Portable Holidays

Of course, it was out of season. Time passes differently for us older folk. It seems to become compacted. Squished.

I used to live in places that saw four distinct seasons. The regular stuff: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The years passed with regularity, and the seasons helped with that steady march of time.

Then, we moved. We’re in California now. Where we live, it only snowed once, and then it was just that one morning. Snow once every thirty years. Otherwise, you’ve got the rainy season, which is all too often not long enough; you’ve got spring, which is generally pleasant; and then you’ve got summer that will last into October sometimes. No winter. Winter is gone.

Somewhere along the way after I retired, what the calendar had to say wasn’t as important to me, and I began deciding what mattered in life.

We never had children, so that aspect of childlike excitement was absent from our lives. I imagine if we’d had kids, the holidays would have mattered more. I’m not here to complain that we didn’t have kids. Sure, we missed out on that major, important part of people’s lives, but we’ve had each other, and we’ve had our interests.

We might not decorate for the Christmas season like we used to, but holidays are still important to us. We’ll have something special to eat.

It’s always fascinated me that when we did decorate, I always missed boxing up at least one ornament, which stayed where it was until a year had passed and it was time to decorate again. It became a tradition to walk into the kitchen, see an elf in July, and realize I hadn’t packed it away seven months earlier.

I remember when we stopped using tinsel for the tree. It wasn’t a philosophical decision—it was the day I saw a long, shimmering strand hanging from the back end of one of my cats. The cat didn’t care. I did. Yuck.

In a sense, Christmas stayed with us longer than it typically did.

Before Christmas came, my mother would wrap and hide gifts for everyone in the family. Sometimes she’d forget a particular gift, and months later it wasn't uncommon for her to bring somebody a present she’d forgotten about. It didn’t happen every year, but it happened enough that we celebrated the moment we got a present out of season.

In fact, some years back my husband and I decided to have two birthdays each year. One was official, but the rule was that we could each have a day whenever we wanted to celebrate the second birthday. Why? Because it was fun. Just because. It could also be a floating birthday. If you wanted one in May one year and the next one in March the following year, that was okay too. It came complete with presents and a special dinner. Just because.

This morning, I woke up wondering what day it was. Since I’m retired, I don’t have a regular work week anymore. As a writer, I write every day of the year. It’s not onerous. It’s what I do. Mornings are best for me, when I have more energy than later in the day. But for some reason, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday have always been “fun” days. Because they were always fun days. Friday marked the end of the week with staying up late and sleeping in the following morning. Work on Fridays was also a bit easier. Other people in the office were gone on three-day vacations, and folks ended their workdays an hour or two earlier. The energy was different.

So, those days, even though I am retired, still hold a nice energy for me.

I think the older I get, the more the seasons seem to wander. I’ve given myself permission to wander with them.

As a writer, I've wondered about people who come out with lots of holiday-themed articles just when you need them. On many of the platforms I write for, I can schedule pieces to publish at specific times. Usually, I am a week or so ahead of myself. Why not start writing seasonal pieces now, in September, and schedule them to publish closer to the expected times? I mean, people are even now starting to do their Christmas shopping. Why not make a stab at my Christmas writing?

Sure, it’s out of season now, but it won’t be three months from now.

Merry Christmas to you. Yes, it’s a little bit early, but I’m accustomed to moving holidays around. Why not Christmas? I need to go find some ornaments to hang around my desk… just to get in the mood.

Thanks for reading....Pauline