Here in the Sonoran Desert, it’s been reaching a high of around 80 degrees each afternoon over the past week. In fact, the heat is forecast to continue as far as my weather app shows. It’s not exactly “seasonal” when we think of the proverbial winter holiday weather. No snow here, no frosty mornings—and no ice to slip and fall on! Hot chocolate gives way to cooling beverages as each day heats up, and we are enticed to spend time outdoors.
Holiday decorating can get pretty different in the desert too. Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I grew up, has a tumbleweed snowman every year. New Mexico also has the tradition of luminarias (also called farolitos). A few years ago, I blogged about my family’s participation in this tradition of placing candles in paper bags to light the way for Mary and Joseph on Christmas Eve.
Here in Tucson, as I’ve shared on Instagram, bright red hats are placed on saguaros and other columnar cacti. Many local trees come pre-decorated with yellow and orange citrus balls. (Did you, as a child, sometimes find a clementine or orange in the bottom of your Christmas stocking?)
Then, on one of my morning walks, I came across this lit chandelier in a tree. What a testament to outdoor living! It looked like a fun accessory for a winter’s outdoor entertainment—though certainly not traditional.
All this got me wondering. What makes decorations explicitly “holiday”? There are the Christmas colors of green and red, but Jewish homes are dressed in blue and white. Kwanzaa’s colors are black, red, and green. Santa is all over the place (along with elves, reindeer, and gifts), but he’s no longer connected with the tradition of Saint Nicholas. The emphasis on light is pretty universal, as all these holidays take place around the winter solstice—the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere. No wonder electric lights are so popular!
And perhaps that’s a big part of why such festive holiday decorating matters. Life can get pretty dark and brutal, as we are seeing in many places around the US these days. (ICE has begun raids in Tucson, for example.) Holiday decorations and celebrations aren’t meant to deny what’s happening around us. Instead, they remind us that the Light will triumph in the long run. All types of ICE will melt—eventually. We work for change, and we also decorate with lights to celebrate the certainty that the Light will return.
What does holiday decorating mean for you? What helps you keep celebrating in hard times?
Oh my. These are such good questions! Tradition is the first word that pops into my mind when I think of what holiday decorating means. Especially when we were kids, my sister and I looked forward to seeing the same tree decorations as well as the same other decorations all over the house. Helping to get them out of their boxes was a joyful experience, like greeting old friends after a long absence. Nowadays I still enjoy putting decorations out, but I’ve become less bound by tradition. I put some in different places where I think they will show up better, and I’ve given some to my late partner’s granddaughter to eventually pass on to her kids. And last of all, I keep celebrating in hard times because these hard times aren’t the final word! Merry Christmas!
Oh, Aston, thank you for these lovely memories! Your sharing brought to mind a particular three-kings banner that used to hang in our house each year…handmade by my grandmother, if I remember correctly…. Yes, these pieces of tradition are important. I’m so glad you are passing along precious things to your family too…and yes, these hard times will not be the final word.
Peace,
Shirin