There is heartlessness in the Holidays that can drag down the spirit. Sometimes, the mean and hateful show through the kind and loving. Christmas will prevail. I know this. And I know when this happens, it helps to find a good movie.

People didn’t know it was. They weren’t sure what it was. That was thirty-eight (38) years ago. The first movie was Star Wars. It had another name, because it was the fourth in a series of nine stories. We knew little of those things or the future. We knew Star Wars, and it was the first and the best of the movies.

Thirty-two (32) years ago, the third movie was released. Return of the Jedi was the last of the first trilogy. It was a good movie — not as good as the first, but a commendable undertaking. With that third film, the actors of the first trilogy retired – or so we thought.

Now, 32 years later, those first characters are back in movie #7, The Force Awakens, which is playing in theaters around the world.

Actors usually age more slowly than their parts. This is not so this time. The stars are thirty-two years older in real time, and the story is set thirty-two years later in Star Wars time. It is a perfect fit. Little make-up is required.

With wrinkled brow and furrowed skin, Han Solo sports the same roguish smile. Chewbacca stands tall a mighty furball, but one who wounds more easily than in the past – even with the years, he is still the Best Fur in town. Princess Leia stops and stares with the same regal airs, but now she does so as General Leia. Luke Skywalker manages a face of graying stately hair that bears a remarkable resemblance to the beard of creator George Lucas. With laugh and action, it is good to have the old crew back with their new endearing looks.

They are not alone.

There are some young faces.

Rey is a tall girl in Dune garb who scavenges forgotten starships on the desert planet of Jakku. She is the new Luke Skywalker — though an actual physical lineage is never clearly delineated in this show. With tomboyish charm and a knack for fixing things, including the aged Millennium Falcon, Rey brings to the scenes a credible naivety that transcends the decades and is the glue that binds this show to the first. Rey’s character makes the film a true Star Wars.

There are others.

Maz Kanata is not young. She is short, bespectacled and over a 1,000 earth years old. She is the new Yoda, and the second new character after Rey I most look forward to seeing in the next show.

Kylo Ren, a big-haired dark knight of good lineage, is presented as the new Darth Vader. The core of the show begins to fade here. Ren is no Vader. As with the decline of evil in the first six shows, we find again the paucity of complex villainy needed to hold the tension and the audience. Ren’s boss, Supreme Leader Snoke (perhaps the old Emperor recovering after a bad fight in an alley), lacks the substance of a true bogeyman and needs a smaller chair. General Hux is a replay of the bad generals of the past.

Opposing this motley crew of hatchet men, there are some new good guys who may themselves be best remembered as forgotten action figures on the shelves of dusty storage units. Fin is a reformed sanitary engineer who presents a puzzling romantic relationship with Rey. He may be at his best not revived from the sick bed at show’s end. Resistance Pilot Poe is a punctuation mark. BB-8 is the new R2-D2, but he is not the droid R2-D2 was.

Do you see the problem? The supporting cast of The Force Awakens is not as good as it was for the first Star Wars. In addition to strong leads, great shows need great supporting characters and great actors filling those roles.

Rey is the new lead. The old Luke, the old Chewbacca and the old Leia join her. They are strong, but it is clear the old guard is passing. Beside Rey, Fin does not make it. Behind Rey, I see only Maz as strong support. Kylo Ren and the bad guys are a serious meltdown.

The Force Awakens has an intriguing ending. It is my second favorite Star Wars movie of all time. Unfortunately, there is the single Rey of new life in the lead and little supporting cast to build two more installments.

I am, with many I fear, worried for the future.

For the present, let’s finish with the meaning of the season and the Star Wars.

Those closest to you will hurt and help you most. It is one of the deep secrets of the universe. This is the true Star Wars and the real Christmas. It rings most true when the hurt is fresh and there seems nowhere to go.

At the end of the movie, young Rey stands facing Luke on a cold rocky cliff above breaking waves. There, over the chill waters, she reaches for a new hope. At the ending, we glimpse a new tomorrow and the beginning of the next. So it is at the ending and beginning of all things, and so it is at Christmas each year and at Star Wars each show.

A new hope and the glimpse of a new tomorrow.

May the force be with them and with us.

Help in need is help indeed.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Grandpa Jim

 

Is this the year the Christmas cards stopped? I’m not complaining, but we do seem to receive fewer and fewer. I’m referring to the old fashioned mail-‘em-in-an-envelope-with-a-postage-stamp-affixed Christmas cards. I get e-cards and social media Holiday hi-and-hello’s. Certainly I am sent all of those, and they are fun and appreciated.

Still, I miss the cards. I guess they’re a little like “vinyl” records. Funny, I don’t remember calling the discs vinyls. They were just “records.” Before 8 tracks, cassette tapes and CD’s, there were records. Now, they’re vinyl’s, and they’re making a comeback. Not so the Christmas cards. I fear no comeback is in site for them.

They really aren’t that old. In 1843 in England, Sir Henry Cole sent the first Christmas cards of his own creation using the newly formed Public Post Office for delivery. The post office and the railroads made those Christmas cards possible. Before that, the handling and transportation were far too expensive for mailed missives of Holiday cheer.

In the United States, cards were not widely sent until 1875 when Louis Prang started printing the Holiday greetings in mass quantities. As costs dropped, popularity increased. Then, in 1915, John Hall and his two brothers started Hallmark Cards. With the new fanciful and fun designs, who didn’t want to send Grandma and Uncle Ned a card at Christmas? The mailboxes were flung open and the flood of Holiday cards began in earnest.

Up to two billion a year – at their peak. It was down to 1.4 billion a few years back. Now, the US Postal Service says most households are sending less than half the cards they sent just the other December. And, the numbers are dropping.

I remember the joys of a child’s Christmas. My brothers, sister and I would wait wide-eyed in our beds until Santa had finished his and her work. As the house quieted, we drifted in and out of sleep until the bravest slipped to floor, crawled to the door and peeked to nod for the others to follow. Down the hall we crept to the glowing tree and the wonders beneath.

A month before, the Christmas catalog had arrived. We poured through its pages. Each could pick one wish. We did, we waited and we hoped for that night.

I can still see the small rocket launcher waiting for me. My excitement was boundless. I loaded a rubber tipped dart, aimed and fired. One of my mother’s prized ornaments exploded into glistening fragments floating to the floor. It was a moment I will never forget, both from the joy of the moment and the admonitions that followed in the morning.

From frown, the questioning brow softened to smile as the Christmas tune played in the background. All things were forgiven on that day.

To this day, I find myself singing, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas” just about anywhere, everywhere and pretty much all year long. Judy Garland first sang the song in 1944. My parents played it on Christmas mornings. It’s sung each year by new artists with new smiles and new tears. There are both in Christmas. Like the Christmas search, the rocket launcher and the shattered ornament, the song is there to surprise and comfort.

Cards may be fewer and paper less used. Pictured memories and even the music may fade with time. Let your heart be light. Have a merry little Christmas now. And hang a shining star upon the highest bough.

 

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyW1A-S1lmY[/embedyt]

 

Faithful friends who are near to us,

Gather near to us.

GPA Jim

Life like the year is a journey — from beginning to end, season to season, rain to sun. Ours is waning. Cold frosts the tops of morning fences. Plants hide near the fading heat of soil.

Splashed by recent rains, Brave Snapdragon warms its fierce breath beneath the blanket of newborn day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At its side, Tiny Viola wrinkles pansy arms, stretches and sighs to dance her turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friendly Garden Elf laughs at the antics of plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Gerber demurely hides a blush beneath the browned tips of her chilled leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heightened hope lightens Languishing Lavender to leap for the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saddened Marigold sees, sheds silver tears and mopes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fate has stamped her seal on Daisy Profusion. Tears shed, head bowed, she droops to send the seeds of next-year’s spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butterflies southward bound and gone, Mother Abelia lifts her strawflower blooms to the light-studded eve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father Holly Berry blinks to focus an eye as the time approaches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far off, three chipped Kings of Ancient East with camels and gifts under the bright bulb of Christmas star advance toward the cardboard stable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There a child rests, mother and father nearby, a plastic sheep at the tiny babe’s feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While in the sky, a Brave Young Angel takes wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With bright voice and song, the sweet smiling cherub makes loud the pronouncement: “It is the Season of the King!”

 

Grandpa Jim