Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, not really sure how this became a Christmas song but, mittens.
When you start talking about it, isn’t it easy to think of more and more “favorite” things? My cat and dog will fight to add “electric blankets that crank up to ten” to the classic song, but then each one wants to pick a toy or a treat and suddenly we’re the luckiest people/beasts alive and we can’t cut down or pick just one favorite thing from our list. Maria von Trapp even said it herself – “these are a few of my favorite things” – and I, too, think it’s tough to choose when your options are everything from ceramic light-up trees and a dozen fresh donuts that were free, to snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes and geese with the moon on their wings. Even so, I think Maria missed out on some modern wonders of the Christmas season that she’d probably add to her song if she could.
"Putting your Christmas tree up in November," Hear me out: life gets busy and it’s tough to organize all of those decorations. As a kid, we sometimes didn’t put the tree up until right before church on Christmas Eve and… well, you can see how I was affected. But, we also tend to keep the tree up until January 3 or later, so we can actually enjoy it. One year, my parents purchased a 20 foot, pre-lit tree on a discount to put in the window of our two-story living room. It was grand and beautiful, and we kept using it, but it usually took several days to get all the pieces in the correct order and the lights connected, and then we still had to put up the smaller, unlit tree in the front room. Those years, the trees stayed up to keep us company until we gave up on our resolutions. We had our first double tree predicament long before that, though, the year Dad came home on Christmas Eve with TWO live trees from a hardware store, and they only charged him $5 because they were trying to get the good ones out of their stock. We got a good deal on both trees and the excitement was just as high putting up the 20 foot tall artificial tree as it was the year we had the two live trees, though I might call one year "frenzied" and another year "exciting." All part of the Christmas magic, right?
While some magic only comes together on Christmas Eve, mine doesn't. It comes together with careful planning and clinging too tightly to childhood memories. Every year since I've lived on my own, I pull the artificial tree(s) from the attic in the middle of November and then put them up before Thanksgiving, and display it well past the new year, so I can enjoy it for as long as possible, and force the neighbors to, too. Little white pencil tree for my room always goes up first, then the classic green tree will go up in the living room the next weekend. I actually was late putting the green tree together this year and became slightly distressed, because I thought I was going to run out of time to enjoy it. I was promptly reminded that it was still November at that time. It’s up and decorated now, but there’s always a possibility I will take all of the decorations off the green tree and relive the magic... several times... but only if I can remove the cat from the tree skirt for long enough to do so.
"Shopping online and the fastest shipping," If Mrs. Von Trapp only knew her brown paper packages tied up with string could contain the exact gift requested by a surly teenager, ordered from a handheld screen while in one's jammies, and to have it arrive two days later. I certainly enjoy a good brick-and-mortar experience, I might actually prefer it, but the world of online shopping can make gifts for those tricky people much simpler. Considering the majority of my family is difficult to shop for, Amazon and I have become fast friends over the past few shopping seasons.
One year, I attempted to buy everything from local shops, and I actually did pretty well, getting about 85 percent of my gifts that way. But certain people either want 1) something extremely specific with no store to buy it at in the entire state, or 2) are generally a challenge because they are particular, do not have “traditional” hobbies like golfing or loving wine, have almost everything they could ever want, or 3) are all of those things.
I know it’s the thought that counts. But I do try to be fair in what I buy and for how much and in what "circle" the gifts will be opened in. Being able to find a perfect something at a good price, while two animal snouts direct snores in stereo at my computer, and with free, two day shipping makes my thought go a little farther sometimes.
"When the sun sets, and the dark comes, when I'm feeling sad, I simply drive down some wildly lit roads, and then I don't feel so bad." A Griswold-approved light display at home no longer needs to hold the electric bill hostage thanks to LED bulbs, better energy conservation practices and the year-round gift of budget billing. What family hasn’t driven the streets of a nearby subdivision rumored to have a lot of lights? A swanky community near my parent’s home used to leave their gates open at certain times so people could see thousands of tiny bulbs, elegantly squeezing the curves of landscaping and climbing fences, cascading garland and live wreaths with plush velvet bows. Of course, if you can’t get enough home lighting you can always follow up with a professional drive-thru experience, but a neighborhood trip just costs you the gas.
My parents are traditional window-wreath-and-electric-candle people, though a couple of times we have also illuminated the house with red and green spotlights. I’m working with limited space, so I usually attempt a wreath/candle set up, but one day I’m going to get a rancher on a popular street and go nuts with kitsch Christmas: colored lights lining the entire frame, poinsettias littering the porch and sidewalk, and some of those tinsel animals that move! The reindeer are a classic, but I’ve grown very fond of the “kissing bears” one of my neighbors has – it’s a mama polar bear holding a baby polar bear, and the mama’s arms move to kiss baby bear on the nose. They’re both wearing little hats, too.
Despite my love for light displays, I don’t have much of a yard and I don’t think hoisting myself up on a ladder is a good idea. Truth be told, I rarely decorate outside, and the outside decorations I do want to put up, I don’t even own yet. See, I dreamed of putting up some elegantly decorated window wreaths, but am facing the challenge that even when you make them yourself, décor of any kind can be costly. But I have a new plan! It involves solar candles, some type of a nutcracker soldier for my tiny porch and me carefully smashing some static clings on the inside of my garage door windows. It may not be the décor I pictured, but it’s the décor I can swiftly move from my home to the outside without riling the creatures, and all I really want is people to enjoy my home as they drive by.
Joy – that’s the part about Maria Von Trapp’s favorite things that transcend the passage of time. Whether or not you have ever tried schnitzel with noodles, the song celebrates how joy can override some of the icky stuff in life. Christmas, traditionally, is about a great joy, and I like to find the great joys in little things, too, like in a grand lawn light display that took a full day to assemble, like when the search for the perfect present is not only fruitful but wrapped up without any dog hair getting in the box, and like taking a moment to watch the lights on a decorated evergreen shimmer through a window on my morning commute, piercing the dark until the day’s sun illuminates the sometimes-scary world around me.
Actually, that one might be my favorite thing.
