Ah, autumn. That magical time of year when the leaves start to change, and there’s a crispness in the air that just hits differently. It’s both a beautiful and bittersweet season, isn’t it? While we revel in the vibrant colors and pumpkin spice everything (not me, but I know many of you, even if begrudgingly) there’s that little nagging dread about winter creeping up on us like an unwelcome visitor. But hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves because before the bitterness of the bleak cold winter fully hits; you know, that February darkness that seems to stretch right up to spring (that actually starts before February come to think of it), we have the most wonderful time of the year waiting just around the corner, for me, that means Christmas!
As the days get shorter and the nights grow colder, both of which have already started to pull me, and assume many of you, down, I find myself getting more and more hopeful for that elusive “Christmas feeling.” You know the feeling I’m talking about? Something to look forward to when the sun has already set by the time you get out of work. The one we all used to get this time of year as kids, counting down the weeks, then days, till winter break. Yes, before you know it we’ll be completely in that magical time of year when everything seems a little bit brighter, a little more nostalgic, and just a tad more innocent; but as I’ve grown older, I’ve found myself on a quest to recapture that Christmas feeling that used to come so easily. For the last few years I’ve wanted to make a post like this, even if nobody reads it, I’m hoping that by writing this out I stumble upon some semblance of that feeling, where it actually feels like Christmas. It’s funny, isn’t it? As time slips by, those warm, fuzzy memories of childhood holidays seem to fade just a little more every year, and the festive spirit somehow becomes a bit more complicated. The twinkly lights don’t shine quite as bright, and the excitement we once felt morphs into this nostalgic longing, and like clockwork, we scramble to recapture that youthful innocence, that all elusive almost undefinable, magical Christmas feeling.
Every year, the day after thanksgiving, my family always sets out on a mini roadtrip to Connecticut to get our Christmas tree. well, this year we changed things up a bit and actually went the Saturday before. Yes, that’s right, yesterday we kickstarted our holiday season because honestly, we needed a little Christmas right that very minute. The excitement (and anxiety) of wandering around looking for the perfect tree, digging out the old decorations, some older than me, some we (my siblings and I) actually made as children, putting on some festive tunes, and sipping on some hot mulled cider after our traditional pizza (what?, I’m from NY), my heart just fills up with warmth. There’s just something so comforting about those familiar traditions, and honestly, they have a way of making us feel like kids again, if only just for a moment; but too often, at least for me, that feeling is unbelievably fleeting and needs some help. This is when I try to recreate some of my favorite memories from childhood, coming in from the cold and warming up to some of my favorite Christmas specials. Ok, so let’s talk about those Christmas specials, I don’t know if it was the same for everybody else or if it was just my family, but as a kid it seemed like we would watch at least one Christmas movie or TV special every day. I can remember going through the stacks of VHS tapes to find one we could all agree on for the evening, and the ones that we would have multiple watches of over the season. Seriously, can you even imagine the holiday season without them? I mean, who among us hasn’t looked forward to a classic black and white movie like It’s a wonderful life, or Holiday inn, the rare special like Bill and Opus’s “a Wish for Wings that Work” (you had to expect that it’s a favorite of mine) or even a Nickelodeon holiday block recorded onto a well worn tape, or mandatory (at least in my house) Simpson’s Christmas specials? I actually watched “The Simpson’s Roasting on an Open Fire” this morning with some good coffee and an apple cider donut (trying to channel my inner Homer) from the cider mill near the tree farm we get our yearly Christmas tree. And then there’s Garfield’s Christmas Special, which I must’ve watched almost every day after I got home from school as a kid (and is on right now as I write this) and is still one of my absolute favorites that completely captures the essence of family and the joys of the season, if you’ve never seen it you’ve truly been missing out. We had it recorded from the TV on a tape with a bunch of other specials, it was the beginning of the tape and as a result was missing part of the beginning of the special, but we never minded (cared? Does minded sound weird here?); for those of you who are too young to have been able to experience this at the time, imagine a YouTube playlist where you know someone painstakingly had to pay attention to the live broadcast and anticipate when to pause the the tape to not record the commercials, pure nostalgic gold! And don’t even get me started on the decorations! Unpacking the old ornaments is like taking a stroll down memory lane. Each one tells a story. All the baby first Christmas ones, the ones bought from the school fair, and a quirky homemade one from some time in grade school that I’m pretty sure we still hang up every year, even though it's a little worse for wear; but it’s not about perfection, it’s about the laughter and the memories (good advice for life too) tied to them. I always feel such a sense of pride as I place each decoration on the tree, or as I watch my nieces and nephews decorate; explaining the story behind them that they clearly weren’t alive for, and reminiscing about those fun times and the bittersweet memories of those who have since left us.
So, as we step into the heart of autumn, the trees outside become barren, the sky seems to be darker more often than bright, and we move towards that magical holiday season, I want you to imagine: you’ve got your warm mug of spiced cider in one hand and a string of lights in the other, wrapping them around the tree like a pro thanks to years of experience or years of watching a pro do it (except when you can’t seem to get them to sop blinking). A box of nostalgia in the form of ornaments and decorations. The aroma of fresh pine, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves fills the air, intertwining with the faint sound of holiday music or a Christmas movie that you can recite from memory (shout out to Elf) playing in the background. It’s pure bliss. You can practically feel that cozy warmth of the season wrapping around you like a favorite blanket. Do you feel it? Can you imagine trying to find the perfect spot for your favorite ornament on the tree? The smells? Hopefully as this holiday season barrels at us (because it will), in what may be very uncertain times, we can all take a step back to appreciate the little things: the laughter, the memories, and even the seasonal specials that bring us together. Let’s lean into the nostalgia while trying to embrace the present, to relish and be in the moment and the joy that the holiday season brings. Here’s to recapturing that Christmas feeling and making new memories this year. So as we slowly transition from the vibrant hues of fall into the winter wonderland ahead, I want to ask, what are your favorite holiday traditions? Movies? Songs? Do you have any specific memories or traditions that are completely different? Let’s us all share how we embrace this time of year, the nostalgia each of us thinks about or tries to recapture, the love and happiness we all hope for this time of year, and who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we can find that little piece of magic together
