My apologies.
I've been really missing Philly lately. I mean, it was a little far awa from Maie for my liking, but I was very happy there. I had a job that I loved with kids that I adored and miss very much, I had an amazing internship which, though unpaid, earned me some wonderful experience and a longing for an office full of people as awesome as those at the Arden. I was cooking for Ben in our tiny apartment and I had close friends close by and I even took up running up and down the hills of Manayunk. Maybe it's graduation goggles but hell, I even miss the disgusting public transportation in Philly. And Philly Shakespeare. And Old City. And Kip the looney ballet teacher. And auditions.
BUT I DIGRESS.
The holidays are now upon is. Hanukkah has begun and I am (believe it or not) mostly finished with my Christmas shopping and crafts. I've been making an effort to enjoy the process this year and not be so stressed. So far, so good.
Ben and I will also be able to travel together to Maine for the holiday, which, after Thanksgiving's nightmarish debacle, is awesome. We will leave New York on December 20, stay in Boston with some awesome friends that evening, and depart for Maine on the eve of the 21st. I will arrive in Maine on the 22nd. MARK YOUR CALENDARS, PEOPLE!!
So, in an effort to get myself a little more amped about the holiday season and feeling good and less Philly-sick (or whatever it is), I am gonna try and count down the last few days until Christmas with some of my favorite holiday memories, thoughts, etc. I already posted a clip from the Claymation Christmas Special, a program that I thoroughly believe should be mandatory viewing for all during the month of December. It's got everything- dinosaurs, ice-skating walruses, the California Raisins, and, of course, CHRISTMAS SNACKS! There's a VHS copy of it on the Fahey homestead- if ONLY i had a VCR!!
Today I want to share a memore of one of the BEST Hanukkah stories ever- Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins. I was first introduced to the story my senior year of high school, when one of the most kickass teachers ever read it aloud to our creative writing class. IT follows the adventures of Herschel as he outwits a band of Hanukkah-hating goblins and eventually comes face to face with the goblin KING before bringing Hanukkah back to the village. The story is great, the pictures are great, it's just awesome.
Around this time last year, I had the opportunity to take some children fro Greene Street to see a production of 'Herschel' put together by a local creative arts group. IT was very well done- there were bright colors, fuzzy puppets, and a bunch of jokes that the kids really liked. However, there was one element that I hadn't been counting on.
We has been warned ahead of time that some of the show might be scary for smaller children, but even with this knowledge, all of the kids wanted to see the show. I found myself sandwiched between two of the more nervous Kindergarteners- who had decided at the last minute that they WOULD like to wach the show instead of sitting outside with me- as long as I could sit next to them- in the aisle. A great time was had by all- until the Goblin King's booming voice was heard. You know those creepy voice-distorters that they show kidnappers using on crime dramas? Yeah, THAT was the voice of the Goblin King. I simultaneously had to deal with two situations- the first was Julian, who immediately crawled onto my shoulder and perched there like he was a parrot. I somehow managed to balance him there while chasing after Talia, who began running up the steps of the auditorium to get away from the scary voice. I scooped both of them into my arms and tried to explain that it was just a microphone and that it wasn't real, but they weren't having it. Mercifully, the show ended soon after, and even more mercifully, the children were given a chance to see the puppets with the house lights on. After that, Julian and Talia both agreed that the Goblin King was their favorite part. Go figure.
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