My entirely unorthodox and way-out-of-the-box intention for this holiday season, and the winter beyond, is that it be cozy. A cozy Christmas. Filled with warmth and simplicity, peace and good-will. The most hum-drum and mundane theme one could possibly hope to find in a Christmas season, and yet of late it also seems to be the most elusive. Maybe because we all assume those tenets of the holidays are naturally part of it we forget that it won’t just happen without a little work. Toward that end, I’ve decorated the Boston condo for our annual Holiday Stroll with Kira and the Children’s Holiday Hour (for which we are down to one child this year), and planned a few intimate diners with long-time friends. That is enough for now.
Our attic has been filled with candles and a simple tree that will glow into January. Adding to our happy holiday intention is the line-up of holiday movies that we’ve been finding on television lately – ‘A Christmas Story’, ‘Christmas Vacation‘, ‘Aunt Mame’, ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’, ‘Gremlins’, ‘It Happened on 5th Avenue‘. Ever since we turned off the horrid news channels, the house has been brighter and lighter and so much more enjoyable. I don’t think I realized how heavy and upsetting it was making us – and why we would let something over which we clearly have no control dominate any space in our lives is beyond me. This is refreshingly better. Happier and healthier too. It dovetails with some new boundaries with family and friends, which have made for easier days – it’s so much friendlier with two, and Andy and I have been happily hunkering down for the march to and through winter.
