I’m always dumbfounded by the extravagant lengths people go to to prepare for and decorate for Christmas. Now I must confess (to the shock of many) that this Scrooge does like some Christmas decorations. For example, artfully hung white lights and a festive arrangement of holly and pine foliage are a traditionally tasteful and aesthetically pleasing way of showing zeal for the upcoming holiday.
However, I could never understand those who cover their houses with a vast 10000 kilowatt arsenal of colored, blinking LED lights and, even more ghastly, those giant inflatable Christmas cartoons that people like to put on their front lawns, along with a variety of plastic figures and candy canes here and there along the property. I never foresaw myself saying this, but it’s a pity that not many people set up that Nativity set on the lawn anymore, only churches and the pious.
Well, anyway, as I putzed around the Village of Patchogue this holiday season in various stolen vehicles gawking at these shameless displays of heady holiday spirit, I thought to myself how all of this would look to an outsider who knew nothing of this grand holiday spectacle that Christmas has become (for the record, while Kursad was here he was fascinated by the whole concept, especially Christmas trees). I thought, “Well, if I didn’t know any better I’d say that there was a week long party coming up that might, if one is lucky, culminate in an ecstatic apocalypse.”
But, riding my wonky bicycle back to Mom’s house on Christmas morning (had to give up the guest room for Thomas and stay at Paula’s), the opposite couldn’t be more true. I suppose I was way too early waking up and 8 on Christmas morning and heading out, and when I did could see that things were anything but that end-of-the-world party. No one was stirring, not even the wind (no mice with all those wild cats in the Village). In fact, the bay looked like glass in the pale morning light shining through the clouds, serenely beautiful. I had forgotten that most people sleep in on Christmas (I never could, ever since I was a kid), and then lay about the house all day doing nothing (not up my alley either). People don’t have coffee and eat breakfast until 10 o’clock. So because I only like to be lazy all day under certain circumstances, I always feel antsy on Christmas. And I still can’t figure out why people spend so much time and money gussying up their property if on Christmas nothing at all happens.
Christmas - a most exciting holiday
So of course, this Christmas I didn’t stay inside all day doing nothing. I can’t. I suppose those at Laurel St. have an informal Christmas tradition of heading over to Fire Island for Christmas if the weather is decent, so this year my cousin Evan and I joined the tradition and headed over to the beach with my mother, JR, and Andrew.
Bros
Bayside
No one for miles...
Ben was happy to go to the beach too
Dune bushwhacking
Hello!
The air was frightfully cold, but this became irrelevant in the face of the monochrome beauty of the pale sand, leaden sea, and absolute isolation that met us once we crossed the dune to the ocean side. I prefer being at the beach in the fall, but I can totally understand those who say it is at its most beautiful in the winter. Being out there and losing yourself the raw, unadulterated beauty of nature moves you in a way, and gently, humbly reminds you that you are just like all those grains of sand, flotsam, and jetsam that wash up on the faraway shores.
Merry Christmas, baby.
Back on the mainland after our adventure, it was time to go to dinner (“It’s at 3?!?”), at Paula’s of course. It was nice to see people I hadn’t seen and answer the same questions about Turkey over and over again (because I love to repeat myself). There was the usual roast that could feed an army, and although I don’t want to bore you with the droll details of what we ate, I have to say that it was one of the best Christmas dinners I’ve ever had (compliments to the chef, as always!!). Nothing beats Christmas like fireplaces and great food.
There's a lovely tree
An American Christmas for the Kiwi
Ho ho ho??
Hats off to the Yorkshire Pudding
The scrumptious spread
Well, we didn’t quite get a white Christmas this year, but we sure did get a lot of snow in the days afterwards. I know that most already know that the Northeast was castrated by a killer blizzard in the days after Christmas, it’s old news at this point, but it was something else to see all that snow and be literally hemmed in for two days by the massive amounts of the stuff that we got. Joe got me helping him shovel us out (again and again, me shoveling and he working the blower), and after two days things returned slightly to normal.
Making up for the space it takes up in the garage
Not digging that out...
The paintjob really shines in the snow
In the midst of the blizzard...
Well, I not really normal – I have to say that I was really quite lucky to have gotten out of JFK on the 29th considering how many flights were cancelled and people left stranded from the storm. My flight out in the end was delayed by 4.5 hours, but I was just thankful to leave safely and be on my way to something new, something routine, and, of course, il mio amore.
Get one more peanut butter snack before I leave, buddy
Next: Part II: An Alpine New Year’s in Bormio
