Monday, December 13, 2021

Haul Out The Holly

How much holiday decorating do you do?

My family used to go nuts over it: the big tree, wreaths on the front door (we had a double door, so we had two), cedar roping and lights, and music boxes and all that stuff.  But that was when we were all together and had a house.  I don’t know what my siblings do, although I suspect my sister and my younger brother still do some of it because they have family around them and traditions die hard.

Allen loved Christmas, and he’d do the whole thing, too, with a tree and decorations.  It had to be an artificial tree because a real one brought on the allergies — or so he said — but I think he liked the artificial one because it was easier to set up and didn’t drop needles all over the place.  Now that I live alone, I don’t do much other than put out the music boxes that I inherited and hang a wreath, which honors the Celtic tradition of recognizing the circle of life.

That makes me think of why we do it.  Even if you don’t celebrate the religious aspects of a holiday that was hijacked by the Christians to supplant the celebration of the winter solstice — based on the evidence of the bible itself, Jesus was born sometime in the spring — it’s still a nice time to get people together and welcome the beginning of the return of the sun, marking the lengthening of the days, and noting the change of the year, which is yet another artificial marker: it used to be March 25, around the time of the spring equinox, when nature began to come out of hibernation in the northern hemisphere, and preparation for the end of the seasons in the southern half: a beginning and an ending.

Be that as it may, the planet keeps on spinning, seasons come and go, and we mark them in our own ways, be it a little wreath on the door or the massive influx of cheesy holiday movies and appeals to spend money on kitchen gadgets, cologne, and floor mats for the car, all deemed to be the perfect gift.  However you celebrate it, I hope you have a good time doing it with the people you love and share with.

One bark on “Haul Out The Holly

  1. We have 10 apple trees in our yard. We wrap the trunk and lower branches with blue or white lights, and hang lights on the porch. People actually slow down to look – especially with the snow we’ve had, it’s really striking. Inside is a little less because of the kitties (Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, your ornaments are history), but we have a small artificial tree and some lights. We don’t try to travel (partly because I won’t, partly because we need an animal caretaker and I don’t think it’s fair to ask her to give up her Christmas so I can travel) so Christmas is the two of us, but that’s fine.

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