{"id":82288,"date":"2019-12-18T23:15:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T05:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=82288"},"modified":"2019-12-18T23:15:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T05:15:12","slug":"the-view-from-the-balcony-its-not-the-day-its-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-view-from-the-balcony-its-not-the-day-its-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"The View from the Balcony: It\u2019s Not the Day, It\u2019s the Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The night of the Tacky Townie party at Proud Larry\u2019s, the upstairs bar at City Grocery was having a private event, so I was displaced. But the Tacky Townie party was\u2212well\u2212tacky and fun. However, when the party was over I had a longing to sit on The Balcony for just a bit before heading home. As I approached, I could see there was no activity on The Balcony. Of course it was pretty chilly, so that didn\u2019t necessarily mean anything. When I reached the door to the bar it was locked and the place was shut down for the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a few airplane bottles of vodka in my coat pocket. I looked around and the Square was nearly deserted. I won\u2019t tell you how I did it, but I made it up to The Balcony and the southwest corner. The lights were off and I was careful to remain in the shadows. I opened bottle number one and took a sip, when, from down below, I heard, \u201cPssst! Randy!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was my old friend, Jesus. He had on his heavy robes, with long johns protruding at his ankles and wrists, and Uggs instead of sandals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I helped Jesus up\u2014and I won\u2019t tell you how\u2014and we gave each other a tight hug. We sat on the floor of The Balcony, which was warmer than the metal chairs, hoping not to be seen. I handed an airplane bottle of vodka to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked at it and said, \u201cI\u2019m usually a wine drinker, but, what the hell. It\u2019s the holidays.\u201d And with that he screwed off the top and took a swig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, Randy,\u201d said Jesus, \u201cwhat\u2019s your plan for Hanukkah?\u201d (After all, Jesus is Jewish!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m spending the first few days with friends in California who are also Jewish. I\u2019m not exactly sure what we\u2019ll do, but I\u2019m prepared to go with the flow. What about you? Any special plans?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Jesus replied. \u201cI\u2019ll light my menorah and give thanks like I always do.\u201d
\u201cWill you keep the entire observance?\u201d I asked.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuh!\u201d Jesus said. \u201cI am Jewish, you know.\u201d
\u201cYeah,\u201d I said. \u201cI know. What about Christmas? Do you observe it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKinda sorta,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cIt\u2019s basically my birthday, though I was really born in the springtime and not in December. Now, I like a good party just as much as the next guy, but it\u2019s gotten a little out of hand if you ask me. Y\u2019all don\u2019t even get Saint Nicholas right anymore, much less me. For example, most of the depictions of my birth are sanitized, when actually it was downright filthy. And the wise guys\u2212they weren\u2019t even there. They didn\u2019t show up for a couple of years. On top of that, they were astrologers. Most Christians think astrology is of the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSounds like you\u2019ve got a bone to pick with Christmas,\u201d I said.
\u201cNot the day,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cJust the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot the day, just the way,\u201d I repeated. \u201cThat\u2019d make a great hook for a commercial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the look Jesus gave me had come from anyone else, I\u2019d have called it a go-to-hell look. I\u2019ll just say he made his point with nary a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo if you don\u2019t like the way Christmas is celebrated,\u201d I said, \u201chow would you have us do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHanukkah, Kwanza, Christmas\u2014especially Christmas\u2014with much less hoopla,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cGo back to calling them \u2018Holy Days\u2019 instead of \u2018holidays.\u2019 And as clich\u00e9 as it sounds, with a touch of reverence and solemnity along with the joy, done every day\u2014every single day. The bottom line for all legitimate Holy Days is love. Practice love every day, not just on special occasions. When that happens and you see the sparkle in someone\u2019s eyes because of it, that\u2019s Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanza and every other Holy Day all wrapped up in one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI won\u2019t argue with that,\u201d I said.
\u201cGood,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2019Cause you\u2019d be wrong\u2014again! Remember, it\u2019s not the day, it\u2019s the way, and love is the way and the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, we toasted to love, and Jesus started singing: \u201cAll you need is love; all you need is love\u2026\u201d I joined in, and for a little while, the only sound on the Square was that of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s to peace on earth and good will toward everyone, all year long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026and that\u2019s the view from The Balcony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The night of the Tacky Townie party at Proud Larry\u2019s, the upstairs bar at City Grocery was having<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":39753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11902],"tags":[1065,15736,15737,10286,10878],"class_list":["post-82288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-randy-weeks","tag-christmas","tag-hanukkah","tag-kwanzaa","tag-randy-weeks","tag-the-view-from-the-balcony"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2017-5-11-View-from-the-Balcony.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}