Getting in the Christmas Spirit

RHYS BOWEN:  Yesterday we talked about our Christmas books and our favorite traditions. I don't know about you but I always dream of that perfect Christmas and have spent my life trying to find it. I want to recapture that magic I had as a child, waking up in the gray dawn on Christmas morning and finding that stocking of presents at the foot of my bed, going to church with my family in the crisp snowy morning and coming home to the smell of roasting turkey. 

There have been times when I have actively tried to recapture this. When the kids were young a German friend and I were talking about how commercial American Christmas was and how we longed for simplicity. So, at great expense in those days, we rented a house up at Lake Tahoe for Christmas. We packed kids, presents, food into the station wagon and off we went. When we arrived it was like a Christmas card scene... house among the pine trees, covered in pristine white snow. Just perfect. We had a lovely first evening. The next day we took everyone skiing at the nearby resort. Mid morning it began to rain. Jane and the other family's Andrew were skiing the difficult upper run and were ordered to come down as it was turning into a blizzard up there. We came home, wet and cold. 


It rained. And it rained. It washed away a lot of the snow. It was too wet and cold to go out. The cabin had no TV. The other mother came down with a horrible cold and went to bed. She had forgotten to bring the Christmas cookies she had baked. We did the Christmassy things... presents, turkey, etc. Then we played board games. By the third day of rain we were all a little stir crazy. I was wiped out from being the only woman cooking for all these people. So much for the perfect Christmas.

I did try to find it again years later when John and I did a Christmas market cruise up the Danube. This was truly magical, stopping in small towns and going among the booths selling mulled wine, gingerbread, sausages as well as carved toys, glass ornaments, knitted gloves. To see a small child peering up at a wooden puppet dancing or a wooden man riding a bicycle up a rope with wonder in his eyes made me feel that this is how Christmas should be.  John, I should add, was not so thrilled. After the third market he asked, grumpily, "How many angels do you need to look at?" The answer, never enough!

I think they adopt the Christmas spirit much better in Europe. Maybe the towns are made for it, with their town square and narrow streets. Christmas just feels right there. But London, Milan and Paris also put on beautiful Christmas decorations. All the shop windows are festive. There are Christmas markets in all the big cities ( I hope they are not filled with fake angels from China!). There are houses near me that are over-the-top with lighting displays but not much in local towns.  Perhaps the lights aren't so magical when they are at a modern mall!

One thing we always do to start the holiday feeling is to attend the San Francisco Nutcracker with my daughter Jane and granddaughters Lizzie and Meghan. This is the twenty-second year in a row we have done this, starting when Liz had just turned three. It's always wonderful.

This year my daughter's small town had a lighted tractor parade. That was fun. And I attended a beautiful candlelight carol concert. And my whole family is here... so no complaints!

How are the holidays near you? Did you ever find that perfect Christmas?