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.
