A Holiday Walk

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Many years ago, a high school English teacher gave us an assignment that she called the Fifteen Minute Walk essay.  Essentially, we were to go for a walk and write about the experience.  I have often used this practice in my own journaling.

     This past Monday, just after a fresh snowfall, I took just such a walk. I was eager to see the various holiday decorations around town and considering the season, I needed to get out!  The wind chapped my cheeks, the cold numbed my nose and fingertips, the snow and ice crunched under my feet.  As I smiled, I felt a little brain-freezing air rushing into my mouth.

     The village had put up its decorations:  giant, lit electric-pole hangings in the shapes of candles and bells, and a large tree strung with colored lights in the town triangle.  Not grand or too fancy, but cheerful.  Indeed, our own fresh tree has been put up and decorated in our home, as are so many others and it set me thinking about the holiday season.

     There are many holy days to observe at this time of year:  Hanukah, the Islamic New Year, Yule, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s.  Many people begin their festivities at Thanksgiving by decorating their homes for the season, and many people set up a holiday tree.  Regardless of religious or secular tradition, the holiday tree has become a symbol of all the holy day festivities that fall at this time of year.  Why is that?  I am sure there are many theories, but my own musing, late at night, hypnotized by the colored lights reflecting off ornaments new and old goes like this:

     I go out and find an evergreen tree.  It is cut down and we drag it up to our apartment.  Some people get a balled and burlapped tree to plant after its service to the household.  But, nonetheless, it is taken out of its natural environment to grace mine.  By this time in December, I am missing the verdant fields and forests of the countryside, now blanketed in the stark white (and often grey and brown) of winter in New York State. The green of my tree comforts me.  My cats love to drink the tree’s water and forgo their dish while the tree is in the house.  They sleep under it and gaze at the lights, too.  I celebrate this symbol of life in a time that seems devoid of it by decorating it with all the lights I can, garland that glitters, and ornaments from my childhood, family, and friends.  I think about the gifts that I want to give my loved ones this year and what I want those gifts to mean.  I worry about how to pay for those gifts.  I think about New Year’s resolutions that I will make.  I invite people over to my home to see my tree and have some cookies in a difficult time of year.

     And all the while, that tree exudes a soft and piney scent that lifts the corners of my mouth to a smile of the season.  The tree reminds me of the green that will return in the spring.  The ornaments not only represent the givers and the memories, but the flowers of the future.  The crowning angel or star on top makes me think of the blessings in my life.  When I go outside into the biting cold to run errands or see friends, I look around me at the holiday decorations of my village and my neighbors and think that we all hope for happy communities, prosperity, and a good life.  The holy days of this time all teach us to have faith in these hopes, and more.  They also remind us of the miracles that we are all capable of, even in the darkest times.