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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2018 ❚ MYCENTRALJERSEY.COM PART OF THE USA
TODAY NETWORK
QEAJAB-06500v(b)c)c)k)n
HILLSBOROUGH – The holidays are a time forcheer and giving, and
this year a township woman isgiving back to her stepfather, who has
been takingcare of her since she was 11 years old.
Michelle Mason, 39, mother of three — Melissa, 20,Elizabeth, 16,
and Ashley, 13 — and wife to Danny, wasraised by her stepfather,
Tony Raffo, and although shewas never formally adopted by her
stepfather, she al-ways considered him to be her “real father.”
In a gesture of gratitude for his decades of love andsupport for
her, she reached out to the attorneys atLyons & Associates for
help in declaring him her legalfather through the process of
adoption. She plans tomake this a surprise holiday gift to him.
AttorneysMark T. Gabriel and Sara E. Kucsan will handle theadoption
proceedings for the case pro bono.
“It’s something that’s been long overdue, I’ve justnot had the
courage to go through with it,” Mason
Hillsborough woman gives the giftof adoption to her ‘real
father’Alexander LewisCentral Jersey Courier NewsUSA TODAY NETWORK
- NEW JERSEY
See ADOPTION, Page 6AFrom left: Tony and Debra Raffo and
Michelle MasonCOURTESY OF THE MASON AND RAFFO FAMILY
For some Central Jerseyans, there’s a lot more workto be done
during the holidays than just some wrap-ping and baking.
Instead, as we learned through our holiday deco-rating contest
this year, the region is home to lots ofresidents who spend weeks
and thousands of dollarsdecorating their homes to raise money for
charity,create a local destination or simply make passers-bysay
“Wow.”
For the second consecutive year, My Central Jerseyasked readers
to send us up to five photos of their holi-day decor; in turn, the
family dubbed best-decoratorwould receive a $100 gift card to Post
Ace Hardware inSomerville.
We were stunned — and thrilled — to receive morethan 75 photos
from almost 20 festive readers. Somedecked out the exterior of
their homes with elaboratelights, moving displays and music while
others cre-ated jaw-dropping interior displays which was a
cul-mination of a lifetime of collection. To see all of
thesubmissions, visit bit.ly/2GA2eEY.
It wasn’t an easy decision to choose this year’s win-ner.
However, after careful consideration, our teamchose Kevin Janis of
the Whitehouse Station section
It’s a ‘ParisianNoel Christmas’
Kevin Janis and his family have themed their Whitehouse Station
home as “Parisian Noel Christmas,”inspired by their trip to Paris,
with their entry as Versailles Hall of Mirrors, family room as
Moulin Rouge,dining room as the Louis XIV palace, and master
bedroom as the king’s bedroom. COURTESY OF KEVIN JANIS
Whitehouse Station home wins decorating contestJenna
IntersimoneCentral Jersey Courier News and Home News TribuneUSA
TODAY NETWORK - NEW JERSEY
See DECORATING, Page 8A
Related photo gallerySee a photo gallery at
mycentraljersey.com
Rosemary Ogunseye is a working mom, a widowand mother to five
children. The Plainfield residenthas no washer and dryer, and has
to use public trans-portation to get to and from her home to do her
fam-ily’s laundry.
One of the 15 people featured in this year’s CourierNews Wish
Book project, her story moved many peo-ple, including one Somerset
County resident whocontacted us and wanted to buy Ogunseye the
wash-er and dryer and have it installed. Thanks to thisanonymous
person’s kindness, Ogunseye now will bedoing her laundry in her
home.
When we opened one of the many envelopes wereceived from
community members who respondedto the featured stories for this
year’s Home News Tri-bune Needy Cases Fund project, we found $37 in
cashand 33 cents taped to the card.
To me, that is an example of someone giving out oftheir need,
rather than their abundance.
Thanks to generous actions and donations likethese, My Central
Jersey’s two holiday community-outreach projects have received more
than $17,300this year. And this is on top of our holiday coat
col-lection project, which concluded earlier this monthwith 358
coats and more than 700 hand-knittedscarves and hats donated by
Central Jersey resi-dents.
Writing “Thank you” doesn’t seem to be enough,but it’s a
start.
Courier News Wish Book
Over the past 27 years, 511 individuals and familiesaround
Central Jersey have been aided by theirneighbors through the
community-engagementwork of the Courier News Wish Book project.
Add 15 more individuals and families to that listthis year,
because of the community’s generosity.
Our work began in September, when we sent so-cial-service
agencies nomination forms for individ-uals and families to feature
in our project; we askedthat the nominations be back by the end of
October.The journalists of My Central Jersey and the CourierNews
reviewed the nominations and chose the 15 fea-
Thank you forsupportingour holidayprojectsGenerous actions and
donationsraised more than $17,300 in 2018
Paul C. GrzellaCentral Jersey Courier News and Home News
TribuneUSA TODAY NETWORK - NEW JERSEY
See THANK YOU, Page 7A
U.S., Mexico plan to stem the tide ofCentral American migrants.
3A
Christmas around the world
There’s more than one way to celebratethis most festive holiday.
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’Twas the night before Christmas. Ormaybe it was 19 days before.
Or 12 daysafter.
All the stockings — or shoes — werehung by the chimney — or left
on thestoop — with care. In hopes that SaintNicholas, or Father
Christmas, or PéreNoël, or Svaty Mikolas, or Sinterklaas,or Tonton
Nwèl, or Baba Noel, or SantaKoruhsu, soon would be there.
So many Santas, so many cultures.“Each country and culture
brings its
own festive flavor to Christmas,” saysJames Cooper, founder of
whychrist-mas.com, a British Web site that exam-ines Christmas
customs in 80 countries.
Some might seem strange to us — al-most as strange as flying
reindeer andelves would seem to children in Ethiopiaor Mali.
In many places, fish — not turkey orgoose — is the main course
at Christmasdinner. Some cultures exchange gifts,not on Dec. 25,
but on Saint NicholasDay (Dec. 6) or the Feast of Epiphany(Jan. 6).
And the gift giver, in some cul-tures, is not Santa Claus or some
varia-tion of the jolly old elf, but the Christ-kind (Christ Child)
or The Three WiseMen.
“You could tell how westernized thefamily was by whether it was
SantaClaus bringing the gifts, or the ThreeWise Men,” says Erick
Castellanos, whoteaches anthropology and internationalstudies at
Ramapo College in Mahwah.
The Yuletide he remembers, from hischildhood in Mexico City, was
full of de-lights that you won’t see celebrated onthe Hallmark
Channel.
“Posada,” in Spanish, means inn.“Posadas” are the neighborhood
partiesin Mexico, in the days leading up toChristmas, that
commemorate the trialsof Mary and Joseph, as they looked forlodging
in Bethlehem.
“You go to different houses and singsongs,” Castellanos says.
“It’s a verseand reply. ‘We need shelter.’ ‘No, we’refull.’ Then
they get to the last house andthey say ‘Yes, you’re welcome here,’
theyopen the doors, and there’s a party in-side, with a piñata for
the children.”
Also big in Mexico are Christmasplays: Las Pastoralas. “They’re
sort ofplays about the pilgrims that are headedto Bethlehem to see
the baby Jesus, and
there are these devil characters that tryto tempt them
away.”
Christmas and culture
Christianity is observed in many dif-ferent ways — so no
surprise that itsfounder would get many different kindsof birthday
parties.
As important: Christmas, these days,is a big commercial
enterprise. Some,overseas, see it as the quintessentiallyWestern
holiday, and are determined tomatch us, bubble light for bubble
light.Which explains why Christmas is, in-creasingly, a big deal in
many Asian andMuslim countries.
“Learning about the varied Christ-mas celebrations of others has
onlydeepened my own love of Christmas,”Cooper says.
Just the same, it can be a shock to en-counter other people’s
traditions. Hu-morist David Sedaris was disturbed tolearn, as he
recounted in a 2002 Esquirearticle, that in the Netherlands
SaintNicholas is accompanied by “six to eightblack men.”
“[They] were characterized as per-sonal slaves until the
mid-fifties, whenthe political climate changed and it wasdecided
that instead of being slavesthey were just good friends,”
Sedariswrote.
What Sedaris had encountered wasthe tradition of “Black Peter” —
the badcop of what is, in some cultures, a good-cop bad-cop duo:
Santa for the goodkids, and one or more fearsome assis-
tants who punish bad little childrenwith a switch. Some echo of
this highlyobjectionable character, known in someplaces as
Belsnickel or Krampus, can beheard in the song that warns
children,“You better not shout, you better notcry…”
Most holiday customs, fortunately,are not so grim. What they’re
ultimatelyabout, Castellanos, says, is the commu-nity that
celebrates them. Which is whythey vary so much from place to
place.
“It’s a reflection of the community it-self: your ideals, your
values,” he says.“You’re celebrating what’s good aboutyour
community.”
Christmas around the world
So spin the globe. Stop anywhere.And then prepare to be amazed
by someodd Christmas customs — customs thatare, in some cases,
almost as odd asyours. Or you can just check out Coop-er’s Web
site, where he’s already donethe work for you. Here are some of
hisfindings:
❚ In Argentina, after midnight onChristmas eve, people send
“globos” —paper lanterns with lights inside —floating into the
sky.
❚ In Australia, Santa’s sleigh is drawnby — what else? —
kangaroos.
❚ In Belgium, children leave theirshoes in front of the
fireplace, alongwith biscuits, a carrot for Sinterklaas’shorse and
something for Zwarte Piet(Black Peter, Sinterklaas’s
assistant).
❚ In Bolivia, on Christmas Eve after
midnight, people light firecrackers.❚ In Bulgaria, a Christmas
feast must
be served to an odd number of guests —typically 7, 9 or 11 — and
must feature anodd number of dishes. Don’t panic,though: salt,
pepper and sugar count as“dishes.”
❚ In Croatia, people give ChristmasEve apples, wrapped in
colored paper.
❚ In the Czech Republic, people faston Christmas Eve, hoping to
see a visionof “the golden pig.” It’s good luck.
❚ In Estonia, people recite poems toSanta Claus, in exchange for
gifts.
❚ In Finland, a “Yule Goat” once askedfor — rather than
dispensed — presents.He later morphed into a more
beneficentSanta-like figure, but he’s still some-times referred to
as “Joulupukki” (‘Christmas Goat’).
❚ In Georgia, children get their pre-sents on New Year’s Eve
from “TovlisPapa” — “Grandfather Snow” — whocomes down the Caucasus
mountainsdelivering treats.
❚ In some parts of Germany, St. Nich-olas is accompanied by a
charactercalled “Knecht Ruprecht” or “Krampus.”Horror movie fans
discovered him in aflurry of Krampus-themed movies overthe past few
years.
❚ In Greece, people suspend a pieceof wire over a bowl of water.
A sprig ofbasil is wrapped around a wooden crossand suspended from
the wire into thebowl. Once a day, mother dips the crossand basil
into some holy water, thenuses it to sprinkle every room of
thehouse.
❚ In Japan, fried chicken is a Christ-mas day tradition. And has
been since1974, when KFC launched a campaigncalled “Kentucky for
Christmas.”
❚ In Kenya, Santa Claus typically ar-rives by Land Rover, camel
or bike.
❚ In Madagascar, lychees are aChristmas treat. At holiday time,
thestreets become covered in lychee skins.
❚ In the Philippines, an ornate, deco-rative bamboo lantern
called a “parol” isone of the most popular Christmas
dec-orations.
❚ In Poland, the Christmas meal has12 dishes, which are supposed
to bringluck for the next 12 months. All aremeat-free, in honor of
the animals whocared for baby Jesus in the manger.
❚ In Serbia, where Christmas falls onJan. 7 (they still use the
old Julian calen-dar), the first person who enters thehouse on
Christmas day is supposed tobring good luck. If he doesn’t, he’s
notasked back again next year.
Email: [email protected];Twitter: @jimbeckerman1
Christmas customs from around the worldThere’s more than oneway
to celebrate thismost festive holiday
Jim Beckerman North Jersey Record | USATODAY NETWORK - NEW
JERSEY
Rodger Yaden of Hawthorne, dressed up as St. Nicholas, the
original Dutchversion of Santa Claus, greets visitors in 2009 at an
open house at theCampbell-Christie House in River Edge. MY
NEWMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
tured subjects. Staff Writer AlexanderLewis worked for several
weeks to talkwith the subjects and the people whonominated them and
gather photo-graphs for each story.
His work was published in print andonline on Nov. 25, and
donations startedcoming in the following week and con-tinued right
through Dec. 21. As of Dec.24, we received $8,505 in monetary
do-nations, as well as $3,900 in in-kind di-rect donations
fulfilling five of the 15featured requests.
All checks are processed by localteam member Carolyn Sampson and
theUnited Way of Northern New Jersey,which manages a separate
checking ac-count at Peapack-Gladstone Bank justfor the Courier
News Wish Book project.Checks are written for the amount need-ed
and are sent to the nominating agen-cy, which is responsible for
ensuringthat the money is used to purchase therequested items for
each wish.
Because of your generosity, we arefilling all 15 wishes,
totaling $10,500, aswell as some of the additional wishes
wereceived as part of the program.
Following are this year’s donors:Anita D. Bier of SomersetViola
Burrell of South PlainfieldThomas and Donna Butler of Mar-
tinsvilleKathleen Chin of BranchburgThe Coletta Family of South
Plain-
fieldMary Czachur of Bound BrookBarbara Diem of WatchungDorothy
Farhy of MiddlesexThe Galasso Family of BridgewaterJoseph and
Sharon Garcia of Hills-
boroughLighting Genie of SomervilleRussell and Jill Gilkeson of
Hillsbor-
oughChristina Gonnella ofBridgewaterBarbara Howell of
PlainfieldEdward and Dolores Jackson of Pis-
catawayDeborah Knitowski of Myrtle
Beach, South CarolinaD. and J. McNulty of Belle MeadLorraine and
Michael Murphy of
SomersetPaul and Maureen Nemergut of
HillsboroughPete and Laurie Peterson of Branch-
burgLouis and Linda Piffer of MiddlesexCarol Roberts of
MartinsvilleCurt E. Schaaf of BranchburgJohn and Jean Schellhorn of
Pisca-
tawaySally Scotti and Family of North
PlainfieldLillian Sheroke of BranchburgBruce and Elizabeth Smith
of Leba-
nonSue P. and Chung S. Yang of Bridge-
waterIn addition, we have 16 individuals
and families that donated anonymous-ly.
You can find all of the Courier NewsWish Book stories on My
Central Jersey,including the list of additional requests.This list
includes contact informationwhich will allow you to take direct
ac-tion with the nominating agencies.
Home News Tribune Needy CasesFund
The Needy Cases Fund is a CentralJersey holiday tradition. Over
the pastseven decades, the Needy Cases Fundhas collected donations
from a caringcommunity, and distributed the fundsto local agencies
that use them to direct-ly support their work. The
community-service project has been sponsored bythe Home News
Tribune and its prede-cessor, the Daily Home News, workingwith the
Lions Club of New Brunswick.In the last two decades alone, more
than$523,000 has been raised and given outby this program.
From Nov. 25 to Sunday, Dec. 2, thejournalists of the Home News
Tribuneand MyCentralJersey.com focused oneight organizations
serving Central Jer-sey as part of this annual project. Thisyear’s
agencies included the FranklinTownship Food Bank, Elijah’s
Promise,the Lions Club of New Brunswick, the
Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jer-sey, Women Aware, the Crisis
Room atAldersgate United Methodist Church,FISH Hospitality Program
and CASA ofMiddlesex County.
After reading those stories, commu-nity members have been
sending inchecks and cash, which we track. TheNeedy Cases Fund is
maintained in aseparate account by the New BrunswickLions Club, and
distribution of thefunds is apportioned by representativesof the
Home News Tribune and the club.As of Dec. 24, we have
received$4,893.33 in donations from the com-munity.
Following are this year’s donors:Glenn and Gail Aiello of South
River,
In memory of Thomas V. HorvathWilliam and Laverne Bauer of
Say-
reville Ronald E. Berger of MilltownZusette and Bob Dato of
South Am-
boy Judith P. Cohen of Somerset Rubye and William Csehi of
Somer-
set Eleazer and Lillian Deutsch of East
Brunswick Thomas and Kathleen Else of South
River, Peaceful HolidayStephen and Grace Farkas of Mill-
town Robert and Janet Floersch of Ave-
nel, Merry ChristmasRobert and Linda Francisco of Spot-
swood Ronald and Elaine Grygo of East
Brunswick, In memory of Chester & Hel-en Grygo
Pat and Ken Irons of Monroe June Keehbler of Edison Vincent and
Doris Krobatsch of
South River, In memory of our parents:Frederick and Marie
Fischer, Vincent
and Catherine Krobatsch and LennyKrobatsch; our son, Rhett
Krobatsch
Stephen R. Lax of Middlesex Latvian Lutheran Church, East
BrunswickMichael and Marilyn Malinics of
ParlinDavid and Maryann Merrill of Pis-
cataway John P. Melnick of Spotswood, Mer-
ry ChristmasMargaret Moricz of AvenelCarol C. Natarelli of
Piscataway, In
memory of GenRuth Nole of South River, In loving
memory of Joseph Nole 1970Michael and Joyce Nussbaum of
Edison Kevin R. Rogers of Piscataway Joanne and Michele Senko of
South
River Margaret Shallcross of North
Brunswick, In memory of Frank Mum-ber and Lawrence
Shallcross
Rozalyn Sherman of Somerset Aldonna Skislak of East Brunswick
Jestina R. Simmons of Somerset,
Beloved son Murray L. Simmons Jr.Douglas and Donna Smith of
High-
land Park, In memory of Arthur and EricSmith
Carl and Kathy Smith of Milltown,In memory of Arthur S.
Gatarz
Clifford and Amy Smith of KendallPark
John and Carol Strick of SomersetIves and Amy Tucker of East
Bruns-
wick, Julia and Ezra MowreyDennis and Patricia Watson of
MonroeAnonymous, Christmas PeaceIn addition, we have 18
individuals
and families that donated anonymous-ly.
You can find all of the Needy CasesFund stories on My Central
Jersey; wewill grateful accept donations throughDec. 31.
Thank you for your support of ourcommunity-service projects this
year,and over the past decades. The journal-ists and other team
members here deep-ly appreciate, as do the communitymembers and
agencies you are supportthrough this work.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holi-days to all.
Paul C. Grzella is general manager /editor of My Central Jersey,
CourierNews and Home News Tribune. Call908-243-6601 or
[email protected]
Thank youContinued from Page 1A
A washerand dryer
wouldmake a
hugedifference
to thismother of
five.COURTESY OF
ELISA LIZARDO
Frank Hasner, Franklin Food Bankexecutive director, visits the
newclient choice section of the foodpantry, where clients are able
to selectthe food they want as part of a pilotprogram. SUZANNE
RUSSELL/STAFF PHOTO
Dec. 25, 2018.PDFDec. 25 2018 a7.PDF
