Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The Scriptures will be embedded in the story.

Boilerplate

I’m Harold Dykstra.  I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story.  My time is well spent.  A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel.  I did not know she was an angel at the time.  The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone.  And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy.  She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others.  She changed my life.

In her leaving, she said someone would come.  I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived.  While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.

This Week’s Question

Last week, Babs had some thoughts against the Black Friday craziness.

This week, Babs discovered Sinterklaas.  Since Joe Painter went to Aunt Jemima’s Sunday school class with his father Tony, he was invited to attend the Sinterklaas festivities at Lily the Pink.  Tony was using his new snowplow to clear parking lots for businesses in an industrial complex north of the city center.  So, Babs took Joe to Lily the Pink.

Sinterklaas, GrandPa in disguise, rode up to the house on a white horse.  He came to the conference center that doubled as the employee lunchroom.  He had Zwarte Piet, Police Detective Georges Evident, by his side.  Zwarte Piet has been under attack in that it used to be portrayed by a white person in black face.  Since that was considered offensive, Zwarte Piet now puts soot on his face instead.  After all, with the name Zwarte Piet, there has to be something “black” about him.  But really, Zwarte Piet is just the helper for Sinterklaas, a Moor living in Spain and the Moors were darker than the typical Europeans.  And as for Georges, he is Italian, mostly, but his skin is dark enough to not need the black face or soot.  And with some of the mischievous children, he would love to throw them in the sack and take them back to Spain.  Jim’s oldest, Thursday Wednesday, had jumped into the sack last year.

Sinterklaas talked to the children, with a few phrases in Dutch.  They sang some songs.  And they ate a lot of the Dutch cookies.

When they returned, Joe was bubbling over with excitement.  He said as they came through the door, “Pake Harold, I got to shake hands with Sinterklaas and I would have shaken Zwarte Piet’s hand, but he scared me a little.  Zwarte Piet takes the bad boys and puts them in his sack and takes them back to Spain.”

I asked, “Sinterklaas is from Spain?”

Joe laughed, “You ought to know. You have Friesian and Dutch ancestors.  When Spain took over the Netherlands for a while, Sinterklaas would go by steamboat, maybe it was a sailing ship back then.  But he would travel from Spain to Holland.  He would go around blessing all the children, riding into town on his white horse.  And Zwarte Piet was by his side.  He helps Sinterklaas.  And then, when I go to bed tonight, I have to put my shoes outside the door.  I put hay or some kind of horse feed in my shoes.  When I wake up, Ozosnel has already eaten all the horse feed.  Ozosnel means “Oh So Fast!”  And Sinterklaas leaves cookies in the shoes, speckled something and pepper notes.”

I laughed, “Could that be speculaas and pfeffernüsse?”

Joe became wide-eyed, “You know about that already?”

I smiled, “I may not have celebrated the Dutch holidays the right way, but I ate the cookies.  They are rich in very flavorful spices.  A lot of ginger.”

Joe brightened, “Yeah!  They are really good.  But it’s not just the cookies.  I get one or two presents and my initial made out of chocolate.”

Babs produced a box.  “And Joe, here is a pair of shoes for you to use tonight.  I don’t think you want to eat cookies out of your dirty shoes.”

Joe exclaimed, “Wow, Grand Babs!  They look bigger too.  More cookies!”

Babs laughed, “They are the next size up.  You are a growing boy, and you can wear them now with thick socks, and in no time, you will fill the shoes with your feet.”

Joe hugged Babs, “Thanks, Grand Babs.”

I huffed, “Watch it, you two!  I am marrying Babs in about two months, and I do not want her to be tainted with you two fooling around.”

Joe giggled, “You can hug her too.  It’s not against the rules!  But, Pake Harold, can Babs take me back next Saturday?  It’s St. Lucia Day in Sweden.  They are going to have a parade with all the kids in white robes, and this year, Grace is going to be St. Lucia.  She will have a crown on her head made out of candles.”

I gasped, “I don’t want you to miss that.  Grace is your friend, right?”

Joe nodded, “She’s my girlfriend.  She and I are going to walk down the aisle together at your wedding.  She is so beautiful.”

Babs scrunched her nose, “She is beautiful in a Swedish way.  Blonde, blue-eyed.”

I asked, “Does Grace know that she and Joe are boyfriend-girlfriend?”

Joe laughed, “She giggles every time I say it, but she never says we aren’t.”

I shrugged, “Well, that settles the matter with me.  When are you two getting married?”  Note: Joe just turned nine last month and Grace won’t be eight until February.

Joe looked confused and then said, “I think you and Babs have to get married first.”

I nodded, “Smart move, young man.”

Babs asked, “Is there a festival in the Bible that talks about gift giving?”

I sighed, “Hanukkah is the celebration of the victory of the Maccabees.  That story is in the Apocrypha.  That is not part of the Protestant canon of Scriptures, but it is in the Catholic Bible.  But Purim speaks of giving gifts of food and giving gifts to the poor.  Purim was established to celebrate the salvation of the Jews when Esther was queen of Persia.  Esther 9:20-22 states “Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.”

Babs said, “But how much do we give to the church?  Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything, but that was when Melchizedek blessed him.  It’s in Genesis 14:18-20, ‘Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.’”

I nodded, “But that is what we should give God because God has done so much for us.  Remember the pastor says tithes and offerings.  It is the same in the Levitical Law.  We give above and beyond what is prescribed.  Now, many people do not tithe ten percent, but they should give more than what they put on their pledge card.  And the church needs money every month.  The big money people in the church give from their bonuses at the end of the year.  So, January there is extra, but in May, the church is wondering how to pay the electric bill.  But I think you are wondering about Christmas gifts.”

Babs nodded, “Yes, even though we have two and a half months …”

I laughed, “You don’t have it down to the number of days?  The number of hours?”

Babs scrunched her nose, “Seventy-four days.  Satisfied?  And it’s too early to count hours.  I have an engineer for that.”

I replied, “If we settle on right now 74 days from now, that would be 1776 hours.”

Babs giggled, “Like the year America declared independence.  Yeah, let’s celebrate.”

Joe said, “Can I watch?”

Babs said, “Joe, are you having dirty thoughts?”

Joe said, “I don’t know if they are dirty thoughts, but it has been a long time since my Mom and Dad hugged and kissed.  I saw Dad lean over and kiss Mary Jo on the lips the other day.  That’s the first time I saw him kiss anybody in over three years.  Please, all I want to see is my ornery grandparents hugging and kissing.  It makes me feel like things are getting back to normal.”  Note: Tony’s wife passed away about three years ago.

Babs and I hugged and kissed, and we may have enjoyed it more than we usually do.

Babs giggled, “Is that a good gift?  I hope so.  I’d like to do it again.”  And we did.

Joe said, “Okay you two lovebirds.  I feel better.  But can that be a gift?  I didn’t’ get to unwrap any paper.”

Babs growled, “Joe Painter, you are not unwrapping my clothing.”

Joe put up his hands in defeat. “I wasn’t saying that!  I never saw my Mom do that.  I just wanted to feel like we have a loving family.”

I laughed, “We do have a loving family, but remember what Jesus said about good gifts.  ‘“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets’ (Matthew 7:7-12).”

Joe smiled, “What if I said that I wanted a spider, a big hairy spider?  If you gave me one, would that be a good gift or a bad gift?”

Babs shivered, “Bad gift, very bad, Joe, even in a terrarium, I would have a hard time visiting you.  I worked in Mexico a few times.  Those tarantulas gave me the creeps!”

Joe laughed, “Maybe that was a bad example.”

I laughed, “Joe, you bring up a good point.  Jesus talks about a son who asks for good things, things that are nourishing to the body: bread or fish.  And Jesus says that the bad gift would be a stone or a snake.  Those choices are crystal clear, but what if the person asking is asking for something that might be harmful or in some way bad for him.  Talking about the son in the example.  It could be him or her.”

Babs shrugged, “Then giving them what they want is a bad idea.”

I nodded, “So, getting a tarantula for Joe would keep his ornery grandma away.  Would Joe like that or would he not like that?”

Joe said, “Forget the spider.  I want more time with Grand Babs.  Besides, she’s my ride to Lily the Pink next weekend for the St. Lucia Parade.”

Tony said, “Knock, knock.” And he walked into the room.  “What I heard when I was wondering whether I should knock is that getting the spider that he wants for Christmas is a bad idea.  And Joe is working a deal with his Ornery Grandmother to take him to a parade next weekend.  What if I have plans?”

Joe ran to his father and hugged him.  “Dad, Grace is going to be St. Lucia in the parade.  I have to go.  She is practically family.”

Tony laughed, “Slow your roll, Joe.  Having a dance at a wedding with a girl does not make you boyfriend and girlfriend.  I am pleased that you like each other.”

Joe said, “But Dad, if you don’t have to work, you could arrange it so you could watch the parade with Mary Jo.”

Tony looked at Babs with a questioning look, “Grand Babs, are you turning my son into a match maker?”

Babs smiled, “And what if I am?  Joe said earlier that he saw you and Mary Jo kiss the other day and that made him feel good.  He wants a little normalcy, a lot more than he wants a spider.”

Joe shrugged, “I just asked the question.  I’d rather have a baby brother than a spider any day.”

The room got very quiet.  Tony finally took in a breath, “Joe, it is too early for that.  Mary Jo and I like each other.  She is a lot different than your mother, and I need to figure things out before you go out and buy a ring.”

Joe now looked questioningly toward his father, “I don’t have any money, Dad.  Which reminds me, I need some money so I can buy presents for you, Grand Pake Harold, Grand Babs, and my girlfriend.”

Tony shook his head and sighed, “Okay, we will talk about such things after we get home.  We might even mention it while we go home, but since the truck is in front of the house here, it won’t take us long getting home.”

Joe said, “It will take us longer if you take me out for a burger and fries.”

Joe looked at Babs, “I thought he was having cookies at the party?”

Babs threw up her hands, “He’s a growing boy!”

With that, Tony and Joe said their goodbyes.

Babs and I kissed. I told her that I had just taken Sugar out for a walk, and I had a casserole in the oven.

Babs purred, “I have been smelling it.  I will risk gaining a pound from the cookies and casserole.  I am hungry.”

Credits

All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife.  We would talk about anything and everything.  And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.

I have mentioned it before on 5 December in past years, but my brother-in-law, the only brother my wife had that was older than she was, hopped into the sack of Zwarte Piet.  He wanted to experience Spain.

And my granddaughter has a pet snake.  Yes, there might be worse pets than a tarantula.

This started with the excitement of seeing Sinterklaas and then it morphed into a conversation about giving gifts.  Here are a few Sinterklaas videos.

This is a new Sinterklaas song, Sint Alarm.  It is sung by the Pieten Kidz, obviously since they are dressed like Zwarte Piet.  Notice that the children are looking down the canal to catch a glimpse of Sinterklaas and his steamboat.

And speaking of the Steamboat, here is an old classic, Sinterklaasliedjes van vroeger – Zie ginds komt de stoomboot.

And the song that my wife sang every year about this time … Sinterklaas Kapoentje.  And trust me.  There is more than one verse.  It’s about putting presents in the shoes (or boots).

And what do the Pieten Kidz have for 2025? … Total Loss.  I understood very few words.  Maybe someone can translate for me.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.