Jersey Shore Magazine

J e r s e y s h o r e • F A L L / H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 6 114 HOME PORT A Hanukkah Gift for Christmas by Frank Finale As the excitement of the fall holidays subside, preparations for Christmas and thoughts of gifts and decorations begin. A grandchild helps her grandmother take from the dusty, cobwebbed attic her aged-worn cardboard boxes. Among them is her oldest, most treasured box, labeled in black crayon: "CHRISTMAS MANGER." As she takes the box from her granddaughter's unblemished hands, she proceeds to tell her its story… My family and I moved eleven times before I turned twelve. Wherever we moved, Christmas always found us. Even when we moved to the most run-down apartments, my family followed traditions. However drab our sur- roundings, Christmas morning always shined its golden light. My working class parents could only afford the cheapest rentals. One apart- ment was located above a five-and-ten variety store and was once used as a boarding house. The layout of the rooms was called "railroad rooms," since each one opened into a long hallway with the bathroom at the end. We had to walk up two flights of stairs and down the hallway to get to the kitchen. Our bathroom at the end of the hallway only had a hook and eye lock, and the bathtub had claw feet. The variety store below our apartment was a source of fascination for me. It offered all sorts of items such as kitchen gadgets, baby bibs, playing cards, socks and under- wear, knick-knacks, checkers, ball and jacks, coloring books and crayons, paper dolls, and more, all arranged on tables with wooden shelves above and below. Sometimes I would imagine it was my garden of unexpected delights, and I could pick the best from it. My allowance for doing my daily chores was about twenty-five cents a week, a fair pay considering a quart of milk cost about the same. I sometimes would even prepare dinner for my parents who worked all day. To take a break from chores and schoolwork, one of my pleasures was walking around on the wooden floor of the store below to see what new items had arrived. Each aisle had its own characteristic sound; some boards let out a tiny squeak when my foot stepped on them while others gave a deep groan. This store spoke to me in more ways than one. My friend Shirley, the owner's daughter, often saw me walking around the aisles and that's how we became friends. Her mom gave us a set of ball and jacks to play with outside. We jumped rope together to silly rhymes in the alley. One that I still remember (winking): Janey & Johnny sitting in a tree / K-I-S-S-I-N-G / First comes love / Then comes marriage / Then comes Janey with a baby carriage! One November, while walking in the seasonal aisle, Shirley and her mom came towards me with a box. Mrs. Greenberg said, "Maybe Janey can help you set up this new display. It's a Nativity set." "Sure, I'd love to help!" I had seen Nativity sets before but this was in pieces fresh out of the box. I helped to unwrap the thin white tissue paper from each of the pieces, secretly welcoming each newly painted face to the store. Here was Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—the Holy Family—the core of Christmas itself and all that surrounded it! Since I attended Catechism once a week at the church school, I recall the nuns telling us the story of that first Christmas where there was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph, but the innkeeper allowed them to stay in the stable with the animals where the Holy Infant was born. The hay and animals provided some warmth. How three wise men riding camels and bearing gifts followed a star to see Him. For me it was as though a light lit up my mind. I was seeing it for the first time and sensing the impor- tance and history of the first Christmas. I wanted to shout "Hallelujah!" but I thought Shirley and Mrs. Greenberg would think I was weird. Shirley, being Jewish, wasn't much interested in the task at hand except for being sure that the figures were priced correctly, calling out: Babe in Manger: fifty-nine cents; Mary: fifty-nine cents; Joseph: fifty-nine cents; Angel: twenty-nine cents; Donkey: twenty-nine cents; Camels: thirty-nine cents each; Wise Men: twenty-nine cents each; Shepherd Boy and Dog: twenty-nine cents each. She did wonder out loud, "Why would a camel be priced higher continued on page 113

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