Another Holiday Season...

 Winter Farm Scene, original painting by D. Knapp, American, 1961

 

It seems like we were just celebrating the arrival of autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving, and, indeed, we were, but the first snows have flown (and melted, fortunately) more than once. They'll return in due course, but in the meantime, the frantic pace of the winter season is firmly upon us.As I've lamented here in the past, I staunchly resist the premature promotion of the December holiday season. To see autumn arrive in the stores in late July and Christmas nipping firmly at the former's heels by mid-September, if not August, is just more than I can bear. I love autumn and want to enjoy every single moment of it until it leaves us in another few days in late December. 

Still, there's no escaping the holiday season kicking in in earnest by Thanksgiving, when the "Christmas shopping season" goes into full swing. I'm fine with that, but I refuse to decorate for the holidays until December 1, that way I can enjoy the last vestiges of Thanksgiving before turning my attention to the inevitably overwhelming holiday decorating impulse.

I've become a proponent of enjoying all of the senses during the holiday season, particularly the visual, aural, smell and taste elements of holiday celebrations. I also prefer more "natural" decor - simple evergreens and berries, a few keepsake ornaments in a bowl if not on a tree (my larger faux tree will remain in storage this year, but my hearth is flanked with my two smaller pencil trees that are nicely lit with classic white mini-lights). It's enough.     

I actually have moderated my hoIiday decor in recent years. More is not more, it's usually way too much. I've seen some holiday decorating videos from some very creative folks who I otherwise enjoy seeing on YouTube, but I saw one home tour the other day that was beyond over-the-top. It was just way, way too much. Every surface or wall space and thing does not need to be embellished with some bit of holly, glitter or snowy fluff. Please, give it a rest. Take a step back, look at the volume and then just stop and take a break. Some are into minimal, and that's fine, and others can't have enough cluttering up their domestic worlds. There is a happy medium in there somewhere. Mine leans toward the former. I would rather have a few really lovely things to enjoy in my home than so much that I can't really "see" any of what I have. It's just gets to be too much. Eye candy it is not.

I'm nearly done with my holiday decorating, as it's fairly modest again this year. I have plenty of stuff I could trot out, but I opted for just my two slim, illuminated faux pencil trees (sans ornaments) to flank my hearth and give enough of a celebratory glow to the season, along with some whole cloves and cinnamon sticks bubbling in a copper pot on the stove. I'll put a few keepsake ornaments in a simple clear glass bowl rather than put up and hang them on my nice, 4-foot faux tree. I like it, but it's just more than I want to deal with this year. Perhaps it's the lingering effects of COVID pervading our lives. (A mask mandate has just been implemented in NYS for any space that does not already have a vaccination policy in effect, in an effort to try to keep the virus and its variants in check. I'm fine with that, but I won't be entertaining in my home again this year, so I'm just decorating for myself.) It's not about lots of stuff again this year (or any year, really) as much as it's about being safe and just having a few very simple enjoyments for the senses this holiday season. 

It's a good reminder that the holiday season should never be about "things," or who has the most or the latest hot items, but rather the intangibles that really matter. We should celebrate every day and not take for granted family and friends, counting our blessings and staying as healthy as we can for ourselves and those around us. 

Just keep it that simple and this holiday season should provide everything you really need in your life and around you.

(For those wondering, my current header image, which I do change periodically so I've also added it to the message here, is an original oil painting of a farm scene that I purchased many years ago at an antiques auction in New York's Hudson Valley. It is signed D. Knapp '61, but I have no idea where the scene was painted or anything more about the artist, but I have always liked it and particularly enjoy seeing it hanging in my home during the holiday and winter season.)