In which Christmas Bays-style is explained
Christmas is perhaps my favorite holiday. I love the significance of Halloween, and any occasion that provides the opportunity to dress up is a good one. But Christmas is a season of such hope and love that it is by far the dearest to me.
This of course means that I do it to excess.
Well, not to excess, but my family sees it that way. It's not really excessive - there are only two or three trees (ok, maybe as many as five) to decorate. And we use artifical trees, because Chris is opposed to killing new ones every year. I'd like to achieve one Christmas tree per room, but the familial pressures are against it. And it all fits into RubberMaid totes. So it's neat, if voluminous.
When I say "Christmas", I'm not talking about just the commemoration of the birth of the Christ, but the spectrum of holidays that humans have placed around the winter solstice. Yule, Hannukah and others all speak to us of the return of "light", both in the literal sense and as a metaphor for enlightenment. As a season of peace, I find it to be especially meaningful as my belief system centers around peace as its fundemental theme. This season touches my heart, and for most of my adult life, I've been persuing the perfect Christmas.
What is a perfect Christmas? A tree that touches the ceiling, encrusted with lights and dripping with decorations. Mounds of presents. Rows of stockings belonging to friends and family, that are filled to overflowing. A fancy-dress holiday tea to celebrate the season with friends. Candle light. Snow. Christmas carols - but only after the first of December. A Christmas feast, with all twelve chairs at the big dining-room table filled, and the kitchen table, too. The decor as festive as the season and the guests.
I'm still striving for the perfect Christmas, and I suppose my expectations are too high. Last year was great; although I was mostly on the road before Christmas, the location was the Boston area, and so the season was spent partly with our east-coast family, the Jones'. I only wish I could get them out here one Christmas! Since we really don't have a lot of family, Chris and I invite friends for the holiday instead.
Although I will again be on the road the last three weeks of December, I'm very much looking forward to this year. I have arranged my travel so I get to be home for the holiday weekend. My only regret is that all the decorating I'm doing I get to enjoy only for a few days. Oh well - I'll be here when I'll be home for Christmas.
This of course means that I do it to excess.
Well, not to excess, but my family sees it that way. It's not really excessive - there are only two or three trees (ok, maybe as many as five) to decorate. And we use artifical trees, because Chris is opposed to killing new ones every year. I'd like to achieve one Christmas tree per room, but the familial pressures are against it. And it all fits into RubberMaid totes. So it's neat, if voluminous.
When I say "Christmas", I'm not talking about just the commemoration of the birth of the Christ, but the spectrum of holidays that humans have placed around the winter solstice. Yule, Hannukah and others all speak to us of the return of "light", both in the literal sense and as a metaphor for enlightenment. As a season of peace, I find it to be especially meaningful as my belief system centers around peace as its fundemental theme. This season touches my heart, and for most of my adult life, I've been persuing the perfect Christmas.
What is a perfect Christmas? A tree that touches the ceiling, encrusted with lights and dripping with decorations. Mounds of presents. Rows of stockings belonging to friends and family, that are filled to overflowing. A fancy-dress holiday tea to celebrate the season with friends. Candle light. Snow. Christmas carols - but only after the first of December. A Christmas feast, with all twelve chairs at the big dining-room table filled, and the kitchen table, too. The decor as festive as the season and the guests.
I'm still striving for the perfect Christmas, and I suppose my expectations are too high. Last year was great; although I was mostly on the road before Christmas, the location was the Boston area, and so the season was spent partly with our east-coast family, the Jones'. I only wish I could get them out here one Christmas! Since we really don't have a lot of family, Chris and I invite friends for the holiday instead.
Although I will again be on the road the last three weeks of December, I'm very much looking forward to this year. I have arranged my travel so I get to be home for the holiday weekend. My only regret is that all the decorating I'm doing I get to enjoy only for a few days. Oh well - I'll be here when I'll be home for Christmas.
posted by Melanie Unruh-Bays at
11:59 PM
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