A quarter of a century ago I met Kira and JoAnn, and as we celebrate and commemorate that happy anniversary of friendship (lifelong friendships are hard to come by these days) it felt like a good time to return to the basics of our holiday stroll. Our history has been well-documented here, and recently I’ve been waxing nostalgic for those early days at John Hancock in Boston, when we were young and foolish and having the time of our lives without even realizing it. Still, I wouldn’t trade where we are today with where we were back then – it exhausts me to even think about all those antics, all that drama, and all the unnecessary tumult of the time. Even then, all I wanted was calm, and meaningful moments with friends. After twenty-five years, we may have finally figured it out.
Much like Christmas, my favorite part of a Holiday Stroll is usually the night before, when Kira and I convene at the condo to settle in, finish up any decorating and preparation, and find something for dinner. On this night, we made a quick trip to Chinatown for a warming bowl of pho.
In the past, our evening walks would have wound around a few hotel bars and lobbies, meandering until we returned hours later, chilled and often wet from whatever precipitation decided to fall. On this night, there was none of the above, and we came back early to enjoy our time together in the comfort of home.
I gave Kira her presents and we sat down on the couch to unwind. Around us, the Christmas decorations glowed, giving off their warm light and protecting us from the cold and dark night.
As the years pass, and scenes shift in a city as dynamic as Boston, I realize the importance of having a stable home base. It is at these times that the coziness of the condo reveals itself as a destination unto itself. All those endless nights seeking out entertainment elsewhere, searching for the right place to be at the right time – it was always here.
We put a sweet potato in the oven in preparation of another holiday tradition – watching ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’, which has an ice-skating scene where the characters eat a couple of ‘Hot Sweets’. Whenever that scene comes on, we stop and head into the kitchen to have our own hot sweet moment. On this evening, we had our sweet treats and spent a bit more time on the couch, letting much of the movie go by, happily lost in regaling old memories and catching up like old friends who have been apart for too long tend to do. When we crawled back into bed for the remainder of the movie, Kira promptly fell asleep before it finished.
The Eve of a Holiday Stroll is a magical time, and I’ll always pause for a moment when Kira is already asleep, tip-toe out to the living room and sit for a moment in quiet and solitude, looking at the Christmas lights and taking in the calm. JoAnn was arriving the next day for our proper stroll, which we had pared down to a simple walk to dinner…
