Christmas Reminiscence

Childhood Christmas – The Italian Christmas Eves of my childhood were huge gatherings of cousins, aunts, uncles, and Nonni.  Because meat was not allowed on this day, the feast—and it was a feast—featured all types of seafood, prepared by my Italian grandmother.  Succulent shrimp, copious calamari, and Pesce Abbondante tempted the revelers just back from visiting the incredibly beautiful crèche at St. Callistus’ Church down the street.  Sometimes we would leave early and hurry to my Irish grandmother’s home, replete with Uncle Jim’s aluminum Christmas tree lit with revolving spectra of color from his holiday light wheel. We’d arrive just in time to take my Grandmother to Midnight Mass. She especially loved the Christmas Mass with flowers, special hymns, and angels announcing the birth of the anointed babe. The Christmases of my childhood were filled with loving people, savory scents, and snow.

Old-Enough Christmas – When I was in second or third grade I became eligible to join my older girl cousins, aunts, and my mother on the special holiday trip to downtown Chicago at night. We would catch the nearby streetcar, bursting with expectations of an exciting evening spent at the Chicago Theater’s Christmas Stage Show.  How we laughed at Billy de Wolf and swooned over Dick Contino. The stage settings were glorious and the dancers dazzled.  The “girls” were having their special Christmas treat and I was old enough to join them!

Young Love Christmas – Hubby and I became engaged over Christmas break of my senior year in college, despite the embarrassing Christmas present mix-up when I mistakenly gave him the wrong gift—a pair of pink petti-pants intended for me! He, however, was not blameless in holiday protocol. During vacations I worked at the University Medical Center and he would pick me up when work was over.  He was there, earlier than usual and very nervous.  The reason?  He proposed marriage as soon as we got into his car. Unfortunately he was parked across the street from the Cook County Morgue—making me an offer I couldn’t refuse!

Our first Christmas as man and wife centered on our first real tree, strung with cranberries and popped corn. That first Christmas, in our very own apartment, glittered with holiday lights, the spicy smell of Christmas cookies, and a lifetime of love just beginning.

Christmas for the Children – Such excitement!  By the end of October the Sear’s Wish Book was well thumbed. Was there any toy my daughter didn’t want? With eager anticipation we planned the tree trimming party never knowing which was best, decorating the tree or being together for the treat-filled party afterward.  I baked all month!

The children surprised us with ornaments made at school and increased our trove of tree hangings with homemade shrink-dink figures of Snoopy and the gang. Each year our son destroyed another Styrofoam gingerbread man ornament, thinking that I wouldn’t notice. Keeping presents secure was a full time job. Each child tried to extort the other saying that they “knew what you are getting for Christmas.” Christmas morning discovered sleepy parents supervising the unwrapping. Dad prepared his special waffles for breakfast.

Empty Nest Holidays – There are no small children bursting with curiosity and anticipation now. There’s no real Christmas at all anymore. Our daughter, who adored Christmas, is dead. There are no children of hers to delight. And besides, cookies are unhealthy…

One must be careful about the holidays now for our remaining family does not celebrate Christmas; Hanukkah does not really belong to us. Even though our granddaughters enjoy “double dipping” it’s a time to tread carefully.  We try to recapture some of the magic for our girls however. One year we rented an apartment in Orange County for a lengthy stay. I sent out a small, artificial tree and asked if it would be OK for the girls to help us decorate it. The happy pair was excited to see the tiny tree. Dani had made a special ornament in school and the girl’s ballet teacher had given all her students special ballerina ornaments. The girls set to work on their task, carefully considering where to place each piece. This was all new to them. Finally the last ornament was placed and I laid the small red velvet tree skirt around the base. The early December darkness supplied the final touch. We turned off all the lights and then Grandpa plugged in the tree, the tiny lights dazzling young eyes. The oohs and aahs were all the presents I needed to make my spirits bright. The Holidays of their childhood will be filled with loving people, savory scents, and no snow.  Let’s bake some cookies, organic of course.

Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy New Year.

Spies, Lies, and Intelligence

We’ve been doing some traveling this autumn.  Our first trip was to the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. The theme of the Road Scholar program we attended was “Spies, Lies, and Intelligence: the Shadowy World of International Espionage.”  This was our twentieth program with the Road Scholar organization (formerly known as Elderhostel) and we haven’t had a bad one yet!  This latest program was no exception, except that it was exceptional.

An engaged group of 38 people began their experience with a viewing of the movie “Breach,” a dramatic account of FBI Special Agent Robert Hanssen, a convicted traitor who fed American secrets to the KGB (Soviet military intelligence) and the SVR (Russian intelligence service). The lively discussion that followed the movie was facilitated by a retired CIA counterintelligence officer and Russian/Soviet specialist. The methodology and rationale of Hanssen was examined and the damage his treason caused explained in some detail.  Our extremely knowledgeable speaker set the stage for the ensuing days’ programs and excursions.

The next morning a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and Vietnam veteran introduced the topic of espionage in the D.C. area. Jonathan Pollard, an American traitor, convicted of giving secrets to Israel for ideological purposes and the damage done by Navy spy John Walker, who traitorous motive was profit, were discussed. Our presenter, now a Certified Master Tour Guide,  led the group on a guided tour featuring notable foreign and domestic espionage sites, focusing in the Georgetown area.  The evening program was an amazing lecture by a retired CIA polygraph expert.  The lie detector has its detractors, but most people don’t realize that the final product, those squiggly lines on a sheet of paper, is more or less anti-climactic.  The real work takes place before the actual test when the polygraph operator and his subject spend hours discussing the test questions during the most important pre-test interview.  Some of the presenter’s most challenging cases were described.  The audience was ready with many questions, each answered with completeness and honesty.

The program just got better and better.  The group was on the move the next day, heading for a morning long visit to Ft. Meade where the National Security Agency is based.  Our objective was not the NSA but the National Cryptology Museum located at the Fort.  The photos above were taken at the museum. I was thrilled when I was chosen to send a short message on one of the museum’s Enigma machines.  There I was, back in 1941 at Bletchley Park, attempting to crack a Nazi coded message!  The museum’s director was our guide and a very far ranging tour include not only their Enigmas, but the only-one-in-existence Cryptanalytic Bombe, the advantage of PURPLE- the program that broke the Japanese cipher, an introduction to SIGSALY (Secure Digital Voice Communications in World War II), the Navaho—and other Native American—Code talkers, the Soviet’s version of the Trojan Horse in the guise of an American Eagle wall plaque, intelligence satellites, and a great deal more.  Everyone agreed that we could have spent a few more hours at the Ft. Meade facility.

There were other activities and trips but the best was left for last.  The attendees were enthralled with the case stories the former Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service officer (somewhat like the FBI intelligence services) and current NSA guest lecturer described.  This gentleman spent much of his career in the Soviet Russia espionage scene.  The entire group was stunned when he introduced the guest he had brought to the program, a former KGB colonel who, amongst many other activities, had turned a NY Jesuit into a Soviet spy.  Both gentlemen regaled the group with stories of their experiences, describing some of the “assets” they had turned and managed.  Again the questions were fast and furious; the answers amazing.  The final two hours passed too quickly and the program was at an end with flights to catch. What a fabulous memory!

Road Scholar no longer limits its programs to those 55 and older.  If you have any interest in broadening your horizons check them out on the web:  roadscholar.org