It is less than a month until Christmas. Am I excited? YOU BET I AM!!! I have been lucky enough to experience just over 60 Christmases and yet it still feels new. At this point in the Christmas Pre-Season, the festive merchandise in the stores is freshly arranged and no one has pawed their way through the displays, leaving their Starbucks cup on a nearby shelf with their $8 Caramel Brulé Latte entirely forgotten after presumably being overcome with joy at finding an ornament that filled them with delight. At least that’s what I tell myself so that I don’t get indignant and make that clicking sound of annoyance with my tongue.
The Christmas lights that are beginning to show up in a few windows of the condo building across the street or in the 3 story walk-up down the alley, are cooed over and have inspired my husband and I to open negotiations about whether we will be using traditional white lights to surround our windows when we decorate in a week, or if we’ll go full-Vegas and dig out the multi-coloured ones that are packed much lower down in the box, for more of a lively punch.
It’s during this stage of the Holiday (Pre-) Season that I pull out my Christmas Card list (because, yes, I AM that old-fashioned!), and as I trace my finger along the list of people who I loved last December, I spend time with the heartache of striking off names of those I’ve lost over the last twelve months. I add a few new names to the bottom of this year’s version—new friends, friends I’ve reconnected with this year, any folks I’ve met lately who might be cheered to get a Christmas card. And then I find myself smiling happily at the rest of the names on the list—names of our amazing extended family members and those friends who have long been our bedrock of support and love. I want to call each of them for a chitchat but that would throw a real wrench into my day, so I content myself with the heart glow that just reading their names leaves me with and marvel at how very rich I truly am.
I’ll admit to you that I’ve already started listening to the All-Christmas radio station while I work away in my office. The songs sound fresh but familiar and I enjoy singing along with them (although I mute the ones I have never gotten the hang of—why ruin the mood?). The music reminds me of long ago Christmases and the friends or family who played a part in the memories that the songs evoke. By the time it actually IS Christmas, I often find that I’ve grown sick of this relatively limited rotation of songs, but for now I’m enchanted by their melodies and touched by the seasonal lyrics all over again.
The weather has turned cold at this point in the (Pre-) Season, and I take great delight in wrapping up in sweaters and pretty scarves. Finally, I can legitimately wear the gloves or mittens I’ve been longing to pull onto my always-cold hands. Bundling up in December hints at romantic walks in the snow and the anticipation of upcoming festive events.
On the other hand, staying bundled up from January through to April (in some cases), hints at bitterly cold winds biting at any body part left exposed, the drudgery of changing into and out of boots several times a day, and the slog of trying to arrive where you are expect, on time and not sweating. Bundling up definitely loses the charm that it brings with it in early December, so enjoy it while you can!
I use this (pre-)season to do my Christmas shopping and I know that some of you will probably meet that admission with eye-rolls and groans, but through years of trying to juggle the inevitable Christmas rush that comes along with being a portrait photographer, I got into a habit of making sure that I was able to get meaningful and cheer-filled gifts for my family and friends BEFORE I got worn down from shooting last minute portraits and covering other people’s Holiday events. Now that I’m retired, I can’t seem to let that habit (the early shopping bit) go. I think I still harbour the fear that if I miss the pre-season planning and execution, I’ll end up at the final game without being able to put my best foot forward for/with the people that I actually care about.
Besides, I prefer my Christmas shopping to be unrushed instead of dashing around at the last minute, snatching up whatever is left over and hoping that nobody notices. By getting an early start, I am able to miss the crowds who tend to get more aggressive the closer we get to the 25th and exhibit less and less of the Christmas Spirit that we are supposed to be passing along to each other.
So with December 1st right around the corner, I’m starting to revel in the anticipation of Christmas. I’ll build up the Season’s momentum in my mind as I buy and wrap presents to send away, as I write and mail Christmas cards to the people I treasure, and as I hum along to the happy and hopeful songs of Christmas. I suppose that in many ways, even after all of these years of accumulated Christmases, I’m still just eager to embrace some small part of the Christmas magic that we never grow too old to look for.
