‘Tis The Season To Chill the F Out – Christmas in the States
One Christmas Eve, many years ago, my sisters and I sat in the back seat of our parents’ car, clamoring for Christmas music. We weren’t kids at the time, we were adults, but our family was on its way to Midnight Mass. For me, Midnight Mass is one of the nicest traditions that our family keeps.
Instead of tuning into Christmas music, my Dad was blasting a live version of Kashmir by Leg Zepplin. It’s a great song, of course, but on that night, on Christmas Eve, we were craving something a little bit more traditionally Christmas on our way to church.
This year, I finally understand why my Dad played Kashmir instead of Winter Wonderland. I so get it.
In the years between the Kashmir Christmas and Christmas 2012, I haven’t really experienced the full court press American Christmas season. Right after the Kashmir Christmas, I began working, really hard. Every year, I seemed to spend most of November and December either preparing for trials that ended up being postponed, or just cranking out work to try to wrap up loose ends before the end of the year. I would rush back to my hometown for Christmas, and then leave for Italy on the day after Christmas. In recent years, I’ve spent most of November and December in Italy, returning right before Christmas, so I never experienced the “Christmas season” in the U.S. until this year.
Wow. I love Christmas, so I really don’t understand how folks can turn such a happy part of the year into something so awful. I’m sure that everyone has good intentions, but they seem to be good intentions on mega testosterone. Leaving in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner to go stand in line outside of Walmart so you get deals on already cheap products that you probably don’t need? Excessive buying for kids who already have everything so they will have a perfect Christmas? Put up an insane amount of decorations on the day after Thanksgiving and massively stressing out over it instead of just enjoying the time off that weekend with the family? And of course, the bloody radio station that changes from Classic Rock to a 24-hour Christmas Music format on Thanksgiving Day! Yes, Kashmir, please Dad!
People in the States seem to try so hard to force a feeling of Christmas and a holiday spirit, but instead it seems to make everyone so sad. They have super high expectations of what Christmas should be – a certain feeling, a certain mood, maybe romantic, a time when everyone should get along perfectly, perfect decorations, perfect food, perfect gifts. How can anything live up to those kinds of expectations?
Italians aren’t perfect, not even close. But Christmas is so different there. Well wait, in many ways, it’s similar. Cities put up their best and most beautiful lights. There are traditions and traditional meals to be made and enjoyed with family and friends. But these things, this time of the year, everything seems to happen so organically. It’s not forced. There aren’t expectations, except that the food will be delicious and served beautifully. But even then, Italians don’t get hung up on things – most Italians just buy their Pannetone or Pan d’Oro from a bakery instead of getting caught up in making the “perfect Pannetone.” Spending time together is more important than buying the perfect gift ( “Spending time with children is more important than spending money on children.” Anthony Douglas Williams).
What’s interesting is that in the States, after this massive build up to Christmas, the crazy rush of buying perfect presents, the loading of houses with plastic deer and inflatable Santas, the incessant and repetitive spewing of hundreds of substandard versions of a few classic Christmas songs on the radio, after all of this, Christmas Day comes and everything ends abruptly. The Christmas music ends and most people have to go back to work. On December 26, Christmas is over.
In Italy, the holiday has really just begun. Vacation, time with friends and family, traditional meals – these things last through New Year’s Day to the Epiphany. It gives you some time to stop and really enjoy the season.
Complaints about the 24 hour Christmas musak stations aside, there’s some really nice Christmas music out there, and I’m not talking about Kashmir. A few years ago, when Pittsburgh’s NPR station ran all jazz, they came up with a list of the best Christmas songs. The music is fantastic, so play it, make yourself a drink, and chill the F out.
