MERRY YULETIDE, JANE!
All the girls who lived in the Big House by the Park were
great friends, but often, each had one special friend. Two such girls were Gila Gali and Jane
deLacey, they shared a special bond because they had come from places
completely different from Kisco Hills,
New York in 1905. Jane had been supratemporally transmigrated
from England
three hundred and ten years before, and Gila was from a poor, isolated shtetl in Poland where life hadn’t changed
for nearly that long. They also shared
language problems: Gila spoke mostly Yiddish, Jane spoke Elizabethan, and they
were both struggling to learn modern, colloquial English. Since they spent a lot of time together, each
influenced the way the other spoke.
Jane had never met anyone who was Jewish before. All she
knew about Jews had come from Bible stories where they were patriarchs,
prophets, and Pharisees, in a world long ago and far away. Yet here was Gila, just an ordinary little
girl, friendly, playful and kind. Jane
was fascinated by her, and extremely interested in her customs and
traditions.
Now it was the first night of Chanukah, and Gila let Jane
help her set up the menorah and get out the dreidel. Lighting the candles, Gila sang the blessings
over the lights, for Chanukah, and for the new season. Then she taught Jane how to play dreidel.
“Oftimes people for money do they this game shpiln, but ‘tis Chanukah gelt for which
I like to shpil.” said Gila.
“What is that?” asked Jane.
“Oy! Know you not? ‘Tis chocolate badekt in gold foil so it like money looks, nu?”
“Chocolate? And the winner may keep her spoils? Let us shpil
at once!”
Both girls agreed that of all the wonders in the world at
the opening of the Twentieth Century, chocolate was among the greatest!
December
24, 1905, the Third Night of Chanukah.
It was Christmas Eve, and the girls in the Big House by the
Park were decorating for the holiday.
Jane deLacey was eager to help as much as she could. She had come, very unexpectedly, from England in
1594, and she had never seen a Christmas tree, and knew nothing of Santa Claus
or Christmas presents.
“At Yuletide, they did deck the great hall with boughs of
holly and with garlands of ivy,” Jane explained, “And Christmas Day was but the
beginning of twelve days of feasting and merriment. My father, Lord deLacey, was never home for
Christmas, but away at court, attending the Queen. We received no gifts, save all in the
household were given new clothes. Indeed
shall I like discov’ring presents ‘neath the tree and my stocking with treats
a-filled!”
When Julia told Jane about leaving cookies and milk and a
note for Santa Claus, Jane got them all ready.
In her best calligraphy she wrote:
“Right Reverend Sir,
Please accept thys our gyftte of swete biscuits and cold
mylch of kyne, and Godspede you on your journei thys nighte.
Your very ob’t and oh so goode
The Girls of thys Howse”
But tonight was also the third night of Chanukah, and on the
other side of the fireplace, by the window, Gila had lit her menorah and sung
the blessings. The other girls were
quiet as she did so, and then watched the flickering lights, filled with a
pleasant sense of joy and wonder.
“Thank you so much for sharing Chanukah with us, Gila,”
Julia said to her, when the candles had burned low. “You have made us latkes and jelly doughnuts,
shared your Chanukah gelt with us, and lighting the candles and hearing you
sing the blessings every evening have been a delight. We should like very much to share Christmas
Eve with you.” And she held out a
stocking for Gila. “You have been a very
good girl this year; Santa Claus will surely not forget you.”
Gila thanked her shyly and politely took the stocking and
hung it from the mantelpiece. Then they
all went upstairs to get ready for bed.
Bright and early the next morning, Jane shook Gila
awake. “Vekan, Gila, mayn schvester!
Rise you up!”
Gila moaned. “Oy, oy,
oy! What is’t o’clock?”
“’Tis Christmas Day in the Morning! Let us hie below stairs to see an if Santa
Claus has with sweets our stockings filled!”
Gila got up at once, and the two girls hurried down to the
parlor. There were presents under the
tree, and their stockings had been filled to overflowing . . . with Chanukah gelt!
Christmas morning brought all manner of surprises! There were chocolate Santas and candy canes
in their stockings, and toys and games under the tree. But the best present of all was addressed to
all the girls from Santa – it was a stereoscope and a whole album of
photographs for it! The girls were
excited and squealed with joy, and could hardly be patient enough to wait for
their turn to look at the pictures. They
passed it around, exclaiming over the pictures.
There were views of Yosemite
Park, a castle in Wales, many
grand vistas, and some comic views as well: a cute little puppy smoking a pipe
and a couple of toddlers playing photographer and model.
When Jane looked through the stereoscope she almost fell out
of her chair. Photographs alone were
still a magical wonder to her, and then to see them in three dimensions was
almost more than her Elizabethan mind could take!
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