{"id":1740,"date":"2016-12-19T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=1740"},"modified":"2021-04-24T12:22:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T01:52:22","slug":"1740","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2016\/12\/1740\/","title":{"rendered":"The many forms of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a wonderful little view of the many forms of Christmas from Margaret Merrilees’s\u00a0<\/i>Fables Queer and Familiar<\/a>, complete with illustrations by Chia Moan. Every little vignette in this novel is equal parts touching and hilarious. Read on and you’ll see what I mean \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fables<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Stretton, Victoria\u2019s Reception teacher, has\u00a0reached that pinnacle of school life \u2013 the end-of-year\u00a0concert. Traditionally Reception and Year\u00a0One open the show with a segment based around\u00a0the manger.<\/p>\n

Since his first year of teaching, Mr Stretton has become used\u00a0to parental contributions. These generally peak at the time of the\u00a0concert. This year he has done his best to satisfy everyone.<\/p>\n

He stands in the wings on one side of the stage and sends\u00a0the kids across in small groups. They are received on the other\u00a0side by Year Seven recruits who where hired after\u00a0running the best background check services<\/a>\u00a0on them. Downstage, close enough for Mr\u00a0Stretton to prompt them, sit three children with a pile of signs to\u00a0hold up.<\/p>\n

The first group crosses the stage banging clap sticks together.\u00a0KAURNA LAND <\/span> reads the sign, in wobbly letters. WE RESPECT\u00a0<\/span>THE ELDERS AND TRADITIONAL OWNERS.<\/p>\n

The audience claps.<\/p>\n

The second group is chosen from among the most responsible\u00a0five-year-olds. Their leader carries a multi-branched Hanukkah\u00a0menorah. As a result of much discussion, it is unlit. Her companions\u00a0carry lighted candles in paper cups. Mr Stretton clutches a\u00a0fire extinguisher, but the children reach the other side without\u00a0disaster. He wipes his brow.<\/p>\n

The third group, in turbans and robes, is announced by two\u00a0signs. One is a tinsel crescent moon, and the other says MECCA\u00a0<\/span>under a large arrow.<\/p>\n

The fourth group consists of Mary and Joseph with a swaddled\u00a0doll and a donkey. TO BETHLEHEM <\/span> reads the sign. Victoria is\u00a0the back half of the donkey. Her spirit is bitter. Like everyone\u00a0else in the class she had passionately wanted to carry a Hanukkah\u00a0candle.<\/p>\n

The audience claps. They like it. So cute, so all-embracing.<\/p>\n

But there is more. Fingers crossed, Mr Stretton sends out his\u00a0fifth group. A donkey, a swaddled doll, but this time, instead of\u00a0Mary and Joseph, there are two Marys.<\/p>\n

The audience is silent, and then there is muted applause,\u00a0accompanied by some muttering.<\/p>\n

At present Mr Stretton is a single man, but he dreams of family,\u00a0a particular sort of family. He had hoped for a sixth group tonight.\u00a0Two Josephs with baby. Sadly he tucks his dream away again. The\u00a0school community is obviously not yet ready.<\/p>\n

Marie Symes, who works in the office, slumps in her seat.\u00a0Mr Stretton has done it again. She can see tomorrow disappearing\u00a0in a flood of phone calls. They\u2019ll be equally divided, she\u00a0predicts, between those parents who deplore fire risk and those\u00a0who deplore gay parenthood.<\/p>\n

During the interval Dr Singh approaches Mr Stretton. They\u00a0have met before. Dr Singh has a little boy starting in Mr Stretton\u2019s\u00a0class next year.<\/p>\n

\u2018Great work,\u2019 Dr Singh says with enthusiasm. \u2018I liked the\u00a0procession very much.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Thanks.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018I did feel that there was a certain Mosaic bias,\u2019 Dr Singh\u00a0continues. \u2018Judaeo-Christian-Islamic. Perhaps next year you\u00a0could include \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

Mr Stretton squares his shoulders. What is life without a\u00a0challenge?<\/p>\n

To read more or buy the book, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fables<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a wonderful little view of the many forms of Christmas from Margaret Merrilees’s\u00a0Fables Queer and Familiar, complete with illustrations by Chia Moan. Every little vignette in this novel is equal parts touching and hilarious. Read on and you’ll see … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,107],"tags":[548,306,550,551,58,552,101,549],"class_list":["post-1740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-extract","tag-chia-moan","tag-fables-queer-and-familiar","tag-hannukah","tag-lgbt","tag-margaret-merrilees","tag-same-sex-parents","tag-seasons-greetings","tag-tidings-of-joy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4v1Of-1740","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1740"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4311,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1740\/revisions\/4311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}