Happy Holidays!!
It’s
the holiday season and I am reminded of my childhood living near
Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers!!) where this time of year meant snow. Snow…
the very word conjures up pictures from the greeting cards and
commercials. There’s nothing like the pure driven snow. It looks so
beautiful evenly placed over the ground... covering up the bumpy
imperfections of the earth beneath it. Pure white flakes delicately
balanced 1 or 2 inches high on each individual tree branch. It’s so
majestic.
What
we sometimes forget from the perspective of these images is that it’s
FREEZING out there! If we want to go outside, we have to spend 20
minutes putting on 6 layers of clothes and big boots to look like the
Michelin man as we try to make our way to the car. Getting to the car is
just the beginning of the battle. Then you have to try to open the door
that Mother Nature has so kindly iced shut in the frigid wind. Once you
make your way in, you start up the car because it’ll take a few minutes
before it’s ready to go. Then, you step back out into the frozen tundra
with your handy-dandy piece of plastic (otherwise known as your ice
scraper). Sometimes the snow is so deep that you have to remove some of
it with your arm, but then the scraping begins. You debate, as your
toes, nose and fingers start to become numb whether or not you’ll just
scrape the driver’s side or the whole windshield. You clear one square
foot in front of the driver before your plastic scraper freezes and
disintegrates. So you take off your gloves, reach into your wallet for
the credit card that you use the least, and try to make the area bigger
before returning to the less freezing environment of your car.
Oh, the beauty and majesty of the season!
I
tell you this story because the illusions of Christmas and the holidays
can be just as stressful as freeing your car of the “beautiful,
splendid snow”.
Hallmark
and other institutions have forever painted our holiday season with joy
and happiness and gifts. We’re all getting that Lexus with a big red bow this year, right? The family will get together and all sit around the 12 person dinner table flawlessly decorated with placemats and red and green napkins.The
patriarch of the family is standing at the head of the table carving
the turkey or ham. The matriarch is passing around the perfectly
prepared side dishes… mashed potatoes with un-lumpy gravy, green bean
casserole with the crunchy onions on top, and homemade cheese raviolis
(my mom’s Italian, ya know). They’ll all hold hands and sway as they
sing grace just like the Whos in Whoville. Then they will tuck in their
napkins and politely converse over the holiday meal. Oh, the joy and
happiness!
