Christmas
Writing a comment on Erika's blog today made me realize the changes in what makes up Christmas in my brain. As I become more Los Angeles-ized, different images spawn the same feelings.
In Iowa, Snow. I don't really like snow as a physical reality, but I love snow as a concept. The concept of this blanket of white covering everything in untouched freshness is beautiful. Newly fallen snow caters to my dreams of being somewhere no one else has ever been. The reality of snow is going at it with a shovel until I can't feel my toes anymore. Though that does give me the splendor of thawing out.
In LA, rain. Iowa has rain, too, but LA rain makes me think of Christmas. In Iowa, rain makes things gloomy, which while good for my teenage angst (which I still have going), doesn't make for a holiday spirit. LA rain is great because it clears the pollution out of the air. You can see the mountains, and the wet shininess brings out the edges of everything. Like the whole city had its contrast turned up.
In Iowa, Decorations. Hanging lights and everything is a very personal thing in Iowa. You go to people's houses, and you know there is a history behind most of the decorations. Either handed down or gifts (my brothers and I still have the ornaments given to us by our kindergarten teacher (same for all three)). Houses have a lot of personality when it comes to decorations. That's why people drive around going 10 miles an hour to look at them.
In LA, Decorations. Now I'm sure I'm going to get yelled at by Desiree, but I don' t know a lot of individual decorations in LA. I don't see Los Angeles as a city with a lot of tradition. I like to drive down Hollywood Blvd and look at the lights hung over the streets. Kind of a tunnel of Christmas. And all the major landmarks and business do their own Christmas decor. It's more of community event.
In Iowa, Gatherings. It seems like from Thanksgiving on, I'm visiting or being visited relatives. And by relatives, I'm counting friends of the family that I've known since birth. It's an odd familiarity that straddles the line between comfort and boredom. There are the older relatives that I have to explain three or four times what I do for a living, though they grin and nod every time. And there are the younger relatives that greet me like a famous comic and throw out topics for me to crack jokes about (mostly my grandmother). These gatherings feel like an old coat. Warm and worn.
In LA, Gatherings. These are mostly hanging with friends. Christmas parties that don't differ much from the Halloween party or birthday party except for wardrobe and decorations. People getting drunk and trying desperately to be young and unlike their parents, much like their parents did before they were born. Here you constantly think about the future (making plans, talking about projects), but by the end of the night you always end up sitting on a couch with a person you hardly know and exchange stories about how you spend Christmas as a kid. These gatherings feel like a black dress shirt, unbuttoned just enough to see the T-shirt beneath.
I've already written more than I planned on and more than I think anyone will really read, so I'll leave it at that. Christmas is less than three weeks away.
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
o'ver the fields we go
laughing all the way
3 Comments:
i've never lived elsewhere, but i imagine things will always feel different without the home court advantage.
the city of LA is so concentrated on the production of a commercial holiday and so i agree that city decor is far from traditional in any sense. but if you compare your hometown to certain neighborhoods around you instead of comparing it to the city as a whole, i think you'll find just as much tradition as you would back home (lighting, decorations, carolers, etc.).
this xmas i will have to remember to raise my glass in your honor and hope that someday you'll feel less like the visiting team here.
I was thinking about LA rain today. About how everyday (I'm guessing since I don't live there), its smoggy, you can't see what beautiful things are really out there. But then it rains, and everything clears up and you can see the world for what is was supposed to be. Sort of like needing bad days to make things good again.
Each year the snow arrives at a different time. I can remember trudging through three feet of snow during Halloween one year. It's almost two weeks to Christmas and we had very little accumulation...ONCE. Sometimes i think it would be nice to not have snow...just once. But...i think i would be sad if we didn't have a white christmas.
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