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December CSR Discussion Day: Triple Holiday Feature


Cia

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Wow, it's the last CSR Discussion day of 2020! Hopefully everyone has had a great holiday season, and enjoyed the stories featured. I asked a few questions of the authors featured this month the same questions. Enjoy the answers I got back, then share any thoughts you had as you read their ficlets in a comment below!

 

Mikiesboy with The Christmas Cracker

How do you celebrate the Holidays?    Usually we have a large reunion in early December with the whole family from around Toronto and Niagara Falls. Then we meet with Michael's parents, and his brother on Christmas Day. It's a pretty traditional Christmas.  This year is Christmas under lock down. So, just me and my Husband and a zoom get together with everyone else. I'm cooking our traditional meal, only smaller for the pair of us.

What is a favorite holiday memory you'd like to share?   I don't really have a favourite memory. I look forward to Christmas annually. It always fills me with a sense of wonder and fellowship.

Do you have a favourite line or scene in The Christmas Cracker.  This part makes me hold my breath for a second, it's among my favourites:

Spoiler

 

There was perfect silence, as if time had stopped. No one at the table moved or uttered a squeak. Outside the window, snow fell gently, making no sound as it drifted downward. Inside, Hawk turned to Harish, who stood looking frightened, hands clenched at his side. A tiny silver bow clung to his white shirt.

Hawken walked to him and looked into the deep brown eyes. “You have a bow.”

“Yes.”

“You’re my gift then?”

“Yes.” Harish was close to tears when he whispered. “Do you like it?”

 

What is your favorite Holiday Story:  Well my favourite is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  On GA my favourite is this wonderful, naughty version:

 

Bill W with A Gay Christmas Carol

 

How do you celebrate the holidays?  This has changed over the years.  When the kids were younger and we lived closer to our other relatives, we used to throw a big dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and invite the entire extended family.  Sometimes we'd be like the Currie family from The Castaway Hotel series and have up to 30 people at our house for those meals.  Now that I'm older and many of those relatives have died and the kids live a long way away from me and each other, I merely chat with them using all of these marvelous new technologies.  

What is a favorite holiday memory you'd like to share?  It's another idea I stole and used in The Castaway Hotel series.  On Christmas Eve when the kids were younger, one of the adults would dress up in a Santa suit and then go outside to peek in the picture window so the kids could see him.  We would rotate who played Santa so the kids wouldn't figure it out, and some of the women even took a turn doing this.  After Santa appeared, we'd use that to urge the kids that they had to go to bed so Santa could leave his presents and this ended a lot of hassles about them wanting to stay up longer.   

Do you have a favorite line or scene in A Gay Christmas Carol?

Spoiler

 

 As those who read the original version, they would have noticed how I changed the names of the characters representing Scrooge and Marley.  The new names I choose for them were to express what I felt was the hypocrisy of organized religion.  Scrooge became Franklin Phelps, taking his first name from Franklin Graham and his surname from the late Fred Phelps.  Marley became Patsy Falwell, taking his surname from any of the Fallwells, from the late Jerry Sr. or Jerry Jr. or Jonathan.  I chose the names of each of these individuals because of their stances on gay issues, and this is my favorite quote from the story, when Phelps is confronted by Fallwell's ghost.  

“What harm have I caused?  I haven’t done anything wrong.  You and I have always spread the word of God as it was stated in the Holy Scriptures.” 

 “Yes, that’s what we told ourselves, but we were mistaken.  In hindsight it seems that my parents were very wise when they named me Patsy, instead of Patrick, because that’s what I’ve been.  I was your patsy and willingly regurgitated every word and idea that you spouted as truth.” 

 

 

What is your favorite holiday story?   Every Christmas I have to watch at least one version of A Christmas Carol or I don't feel right.  My favorite is the 1951version staring Allistair Sims, but I also like the 1984 version with George C. Scott and the 1999 version staring Patrick Stuart.  I also enjoy 1970 musical version, Scrooge, so I guess you can tell why I wrote A Gay Christmas Carol.   

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Thanks, Cia, for this feature, and to all who read our work.  i hope we can find peace and joy in 2021. 🎄

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Yes, Cia, thank you very much for highlighting our work.  I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful New Year and we can only hope it's better than the one that's just about to end.  

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