Happy Childermass (or Holy Innocents’ Day), the Third Day of Christmas! Remember to water your Christmas tree, and to feed all three french hens (I suggest you place the feed in three separate piles around the pear tree).
While we're at at--Happy Dyzymas Day!...Er, see below.
BE GOOD TO THE "INNOCENTS" (ACTUAL CHILDREN)
Today is a good day to be extra special special sweet to children, in memory of those collaterally massacred by Herod in a frantic and frustrated attempt to protect his own position by putting the newborn king to the sword. Ask yourself a question. Have you REALLY appreciated a kid today, and shown
it in no uncertain way? Could they see it in your eyes, hear it in
your voice? Have you ‘beaten’ them with a small evergreen branch, and
let them ‘beat’ you back while chanting “Fresh green! Long life! Give
me a coin!”(this is an old tradition)?
Ask another: in what way do you participate in destructive political/social/economic/ecological practices, which, of course, affect our children more than anyone?...Well, for the love of Childermass, stop!....Instead let children’s ways be an inspiration to me, and to you. Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children....These are no uncertain terms, people. Be nice to kids, and be like a kid, on Childermass and every day.
SLAUGHTERING OUR OWN INNOCENTS?!?!
OR--and this is purely from a psychological perspective, mind you--we can take the Jesus story with its Slaughter of the Innocents as a dream or a vision, rather than a history of actual bloody brutality in which innocent babies died.
IF every part and person in a dream is a part of the dreamer, then this dream means that the True Self has been born, symbolized by the Baby Jesus. Whatever that entails in real life, be it selling all your crap to go tend to orphans in Honduras or becoming an artist or, like Scrooge, changing into a generous and warm-hearted person, or perhaps just sitting in wide-eyed wonder; it simply means that some choices or ideas have to be pruned away in favor of new ones.
In this case, the "innocents" would represent those lesser ideas and actions, which would literally have to be "killed" off, in a sort of "the good is the enemy of the better" scenario. All those other babies look a lot like The One Baby--and they all have that lovely "baby smell" and may engender similar feelings of attraction and warmth--but somehow they are false, and have to go no matter how cruel it seems to say "no" to yourself. My wife has a saying that she has appended to every email: I will not give up what I want most for what I want right now--that's wisdom, but it's cruel, in a way. Cruel to be kind.
To tender a concrete example, I could have two ideas in mind: 1) to draw or write poetry, which I don't do enough of; 2) to mindlessly watch YouTube vids, which is something I do altogether too much of. They both have their attraction; they're both "babies" of mine. But which one should I raise to adulthood?...See what I mean?
In ancient Rome, Herod and his soldiers were genocidal brutes, 'nuff said. In the individual psyche, the person who might be at fault would be the one to balk at renouncing ("slaughtering") those many non-priorities that fritter and waste our precious time. This would be a form of passivity or naivete, an unwillingness to go to any lengths to live our true life (whatever that may be).
The moral of the story, so far, is to be good to actual, flesh-and-blood children, but "slaughter" your second-best desires in favor of your best.
To take another point of view entirely, we can look at Herod as the jealous, avaricious ego determined to stop the birth of the new, true self at any cost. So, maybe that's what you need to focus on--your hostility to your best life....Think: what essential part of yourself have you attempted to murder today? The answer to the last question is likely to be: the part that comes through when staying quiet and still; or when really cutting loose, dancing and singing and having fun; or when going to any lengths to follow your Bliss (meaning your calling or vocation).
I know...a necessary culling of shallow habits and the ego's vicious efforts to control it all seem contradictory. If we "slaughter our innocents," are we not being like Herod in the story? By the same token, if we adopt a position of self-righteous rage against Herod, the killer of Christ and Rome's toady, are we then conferring our blessing upon all those supposedly "innocent" choices we make that mask and postpone our True Calling?
But dreams and other spiritual stories are that way: different parts speak to different people at different times of their lives. Such stories are many-faceted, on purpose; if that were not the case, then a given story would be valid for only one single phase of life, and not the others. Great stories are layered, and can thus speak to different phases. It's not so much that they are completely logical or consistent to our conscious brains, but rather that they are inclusive and are vivid from many different angles. Rule of thumb: when deciding which interpretation of a dream or a myth to apply, you have to favor the angle that gives you that ah-ha feeling.
The Jesus story is like many hero stories in which the young godling is targeted by a powerful entity: Hera trying to assassinate Hercules, Set's dismemberment of Osiris, and on and on in different cultures and through history. Why is that? Because these stories resonate in our souls, at different levels all at once.
Ask another: in what way do you participate in destructive political/social/economic/ecological practices, which, of course, affect our children more than anyone?...Well, for the love of Childermass, stop!....Instead let children’s ways be an inspiration to me, and to you. Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children....These are no uncertain terms, people. Be nice to kids, and be like a kid, on Childermass and every day.
SLAUGHTERING OUR OWN INNOCENTS?!?!
OR--and this is purely from a psychological perspective, mind you--we can take the Jesus story with its Slaughter of the Innocents as a dream or a vision, rather than a history of actual bloody brutality in which innocent babies died.
IF every part and person in a dream is a part of the dreamer, then this dream means that the True Self has been born, symbolized by the Baby Jesus. Whatever that entails in real life, be it selling all your crap to go tend to orphans in Honduras or becoming an artist or, like Scrooge, changing into a generous and warm-hearted person, or perhaps just sitting in wide-eyed wonder; it simply means that some choices or ideas have to be pruned away in favor of new ones.
In this case, the "innocents" would represent those lesser ideas and actions, which would literally have to be "killed" off, in a sort of "the good is the enemy of the better" scenario. All those other babies look a lot like The One Baby--and they all have that lovely "baby smell" and may engender similar feelings of attraction and warmth--but somehow they are false, and have to go no matter how cruel it seems to say "no" to yourself. My wife has a saying that she has appended to every email: I will not give up what I want most for what I want right now--that's wisdom, but it's cruel, in a way. Cruel to be kind.
To tender a concrete example, I could have two ideas in mind: 1) to draw or write poetry, which I don't do enough of; 2) to mindlessly watch YouTube vids, which is something I do altogether too much of. They both have their attraction; they're both "babies" of mine. But which one should I raise to adulthood?...See what I mean?
In ancient Rome, Herod and his soldiers were genocidal brutes, 'nuff said. In the individual psyche, the person who might be at fault would be the one to balk at renouncing ("slaughtering") those many non-priorities that fritter and waste our precious time. This would be a form of passivity or naivete, an unwillingness to go to any lengths to live our true life (whatever that may be).
The moral of the story, so far, is to be good to actual, flesh-and-blood children, but "slaughter" your second-best desires in favor of your best.
To take another point of view entirely, we can look at Herod as the jealous, avaricious ego determined to stop the birth of the new, true self at any cost. So, maybe that's what you need to focus on--your hostility to your best life....Think: what essential part of yourself have you attempted to murder today? The answer to the last question is likely to be: the part that comes through when staying quiet and still; or when really cutting loose, dancing and singing and having fun; or when going to any lengths to follow your Bliss (meaning your calling or vocation).
I know...a necessary culling of shallow habits and the ego's vicious efforts to control it all seem contradictory. If we "slaughter our innocents," are we not being like Herod in the story? By the same token, if we adopt a position of self-righteous rage against Herod, the killer of Christ and Rome's toady, are we then conferring our blessing upon all those supposedly "innocent" choices we make that mask and postpone our True Calling?
But dreams and other spiritual stories are that way: different parts speak to different people at different times of their lives. Such stories are many-faceted, on purpose; if that were not the case, then a given story would be valid for only one single phase of life, and not the others. Great stories are layered, and can thus speak to different phases. It's not so much that they are completely logical or consistent to our conscious brains, but rather that they are inclusive and are vivid from many different angles. Rule of thumb: when deciding which interpretation of a dream or a myth to apply, you have to favor the angle that gives you that ah-ha feeling.
The Jesus story is like many hero stories in which the young godling is targeted by a powerful entity: Hera trying to assassinate Hercules, Set's dismemberment of Osiris, and on and on in different cultures and through history. Why is that? Because these stories resonate in our souls, at different levels all at once.
"DYZYMAS DAY"
In medieval times, this day was considered somewhat unlucky, in the sense that any project begun on this day would turn out a dud. They even had a special name for the day in some places: “Dyzymas Day”. It does sound unlucky. So don’t begin anything today, have yourself a merry little Sabbath instead, or finish things up that you’ve already started, if you must (I am going to touch up some paint on a shelving unit I've mounted on the wall of my son's room, and possibly finish fixing a bike I started yesterday; I don't see how anyone can get hurt).
JESUS IN THERAPY?
While you’re taking it easi-er, reflect on the griefs and joys of childhood—your own, your children’s; the single life’s vs. the parenting life’s—all the wonders and downfalls thereof. Consider them through the eyes of compassion. For it is not the morals proposed by others, not even by spiritual giants, but awareness that leads us to live effectively and not repeat the mistakes of others (nor our own).
For instance, let's say that when you were a child, your adults hurt you. Let's say further that, as is typical, you have decided against directly experiencing that betrayal (because it hurts), and therefore have chosen to put on a happy face, or at least a numb one. Despite our fortitude, our 'positive' resolution (renewed every New Year) to "let go" and "move on", the experience of having been hurt doesn't go away just because we ignore it. In fact, the drive to take that pain out on another can become too much to resist if we have not found a way to process it in some healing way. Repression breeds obsession, which in turn breeds replays, on an endless loop, of any trauma we refuse to consciously, and fully, recognize. Look to the children.
This may sound like so much self-help mumbo-jumbo. But I ask you, how are we supposed to resist repeating the abuse we ourselves have suffered, if we don't even allow ourselves to feel how bad it felt when it actually happened to us? That awareness is the most visceral of tools.
JESUS IN THERAPY?
While you’re taking it easi-er, reflect on the griefs and joys of childhood—your own, your children’s; the single life’s vs. the parenting life’s—all the wonders and downfalls thereof. Consider them through the eyes of compassion. For it is not the morals proposed by others, not even by spiritual giants, but awareness that leads us to live effectively and not repeat the mistakes of others (nor our own).
For instance, let's say that when you were a child, your adults hurt you. Let's say further that, as is typical, you have decided against directly experiencing that betrayal (because it hurts), and therefore have chosen to put on a happy face, or at least a numb one. Despite our fortitude, our 'positive' resolution (renewed every New Year) to "let go" and "move on", the experience of having been hurt doesn't go away just because we ignore it. In fact, the drive to take that pain out on another can become too much to resist if we have not found a way to process it in some healing way. Repression breeds obsession, which in turn breeds replays, on an endless loop, of any trauma we refuse to consciously, and fully, recognize. Look to the children.
This may sound like so much self-help mumbo-jumbo. But I ask you, how are we supposed to resist repeating the abuse we ourselves have suffered, if we don't even allow ourselves to feel how bad it felt when it actually happened to us? That awareness is the most visceral of tools.
If, instead, we deny it, and numb the pain, one day we find ourselves nagging at our kids the way that we were nagged at, or hitting our kids the way we were hit, bullying them the way we were once bullied--even if we had promised never to do so. And then, bring on the guilt and shame which will bury that original pain still further, and demand more relief and release by still further acting out of that pain. THAT'S a vicious cycle, if anything is.
Caveat sensor: explore your pain gently, and with some kind of structure, some kind of plan, some kind of help, some kind of support. Write about your life. Do therapy. Join an Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families group. Read the books of Alice Miller. Don't take my word for it; explore, and experiment. Be inspired by the story of Jesus, or some other hero, but keep your wits about you. Exploring your unfelt history is like eating extremely spicy, steaming food: take a small bite, chew, taste, digest--and, only then, poop it out. Don't open the floodgates and drown yourself. The strongest growth is slow growth--ask an oak tree.
Again, the story of Jesus is a case study for how to deal with suffering; it is steeped in suffering and oppression. Its backdrop was the suffering and subjugation of the Jewish people under The Roman Empire and the sellout Jew Herod, who did Rome's bidding. A principal theme is how the individual is to deal with the agonies inflicted by a powerful and narcissistic empire--a very relevant theme for today. A primary feature is the torture and murder of Jesus himself.
No vicious cycles at Christmas, please!
Caveat sensor: explore your pain gently, and with some kind of structure, some kind of plan, some kind of help, some kind of support. Write about your life. Do therapy. Join an Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families group. Read the books of Alice Miller. Don't take my word for it; explore, and experiment. Be inspired by the story of Jesus, or some other hero, but keep your wits about you. Exploring your unfelt history is like eating extremely spicy, steaming food: take a small bite, chew, taste, digest--and, only then, poop it out. Don't open the floodgates and drown yourself. The strongest growth is slow growth--ask an oak tree.
Again, the story of Jesus is a case study for how to deal with suffering; it is steeped in suffering and oppression. Its backdrop was the suffering and subjugation of the Jewish people under The Roman Empire and the sellout Jew Herod, who did Rome's bidding. A principal theme is how the individual is to deal with the agonies inflicted by a powerful and narcissistic empire--a very relevant theme for today. A primary feature is the torture and murder of Jesus himself.
And Jesus wept.
THE UN-IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
According to the standard interpretation of the story, his mother, Mary, was impregnated asexually by God's Holy Spirit--an event announced by an feathery, incorporeal angel in glowing robes named Gabriel.
But nevermind all that; Gabriel was, according to the understanding of Jews at the time, a badass, macho, martial figure associated with the metal of armor and sword. He was more like the gods Ares or Roman Mars than a feathery John Denver. You couldn't have found an angel more dripping with violence and sex than Gabriel, and so you can't miss the resemblance of this scene to the seduction of Leda by Zeus in swan form: in one story you have angel feathers, in the other swan feathers; in both stories, a dude shows up, and a woman ends up pregnant...After all, God need not have sent a macho-man angel to Mary's room at all--he could have just made it happen in a dream. He could have sent the relatively non-macho Barachiel, with his basket of bread and his rose petals. But no, God sends the angel equivalent of Conan the Barbarian to "tell the news" of her "immaculate" conception to Mary....Uh-huh.
In turn, this immaculate-yet-sexy story may allude to a much worse one. It is not at all unlikely that Mary was 12 or 13 when she fell pregnant, and was "with child" from having been raped by one (or more) of the Roman garrison stationed at Nazareth to hold down a recent insurrection there. Let the idea of a 12-year-old girl being forcibly impregnated by Romans thugs sink in a minute....Then as now, rape was not just soldiers getting their sadistic rocks off, but a tool deliberately encouraged by the conqueror against the conquered, to terrorize the latter and disrupt its culture--and thus its resistance. Rape was an effective tool of empire because it created trauma.
The rape of Mary, though speculation, was not at all unlikely. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew does not shrink from reminding us that Joseph was of the lineage of at least 4 women tainted by sexual scandal: Tamar (slept with her father-in-law), Rahab (Pagan prostitute), Ruth (converted Pagan), and Bathsheba (for the lust of whom King David made himself an adulterer AND a murderer)...Even back in the day of Jesus--shit happened.
What's more, children of adultery, incest or rape were utterly rejected by the Jews; Deuteronomy 23 is clear, “A mamzerim (bastard) shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” Then as now, the children of rape are more likely to be whispered about, neglected, abandoned. And yet our hero stories repeatedly feature a protagonist who at first was overlooked, undervalued and rejected: Joseph of Old Testament, King Arthur, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Little Orphan Annie.
So, at best, Mary bore her child under a harsh tradition of social ostracism against children born out of wedlock--nevermind that God was the father. At worst, the historical Mary was pregnant for having been gang-raped as an early teen by a band of Roman soldiers, for whom sexual violation was a way of life and a tool of empire.
Born into the ongoing Roman despoilment of his homeland, an infant in a bloodbath of infants, and a bastard to be shunned, Jesus nevertheless did grow up to coin his share of beautiful ideas involving lilies of the field and every hair on one's head being counted by a gentle, celestial father. The Baby Jesus of Bethlehem would grow up to preach the blessings of Divine Love and the wisdom of forgiveness.
Nevertheless, he did have a word or two to say about the suffering engendered by an unwise but powerful people, as well (Hypocrites! Fools!). And he did, according to the story, consciously choose to be tortured and sacrificed for the greater good. This was not a small thing. Born into trauma, Jesus was not a person who avoided the experience of suffering, but embraced it. He makes note of the fact that he could have the angels save him from the Cross, but of course he does not such thing. This, and not avoidance, was his response to the massacre of the innocents. He matured into awareness of the pain rather than avoidance of it.
In turn, this immaculate-yet-sexy story may allude to a much worse one. It is not at all unlikely that Mary was 12 or 13 when she fell pregnant, and was "with child" from having been raped by one (or more) of the Roman garrison stationed at Nazareth to hold down a recent insurrection there. Let the idea of a 12-year-old girl being forcibly impregnated by Romans thugs sink in a minute....Then as now, rape was not just soldiers getting their sadistic rocks off, but a tool deliberately encouraged by the conqueror against the conquered, to terrorize the latter and disrupt its culture--and thus its resistance. Rape was an effective tool of empire because it created trauma.
The rape of Mary, though speculation, was not at all unlikely. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew does not shrink from reminding us that Joseph was of the lineage of at least 4 women tainted by sexual scandal: Tamar (slept with her father-in-law), Rahab (Pagan prostitute), Ruth (converted Pagan), and Bathsheba (for the lust of whom King David made himself an adulterer AND a murderer)...Even back in the day of Jesus--shit happened.
What's more, children of adultery, incest or rape were utterly rejected by the Jews; Deuteronomy 23 is clear, “A mamzerim (bastard) shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.” Then as now, the children of rape are more likely to be whispered about, neglected, abandoned. And yet our hero stories repeatedly feature a protagonist who at first was overlooked, undervalued and rejected: Joseph of Old Testament, King Arthur, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Little Orphan Annie.
So, at best, Mary bore her child under a harsh tradition of social ostracism against children born out of wedlock--nevermind that God was the father. At worst, the historical Mary was pregnant for having been gang-raped as an early teen by a band of Roman soldiers, for whom sexual violation was a way of life and a tool of empire.
Born into the ongoing Roman despoilment of his homeland, an infant in a bloodbath of infants, and a bastard to be shunned, Jesus nevertheless did grow up to coin his share of beautiful ideas involving lilies of the field and every hair on one's head being counted by a gentle, celestial father. The Baby Jesus of Bethlehem would grow up to preach the blessings of Divine Love and the wisdom of forgiveness.
Nevertheless, he did have a word or two to say about the suffering engendered by an unwise but powerful people, as well (Hypocrites! Fools!). And he did, according to the story, consciously choose to be tortured and sacrificed for the greater good. This was not a small thing. Born into trauma, Jesus was not a person who avoided the experience of suffering, but embraced it. He makes note of the fact that he could have the angels save him from the Cross, but of course he does not such thing. This, and not avoidance, was his response to the massacre of the innocents. He matured into awareness of the pain rather than avoidance of it.
Perhaps he refused to avoid the suffering for fear of taking his considerable trauma out on others.
MERRY PRANKSTERISM (IN SPAIN AND UNIVERSALLY)
Let's shift gears. Another, quite valid, response to the cruelty in the world is one of merry pranksterism: In Spain, Hispanic America, and the Philippines, December 28 is their April Fool's Day. Pranks (bromas) are also known as inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes (naive fools); alternatively, the pranksters are the "inocentes" and the victims should not be angry at them, since "innocents, " like children, could not have committed any sin. Media like newspapers, radio, and TV often give fake content or distort news as well. Ha!
One of the more famous Dec. 28th celebrations is the annual "Els Enfarinats" Festival of Ibi in Alicante (on the east coast of Spain, 5 hours south of Barcelona), where the inocentadas dress up in full military dress and incite a flour fight....That's right, the air become fogged with flour dust, at which point all those Spanish smokers have to be very careful, because flour-fog, it turns out, is incendiary--one spark can literally explode the air (given this, it is ironic that they even shoot flour out of fire extinguishers).
CHRIST THE COMEDIAN
Christ was no night club comic--or so we think. It seems to us that zero Jesus jokes have survived the censors, if he ever even cracked any. Or is it that, like stuck-up and self-righteous Aunty Polly, we simple don't appreciate a humor that would have been obvious to the Israelis of Year Zero? Says a Jesuit commentator, “The idea that a mustard seed would have sprouted into a big bush that birds would build their nests in would be humorous. People in Jesus’ day would probably have laughed at many of his intentionally funny illustrations: for example, the idea that someone would have lit a lamp and put it under a basket, or that a person would have built a house on sand or that a father would give a child stones instead of bread. But contemporary Christians may be missing the humor that Jesus intended and that his audience understood."1...So, there you have it: Jesus and Mel Brooks are of the same long line of Jewish comedians; we just don't get the jokes (no potty humor, is the problem).
But there is no reason that a conscious experience of one's suffering should be incompatible with playing pranks, or play in general. In fact, I rather think they go together quite well. As one reestablishes the flow of emotion, grief leads to mirth, and mirth to grief--and that's life. Lechiem!
Happy Third Day!
Let's shift gears. Another, quite valid, response to the cruelty in the world is one of merry pranksterism: In Spain, Hispanic America, and the Philippines, December 28 is their April Fool's Day. Pranks (bromas) are also known as inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes (naive fools); alternatively, the pranksters are the "inocentes" and the victims should not be angry at them, since "innocents, " like children, could not have committed any sin. Media like newspapers, radio, and TV often give fake content or distort news as well. Ha!
One of the more famous Dec. 28th celebrations is the annual "Els Enfarinats" Festival of Ibi in Alicante (on the east coast of Spain, 5 hours south of Barcelona), where the inocentadas dress up in full military dress and incite a flour fight....That's right, the air become fogged with flour dust, at which point all those Spanish smokers have to be very careful, because flour-fog, it turns out, is incendiary--one spark can literally explode the air (given this, it is ironic that they even shoot flour out of fire extinguishers).
CHRIST THE COMEDIAN
Christ was no night club comic--or so we think. It seems to us that zero Jesus jokes have survived the censors, if he ever even cracked any. Or is it that, like stuck-up and self-righteous Aunty Polly, we simple don't appreciate a humor that would have been obvious to the Israelis of Year Zero? Says a Jesuit commentator, “The idea that a mustard seed would have sprouted into a big bush that birds would build their nests in would be humorous. People in Jesus’ day would probably have laughed at many of his intentionally funny illustrations: for example, the idea that someone would have lit a lamp and put it under a basket, or that a person would have built a house on sand or that a father would give a child stones instead of bread. But contemporary Christians may be missing the humor that Jesus intended and that his audience understood."1...So, there you have it: Jesus and Mel Brooks are of the same long line of Jewish comedians; we just don't get the jokes (no potty humor, is the problem).
But there is no reason that a conscious experience of one's suffering should be incompatible with playing pranks, or play in general. In fact, I rather think they go together quite well. As one reestablishes the flow of emotion, grief leads to mirth, and mirth to grief--and that's life. Lechiem!
Happy Third Day!
MUSICAL CHOICES (playlist on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdartdqjh56BlbG4pyy0zviWRZSqsKsxc ): "Coventry Carol," which if you pay attention is sung from the point of view of the mothers of the infant victims of Herod's massacre; “What Child Is This?” (any version); “Mary’s Boy Child” (any version, I like Belafonte's); “Ooh Child” by the Five Stairsteps; “Children of the Grave” by Black Sabbath; “War Child” by Blondie and the different song by the same name by the Cranberries; “God Bless the Child” by Blood, Sweat and Tears; “I Thought I Was a Child” by Bonnie Raitt; “Wee Willie Winkie” by Bonnie Rideout (children’s song); “Where Do the Children Play” and “Oh Very Young” by Cat Stevens; “The Lost Child” (I have this as a choral piece on Christmas at the Pops album); “Magical Child” by Graham Nash; “Mahna Mahna” (any version); “Dreamboat Annie” and “Sing Child” by Heart; “Child of the Wild Blue Yonder” by John Hiatt; “Keiki’s Dream” by Keola Beamer; “Imithi Gobakahle (Children Come Home)” by Ladysmith Black Mambazo; “Call of the Child” by Nightnoise; “If I Could See the World (Through the Eyes of a Child)” by Patsy Cline; “Child of the Moon” by The Rolling Stones; “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” (any version); “The Rainbow Connection” by Kermit the Frog; “The Christ Child’s Lullaby” by Shawn Colvin (off Holiday Songs and Lullabies, a great album); “God Bless the Children” by The Staple Singers; “Lost Children” , and “When a Kid Goes Bad” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; “It Wasn’t His Child” by Trisha Yearwood; “Wild Children” by Van Morrison; “Kumbaya” (any version); the whole Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas album; “Children of the Revolution” by the Violent Femmes; “Kid Fears” by the Indigo Girls; “Ten Little Kids” by the Jayhawks; “Kid” and "The Wait" by The Pretenders; “Bend Down the Branches” and "Take Care of All of My Children" by Tom Waits; “The Cisco Kid” by War; “The Kids Are All Right” by The Who; "Young Hearts Run Free" by Rod Stuart; "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan; "Eyes of a Child" by The Moody Blues; The Little Drummer Boy" by whomever (the Emmylou Harris and Bing Crosby-David Bowie versions are really beautiful, The Harry Simeone chorale is a classic, Destiny's Child did their own unique take on the tune); "March of the Toys" and "The Toy Trumpet" by the Boston Pops (actually, the entire album Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops ~ Christmas Album
is very kid-themed and kid-friendly); "Another Wee Niece" and "Three Little Nieces" by Nightnoise -
---Ho-ho-hooooooo! Any good kids’ music.
1This article http://blog.bible/bible-blog/entry/did-jesus-tell-jokes , and this one https://www.ucanews.com/news/did-jesus-tell-jokes-definitely-says-jesuit-commentator/40898 address the goofy humor of Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
is very kid-themed and kid-friendly); "Another Wee Niece" and "Three Little Nieces" by Nightnoise -
---Ho-ho-hooooooo! Any good kids’ music.
1This article http://blog.bible/bible-blog/entry/did-jesus-tell-jokes , and this one https://www.ucanews.com/news/did-jesus-tell-jokes-definitely-says-jesuit-commentator/40898 address the goofy humor of Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings, who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
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