I love Thanksgiving for its food, the opportunity it provides to reflect on one's life, and for its symbolization of Autumn's end. But what I really love most are the hikes. Every year my brothers and father and I will bundle into the car, Neil Young screeching from the speakers, and drive to some new location where we will walk for hours, sometimes in silence, sometimes talking. Some years we have stayed close to home, and simply walked along the rocky coast, and others we have ventured far into Northern Maine, using my father's old Maine Mountain Guide Book from the 70's to pick our routes up mountains, through forests, and over fields. Usually we're not particularly prepared for the cold, our inevitable hunger and thirst, and the elements, but that's just part of the fun.
The winter's such a fun time of the year. I love the decorative lights, the cheery mood, the holiday music, and the strange Christmas spirit that pervades us all. Something about Christmas makes people want to be better people, and I'm not thinking just because of the presents. Maybe it's the white, snowy landscape that develops and persists for the greater part of three or four months. Or perhaps its the way that family and friends come together not to bicker and quarrel and fight, but to socialize and celebrate the holidays, to make fond memories instead of conflict, and to look into each others faces and smile.
My logic this year goes like this: Halloween is the Devil's holiday; we hear from every conservative religion's tongue that Lady Gaga is the Devil; therefore Halloween is Lady Gaga's holiday. But seriously, it seems this fall has been full of Witches for me! I am co-stage-managing The Crucible, and on practically every page of the play I hear cries of witchery and the Devil. A few weeks ago we took a trip to Salem, which was chalk full of cackling screams and pointy black hats. About a week ago, I watched a movie called, THE CRAFT, centering around four teenagers who become Wiccan in the mid-nineties high school atmosphere. My family has also started watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and however satirical, still prominently features grotesque witch humor. And of course there's always the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer halloween episodes to watch... I am a big fan of the unstoppable trio of Buffy the Slayer, Willow the Witch, and Xander the One-Eyed. To add to the autumn witchfest, American Horror Story is also featuring an entire season of witches, called COVEN. And if that's not enough, the musical WICKED is playing in Boston right now! How could there be so many witches?! I became frustrated beyond belief. In an attempt to escape the Wonderful World of Witches, about a week ago I decided to pick up a book by one of my new favorite authors, Heidi Julavits. That would settle me away from the witch-encrusted life I have somehow harvested. But alas; three of the main characters in The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits are descended from a Salem witch who was hanged in 1692. So I've accepted my fate. I suppose I am destined to lead a life full of Wicca. I think it must be a prodigious sign from Hell that my life be plagued with witchcraft. So I embrace the witchery now, and now I am off to listen to the Queen of The Witches, Lady Gaga.
Christmas with my mom's family is chaos. When we arrive my grandparents' house, Christmas Day, around 3:00 pm, everyone has already gathered. Little snack foods and abandoned glasses of wine are cluttered on the tables, the enormous collection of wooden nutcrackers line the shelves, and the 12-foot Christmas tree glitters in front of the huge window in the living room. When I was little, I wasn't allowed in there until it was time to open presents. Too many breakable objects. Even now, I'm afraid to touch the crystal snowglobes and champagne glasses. They seem far too breakable to be touched by my stained hands and long fingernails. I've been given explicit instructions not to let the dogs in there - they would shit on the carpet or break something or try to tear into the presents.
I love Thanksgiving for its food, the opportunity it provides to reflect on one's life, and for its symbolization of Autumn's end. But what I really love most are the hikes. Every year my brothers and father and I will bundle into the car, Neil Young screeching from the speakers, and drive to some new location where we will walk for hours, sometimes in silence, sometimes talking. Some years we have stayed close to home, and simply walked along the rocky coast, and others we have ventured far into Northern Maine, using my father's old Maine Mountain Guide Book from the 70's to pick our routes up mountains, through forests, and over fields. Usually we're not particularly prepared for the cold, our inevitable hunger and thirst, and the elements, but that's just part of the fun.
ReplyDeleteThe winter's such a fun time of the year. I love the decorative lights, the cheery mood, the holiday music, and the strange Christmas spirit that pervades us all. Something about Christmas makes people want to be better people, and I'm not thinking just because of the presents. Maybe it's the white, snowy landscape that develops and persists for the greater part of three or four months. Or perhaps its the way that family and friends come together not to bicker and quarrel and fight, but to socialize and celebrate the holidays, to make fond memories instead of conflict, and to look into each others faces and smile.
ReplyDeleteMy logic this year goes like this: Halloween is the Devil's holiday; we hear from every conservative religion's tongue that Lady Gaga is the Devil; therefore Halloween is Lady Gaga's holiday.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, it seems this fall has been full of Witches for me! I am co-stage-managing The Crucible, and on practically every page of the play I hear cries of witchery and the Devil. A few weeks ago we took a trip to Salem, which was chalk full of cackling screams and pointy black hats. About a week ago, I watched a movie called, THE CRAFT, centering around four teenagers who become Wiccan in the mid-nineties high school atmosphere. My family has also started watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and however satirical, still prominently features grotesque witch humor. And of course there's always the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer halloween episodes to watch... I am a big fan of the unstoppable trio of Buffy the Slayer, Willow the Witch, and Xander the One-Eyed. To add to the autumn witchfest, American Horror Story is also featuring an entire season of witches, called COVEN. And if that's not enough, the musical WICKED is playing in Boston right now! How could there be so many witches?! I became frustrated beyond belief. In an attempt to escape the Wonderful World of Witches, about a week ago I decided to pick up a book by one of my new favorite authors, Heidi Julavits. That would settle me away from the witch-encrusted life I have somehow harvested. But alas; three of the main characters in The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits are descended from a Salem witch who was hanged in 1692. So I've accepted my fate. I suppose I am destined to lead a life full of Wicca. I think it must be a prodigious sign from Hell that my life be plagued with witchcraft. So I embrace the witchery now, and now I am off to listen to the Queen of The Witches, Lady Gaga.
Christmas with my mom's family is chaos. When we arrive my grandparents' house, Christmas Day, around 3:00 pm, everyone has already gathered. Little snack foods and abandoned glasses of wine are cluttered on the tables, the enormous collection of wooden nutcrackers line the shelves, and the 12-foot Christmas tree glitters in front of the huge window in the living room. When I was little, I wasn't allowed in there until it was time to open presents. Too many breakable objects. Even now, I'm afraid to touch the crystal snowglobes and champagne glasses. They seem far too breakable to be touched by my stained hands and long fingernails. I've been given explicit instructions not to let the dogs in there - they would shit on the carpet or break something or try to tear into the presents.
ReplyDelete