Dear Readers,
Oh, it’s been a good Christmas season here on the Jacke blog, although I’ve been struck by how much sadness, longing, and ache there is out there. Let’s call it the human, grown-up side of Christmas. The kids have their joy and excitement; the adults watch them bouncing around with their new presents and smile through sad eyes. That’s my Christmas, and it sounds like it’s a recognizable Christmas for a lot of you as well.
I didn’t want to spoil our reading of James Joyce’s “The Dead” for Christmas Eve. But now that THAT’S over, let’s go ahead and combine it with another masterpiece for Christmas night. John Huston’s film version of “The Dead,” available on youtube in its entirety.
And of course, there’s always a couple of episodes of The Jacke Wilson Show. We had the one about The Gift (Young Jacke’s attempts to buy a present for his mother) and the Christmas story for my boys (about their great grandfather’s Wisconsin boyhood).
The Jacke Wilson Show Episode 5 – The Gift
Or directly download the mp3 file: The Jacke Wilson Show Episode 5 – The Gift
The Jacke Wilson Show Episode 6 – A Boy Named Johnnie
Or directly download the mp3 file: The Jacke Wilson Show 1.6 – A Boy Named Johnnie
So tonight, when the chaos is over, and the house is cleaned up and the fire is still going and the chair is comfortable with maybe a glass of red wine still half full, enjoy this beautiful and quietly devastating film, or suffer along with me in the podcast episodes (there is some triumph in there too, and some smiles!).
And may you and yours have a very merry (and only slightly melancholy) holiday this year.
With love,
Jacke
Jacke Wilson 
That first paragraph, man. Says it all.
Happy Christmas, Jacke.
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Thank you! Hope you and yours had a happy Christmas too.
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Merry Christmas Jacke. After an absolutely awful week here in Sydney before Christmas, we actually had a fabulous Christmas and it’s amazing what a wonderful healer spending time with family and friends and sharing treasured memories can be. Really perked me up xx Rowena
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Just getting caught up now so this is a little late, but thank you very much for the Christmas wish. Hope you had a wonderful holiday in Sydney!
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Thanks xx Rowena
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The more I read and listen to your stories, I realize what is missing from my own. I scrubbed them too well. There are cringey stories I want to forget and won’t tell anyone, even with a psuedonym. Hmm. I might be on to something.
I hope your Christmas is great even with the aches, I was glad to find this one I had not listened to in the archives
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Thanks for the Christmas wishes! I’m glad you enjoyed this archived edition. And yes, you probably should dig into those cringey stories. Maybe think about disguising them a bit – have the awkwardness happen to a different sort of person. Change the gender, or the age, or the profession, or something else to help free you from the tyranny of personal embarrassment. But yes, pass along the emotion as raw as you can, since that what will resonate the most. Good luck!
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Thanks, Jacke, take care
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