Sunday, January 5, 2014

twelfth day of Christmas

Back before the days of Christmas movies and cheap electric light strings, the holiday itself began to be celebrated -- surprisingly enough -- at ...

wait for it...

CHRISTMAS!

Of course, preparations had to begin significantly in advance, especially in large households that expected to do a great deal of entertaining, or (in the old world) where the manor dispensed a goodly amount of seasonal largess.  A good Christmas pudding needs to ripen, after all!  In small, less affluent households where the gifts would have been hand-made, in secrecy, i'm sure the preparations were begun well before the time when they were needed.

But the celebration itself wasn't the excessively-long lead up to a climax and abrupt drop-off it is today.  Pity....  Nowadays we have a frenzied period of getting ready, of baking and confecting, of shopping and decorating, wrapping, packing, mailing, entertaining and being entertained (or not -- at office parties for example!).  Christmas morning comes and the biggest event is quickly over -- present-opening!  The only major happenings left, Christmas Dinner and maybe a church service, tend to be an anticlimax to most.  Then it's over!  I was shocked the first time I saw a denuded tree, sporting the depressing remains of a few bits of tinsel, lying sadly on the curb on the day after Christmas, but it's too common now to impress me.  In our family, we used to take the tree down on New Year's Day, but traditionally I believe it was considered unlucky to remove decorations till Epiphany.

No wonder so many people are refusing to observe Christmas anymore!  It's a stress-generator, a huge waste of money, and a cheesy flaunting of materialism, the way it's usually "celebrated."  There is no sitting back and enjoying the good trappings of the season -- there's always something more one is obliged to do, until it's over, and then it's OVER.  I HATE "modern Christmas." 

However, I LOVE the old Yuletide, the Christianized solstice holidays, whose faint echoes we can still perceive behind all the cartoon-character ornaments, cheap chocolate candy, and artificial versions of traditional winter greenery.  I love Christmas cookies (low-carb these days, of course), mincemeat, hot Tom&Jerry, eggnog, my version of "party mix," and -- a sacred tradition which is NEVER low-carbified -- my grandmother's recipe for "English Toffee" (actually, it's what the cookbooks call Nut Crunch, like a Heath bar on steroids).

I love my recording of medieval Christmas music, savored while sipping one of my seasonal drinks (or just a nice glass of wine), with that pine and bayberry scent wafting in the drafty air -- my 118-year-old house has its original single-pane windows, a "gravity" furnace and no working fireplaces, but its original, authentic Victorian details only add to the ambiance!  I love the look of the tinsel-garland and colored lights wound around the bannisters of the front staircase.  I love the candlelight flickering from the sconces up the back stairs.  I even love the vintage music which Sirius radio plays, as I work in the kitchen.  I love the sights and smells and sounds of the season, as they come filtered into my home.

Now it's the end of the traditional holiday season, and while everyone else in this country seems to be focused on football, i'm intent on wringing the last drops of Yuletide atmosphere.  Here in St. Louis, we're "enjoying" the same winter storm that's freezing and blanketing in snow so much of the country.  Somewhere around a foot of snow has collected in the yard, and it's still falling thickly.  Tomorrow, the 6th of January, i'll be putting away the limited amount of decoration I put up before we drove to Houston to be with our grandchildren for Christmas.  But till then -- and maybe even after, i'll be relishing my idea of what a winter holiday ought to be ... eggnog in hand, and with my thousand-year-old carols playing in the background.

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Sorry Tess my computer is playing up will try to send/publish my comment again later.

    All the best Jan

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    1. you have my sincere sympathy! NOTHING is more frustrating than computer problems ... well, almost nothing! ;-)

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  3. Well third time lucky. I think it must be the weather … well I have to blame the computer glitch on something.

    It may be because we are of similar age but I have to agree Christmas is far too commercialised. Over the years we seem to have forgotten the way Christmas used to be.

    Nowadays Christmas starts in July with Christmas Cards and decorations for sale, then in September when the childrens school holidays are over it really hits hard as the Christmas decorations, tinsel, lights and special offer buy two for the price of one toys appear followed by all the stores Christmas Gift books which every child discovers they want every toy in the book and of course the internet has come into it’s own with Black Friday deals etc etc.

    Hey couldn’t we just slow down I’ sure we’d all feel much better for it.

    A pat on our back when at this time of year it’s over and we’ve survived another onslaught. It shouldn’t be like that.

    I’m with you those Victorian Christmas memories shown in books, by way of stories, poems etc seemed to me to mean so much more.

    Our local church and the very special Christingle service … a truly magical hour with all the children and families there.

    I’m still old fashioned enough to wait until twelfth night to take the decorations down … we don’t have so many these days but they look cheery and welcoming.

    In my local card shop today the Christmas cards are still there being sold half price (good deal I guess) some Happy New Year Cards and space being made for Valentine Day Cards!! Oh well onwards and upwards………

    Great Post Tess, thanks

    All the best Jan

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    1. reading your comment, I got an insight that one of the problems with Modern Christmas is that it's being approached as just another work issue to rush through.... hurry and get your presents bought. hurry and clean up on Boxing Day! i'd like to remind people that when they're on their deathbeds, their regrets will not be about how little they rushed around -- it's be about how little they stopped to smell the flowers!

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    2. "regrets will not be about how little they rushed around -- it's be about how little they stopped to smell the flowers!"

      Couldn't agree more. Oh how I wish we could all slow down, it would be beneficial for our health too!

      All the best Jan

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  4. My wife, like most Filipinas start their Christmas seasons in the so called Bers, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec. When she was a child there was no money for gifts, just a little extra meat to go with the rice and some native cake. Myself, a product of middle class America seen it all for Christmas and quite frankly think it sucks. So, for my wife and all her friends here and abroad Christmas is for families being together and enjoying each other company. All the workers stream out of the cities and other countries just to get back to that poor village home to have some food and drinks. They love it even though they did not get shit for Christmas as children.

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    1. :-) that sounds like a great form of celebration, to me! good family relationships are far more valuable to children than toys that will be forgotten in a few months!

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