Where I live now, it is supposed to be cold in the month of December. Last weekend I was driving into town with the stupid AIR CONDITIONER on! Tell me that the seasons/weather patterns aren't changing, go ahead. It reminds me of Christmas in the desert.
Los Angeles is a desert. Underneath several billion tons of concrete, asphalt and metal is a land once arid. Christmas in such a place (as it was in Phoenix, AZ; but that's another blog) is hard to make believable to a country girl who saw her fair share of White Christmases as a child. The people do their very best, some of the most extravagant lighting techniques outside of Hollywood are outside the houses in Beverly Hills. I think the folks in L.A. feel they have something to prove. So they swirl tall desert palm trees in white lights, pretending it's snow, I suppose. In fact, many things are draped in white lights. It's pretty. In it's own way. But when the temperature never gets below 50 degrees, it makes believing it's Christmas really difficult!
Then, of course, is the Los Angeles version of the Holiday Spirit: "BUY, BUY, BUY! Buy, Buy, Buy! Christmas will be here. Don't let all these bargains pass, spend like you did last year. OH... (sung to Jingle Bells, of course). "Oh, let's go hear " The Christmas Story" at the Crystal Cathedral!" "Can't" "Why?" "The tickets cost too much!" TICKETS !??! The stores are all open late, the traffic swells to the point that gridlock has you down to .12mph., Christmas music of every conceivable genre screams 24/7. You have more shootings, more theft and more suicides than any other time of the year! Well, to be fair, that kind of attitude is endemic across the country. Can't blame it on L.A. alone.
I would (even without a gift in hand) rather just stand in an absolutely silent clearing in a forest of towering pine trees cloaked in the pristine white of snow and watch the sparkle that is reflected from the starry night and bright moon while I contemplate the miracle that is Love.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
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