’s inside. For me, now, I want chocolate, but when I was younger and a kid I really wanted Legos.

H: There was one I saw online where every day you get a different pack of magic cards, but it cost so much that my parents told me if that’s what I really wanted it would be my only present.

M: Do you think there were repeats of the same packs in there or all different ones?

H: I think they were individual packs!

When does your family get their Christmas Tree?

M: We put the tree up about two weeks before Christmas and usually invite some people over when we put the ornaments on.

H: We don’t have very good ornaments. There’s stuff me and my brother made in school, some same old stuff. There’s one really cool one, though, from Christmas 2005, when I was supposed to be born. It has a little beagle on it. Usually we get the tree depending on when someone remembers we should have gotten it. It’s sort of like I didn’t realize it was Thanksgiving this week until last week.

M: We always put the tree over there (points).

I help put the ornaments on and I like doing the angel and the star up on top. I also like some of the old ornaments I made when I was little.

H: My grandparents have thousands of ornaments, and they’ve started to give each of their

four grandkids one each Christmas.

Do you like looking at Christmas trees and lights elsewhere?

M: I don’t remember anything.

H: I saw this tree stuck into a waterfall with all its lights on in Kingston once. That was really cool.

Do you like holiday parties at school?

H: Not really.

M: They’re bad. You just get crappy presents like plants and stuff.

H: It’s usually store-bought cookies and stuff and all these kids running around on sugar rushes.

M: That sounds like Halloween...

H: Every holiday is about crappy candy.

M: What about St. Patrick’s Day, or Veteran’s Day? And you’re saying you don’t like crappy candy?

What do you want for presents this year?

H: I want a Leopard Gecko, a second Bearded Dragon, a Ball Python, guinea pigs and a dog. I don’t think I’ll get all of that. But you have to ask, right?

M: Well, I want a PS4. I’m not going to get it but I want it because they last longer than the PS3.

There’s more games.

H: But every year they come out with a new one so you buy new games for $40 a pop.

December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide M: Someday I’ll ask for a PS7. And I repeat ... they last longer! For people who like to think a lot about stuff, and have lots of questions, there’s also the Amazon Echo.

H: Why not just use Siri?

M: Because you can’t ask Siri as many questions. It take too long.

H: Maybe you cursed at Siri too much?

But you know I kind of want a Google Home. It’s like Amazon Echo only it’s on Google and professionals use it. It works on a computer. I’m saving up for a computer.

M: I want another dog, maybe some magic cards, and definitely a few packs of Heroclix even though not many people are playing Heroclix.

H: I’m definitely going to get a lot of books.

M: I’ll get lots of clothes. I guess that’s okay because I need some winter stuff.

H: I want the game Dominion.

M: We can give you ours.

H: Have you heard about Ascensions?

There’s also a new Star Wars Monopoly.

M: I heard Ascensions was good, and Star Wars is always cool.

H: I want to get a sub-woofer for my room. It makes the big deep notes deeper.

M: I don’t really need any music. All I need is my iPhone, and I can go on YouTube and get everything I want for free.

That works fine.

COURTESY OF KIRWAN’S GAME STORE H: I want a gift card for a glass store be- Magic cards are best given in the form of a gift card, cause I want to start making custom fish unless one’s ready to purchase whatever a top store like tanks for money.

Kirwan’s, in Catskill, is listing as the next big set.

M: I’d like a gift card for Kirwan’s Game Store.

H: Me too.

What are you thinking of getting for your parents and other family members?

M: I have ideas of things I want for my mom and my dad. I guess I could get things for my grandparents and cousins too, but I’m not sure what they’d like.

H: I always get presents for my parents and my grandparents. I’ll probably just give my brother Charlie some of my old magic cards since he’s starting to play and isn’t very good at it.

M: I have a few ideas on how to make some things. I don’t know.

What would you get for a girl your age?

M: I guess it depends on whether it was my girlfriend or just a friend.

H: I think it depends on what they’re like. If WWW.BAREFURNITURENY.COM they like animals I’d get them something like a lizard. If they liked SciFi I’d get them Star Wars Monopoly. I’ve known girls who hate unicorns and love blood!

M: I think it depends on what race they are, or where they live and what kind of money their family has.

H: Why would that matter?

M: If they’re white they don’t have as much to worry about.

H: Isn’t that racist?

M: It’s about being sensitive to what they might like.

What are you planning for your birthdays, which are less than two weeks after Christmas?

H: I’m probably going to invite two or three

| 5

people over for a sleepover, then have another party with family friends. My friend Daniel has a birthday on the twelfth, so we usually have a party together, too, and go out in the woods and do stuff.

M: For my birthday I think it’s kind of fun to hang out with people from my school. In regular school all you do is work, so it’s nice to just hang out with friends and play dodgeball, have a sleepover, watch some funny TV shows, and stay up too late. I’m also going to a New York Knicks basketball game with my parents, but my dad keeps complaining about how expensive the tickets were.

Would you ever consider having a joint birthday party?

H and M (in tandem, loudly): Nooooo!

H: That’s not a good idea.

M: No. Definitely not!

Do you like cake?

H: I like pie.

M: I have ice-cream cake.

Do you like holiday and birthday cards?

H: I like them.

M: They show emotions. I just like them.

H: They give you that last little bit of feel-good after you open the gift.

Finally, what other holidays do you find important?

H: April Fool’s Day! I’m not good at pranking people, but it’s cool to see what other people do.

M: I kind of like Valentine’s Day. You learn if someone likes you as a friend or more. There are a few people in my class I really kind of like, and then there are people who try to burn me. On Valentine’s Day you have to say something more about everyone and let your true feelings out.

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8, 2016 6 | December Holiday Gift Guide

Student gift guide You can never give or get too much digitalia!

By Nick Tantillo

H

EREWITH WHAT EVERYONE

I’M

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Smart Phones — iPhone 7 ($749.00), Samsung Galaxy S7 ($792.99) When it comes to smartphones, there are really only two models to consider: the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy. It is hard to recommend a Samsung phone after the terrible fall season they had. By September 1, the company recorded 35 fires due to the faulty batteries of their Note 7 phone. Fortunately, those problems don’t plague the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, which the company says is very safe. The Edge comes with up to 32 GB of memory, a 12-megapixel camera and runs Android 6.0. On the other hand, the iPhone 7 comes with up to 256GB of memory, a 12-megapixel camera and runs Apple’s iOS. Laptops — Apple 13� MacBook Pro ($1,799.00), Microsoft 13.5�

Surface Book ($2,699.00) The newest line of MacBook Pro laptops features a touch bar at the top edge of the keyboard.

The bar works with the laptop’s applications and offers a unique and relevant function. Users can select from emojis that appear in the bar when typing a message or can swipe the bar to fast-forward through a song. Other features include a chassis that is 17 percent thinner, a screen that is 67 percent brighter and storage that is 100 percent faster. The Microsoft Surface Book is a departure from traditional laptops. Not only is the primary display a touch screen, but it also detaches from the keyboard and functions like a tablet device.

Finally, the Book comes with 512Gb of storage, an 8-megapixel camera and 8GB of RAM.

Wireless Headphones — Bose Soundlink II ($229.99), Plantronics BackBeat Sense ($179.99) Just about everything is going wireless, and headphones are part of this trend. Utilizing Bluetooth technology, wireless headphones sync with a smart phone or other device to give the user an enhanced listening experience. Both of the models on this list are around-the-ear headphones and offer comfortable memory foam cups that hug the ear. Wireless headphones are still relatively new and expensive, and the Plantronics BackBeat Sense is a good entry level headphone that offers great sound quality. For those that want better sound quality, the Bose Soundlink II is a reliable mid-level model that competes with headphones

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Gadgets are the new books and socks of the gift-giving options for college students and the highschool set. Whether it’s the latest phone, musical accessory, drone, or even a retro gaming device, it’ll gain oohs and ahhs. Just watch the expenses .... in and above its price point.

expensive and slimmer 500GB model.

Portable Bluetooth Speakers — JBL Clip 2 ($59.95), JBL Flip 3 ($99.95), JBL Pulse 2 ($199.95) The popularity of music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music has created a demand for another music technology: portable Bluetooth speakers. These portable devices run on batteries and wirelessly connect to a smartphone or other device. Right now, no other company makes a better speaker at a fairer price than JBL. The JBL line of portable speakers fit into any budget, from the economic Clip 2, to the midlevel Flip 3, to the higher-end Pulse 2. All of the speakers are splash resistant, and offer great sound for their price.

Old School Video Game System — NES Classic Edition ($59.99) In 1985, the video game company Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Almost 30 years later, they have re-released the console for the 21st century gamer. The NES Classic Edition is smaller than its predecessor and comes pre-installed with 30 of the company’s most famous titles, including Super Mario Brothers, Metroid and The Legend of Zelda. In a video game market that is racing to introduce the next best-selling title, Nintendo has returned to the classics. Unfortunately, many of the consoles have already sold-out, but keep an eye on online retailers who may be selling the device.

Contemporary Video Game Systems — Xbox One S ($299.99), Playstation 4 Pro ($339.99) Unlike earlier consoles which were exclusively for playing video games, newer systems like the Xbox One S and the Playstation 4 Pro are more versatile. Video game enthusiasts can still enjoy titles such as Call of Duty, Gears of War, Madden and Minecraft, but can also stream TV and play media. Both consoles come with a Blu-ray player and stream in 4K video. The Xbox One S is slimmer than previous models, and comes with 2TB of storage. Playstation 4 Pro, on the other hand, comes with only 1TB of storage, and offers a less

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TV and Media Steaming Devices — Roku Express ($29.99), Roku Streaming Stick ($49.99), Roku Premiere ($79.99) Gone are the days of cable television. Ever since Netflix launched its streaming service in 2007, the entire TV and media market has shifted towards streaming. And Roku has become a household name in streaming devices. The newest Roku devices are smaller and more powerful than their predecessors. Even the smallest and most economical of the devices, the Roku Express, streams at a modest 1080p HD. On the other end of the spectrum, the Roku Premiere streams at 4K Ultra HD. All devices are compatible with popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO, Amazon Video and Showtime.

Digital SLR Camera — Canon EOS Rebel T5 ($399.99) The Canon T5 is a staple in college photography classes. The camera is fairly priced, and can take a student from the campus to a professional setting. It is not the fanciest or sharpest camera on the market, but in a gear-driven profession the Canon T5 is a smart choice. The camera fea-

December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide tures both a viewfinder and digital display, and a foldable flash. It shoots in 18 megapixels and records in HD video. Users can choose from several picture styles including standard, portrait, landscape and monochrome, and the lens is removable which allows users to buy and mount a lens to fit the scenario.

Fitness Trackers — Fitbit Zip ($49.99), Fitbit Flex 2 ($89.99), Fitbit Charge 2 ($129.99) In the world of fitness, Fitbit is synonymous with wearable tech. And just like many other brands on this list, the company offers a product that fits into any budget. The Fitbit Zip is the most economical of the devices and conveniently clips onto the edge of a backpack or jacket. Like other Fitbit devices, the Zip keeps track of steps

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| 7

ties throughout the day. Finally, the Charge 2 is Fitbit’s most popular tracker and comes with a heart monitor, GPS tracking, and creates a cardio fitness score for improved workout performance.

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| 11

Candy ornaments Building memories with the holidays’ help

By Lisa Carroll

W

hen I was a kid, my mom had a glass Christmas tree candy dish. She would fill each of the three compartments with a different chocolate candy, and then my brother and I were given almost free reign to devour the sweets. We were told to leave some for Christmas.

I remember carefully unwrapping two or three Hershey Kisses from their red-and-green-foil wrappers and stuffing them into my mouth all at once. A most delectable treat.

My mom looks back at our Christmases after my dad got sick with a certain sadness. Some years, there weren’t many gifts stuffed under the tree.

Some years, my dad spent the holidays in his recliner chair, too sick to participate in the festivities. He urged us to go ahead without him.

On our family Christmas tree, my mom displayed our ornaments proudly. The reindeer out of popsi-

LAUREN THOMAS/ULSTER PUBLISHING

The best gift for parents come the holidays is pure sentiment: those oft-mentioned smiles backed up by young one’s belief in Santa. It’s usually enough to compensate for any poor assessments of the booty itself. car?

Tom and I, busy as usual, were making dinner, finishing laundry, going over the week’s itinerary.

In the moment, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas.

Peace and quiet, he answered. Yeah. That sounded good. He wanted a moment away from the less desirable parts of life — dishes, laundry, bills.

Maybe some time together that didn’t involve cartoons and chicken nuggets, I suggested. One of those nights, I reminded him, that included wine and table linens. And chocolate. Always chocolate.

We’ll be putting up our Christmas tree soon.

The girls will be writing their letters to Santa. The

hectic nature of the holidays will put me on edge.

I’ll get frustrated and yell at the tree, especially when putting on the garland. The long lines at the grocery store may annoy me. In my mind, I’ll want everything to be perfect, to go seamless.

Then Shelby or Sammie will steal a candy cane from the tree — the third, I’m sure, that day — and run around the house with a sticky face. Or Tom and I will share a glass of wine and dance to corny Christmas music. Or someone will think baking anatomically correct gingerbread people with grandma. Then I’ll remember what’s so great about Christmas.

The memories.

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cles my brother made in kindergarten, the ceramic nurse my dad received from work one year, and my favorite, a little German boy with a string that when you pulled it his legs would dance.

I was asked to write a story about what gifts mommies and daddies want from their children, and from each other. That assignment got swept up in the madness that is hosting a family holiday dinner. I procrastinated. I couldn’t come up with anything I wanted — for the story or for anyone who asked about it over the Thanksgiving weekend.

I already have everything.

Every morning, Tom leaves a piping hot cup of coffee on my nightstand before going off to work.

Every night, I get to snuggle under the covers with my two best girls. I have a warm, comfortable home and a few jobs that — while often stressful — bring me contentment.

I have a car that runs and a pantry full of food.

I have friends that I can count on in a heartbeat. I have a family that sticks by me through thick and thin. I count myself lucky.

There’s a lot that money can buy. A lot that can be stuffed under a tree. But not everything.

Memories can neither be bought nor wrapped.

The sweetness of melting chocolate. The wonder on my girls’ faces when they pulled the string on the ornament. The warmth of lit candles at the holiday church service.

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8, 2016 12 | December Holiday Gift Guide

What do grandparents want?

Some questions are answered by the simple asking

By James Beukelman

W

hat do grandparents want?

What gift would make a grandparent swoon in gratitude more than any other gift? It’s a challenge. Adult children who lived with their own children’s grandparents for a generation have seen their needs and interests change, decrease, and become increasingly other-centered.

The question is almost an enigma for younger grandchildren for whom the best gifts are driven by media promises and mutable peer values. Because of the test of miles or the flotsam of data from myriad sources about their histories and characteristics, they may not know Nana and Poppy very well. The perfect grandparent gift may defy decoding by growing minds.

The question is a mystery even for grandparents themselves. Card-carrying grandfather as I am, the question gives me pause. When age is measured in scores, needs, interests, values and perspectives move like a budding plant captured by time-lapse photography. Can I speak for grandparents in general, most of whom I do not know personally and for whom my ruminations may miss the mark completely because their wants are hard to find and slippery at best? Because I suspect there are a few commonalities in the membership of the grandparent brigade (except for the crazy grandparent, if your family’s prerequisite crazy relative is a grandparent), and because some of you have persevered through this paragraph because you need something useful about grandparent yearnings to guide your gift search, I will venture forth boldly.

For the grandparent deserving of his or her age, any gift from a grandchild that ends in joy or learning for the grandchild is the perfect gift. This will obviously require the grandchild’s participation in the selection, if not the creation, of the gift. A gift for which the grandchild contributed only the signing of the card or gift tag is not what a grandparent wants. Usually the amount of time or money expended is insignificant, except where the grandchild’s own piggy bank or bank account is used.

LAUREN THOMAS/ULSTER PUBLISHING

Want to know what our eldest want for gifts? Ask yourself what Mr. & Mrs. Claus want at this time of year, other than a good rest beginning December 26.

R

efrigerator art is almost always popular with grandparents no matter the grandchild’s age. But artwork designed and created to be framed and hung on other than kitchen space is not only popular but also prized and praised before innumerable friends and visitors.

For the trout fisherman or woman, the fly made by a grandchild’s hand or meticulously chosen

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As we age, the vibrancy of youth becomes ever more attractive. by a grandchild’s deliberation will find space in a grandparent’s treasure trove. For the grandmother of bling, the personally fashioned or chosen bangle for her favorite charm bracelet will bring tears to her eyes and smiles to her countenance.

The gift which a grandparent did not know he or she needed can be a good gift, like a coat rack for the cluttered mudroom or a new shade of lipstick. But care must be taken that these come from love’s larder and do not imply criticism. Forgiveness may be one of the best gifts the elderly can give others, but messages like, “Your house is messy,” and “Your makeup just isn’t cutting it anymore,” may strain relationships and take time to mend.

A gift of time is always a sure thing to give a grandparent. Busy young families can unintentionally leave behind the inhabitants of the family tree who live at a more deliberate pace. Two copies of the same book to be read and discussed together in regular intervals would be a better grandparent grace than just the book alone. The first of a promised series of pen pal letters from a grandchild will set most any grandparent into convulsions of glee. Two tickets to a well-chosen event, a gift certificate to an appropriate restaurant or diner, accompanied by an invitation to a skip-a-generation “grand” date would almost al-

ways be received with a well-delivered grin if not an ear-to-ear smile. A skip-a-generation week long vacation offer might even prompt whoops and hollers.

G

randchildren banding together to buy grandparents a Mediterranean cruise, or grandma an airline ticket to her ancestral home half a world away, or grandpa the late ‘60s muscle car he always admired, can hit the perfect gift bull’s eye in their own way. Yet even then, as Henry Van Dyke said, “It’s not the gift, but the thought that counts.” So in some ways an hour’s conversation before a roaring fireplace in which grandparent things and grandchild things are uncritically exchanged can hit the perfect gift bull’s eye with equal, if not greater, precision. When life reaches the point where the finish line is in view, time with loved ones mining the miracle of love usually edges to fever pitch consequence.

In a word, what grandparents want is grandchildren…not more grandchildren though that’s okay too, but a little larger portion of the grandchildren they already have. Give Nana and Poppy the gift in which the grandchild’s heartbeat, interests, and values pulse. The rest is just cotton candy — sweet but temporary, and not the least bit nourishing.

December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

| 13

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive...’ Gifts from the spirit as well as the purse By the Rev. Canon Jeff Golliher, Vicar St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ellenville

T

he holiday season is filled with awe, wonder and holy mystery. It’s a door that opens — an invitation from God that echoes through everyone and everything sacred — and we’re meant to step through it.

My experience is that people really want to do that that this year, perhaps more than most years. They want the opportunity to give, to receive, and to affirm the bonds that create a life together.

I feel the same way. We’re not talking about “other people� or “them.� There is no “them� in this. It’s a circle that encompasses everyone and expands outwardly.

We all want the opportunity to express the truths expressed in our ancient spiritual teachings. This is a very positive and hopeful sign.

One of the ancient teachings that comes to mind — and that the world needs the most — is simple and straightforward. It comes from the Christian tradition, but we’ve all heard it: It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). It is our giving from the heart that makes the Spirit rejoice. Gifts are good. Heartfelt gifts are great. Giving without counting the cost or expecting anything in return is the very DION OGUST/ ULSTER PUBLISHING best.

And while it is more blessed to give than Local holiday celebrations such as Woodstock’s renowned to receive, I wouldn’t rule out the spiritual Santa arrival at the town’s village green on December 24 benefits of receiving gifts, too, whatever draw a local family crowd every year. they might be. This is a lesson I learned hearsed or showy. He was just being himself, and early in my childhood, when I noticed the unexby receiving what I had given him, he was giving pectedly joyful look on someone’s face when he of himself to me. received the gift I had given him. The look on his That happened nearly 50 years ago, and I’ll nevface was his gift to me. Nothing that he did was re-

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er forget it. He helped me realize that everything we do with heartfelt feeling — even receiving gifts — is a form of giving.

Take some time to think about the gifts you buy or make for your family, friends, and all your loved ones. Think about them as persons. Ask yourself not only what they might want or need, but also what they really want or need.

There’s nothing wrong with taking the time to find out — maybe by asking a friend, or a friend of your friend. Gift-giving provides an opportunity to get to know people better, which is one of the many great things about the holidays. Gift-giving weaves our lives together in unexpected ways, making the bonds of affection and friendship stronger and more life-affirming.

So, remember what Jesus said, it’s more blessed to give than to receive, and don’t forget that receiving can be a form of giving, too. It’s all in the giving, and the world needs us to give a lot right now.

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8, 2016 14 | December Holiday Gift Guide

Foods that shine Makes 6 servings. Adapted from Goya.com

Holiday fare that spans the globe

By Kara Thurmond and Andrew Amelinckx

I

n a time of global strife and tribulation, there is one thing transcends our religious, cultural and political differences: food.

The best time to bust out family favorites and unique treats is during the holiday season, whether it’s for Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

Across the globe, families have special dishes reserved for the holiday season. Some, like Yorkshire pudding, the savory bread-like food, we look forward to all year, even though most Americans think of pudding as a sweet and creamy dessert.

They wouldn’t consider Yorkshire pudding to be in the same universe as Kozy Shack.

Other dishes, like Aunt Janey’s holiday jello vegetable loaf, we are kind of glad only come around once a year. We endure them with tiny bites and polite smiles.

Traditional Hanukkah fare revolves around fried foods and dairy (yum!). In the fried category are jelly-filled doughnuts called sufganiyot, and of course latkes, whether of the potato variety or the kind containing cheese (both stem from 19th-century traditions) and topped with apple sauce.

Kwanzaa, a secular holiday celebrated by many African Americans from December 26 to January 1, has a number of delicious food traditions, including curried stew, a stellar combination of sweet potato, peanut, curry, and other flavors with a decidedly African slant.

It seems nearly every culture has a special holiday cookie of one type or another, whether it be rugelach, that crescent-shaped treat with a sweet and gooey filling, or French Madeleines, those plump tea cakes with their distinctive shell shape.

Rolling holiday cookies in powdered sugar is fairly ubiquitous around the globe. In the States, we have the kind made of butter, sugar, flour and nuts rolled in powdered sugar and are called by various names: snowball cookies, walnut balls, pecan ball cookies, Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies. The crescent-shaped Greek version is called Kourabiedes. Germany, the Netherlands and other Northern European nations have Pfeffernuesse, tiny spiced cookies with a warm ginger bite.

Pro tip: pop the whole cookie in your mouth at once to avoid getting the sugar all over your clothes, unless the cookies is too large, in which case you should probably just be okay with a little powdered sugar on your pants.

We look forward to eggnog (whether spiked with bourbon or rum or on its own) every year.

It is enjoyed here, in Europe, and in Central and South America. The Puerto Rican version, called

Remember

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Top, Coquito is a lively run-spiked Puerto Rican version of the more staid egg nog; above left, Sufganiyot, the jelly-filled doughnuts that follow potato pancake latkes at Hannukah celebrations, are one of many starch-heavy favorites this time of year; above right, Jello molds are a frightening memory for some, an enticing new frontier for others, and a means for community bonding for many.

Some have even been known to float plastic cowboys in the stuff! coquito, was a new one for us. Because we love to spread the holiday cheer, here’s a recipe for our new favorite winter drink.

Coquito This is the easy version without eggs. You can make it more complicated, if that’s your thing (it is often ours) by making your own milk from a fresh coconut. y

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8, 2016 16 | December Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide 2016 DECEMBER 8, 2016 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • HUDSONVALLEYONE.COM

part 2

Getting at the heart of the holiday spirit

8, 2016 18 | December Holiday Gift Guide

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Holiday hoopla Could it be the pageantry that gets us in the mood?

By Jennifer Brizzi

T

he pageantry of this time of year takes form in those Decemberember activities that get you in a festive spirit. Not necessarily gift shopping, sending holiday cards, baking cookies or hosting or attending holiday parties, all of which do qualify, but rather those cultural events that stimulate the senses and inspire awe and wonder, those iconic traditions that remind you very pleasantly that the holidays are here again, distracting you from the coming months of cold, short days. Music, plays, pageants, light shows and parades can fill the bill and are some options for getting you away from your smart phone and out into civilization to share holiday joy with your fellow humans.

Unlike many of my contemporaries, I don’t have any childhood memories of dressing up as the Virgin Mary or a fluffy sheep for the annual school Christmas pageant. Or even a lobster, like in the film Love Actually (2003). The Quaker-run private school in Vermont I attended valued pagan traditions over the Christian for celebrating holiday time, so in Decemberember we’d do mummers’ plays with Morris dancing and ancient holiday music about the wassail bowl (a sort of olde-time punch with cider or ale and spices). I can still do a fine “Wassail Wassail All Over the Town” on the recorder, my sole bit of musical talent.

The town where I grew up had an amusement park called Santa’s Land for a year-round dose of Christmas whenever the mood struck. And I do remember seeing Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol as a kid, and especially Handel’s Messiah, a meaty opus deeper more substantial than standard carols. These cultural events are pretty much as ubiquitous around the country as Jingle Bell Rock is piped into most stores. And there’s no shortage of opportunities to experience events like that, that amp up the holiday spirit, here in the Hudson Valley.

The New Paltz Ballet will be performing that classic Christmas ballet the Nutcracker at the

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Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie on Decemberember 10 at 2pm and 7:30pm and Decemberember 11 at 3pm. The Catskill Ballet will do it at UPAC in Kingston December 9-11.

See www.bardavon.org for info on either. And for more Nutcracker action, the Westchester Ballet Company performs it at the Westchester County Center in White Plains on Decemberember 16-18,

see www.countycenter.biz If you want to go a little rogue, get to Purchase (also Westchester County--the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase) for The Hip Hop Nutcracker on Thursday, December 15 at 8pm, when an electric violin and onstage DJ will re-imagine Tchaikovsky’s classic in modern day New York City. www.artscenter.org For another reinter-

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8, 2016 20 | December Holiday Gift Guide pretation—The Nutcracker in colonial Yorktown during the Revolutionary War—get thee to the Paramount Hudson Valley in Peekskill (also Westchester) on Saturday, December 17 at 3 pm www. paramounthudsonvalley.org For Dickens’ take on holiday morals, don’t miss a couple local variations of his Christmas Carol.

In Hyde Park, Half Moon Theatre offers a fresh adaptation by Geoff Tarson, through Decemberember 18, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the Marriott Pavilion at the Culinary Institute of America. It promises a fast pace, and humor to boot, plus pre-theater dining at one of the CIA’s restaurants is a great add-on temptation as well.

At the Rhinebeck Center for the Performing Arts, also through Decemberember 18, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, is a refreshed version of A Christmas Carol after a two-year hiatus. The Center is also offering a marionette version by The Puppet People on Saturday, December 17 at 11 am. www.centerforperformingarts.org/.

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version of the play. His one-hour performances, with music, will be on December 10, 11, 17 & 18 (three performances each day at 4pm, 5:15pm and 6:30pm) at the Christ Episcopal Church in Tarrytown www.hudsonvalley.org And “Mr. Dickens Tells a Christmas Carol” by actor Michael Muldoon is at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown Friday-Sunday, December. 9-11, 16-18, and Monday-Friday, December. 19-23, 26-30. lyndhurst.org

M

ost community parades, lights and festivals are done by the time this publication hits the newsstands, but there are still festivities to be found, including musical and cinematic tributes to the season.

For the former, check out Lessons and Carols: Vassar College Madrigals Ensemble on Saturday, December 10 at 4pm at Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie, and the Rhinebeck Choral Club’s Winter Concerts December 10 at 7:30pm and December 11 at 3pm, their venue the Rhinebeck Re-

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Also check out A Candlelight Service of Christmas Lessons and Carols at the Zion Episcopal Church in Wappingers Falls at 4:30pm on Sunday, December. 18, email gregory.citarella@gmail.com.

And you’ll find the classic Messiah by Handel from the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, with more than 100 musicians and singers and a pre-concert talk with guest conductor Christine Howlett an hour before the performance, on Sat. December. 17 at 2pm at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie. Sounds like a don’t-miss to me. www.bardavon.org There’s nothing like classic film to get you in the spirit. As for that classic favorite and seasonally appropriate redemption story, It’s a Wonderful Life, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never seen more than bits of it, so the significance of the iconic leg lamp is lost on me. Not only was my schooling unorthodox but our home was TV-free, so I didn’t see all of Casablanca or even Wizard of Oz until I was an adult. But It’s A Wonderful Life, with darling Jimmy Stewart, remains perennially popular, so there are screenings. Radio station Q92 will be offering an encore performance of Just Off Broadway’s “It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” on December 24 at 7pm.

UPAC in Kingston will screen the 1983 comedy A Christmas Story on Decemberember 16 at 7:30 p.m., a newer classic I have not yet seen. And when we don’t feel like going out we can watch Miracle on 34th St. or one of my less wholesome faves, Bad Santa, which has a sequel just out that I have not seen. I have to say my favorite Christmas movie is the aforementioned Love Actually which

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Rhinebeck’s popular Dutch/pagan Sinterklaas fest will have come and gone when this publication hits the newsstands, but check it out next year if you missed it. This wild, unique festival— created by the creator of the Greenwich Village Halloween parade, Jeanne Fleming — offers giant puppets, people on stilts, all manner of music and entertainment and a mystical fantastical Sendak-esque starlight parade on a cold dark night. It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced, non-commercial and uniquely beautiful, and all about the children.

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ut there’s lots left to do. For lights and other outdoor family excitement you can get to Garrison (Putnam County) for Sparkle! at neoclassical mansion Boscobel on Decemberember 9, 10, 16 & 17 from 4:30 p.m.9 p.m. Thousands of lights, candlelit paths and lots of varied entertainment (think ventriloquism and magic), music and ice sculptures and twilight tours (by reservation). www.boscobel.org The valley’s many historic mansions are always festively Decemberorated for the holidays and at Staatsburg there’s an extra draw of their Holiday “Whodunit” with interactive mysterious fun on December 11 1 p.m.-4 p.m.

On December 10 you can choose between Ellenville’s Holiday Expo at Norbury Hall, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., with a movie screening, holiday crafts and entertainment, or Frozendale in Rosendale 10 .m.-6 p.m. for local food, arts and crafts, movie and puppet show, parade and lights fest and even a mac and cheese bake off!

At Sugar Loaf in Orange County there is a Holiday Celebration from 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. with horse-drawn wagon rides, strolling carolers and a visit from Santa. Another community event worth checking out is Dreidel House in Rhinebeck at the Jewish Center, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on December 11, where you can make olive oil, candles and donuts, and enjoy a Chanukah photo booth and making ceramic crafts.

If the holidays for you are all about ginormous displays of lights, and subtle and beautiful community displays (hey Rhinebeck Village) are not enough for you, check out that Sparkle! thing at Boscobel or head south to White Plains in West-

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chester for the Northern Kensico Lights, where several homes with a coordinated soundtrack offers zillions of lights and animated wonderments, from 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m. seven nights a week through Jan. 1. www.nychristmaslights.com Nine miles away in Valhalla is Westchester’s Winter Wonderland, with light sculptures and synchronized shows, rides and other attractions wwinterwonderland.com But one of the most fun and suspenseful ways to ring in the season is to get ye to Woodstock on Christmas Eve to see how Santa will arrive in the burg this year. For three quarters of a century he’s

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been showing up with stockings full of Hanukkah and Christmas candy and, always, a unique mode of arrival. In the past these have included horseback, sleigh, spaceship, hang glider, hot air balloon and magic carpet, or from a colossal candy cane or down a church steeple. It is always a secret, and sweet surprises are one of the best parts of the holidays. So whether your holiday pageantry consists of a grandchild’s role in the school pageant, or singing or listening to a rousing assortment of holiday carols, or enjoying the pathos of Scrooge or the dance of the snowflake waltzers, enjoy the season.

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A musical tale The secret life of Dylanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

By Tim Moore

S

he called me three months before Christmas Day, 2009. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hello, Mr. Moore?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes?â&#x20AC;? I mumbled. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Good morning. This is Blah Blah from Sony Entertainment. We want to license the song â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for a video use.

Are we talking to the right person?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;For permissions? Yeah. A video? Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the artist?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bob Dylan.â&#x20AC;?

I sat silent at my library desk for a minute, staring out at the woods. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Okay. Who is this really?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;?Blah Blah, from Sony Records.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;?No, who is this?â&#x20AC;? I sat up in my seat. â&#x20AC;&#x153;... really.â&#x20AC;?

I watched a line of turkeys lope out of the treeline to cross my yard. All nervous wrecks.

Dylan? My skepticism was justified. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was a crumpet of a Christmas song my father wrote in 1960. It was the only successful song of dozens he penned. Against all odds, it had become a pretty successful Christmas tune. The popular kids music star Raffi recorded it in the 80s.

There was a Pokemon version. There was even a polka version Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d heard once on Terri Grossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show, Fresh Air. But Bob Dylan? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Okay. Start again. You say Bob Dylan recorded â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santa?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s made a video of it.â&#x20AC;?

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your name again?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blah Blah.â&#x20AC;?

The casting made no sense. Dylan always recorded his own songs.

Dylan and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? Naanh.

Why would he record my dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corny 50-year-old Christmas song?

The turkeys paused, spread out, pecking neurotically at the ground.

Ms. Blah filled in some details. Dylan had recorded a Christmas album â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Â all other peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s songs. And of all the holiday classics on the record, Sony had decided to make â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; the single and shoot a video for it. Not only had The Bob recorded the crumpet, but it was also the lead cut Singer/songwriter Tim Mooreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bequest from his father paid on his album. much better when Bob Dylan, a former Woodstock resident, This still didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compute. My dad, decided to try his hand at the song, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Must Be Santa.â&#x20AC;? radio man Hal Moore, had a corny hosted the first morning DJ show in America.

Indiana side that came out in his attempts at songAnd he married a beautiful actress who bore him writing. Nowhere was his corniness more exposed a future songwriter. than in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santa.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; With my own pro songHal came from the same heartland origins smith credentials, I had kept my distance from the Woody Guthrie came from, but Woody was an song. But â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Must Be Santaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was loved by a generaOkie. My dad was a Hoosier. Unlike Woody, dad tion of kids because of Raffi. What toddler didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wrote ditties. grow up with Raffi between 1984 and 2000?

Guthrie and Dylan didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t write ditties. They So. That. But still, Dylan wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; artist. wrote world-changing social songs. The idea that He was Mr. Authenticity. Fifteen years earlier heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d Dylan, the ditty-free Bard of Authenticity had resung, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Not Dark Yet.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Grim. The idea that Dylan corded Hal Mooreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Christmas ditty had only one liked my dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corny Christmas song was a huge thing going for it. Dad had been a real hobo. Dylan stretch for me. Then it turned out that Dylan had only claimed he was. not only sung it. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d performed it as a polka.

Maybe Dylan sensed that the tuneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s songwriter had genuine American hobo in his blood. Which hough dad had a great ear, dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s muDad did. Hal Moore grew up dirt poor in Indiana. sic-making was downright rudimentary.

After three years of hopping freight trains through He was an oompah piano player. He could the south, he landed his first gig as a radio anonly play three chords using one finger from his nouncer, then another and another until 25 years left hand and two from his right. Left-right. Oomlater he was program director of WNEW-AM, pah. Because of those limitations he could only New York, the most powerful indie radio station write simple songs. But he knew Mitch Miller. in the country. His voice radiated 1000 miles in And with that connection came a supreme twist every direction from three mighty 50,000-watt of fate that would take 50 years to play out. towers in Secaucus, New Jersey. On the way to Who was Mitch Miller? He was the ditty-meisthis pinnacle, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d staff-announced for CBS and ter of the 1950s, the producer behind such innoc-

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December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide uous novelty classics as ‘How Much is That Doggy in the Window?’ He was what made the Fifties cute, amusing, light-hearted, unthreatening — in other words, straight. Miller. His kind had been aging off the record charts in the late 1950s, resisting the tide of Elvis, Little Richard and James Brown. My dad was part of Miller’s old-guard resistance, too.

In dad’s world, Mitch Miller still had clout. He was a top executive at Columbia Records. So when Miller recorded ‘Must Be Santa’ with his ridiculously robust-sounding men’s chorus, my dad was over the rainbow. Mitch Miller had his own TV show, “Sing Along With Mitch.” Columbia would promote it. The holiday exposure would be huge.

And so it was that 50 years before Dylan’s “Christmas in the Heart” album, Mitch Miller’s version of ‘Must Be Santa’ came out. That was 1960.

Now comes the twist. Two years later, when the legendary John Hammond signed Bob Dylan to Columbia, there was a Columbia exec who derid-

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dad’s three-finger ditty is now a yuletide classic.

For which I can only say thanks and Merry Christmas to my dad for his perennial Christmas gift. I can only imagine what he might feel today knowing that his simple words and music are sitting in the Library of Congress, immortalized by one of America’s greatest singer-poets.

ed Dylan and called him “Hammond’s Folly.” Who was that guy? Mitch Miller.

There’s no way to overstate how much the kappelmeister of Fifties novelty records didn’t get Dylan. Which is what makes the Dylan-‘Must Be Santa’ connection so weird. What were the chances that 50 years later the Nobel-winning Sixties bard would record the same corny song his detractor had recorded so long before? Or that the song’s author was the father of a kid (me) who would play his first record-company audition in Bob Dylan’s Woodstock house, or that even today said kid-musician lived a thousand yards from that same Dylan house? Who on earth pressed the button on that karmic jukebox?

I don’t know, but when the turkeys finally flopped over my fence into the next yard I said to Blah Blah from Sony, “Give me your number. I’ll call you back.”

Now it’s Christmas 2016, and ‘Must Be Santa’ has been very, very good to me — twice. Millions of Raffi units sold. Then Dylan. My one-time hobo

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8, 2016 24 | December Holiday Gift Guide

Local celebrations Giving each town its own sense of holiday spirit

By Violet Snow

I

f geography defines a town, with people and customs responding to the arrangement of rivers, mountains, and soil, each town’s resultant identity can be seen in how it celebrates holidays — especially Christmas. From Rhinebeck’s classy Sinterklaas festival to the spectacular arrival of Santa in Woodstock on

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Rosendale fills its new festival character this time of year with its annual Frozendale fun, where bands and kids play as everyone gets into the holiday spirit, classic canal-town-style.

The river town of Hudson kicks off its holidays with an annual Winter Walk in early December, but provides continuing fun throughout the season with window and park displays and fireworks!

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Christmas Eve, every Hudson Valley community has its quirky way of observing the season of fellowship and cheer.

Of course, traditions change as society changes.

In the colonial period, the Puritans saw Christmas as a somber religious event. Parties were held on Election Day, but Christmas was spent in prayer and reflection. Somewhere along the line, Americans turned back to the still older yearning to manifest light and joy during the dark, cold solstice time.

Back in the days when Hudson was a whaling port (hard to believe but true), Quakers ran the city, and they were not big on celebrating holidays either. Every day was sacred to them, and it was a form of blasphemy to single out December 25 for special attention. However, because of the sailors’ needs, the town became known for gambling and prostitution, which surely provoked holiday carousing. The brothels were closed by police raids in the 1950s, and the city’s public image was overhauled. Over the past few decades, Hudson has become a mecca for artists and musicians, resulting in the establishment of Winter Walk, which transforms the mile-long main street

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Woodstock’s huge Christmas Eve extravaganza includes a different choreographed arrival by Santa each year, the classic rock ‘n’ roll for which the town’s been known for, and stuffed stockings for every kid on hand.

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Gardiner, like many smaller communities, provides holiday fun in the form of a parade.

Even smaller rural areas often note the season by having Santa travel around the back roads on a a fire truck.

December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide into a holiday wonderland. Upwards of 20,000 people gather for a musical parade, live reindeer, a fireworks show, and hundreds of performers, including carolers, fire-throwing jugglers, and one saxophone-playing Santa Claus.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus lead a parade from the Hudson Opera House to City Hall. This year, the parade was the setting for Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night, with participants marching as they played

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8, 2016 26 | December Holiday Gift Guide has been expressed in the Christmas Eve arrival of Santa, each year by means of a different mode of transportation, kept secret from all but a handful of planners until the actual event. Santa has ridden up to the town green by horse, elephant,

camel, firetruck, DeLorean sportscar, dogsled, zipline. In the years when a local arborist played the part of the jolly one, he would arrive suspended from a construction crane, then rappel down from a flying VW bus, a giant candy cane, a fly-

ing saucer, or some other fanciful vehicle. Even in freezing weather, the town green is packed with spectators, waiting, waiting, and then exclaiming in unison as the latest means of arrival is revealed.

Santa makes his way to a big chair in the middle of the green and hands out to the children stockings of goodies filled by the many volunteers who make the town celebrations possible.

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istory is remembered in Rhinebeck, which has revived the tradition honoring Sinterklaas, the patron of children and sailors, brought to the town by Dutch settlers over 300 years ago. The old custom was for a town resident to impersonate Sinterklaas, dressed in a bishopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tall hat, red cape, shiny ring, and jeweled staff. Mounted on a white steed, he rode through town knocking on doors late at night, delivering bags of treats to good children. Naughty children were threatened with kidnaping by his companion, the Grumpus, a wild-looking half-man, halfbeast.

In the updated version of the festival, children are transformed into kings and queens and honored as the bringers of the light at the darkest time of year. All of Rhinebeck comes alive in a day crammed with storytelling, live music, circus performers, dancers, magicians, puppet shows, a parade, and a pageant. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all done with the extravagance and taste that are typical of the upscale Rhinebeck community, yet all visitors are welcome.

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or many families, winter is the season to adorn their homes and yards with colorful lights. The Poughkeepsie region has made Christmas lighting into an art form. I grew up just east of the city, and driving through neighborhoods to see the lights was one of our holiday traditions. In 1995, Tim and Grace Gay of Lagrangeville began lighting their house to celebrate the birth of their first child. Now they have three offspring, and their display has grown to over 600,000 lights, synchronized to more than 230 songs, which can be heard by observers via car radio. The display is free, but the family accepts donations for charities and reported raising $37,000 in 2014. The ERDAJT display, named after the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initials, remains up through most of December.

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The firehouse, that rock of local service, has another party, also attended by Santa, and kids bring gifts up to the senior home on the hill. Local businesses donate cider and hot cocoa. Singers and non-singers join the caroling in the streets.

Such humble events are repeated in numerous small towns up and down the Hudson Valley. I used to love the drama, color, and mass appeal of the bigger celebrations, but nowadays I am content to stay in my hometown. Whichever your preference, you are invited to come along.

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Holiday art It’s all about illumination

By Paul Smart

C

hristmas is a time for tableaux.

It’s also a time for light and reflection, baubles and the baroque. Ditto Hannukah, up to a point. Ever since the Rebbe Schneerson’s push towards public menorah lightings in the 1970s, the festival seems to be gaining its own hold on art, or at least light displays.

Need I mention that I have a weakness for the visuals of the holiday season? I go out of my way for extravagant light displays, and feel that the more surreal the aesthetic, the better. And the same goes for the more staid art, from nativity scenes and modernist menorahs to advent calendars and holiday cards. Although I do maintain that a good 60 percent of what one has to wade through to get to the good stuff is effluent.

But to get back to that idea of tableaux...Think of creches, large and small. Adoration altar scenes.

The mingling of barnyard animals with camels, kings of diverse backgrounds, and that shiny, spotlight-supplying North Star. And then think of all the variations on such a theme that are and continue to be possible.

There are rooms full of great holiday scenes in the Vatican Museum. Up in Montreal, in the grand mountain-hugging spaces of the impressively catholic Oratorio of St. Joseph (under the world’s third largest dome) is an ongoing exhibit of nativity scenes from around the world, and across the ages. It’s filled with hundreds of pieces, some large, some fit into a matchbox (and all being shown outside this season, what with the museum undergoing renovations). There are figures made from wrought iron, from tinfoil, and carved from the world’s woods. The styles range from folk art to art brut, from modernist and semi-abstract to Rococo.

Nativity scenes, living and staid, fill church yards and altars, homes and stores (in our house, we’ve mixed in LEGO characters and Power Rangers, jungle animals and King Cake babies over the years). But so do classic winter scenes, as evidenced by the popularity of department store windows in our great cities, holiday train set-ups, and more folksy bits of fun like the wee houses that have been dotting Hudson’s Seventh Street Park for decades now.

PAUL SMART

Detroit has in recent years become the repository for some of America’s best outsider art. The scene is particularly poignant during the holiday season.

series of grand downtown displays, the People Mover twinkled with holiday spirit, entire neighborhoods matched the city’s growing displays of mirror-shard outsider art with lights, both electric and burning, and everything was lent a poignant air by the ever-present sound of old Motown holiday classics from the moment when Civil Rights was first becoming a reality.

Pre-kid, we also visited holiday displays in Holland, Belgium, France and Great Britain, in various small towns and cities around Mexico, as well as in India, Dubai and the surreal playgrounds of Hawaii, Florida and Southern California. Whether it was the Eiffel Tower done up in fairy lights, streets of Dutch homes each window-lit by candles, or the sight of a single spindly bush in the corner of Mumbai’s Hare Krishna compound lit by a single strand of orange and green bulbs with one bauble drooping the top branch to the ground, there was true beauty and art at hand in all we said. And all equal, when you get down to it, to the magnificent Van Dyke altarpieces lit perfectly for the season in Antwerp or whatever the Met, the Frick, or the Museum of Natural History has tastefully dreamed up in New York City.

Want a nice factoid to mull? St. Francis of Assisi, for whom our current pope is named, is credited with hen there are the lights! creating the first nativity scene in Woodstock and Uptown 1223 central Italy as a means of Kingston, Ellenville and Beashifting the emphasis away from gift con, Hudson’s Warren Street and giving and secular materialism back Rhinebeck all go out of their way to the worship of Christ. It was a livwith storefront competitions auging tableaux blessed by the pope of WIKICOMMONS mented by municipal displays, tastethe day, Honorius III, and staged in ful and fun. But for many the real It was only time before international holiday light displays would become the a cave. It was also successful enough fun comes in ad hoc decorating, es- subject of reality television specials. Some of the best are found almost by to become a standard for churches pecially in rural corners of the region accident on rural back roads around the Catskills and Hudson Valley. throughout Europe by the 1300s. where a blast of twinklers can stop Talk about the power of art, espeRochester, and Buffalo trees and displays, Niagatraffic. Ever seen the so-called “mafia lights” of cially when conjoined with holidays. ra, Ontario’s lighting of the mighty falls, Gary and Blue Mountain, some of the homes outside HighHammond, Indiana, Erie, PA and even the Nela land, or the lone homes that mix weird blow-up snowmen and grinches with giant rat’s nest balls Park display at the GE Lighting headquarters outside of Cleveland, itself home to all those holiday of white light, or simply send an old line of colorKilt Rentals scenes from the seasonal classic, A Christmas Stoed bulbs, glaring the same for decades now, up Custom Made Kilts ry (Nela, by the way, comes from GE’s predecessor into an old tree in the middle of nowhere?

SCOTTISH ATTIRE at the world’s first industrial park, the National Some pay to visit “prime” displays in Esopus & CELTIC ACCESSORIES Electric Lamp Association). and Albany, or the indoor Victorian wonders of Bob and Doreen Browning We visited friends in Chicago and St. Louis, hitthe great old Hudson Valley estates. A few years 54 Vineyard Ave. Highland, New York, 12528 ting the winter fairs of the former and the makeback, I convinced my family to indulge me in a 845-691-3888 • 1-800-859-KILT • Fax: 845-691-3611 a-grown-man-cry displays at the Anheuser Busch long-held dream and we traipsed out into the naKiltmakersapprentice@verizon.net factory. But the highlight of our long journey was tion’s heartland on what I’ve since dubbed a “Rust www.highlandkiltshop.com the scene in Detroit, where it rained hard on a Belt Christmas Tour,” catching downtown Utica,

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8, 2016 28 | December Holiday Gift Guide

Dropping the ball New Year’s Eve in the Hudson Valley — and Beyond

By Debra Bresnan

E

xcept for a few years when I rang in the New Year at Ellington’s Jazz Club on Sanibel Island, I often don’t decide how I’m going to celebrate New Year’s Eve until it’s almost here.

Thanks to researching for this article, I discovered some interesting traditions and fun facts about this highly anticipated present moment that marks the passage each year between past and future.

For instance, did you know the famous Times Square ball is made of Waterford Crystal triangles — and, better yet, that they include faceted designs including 288 Gift of Kindness rosettes, 288 Gift of Wonder starbursts and 288 Gift of Fortitude diamond cuts? These designs symbolize unity, a sense of wonder, resolve, courage and the spirit of strength required to triumph over adversity, attributes that will serve us well in 2017.

The first New Year’s Eve Ball lowering ceremony at Times Square was in 1907 and that 700-pound ball was made of iron and wood and covered in light bulbs. Today’s ball of 2,688 Waterford Crystals bolted to 672 LED modules is attached to an aluminum frame and the 12-foot diameter ball weighs nearly six tons. The telecast is viewed by billions of people all over the world as an international symbol of New Year’s Eve. No matter where you are on New Year’s Eve, chances are the Times Square Ball Drop is part of

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Uptown Kingston’s Wall Street has become one of many focuses for Hudson Valley New Year’s Eve revelers in recent years. Remember Rick Danko’s Bearsville Theater concerts decades earlier? your celebration — unless you’re in uptown Kingston where revelers on Wall Street offer New York City a back seat.

The Uptown Kingston New Year’s Eve party is one of the Hudson Valley’s most fun ways to celebrate. Thousands of happy people circulate around

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heated tents on Wall Street (which is closed off for the evening) and enjoy pop-up shops with food and beverages. There’s live music and dancing at BSP, Stockade Tavern (with Caprice Rouge), Senate Garage and other uptown establishments plus special events sponsored by Boitson’s and Keegan Ales. The main stage features musical performances and Kingston’s Midnight Ball Drop.

If you’re looking for an evening that’s a little more elegant and want to dress up and make a night — or even a weekend — of your celebrating, The Grandview in Poughkeepsie offers festivities, food and dancing with Hudson River views.Ditto the luxurious Diamond Mills, overlooking the lovely Esopus Falls in Saugerties.

And, if you want New Year’s Eve festivities that last for nights and days, book a stay in the Shawangunk Mountains at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa in Kerhonkson. You can enjoy snow tubing, skiing, hiking and ring in the New Year with fine dining, dancing and fun for the whole family.

There are fireworks and other festivities for revelers at Windham Mountain Resort and Hunter Mountain ski resorts — or how about a three-day weekend (or just the New Year’s Eve dinner and dancing) at Ashokan Music & Dance Camp?

Several popular concert venues have scheduled New Year’s Eve festivities including Helsinki Hudson (with Simi Stone, Pearl Aday, Scott Ian from Anthrax and Lisa Green); The Falcon in Marlboro with The Chris Bergson Band and Ellis Hooks and Bearsville Theater (with Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds); and Towne Crier Café in Beacon (with Chris O’Leary Band and Sari Schorr & Band + dinner if you like), and you’ll find similar live music offerings throughout the Hudson Valley at other popular nightspots. Mountain View Studio in Woodstock traditionally offers a sold-out early concert with Leslie Ritter, Amy Fradon, Cathie Malach and friends.

Restaurants that feature delicious New Year’s Eve menus (some with music and dancing, too) include just about every one of your favorites. A few suggestions: Peekamoose in Big Indian; New World Home Cooking in Saugerties; Global Palate in West Park; Gigi Trattoriaand Terrapin in Rhinebeck; Ship to Shore and elephant in Kingston; and Bear Café just outside of Woodstock.

Setting Intentions for the New Year If you see the opening between the end of one year and the beginning of a new one as an opportunity to be more mindful about how you spend your time on earth, there are plenty of ways to move more quietly and peacefully into 2017.

Check your local yoga studio’s schedule for classes. Gather with like-minded friends to meditate or

December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

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WIKICOMMONS

Once a low-tech illumination, the proverbial Times Square ball dropped with a countdown on December 31 each year has become a high-tech bauble of incredible complexity. plan for local activism and volunteer work. Write a check — or sign up for a monthly contribution

International Customs

H

ere are a few traditions from around the world…maybe they’ll inspire you to create a new tradition for yourself.

Spain: 12 Grapes Eat one grape at each of the 12 tolling midnight bells for good luck in the months of the New Year.

Denmark: Broken China & Leaping Save some broken plates and glasses to throw against loved ones’ doors or jump off a chair at midnight to bring good luck and banish bad spirits.

Central & South America: Lucky Underwear Wear red undergarments on New Year’s Eve to attract love and yellow to attract money.

Philippines: Roundness Representing coins, round shapes — such as fruits and polka dots — are believed to bring prosperity.

Scotland: Fires and Crossing the Threshold Bonfire ceremonies and parades — with giant fireballs on overhead poles — symbolize the sun and purification. During Hogmanay, ‘first-footing’ requires that the first person stepping over a home’s doorstep must carry a gift for luck (often whiskey).

Panama: Effigy Burning Effigies of well-known people, beloved or otherwise, are burned to represent the old year and drive off evil spirits in the New Year.

Finland: Molten Metal Cast molten tin into a container of water and interpret the shapes to predict your chances for love, travel, riches and more in the New Year.

Village Antique Center at Hyde Park

plan — to support non-profit organizations that are working so hard to improve our lives. Invite friends over to share a meal and give thanks for the bounty of the Hudson Valley. Decide what you want to learn or do in the coming year and sketch out some plans to bring it into fruition.

If an organized, spiritually focused entry into the New Year is more to your taste, you can join with others at Menla Center for Health and Happiness in Phoenicia for “Real Love: Annual New Year’s Dharma & Yoga Retreat” with Carolyn Christie, Robert Thurman, Sharon Salzberg and Brooke Myers. At Sky Lake Shambhala Meditation & Retreat Center in Rosendale, you can sign up for “Snow Lion’s Delight Half Dathun” with Shastri Mary Campbell for either a one- or two-week meditation intensive to start your New Year with mindfulness.

Especially For Kids — And Fun For All And, there are even early ways to ring in the New Year with the little ones. Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum in Poughkeepsie has morning pop music, dancing, surprises and artistic activities for

kids leading up to New Year’s Eve @ Noon. Millbrook Rotary has music, snacks, balloons, trains, masks and other family fun starting in the afternoon until early evening.

Looking for a little exercise, before or after celebrating on the Eve? Try outdoor skating at Bear Mountain Ice Rink or Walkway Over the Hudson’s annual New Year’s Day walk to get a healthy start on 2017.

Not into the crowds or public festivities? I hear you. I’ve enjoyed many parties and concerts over the years and the Kingston Ball Drop is definitely one of my favorites. But, I’vealso stayed home and lit candles and written poems or whatever else I felt inspired to create. I’ve enjoyed feasting and toasting with friends around a kitchen table. Last New Year’s Eve, I snuggled on the couch and happily binged on the “Twilight Zone” Marathon. Who knows where I’ll ring in 2017?

I don’t. Yet. However you decide to ring in 2017, I wish you abundant good cheer and encourage you to look back with gratitude and forge ahead with hope and determination. Happy New Year!

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8, 2016 30 | December Holiday Gift Guide

Spirit of the season Yes, Virginia, there are religious memes, too

By Elisabeth Henry

T

he Spirit of the Holidays. It’s no easy thing to write about that in this, the year of Our Lord, 2016. I once wrote a series of newspaper articles entitled “Belief in the Catskills.” Each installment explored a particular religion, or system, or practice via interviews with lay persons and spiritual leaders. That series was published in 1996. Well, just let me revisit those folks for this piece, I though. Ten years on, I got no timely response to my calls requesting interviews. I was on my own.

When the going gets weird, someone once said, one might need to resort to gonzo journalism.

That is, one needs to assert oneself into reporting the story. In this particularly weird go, what with shocking election results, the Pope delegating administrative powers over Chinese Catholics to the Chinese government (so, Dalai Lama, what are you doing New Years Eve?), a “super” moon that hardly challenged the magnificent, amber largeness of a typical Harvest Moon, the strange triumvirate of deaths (Fidel, Leonard Cohen, and Florence Henderson) we may find it hard to know what to believe. And belief is at the core of the Spirit of the Holidays.

I believe in Christmas trees. I have friends who stubbornly insist the fragrant balsam is an intrusive religious symbol so toxic to non-believers that the mere sight of one is like aerosol laundry starch sprayed on the eyeballs. Not true. It is merely a holiday thing that lends itself to artistry. Come on. They’re pretty! I also believe in Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in Roman Catholic churches, and Syrian and Russian Orthodox Churches. I love the beautiful sanctuaries tastefully appointed with greens, the dim light, the candles, that round metal ball they swing which emits fragrant smoke.

The mood is hushed. I am not of that faith, but I am deeply moved as I am deeply moved by the solemn peace that infuses those rooms. My background is Episcopalian. My childhood church was a small one story stone and timber chapel. What we lacked in dramatic backdrop, we made up for in adorable children’s pageants. My second born daughter played the Christ child one year, and brought down the house by stuffing a handful of straw from the manger into her tiny maw, like a puppy with a bone, grinning at the audience, all of whom tried to be somber, like those aforementioned Catholics, which only made their suppressed guffaws that much more explosive.

There is a story of one Christmas Eve, when all the children were given candles as they left the service, and told to guard each little light. One little mountain dweller cupped her hand around her tiny flame all the way through that stormy night, and fell asleep watching it play in its reflection on her frosty window.

I believe in the High Holy Days, The Days of Awe, because I have benefitted from the largesse of spirit in my friends of the Jewish faith. I grew up in industrial Northern New Jersey. My 80 year old father spent the last years of his life building silk looms for his 100 year old boss, Mr. Kalkstein. I danced at bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs and sweet sixteens. In ninth grade, us kids in AP ‘biology were invited to the home of our biology teacher. Mr. Weiss and his wife, young and newly married, wanted to share with us how civilized, educated people behave. This was novel for us Jersey kids. Just listen to Springsteen’s lyrics if you need context. I also strongly believe in Channukah for reasons best explained by rugulach.

One of my best friends in college was a Muslim.

I regret now that I had no way of knowing how difficult it was for her to be our friend. She was astonishingly beautiful. When she walked into a bar or a frat house, or a department store, heads would turn. She dated. This infuriated her older brother. He explained that it was alright for

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How do you bring spirit back to the holidays? It’s already there in the sharing of traditions between old and young, as well as across various religious and non-religious histories. non-Muslim girls to date, drink, smoke, etc., but not for Muslim girls. Muslim girls were too important for that. He wanted to date me. Guess who didn’t get lucky that long ago Autumn in Pennsylvania? I visited the Muslim family in Manhattan one Ramadan, but I wasn’t allowed in the apartment. The ladies answered the door, in cover, their hands and arms intricately stenciled with henna.

My friend appeared, and we made plans to have coffee in a shop nearby. The ladies kept a modest demeanor, but when I exchanged glances and smiles with them, I could see they were warmly amused by our youth and innocent chatter. I believe in their love for their daughter. I believe in their genuine good will.

T

he past year has deepened many divides in this country. We recently hosted most of our adult children and their significant others for Thanksgiving We did not discuss politics, which is epic, since this is a rowdy bunch. Always.

But the rifts are too painful, the chasm between this and that “belief ” too vast. We all feel hopeless.

Why have a discussion? No opinions will change.

Is this just the beginning of “brother against brother?” Centuries ago the original people of this nation found a solution.

Some time around 1200 AD, The Peacemaker appeared along with the Onandagan Hiawatha to the Mohawk people. A woman, Jigonhsasee, listened to the prophecy of The Peacemaker, as spoken by Hiawatha, who was known for his oratory. Oratory remains central to Iroquois tradition today. The woman (Please Note: it was a woman) was able to persuade the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca people to adopt the principles put forth by The Peacemaker. This became the Iroquois Confederacy. The tribes gathered at Onondaga Lake, where they planted a Tree of Peace and proclaimed the Great Binding Law of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Tuscaroras eventually joined, too. This confederacy influenced the United States Constitution and Anglo-American ideas of democracy. During the Albany congress of July 1754, Benjamin Franklin said of the Iroquois confederacy: “It would be a strange thing...if six nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming such a union, and yet it has subsisted for ages and appears indissoluble, and yet like a union should be impractical for 10 or a dozen English colonies.” In case you are mistaken, the ancient tensions between the Iroquois nations absolutely rivaled our little Red vs. Blue spat. They were not playing. They practiced cannibalism.

T

he enduring peace of this confederacy starts with the practice of reciting The Thanksgiving Address. Recitation of this is not limited to one Thursday in November. It is known as The Words That Come Before All Else.

The prayer is based on the belief that the world can not be taken for granted, and that we must thank all living things in order to align our minds with the natural world. This prayer is the backbone of the Iroquois culture. When spoken, it brings about a pervading tone of peace, a mood conducive to respect and cooperation...A faithkeeper is selected to share the words of thanksgiving at the opening and closing of social, government, and ceremonial events. The prayer follows a general structure, however, individual speakers use their own distinct words and expression. This prayer follows an order, beginning with the lowest spiritual forces on Earth, continuing to those in the sky, and ending with the highest forces beyond the sky. The prayer begins with The People, and is followed by The Earth, The Waters, The Fish, The Plants, The Animals, The Trees, The Birds, Our Sustenance, The Winds, The Thunderers, The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, The Four Beings, and Handsome Lake.

The prayer ends with The Creator.You can hear the prayer spoken by Howard Hill (Tuscarora) in the Tuscarora language. He is one of the last fluent speakers from the tribe, in the original http:// www.artinjun.ca/printup_hope/earth5.html This year, one of our Thanksgiving guests suited up in orange and camouflage, grabbed a handful of cookies and a gun, wrapped himself in a horse blanket and tied it over his shoulder like a Portuguese separatist, and headed out before dawn, ostensibly to shoot big game, claiming to pattern himself after Vasily Zaytsev, the Hero of Stalingrad. He repeated this ritual every morning and late afternoon of his stay with us. Nobody died.

The deer herd remains intact. He eventually confessed that he really just wanted to meditate deep in the forest. I know the power of that. I need to retreat often.

“

T

HE HOLIEST OF HOLIDAYS ARE THOSE KEPT BY

ourselves in silence and apart; The secret anniversaries of the heart.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Now is that time when snow muffles sound, there is little to perfume the crisp air, the eyes are soothed by a world colored only by the soft white of snow against misty grey skies, striated by dark, leafless tree branches. In the back of my property, an underused timber trail has thick new growth of pine on either side. The tips of those trees bend

December 8, 2016 Holiday Gift Guide toward each other, and when you walk down that trail, it is as if you are walking in a cathedral aisle.

It opens to a slope that gradually steepens to a sheer rock face. You can imagine making a big fire in front of that face, and dancing in front of the fire, making scary shadows, drinking strong wine.

But, I don’t want to do that alone. I want to dance

and drink with friends. I want to give them things and tell them stories that make them smile. I want them to make fun of my foibles and ask my advice.

I want to trust. I want to believe. I want those candle-lit, warm and crowded rooms perfumed with

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the aroma of fabulous food and the scent of snow on the woolen coats I take from my beloved clansmen and women who also trust, who also believe.

But my paltry grasp of the language, my lack of intellectual chops fail me when I try to bring the

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8, 2016 32 | December Holiday Gift Guide conflicting cross currents of thought among my social and familial attachments into one happy flow. What can a poor girl do? I love the idea of The Thanksgiving Address for formal occasions, but I doubt my husband will wait for his fagioli

while I bless the crockpot, the outlet into which it is plugged, the terrific big, white soup bowls I found on sale at The Pottery Barn, and of course, my dish washer. Well, he might join in the first few times, but This American Life will not pause for

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me on line at Walmart, at the gas pump, the toll booth on the Thruway. But, I can be like Mr. Fezziwig in Dickens A Christmas Carol. I want to be like Mr. Fezziwig. I can party like it’s 1999, but feel the chi and repulse the monkey.

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

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