The Other Side of Christmas

So, it's the other side of Christmas. The tree is still up, the music still plays but it feels like it's a downward slope rather than an upward one. It's a strange feeling to know that all that preparation, all that gift buying, all the decorating is over for another year.

I've noticed that some people have already taken the tree down. It's the saddest thing to drive by houses the day after Christmas- on Boxing Day as we Brits call it- and see the discarded trees by the side of the road, the last of the icicles clinging, ready to be picked up and disposed of. I hate that. My family keeps the tree up for twelve days after Christmas, until Ephiphany in January. It's considered bad luck to take it down sooner. I like this tradition because it extends the season, makes it ok to listen to Christmas music, enjoy my lights and scent the room with cinnamon for a few more days.

Yet though the tree is still up, there's still that overwhelming Post-Christmas letdown that inevitably hits. Prior to December 25th, we scurry around, buying gifts, adding more decorations, wrapping like fiends, hoping that our internet orders will arrive on time (which they don't. They're always late. Most annoying) and baking to make the house feel even more Christmasy.

By the time Christmas Day arrives, it's been anticipated so much that it never quite feels like it should arrive. It's like when you're expecting a guest- you dust, clean, scent and vacuum and when you're done, your home has never looked better. It's the time before the guests arrive and it's just you and your clean home that are the best moments. It's not that you don't want the guests but the feeling of seeing your place clean, unmarred from interruptions that makes it hard to see the guest actually arrive. To me, Christmas is like a guest. You want it because when it arrives, it's easy to enjoy and relax with it but the preparations and effort that go into the expectation of its arrival mean that when it finally does arrive, it's hard to see everything change in one day.

Now it's after Christmas. I got some amazing gifts that, once again, make me realize how lucky I am in my family and friends. Last night, I used my new tart-warmer and my living room smells like mulling spices. I listened to a mellow Christmas CD that my best friend gave me and I relaxed with a book. It was peaceful and nice and let me postpone the post Christmas letdown that was threatening. I closed the blinds and shut out the world and escaped into my cocoon of Christmas. Until my tree is down, I refuse to acknowledge that it's time to move on. Just because the actual date has past doesn't mean it's over. Granted, it's hard to walk into a store and see Valentines decorations already but I'm ignoring them.

Then again, as far as Valentines Day goes, I tend to ignore it anyway. It's the penalty of being a thirty-something singleton. But I definitely am NOT ready to see red hearts and flowers yet. I'm still enjoying the trees, lights, chocolate and snowmen of Christmas. I know it's all about marketing but it's sad that you go to Walgreens on December 24th and pay full price for items that, two days later, will be 50% off. There's something odd about that.

I'll take my tree down on January 6th as I do always. I will keep my Tran Siberian Orchestra CD in the player for a while longer and I will continue to use my holiday dishes. Just because it's the other side of Christmas doesn't mean it's over yet, not for me anyway. I'm back at work which feels strange. Yet it's New Years tomorrow and after that will be another long weekend. Four more days off from work is a Christmas gift unto itself.

Happy Tuesday!

Siberian Temperatures on the Monday before Christmas

It's a Monday. Normally, I'd be blogging about how Mondays are my least favourite day of the week and that I wish I didn't have to get up to go to work and that I wish it were Friday. I can't today however. I'm on holiday from work for a week. I got to sleep in until after 9 a.m. and I've been deliciously lazy all morning.

Now I'm comfortable in my parent's office, listening to the cool sounds of the Tran Siberian Orchestra (TSO) and enjoying the fact that it's very nearly Christmas. I'm enamoured with the TSO- they take two genre's of music I've always loved- rock and Broadway- and combined them with my favourite season, Christmas. It's just fun to listen to. I've also taken great pleasure in watching some videos on Youtube in which people choreograph their Christmas lights to this music. It's pretty amazing. Ok, so they probably have WAY too much time on their hands but you should check it out- here are my favourites: Christmas Eve in Sarajevo (Carol of the Bells) and Wizards in Winter.

Anyway, so my parents live in Indiana, as I've mentioned. Indiana has been hit with an ice-storm that makes the one we had in Ohio last week look like slightly pathetic. We drove up to Fort Wayne yesterday to shop and it was unbelievable to see the results of the storm. The further north we drove, the harder the storm had hit. It was the most incredible natural paradox I've seen in a very long time: Awe inspiring beauty that is destructive and crippling. It was stunning to see. Nature had crystalized the world, painting every tree, house, blade of grass and sign with a thick coat of ice. The sun glinted off the ice and it was unbelievably beautiful. Yet the power lines hung lower, the trees could not carry the weight of the ice and they had snapped. Branches lay everywhere, not just twigs but actual trees, broken down the middle. Except for the super-strong and resistant fur trees, there were few trees that hadn't sacrified branches to Mother Nature.

It's also absolutely freezing. Seriously, I've complained that it's looked like Siberia before but now it feels like Siberia. It was 1 degree yesterday. The wind-chill was sixteen below zero. It was windy. It took your breath away just to walk out to the car; a frigid sweep of blown snow could render you speechless, your face numbed before you'd even left the full warmth of your home.

You may be wondering why I decided to leave California. I have to admit, I'm wondering that too. Yesterday, apparently, it was in the 70's there, sunny, balmy and a clear beautiful day.

Seriously though, despite the frigid temperatures and the icy world outside the window where I'm sitting, I have to say I'm loving it. I love winter; unpredictable, cruel, brutal Winter who can also be incredibly generous and change her mind when she feels like it. It's supposed to rain on Wednesday, rain that will wash away the ice and clear the world ready for the next Winter blast. Naturally, I'm hoping for snow. After all, it's Christmas on Thursday. Christmas isn't truly Christmas unless it's white, not for me, anyway.

This week is all about Christmas for me; not just the gifts but the fact that I get to spend time with my family, talk to my friends, eat too much and wrap the last gifts. It's about getting to sleep in a little, stay up later and not worry about routine. I'll hope for snow to dust the world and turn it into a winter wonderland, muffling the Christmas lights until they can burn through with their warm glow.

Whether Winter complies or not doesn't really matter though. It's still Christmas, snow or no snow.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Songs Do Not Always Inspire Comfort and Joy

Once again, it is Monday. And, like most Mondays, I did not want to come to work today. It's supposed to sleet, freezing rain and snow and be generally nasty on the roads later today. Combine that with the fact that, being a light sleeper, I woke up to the sound of my neighbour's alarm this morning. It's fairly loud and it's one of those incessant beeps that make you want to throw it across the room. Either my neighbour is the heaviest sleeper in the world and doesn't wake up after even an hour of the beeping or he's gone away and forgot to shut his alarm off. Since I didn't hear his large dog barking, I'm going to go with the latter option.

Needless to say, it feels very much like a Monday. It snowed this weekend though. I have discovered that while I adore snow and love it when it falls, I prefer not to drive in it. It's a little less friendly and peaceful when you start to slide on the road. This morning, fortunately, the roads are clear. I'm hoping they stay that way. If it freezing rains, it's going to be awful. I don't know if you've ever seen an ice storm but it really is one of the more beautiful acts of weather. The rain falls and encases everything into this ice shell, like you're looking at a crystalized landscape. It's absolutely lovely to see. The downside is that freezing rain is a nightmare to drive on. Your car feels like it's trying to ice-skate. Not fun. Hopefully if it does freezing rain, it'll be after everyone is home for the evening.

While I was driving in to work, I had my radio tuned to one of those 24 hour Christmas music stations. Now it's the season, I don't mind some Christmas music. Since it's a small Ohio town, I don't have many options for music on the radio unless I like country music (which I don't) or that deep-fried Midwestern rock where everyone sounds like they swallowed a pound of gravel and only know about three chords. So, Christmas music it is at the moment. It occured to me that Christmas music is a little odd at times. I'm a bit of a traditionalist. I like my Christmas Carols- to me, that's real Christmas music. I love the Transiberian Orchestra with their rock spin on Christmas carols. I don't mind some of the contemporary stuff, I mean, who could NOT like "Do They Know it's Christmas" by Band Aid?

I'm talking about the songs like "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". Have you ever really thought about that song? You have this poor creature who is born with an odd nose. He can't help it. It's red and it flashes. I agree, that wouldn't be terribly easy to ignore but apparently, all of the other reindeer laughed and called him names because of his nose. They wouldn't let him play their reindeer games. Then, the minute he proves to be useful, they suddenly turn around and are his best friends. I suppose it's good that they had a change of heart but I don't think I'd be trusting those reindeer any time soon. They sound a bit fickle to me.

I'll ignore the "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" abomination. I despise that song. I know it's supposed to be funny and, maybe it was, the first time I heard it. Yet the charm wears off extremely quickly. There are these really, really syrupy songs on the radio this time of year. I know I'm likely to offend but have you heard "The Christmas Shoes"? Oh, wow, talk about your insipidly manipulative method to try to tug at your heartstrings. It's about this kid who has no money and his mother is dying. Yet she's always wanted these special Christmas shoes (or something) and since his mother is going to die, the kid goes to the seller of the shoes and tries to buy them when he doesn't have enough money. Naturally, in the end, the kid gets the shoes and takes them home to his dying mommy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not heartless. I just find that song sickly and disturbing. I know the kid was trying to do the sweet-little-kid thing and get his mommy what she wanted most before she died but don't you think his mommy would rather have him there than have him appealing to strangers to help him buy a pair of shoes for her? Just a thought.

I heard another depressing song on the same radio station. I don't know what this one's called but it's by Dan Fogelberg and it's about this man and women who apparently were involved once upon a time and they meet up (in the rain, of course), I think on New Years. I say that because the song doesn't really say but it ends with the strains of "Auld Lang Syne". Anyway, the man and woman still love one another but the woman is married to an architect but doesn't really love him. After some mournful conversation where they both regret not being together, they seperate. Cheerful little ditty, that one.

There are a lot of other Christmas songs that I don't like much. I get fed up with "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" too. I mean, you'd think that song would only be good for about a week because, technically, once it's begun to look a lot like Christmas, wouldn't it then be "It Now Looks a Lot Like Christmas?"

I could go on but I don't want to see completely embittered. After all, there are some songs I love to hear over and over. Like I said, I'm a sucker for a Christmas carol. I love "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Oh Come All, Ye Faithful." I even like some of the non-carols like "Walking in a Winter Wonderland." I don't know the words to "Sleigh Ride" but I love to make it up and sing along loudly with a chorus of "LA LA LA LA" because it's fun. Then again, I do that with a lot of songs.

I tend to make my own Christmas CD's, once a year. They're usually a combination of old favourites: "Christmas Canon" by Transiberian Orchestra is one of my all time favourites. I love it when punk bands do covers of songs. I have an awesome Pennywise version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

But part of me still likes to listen to the radio because it's so much more spontaneous. I mean, I might have to flip too often when I hear "The Christmas Shoes" but then they'll surprise me by playing Band Aid, Paul McCartney, Transiberian Orchestra, even Mannheim Steamroller. Mostly, I like Mannheim although occasionally it takes at least a couple of minutes to figure out what song those synthesizers are actually playing. The only other song that rubs me the wrong way is "The Little Drummer Boy." That song gets stuck in my head. I'm not fond of that little drummer boy because I find the "Rup a Pum Pum's" rather obnoxious. Though, they're really great if it gets quiet and you feel like waking people up. A rousing chorus of "RUP A PUM PUM, RUP A PUM PUM" does the trick rather nicely.

Anyway, that's my random musing for a Monday. As is usually the case, I was going to blog about something completely different but the mean-spirited and fickle nature of Rudolph's new best friends got me to thinking and thinking usually leads to blog-babble. You're just lucky I didn't hear that "Christmas Shoes" song because then I'd be ranting in a manner I usually reserve for Breaking Dawn. The bad news is that now I have the stupid "I want to buy these shoes" line stuck in my head....That's what I get for complaining, I suppose.

Happy Monday!