{"id":193,"date":"1970-01-01T00:01:58","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T08:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/?p=193"},"modified":"2022-07-03T14:04:51","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T21:04:51","slug":"1970-january-1-letter-from-marcy-to-gh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/1970\/01\/01\/1970-january-1-letter-from-marcy-to-gh\/","title":{"rendered":"1970, January 1: Letter from Marcy to G&H"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

At the top of this letter, Marcy indicates that she started writing it on \u201cMonday, 12\/28??\u201d, so I\u2019m guessing it was really Monday the 29th of December. So this letter was written at roughly the same time as the previous one I posted, but I\u2019m putting this one after that one because this one was finished after midnight on January 1. But the other one may also<\/em> not have been finished until early January, not sure.<\/p>\r\n

\u2026This letter also appears to have been written on paper from the same 7\"x9\" pad as the one Peter was writing on.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Monday night, 12\/28??<\/p>\r\n

Dear and Grand Grandparents<\/p>\r\n

Wow! We only just got that third package (third<\/u> package!) (gee!) today and it\u2019s almost gone \u2013 only about a third of the Yulekakke & the two packages of candy are left. The carrot pudding was simply magnificent \u2013 dare I ask for the recipe, or is it a closely guarded secret? Jed just loved it \u2013 tho he only had a tiny bit as he\u2019s had a stomach flu for about a day \u2013 he hasn\u2019t been eating anything but puffed rice crackers & mint tea, but he still loved the carrot pudding. Very similar to date-nut bread, at least in shape & texture, yes? We thought about making a sauce for it, but it was gone before we had chance to consider it seriously. The fruitcake & Yulekakke were lovely \u2013 next<\/u> year, I vow, I\u2019ll trade you fruitcakes \u2013 almost did this year, but for noticing on about Dec. 12 that the recipe said it needed 6-8 weeks of ageing, so I gave up in abject meekness.<\/p>\r\n

The cheese was just a delight \u2013 the brie disappeared right away, and even the Limburger is almost gone by now \u2013 my cousin & her husband were here for dinner last night, & he showed us how to eat it without<\/u> smelling it \u2013 really tastes fine. Jed loved the gouda, with its skin, tho he\u2019s a bit fussy about the cheese itself \u2013 likes it best, or rather exclusively, melted.<\/p>\r\n

The two giftie packages arrived on Wednesday \u2013 Jed found his ball & loved it immediately, then was captivated by the drum, which he literally did not put down for 24 hours except to sleep, then switched to the ring tower, which he still loves; he can almost<\/u> differentiate by himself the \u201cpupple one\u201d and \u201cbrooo one\u201d and \u201ctangowine\u201d for orange. Sometimes he even tells me which they are with no help. He just was so pleased at the ducks; they are his favorite animal right now, and he talks about some we saw about 2 weeks ago constantly, saying \u201cmemer [remember] \u2026 ducks \u2026 swimming \u2026 swans \u2026 popcorn\u201d (a man was feeding them dried corn & other grains) The rest of the presents are temporarily stashed, as it would have been too much at once, and he was already getting a little drunk on the abundance of new things. I know he\u2019ll be really happy with the pounding bench, as he had another one, but it was kind of well-used, with broken pegs, and he really loves hammers & hammering noises. The puzzle we tried out, but it was a bit too old for him \u2013 perhaps in another month or two at most, he\u2019ll be ready for it. And the crayons I\u2019m saving for next time it rains and the two of us begin to go mad together.<\/p>\r\n

I was so glad to get the flannel-y material. Just realized at the birth of a friend\u2019s baby that I have no baby stuff yet, and I\u2019m about to get busy collecting things. And all the rest \u2013 handkerchiefs, scarves, stockings, pencil sharpener, etc., are finding their proper places and good uses. The capo is inspiring us to get some guitar strings \u2013 it\u2019s really a beautiful one. Is it from Mexico?<\/p>\r\n

We had decided not to have a big commercial Christmas (accounting for the simplicity of our gifts to you) (one installment is still coming, delay due to vagaries of photo labs\u2014) and didn\u2019t even want a tree, as live ones are so expensive & I just couldn\u2019t help to perpetuate a system of growing trees on tree farms for the express purpose of cutting them down to decorate a living room for two weeks. Perhaps because I don\u2019t come from a tradition of having Christmas trees, it was easier for me to make such a decision. (A friend and I had our first Christmas in California, and it just broke our hearts to watch it die in the living room right before our eyes.) Well, what finally happened was that Susan (she & Jeff are the couple we share the house with) was walking past a Christmas tree place near here, & convinced them to give<\/u> her one they couldn\u2019t sell. It was \u201ctopless,\u201d more of a bush than a tree, but there it sits greenly in our living room, bushy & warm & friendly. We\u2019ll burn it in the fire place when it dies, a more honorable death than some trees attain.<\/p>\r\n

I\u2019d been very<\/u> sad about Christmas time, all the loneliness I could sense in the commercial gaiety, all the people that I knew wouldn\u2019t feel much like celebrating anything at all, let alone Jesus\u2019 birthday. Then we got your Christmas letter, which at first made me even more sad, thinking especially about David & John, and about your feelings about them, and about their being away, and all\u2026\u2026 then I began to realize that with all the richness you\u2019ve had, at Christmasses and other times, which can\u2019t be touched by present absences or problems, that you could remember with love rather than with longing, and still<\/u> have<\/u> that richness. I also began to realize that the material sharing is only an expression of the love that has been built up (in the Hartman family & in so many families) over many years & many Christmas times, and as such is very beautiful, and not at all to be deplored. (The deplorable part is still evident in the stores and advertisements, but no longer such a disturbing element to me \u2013 and the real tragedy of the despoiling of our planet is not really much worse at Christmas than any other time; and certainly as humans we need our human-scale rejoicings, against whatever cosmic backdrop may be there) So \u2013 by the time we recieved your lovely packages, I was much more in tune with whatever used to be idealized as the \u201cChristmas spirit\u201d than I had been. There were momentary regrets that we had not done more in terms of presents, but then I realized that what one shares is what is there in abundance \u2014 and material abundance is hardly our strong point at the moment. Yet every night when we channel Johrei to Jed & to each other, we feel so strongly & clearly how rich we our, how full of love & happiness our home is \u2013 and this is what we have and have to share. Thus the preserves \u2013 as I made them, I thought about all the loving feelings in our kitchen, all the good food and enjoyment and good work that happens there all the time, and that is what we really<\/u> sent in those jars. Other than in that way, I think hard to work out ways to share the abundance that is our special share. Not just for Christmas but for every day sharing. How to communicate the feelings of many hours spent tickling and teasing and singing and reading stories, the love in a little voice saying \u201ckiss \u2014 Peeder \u2014 hug,\u201d the growing love inside a growing tummy \u2013 these are what we have in copious quantity and don\u2019t really know how to impart, especially over distance and through paper & pens & telephone wires and such.<\/p>\r\n

Ah well, and it\u2019s happy new<\/p>\r\n

year to you all, and our landlord-<\/p>\r\n

neighbor fires his gun<\/p>\r\n

and it\u2019s 1970.<\/p>\r\n

Time to go to sleep, as I already have about thrice during the course of writing this letter, the last and first of the year. We wish you well, and all the best of it, for 1970 and the 70\u2019s and always \u2013<\/p>\r\n

love, love \u2013<\/p>\r\n

Peter, Marcy & Gentle Jed.<\/p>\r\n

p.s. Peter is in the process of another letter, coming soon<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Some notes:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n
Yulekakke<\/dt>\r\n
Norwegian Christmas bread<\/a>. For more, see previous letter.<\/dd>\r\n
cheese<\/dt>\r\n
I still generally prefer cheese to be melted. :)<\/dd>\r\n
my cousin and her husband<\/dt>\r\n
??? I have no idea who this could have been. Marcy had only two cousins who I knew about, both male. I think I know pretty much who everyone was on Marcy\u2019s mother\u2019s side, so I\u2019m guessing that this cousin must have been a niece of Marcy\u2019s father Jack\u2019s. He did apparently have siblings, but I know almost nothing about any of them. Odd that we had so little connection with that side of the family when I was a kid.<\/dd>\r\n
differentiating colors<\/dt>\r\n
It wasn\u2019t until maybe ten years later that we found out that I\u2019m partly color-blind.<\/dd>\r\n
abundance of new things<\/dt>\r\n
I still really enjoy new things. :) (As opposed to new experiences, which I\u2019m hesitant about.) But I\u2019m not so fond of hammers and hammering noises these days.<\/dd>\r\n
capo<\/dt>\r\n
Apparently around this time, Peter and possibly other family members were trying to learn to play guitar. I have no memory of a guitar around the house, and Peter never played one in my memory.<\/dd>\r\n
I don\u2019t come from a tradition of having Christmas trees<\/dt>\r\n
It belatedly occurs to me to wonder whether George and Helen knew that Marcy was Jewish, and if so, what they thought of that. I don\u2019t know whether Marcy\u2019s family celebrated Christmas (in some treeless way) when she was a kid\u2014I\u2019m not sure whether her phrase \u201chad our first Christmas in California\u201d means her first Christmas ever, which happened to be in California, or whether it\u2019s just the first Christmas that she had in California. \u2026I also don\u2019t know how religiously Jewish Marcy was at this point, or for that matter at earlier times in her life; I think not very, but I\u2019m not sure.<\/dd>\r\n
The deplorable part<\/dt>\r\n
There will be many further thoughts about presents, and the importance of not giving extravagant ones to me and my brother, in a later letter.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n\r\n
\r\n

Facebook post for this letter<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which Marcy muses about gifts and Christmas and commercialism and love. \u201cThe rest of the presents are temporarily stashed, as it would have been too much at once, and he was already getting a little drunk on the abundance of new things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-marcy","category-post-harbinger"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}