The holidays

Firstly, I must apologise sincerely for not posting last Friday, which was also Christmas Eve itself! I can tell you all that it had been a very busy week. Not just for me, but for everyone around the world who celebrate Christmas. But was it really because I was so busy that I did not get to publish my post last Friday? Did I have too many gifts to buy or dinners to plan, making it impossible to find time to write my little column? At least lack of time is easy to blame. And even easier to get an acceptance nod for. But is it true? No; it is not!

My preparations for the Christmas holidays have been long, good, pleasant and relaxing. The house was cleaned and decorated early in December and so was the Christmas tree. It has been like living in a Christmas cave all December. It is years since I stressed for weeks for a few days of celebration. So, the reason for the missing post was a kind of Christmas vacation or Christmas dementia.   

We are in different places in life, and some of you will eventually come to the same conclusion as I have. Others never will not and keep going through the same stressful rituals every year. For some, Christmas is spending time with family they have not seen for a long time. Family that may live in a completely different place in the country. So, for many, Christmas starts with “driving home for Christmas” with Chris Rea´s idyllic snow-covered landscapes with the sleigh or car full of gifts they have put a lot of thought into making or buying.

After a few days living close together with an extended family of crazy aunts and drunk uncles, nephews and nieces and children of all ages with special needs, it´s Joni Mitchell’s text “I wish I had a river I could skate away on” that dominates the feeling of chaos mixed with homesickness.

So then, what is Christmas for me as a bon vivant middle-aged man? I treasure lazy days with the cat and my girlfriend. Maybe a glass of port wine for no reason at all, a Cuban Cigar with my friends downtown, planning, making, buying and wrapping gifts for my loved ones, including myself. Friends who come by on Christmas Eve for a glass of champagne while we exchange anecdotes and small thoughtful gifts before we go our separate ways in Christmas peace. And of course, opening presents after Christmas dinner.

The one gift for myself this year was not really meant to be a Christmas present at all, but the post from Rochester near the Canadian border wanted it differently. The package arrived so close to Christmas that it was placed under the tree on arrival. To me from UPS. Of course, I knew what the package contained since I had bought it at an auction, but I had still only seen it in pictures. The feeling of unpacking it on Christmas Eve was a completely different experience than tearing up the package in the hallway. It was wrapped in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. So here was also something to read for Christmas days! When it finally came out of the wrapping, it was more beautiful than I had ever imagined from the pictures from the auction. It had a wonderful patina from a lived life. It was manufactured between 1910 and 1940 so it was somewhere between 81 and 111 years old.

I unwrapped a fantastic numbered and signed vinyl LP from my kids, a wonderful coffee table book of stars & their cars from my girlfriend and an old four kilo Boston Terrier in cast iron from myself and UPS. This Christmas Eve became my best for as long as I can remember. And I still haven´t read the wrapping paper from The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.