I've been laying low about liking the holidays. I realize it's incredibly square to flaunt it; it's far hipper to just get through it, endure it grimly and cynically. It's the more responsible take, probably. Everyone I know is fashionably non-plussed by the holidays, or if they're not blase, then they are deeply annoyed--which is totally cool, and I can see why one would be. There is much gut-wrenching garishness about it, not to mention the negative environmental impact caused by all the consumption, the stress, and the guilt. I feel that, too. But all my life I've loved celebrations, and felt I grew up with very little of them. I celebrate Hanukah and the Solstice, and I would Kwanzaa, too, if I knew how. My parents were not good celebrators, and generally low energy about most things, especially these things, and I found that deeply troubling. I wanted lovely things about at designated times. I craved excitement. They ran from it.
One December, my father casually shrugged off the idea of getting a tree. I was in 6th grade and beside myself. How could we not get a tree?
"Trees are pagan," my father said. "It's not even part of the Christian aspect of Christmas." (Years later, my sister and I surmised that he just didn't want to spend the money and/or go through the trouble.)
Yet, at 12, I was grim. "I'll draw a tree then!" I said in characteristic martyr-like faction. We got an artificial tree, I believe, that year. My dad may have been trying to be doctrinaire, but he often bent to the pressure of his children.
I love our current tree, not artificial (which we take to the city-wide mulchfest every January). I love holiday windows. I love Santacon (see Bill Cunningham's inspired post about this). I love holiday songs, and holiday concerts. I love to sing. I walked through a snowy Tompkins Square Park the other afternoon with my kids and sang "Winter Wonderland." I'm humming it now as I write.
The dude below fits in perfectly with this week's FPM theme. When I spotted him, I thought "Art Garfunkel" and started to sing "Hazy Shade of Winter." Perhaps I'll try and pull that one into the Christmas canon.
6 comments:
I hear you, baby. I think I get sappier about the holidays the older I get. I also love the desert boots--my cute freshman year boyfriend wore them.
How A Xmas Tradition Began
When four of Santa's elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular elves, Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mother was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the reindeer, Santa found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress. Then, when he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. Frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, Santa accidentally dropped the cider pot, breaking it into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor.
He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom. Just then, the doorbell rang and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened it, and there was a little angel with a great big Xmas tree. The angel cheerfully said, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to sick it?
And thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Xmas tree.
I also love Xmas--and the wife is always apalled...
oh julie - i am so glad you love christmas too.
I always hear the usual litany of complaints about the gross, crass,loud and commercial celebration that xmas has become - but if people could only see how easy it is to disconnect from all of that crap and concentrate on the beauty and sincerity and deep well of true feeling christmas really is all about they might feel differently.
To just sit quietly in a darkened room and contemplate ones sparkling lit xmas tree is to return to a purity of human spirit that one felt as a child - a sense of wonder and beauty and hope and warmth. Those pure feelings are what christmas is all about.
It reality it is a very simple holiday and thats what i celebrate.
Also just take to heart linus's explanation of what xmas really means, in a 'charlie brown christmas'
for me that sums up everything.
RJT
That guy is totally Art Garfunkel.
I wore Clark's desert boots in about 1988 and have loved them ever since. I noticed them showing up again this year and bought a new pair from Timberland..and love them. Again.
Brad
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