“Your pier-glass or extensive surface of polished steel made to be rubbed by a housemaid, will be minutely and multitudinously scratched in all directions; but place now against it a lighted candle as a centre of illumination, and lo! The scratches will seem to arrange themselves in a fine series of concentric circles round the little sun. It is demonstrable that the scratches are going everywhere impartially, and it is only your candle which produces the flattering illusion of a concentric arrangement, its light falling with an exclusive optical selection. These things are a parable. The scratches are events, and the candle is the egoism of any person now absent..." ~ George Eliot

December 25, 2011

Feeling Christmas

What does it mean to be in the Christmas spirit? This year I was far away from friends and family, and I would be spending christmas -- all of it -- in a strange place away from home. Yet, I still found ways to feel christmas, from playful email exchanges arguing over when it's appropriate to start listening to christmas music, eating too much dough at cookie-baking parties, going to christmas performances and festivals, watching (and re-watching) my favorite christmas movies, and singing carols at a christmas eve service. As I constructed this list it occurred to me that one of the best things about christmas time is the traditions that are the same no matter where you are.

Maybe this is why I got so obsessed with christmas flash mobs on youtube - the idea of people performing for an unsuspecting crowd and bringing strangers together for even a short time. It seems like the perfect representation of what people mean by christmas spirit. I took great comfort this year in the mobile nature of christmas traditions, and was happy to find that even though I might miss specific people or specific things, like White Christmas at the Carolina Theatre, I've found plenty of ways to engage in my christmas traditions.

Of course there were times that I was really sad and lonely missing my family and friends, and to say that I was content this season in finding whatever ways I could to enjoy christmas traditions doesn't take away at all from the ache of this christmas not being like the ones before. But it does mean that I still "felt" christmas. Which is to say, I felt all the joy that traditions, at their best, can bring: a way of making anywhere feel familiar and a way of bringing strangers together through common activities.

So I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that you'll be feeling christmas for all the year to come.
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