This is such a thick, rich time of year.
Everything is enhanced. Christmas brings out the artist in almost everyone.
We decorate everything from doors
We decorate everything from doors to stairwells to table tops. Shiny things drape the dull. Lights transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. And all endeavours bring a smile to someone. The scene also is overflowing with animated music and song. The
Nutcracker with dancing sugar plums or a snowman frolicking on a street corner is all believable. Music makes the season. As I write this, I am listening to Sarah Brightman sing “They said there’d be snow this Christmas, They said there’d be peace on earth” from Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s famous seasonal tune. On each December day, all kinds of musical gems play in the memory or on a disc.
And then there’s the multitude of holiday entertainments and videos.
One of my favourite shows of the season is the Polar Express. For
years I have enjoyed this Christmas vid. The singing porters who bring
in mugs and mugs of cocoa for the pajama clad children on the mythical
train always make me reach for my own hot, hot, hot cup a choc. And
the scene of wolves running alongside the train as it flies through
the wintry night is a marvellous bit of artistry that imitates real
life. For at least once during Christmas, moonlight silhouettes trees
against a forested background. That’s when lunar brightness calls a
person out into the silent night.
The other day I walked a trail that follows the shore of Lake
Superior. On my right was a rather calm lake. Small greenish waves
curled onto the cobbles, causing the rattling sound of their clunks to
echo off each other. On my left were rows and rows of skinny balsams,
fatter spruces and towering pines. The steps I trod followed snow
dints from four leggeds. As I hiked, I checked out the well defined
prints - the sharp two clawed from a small coyote, the many toed bunch
of four from a leaping squirrel and the scattering of big ovals from
the hares. Even though it is easy to see amongst the trees this time
of year I couldn’t spot any of the animals, but, like the wolves in
the train scene, they might have been watching me.
Besides animal magic, the Polar Express also evokes the romance of
train travel. At one time, northern Ontario was linked by steamy
engines with a long entourage of passenger cars. One 30-year-old map
of Northern Ontario showed a line of railway stops with marvellous
names. Ghost River, Minataree and Lynx are just three of the many from
an era when trains provided a way out of or into the isolation of
small communities. Building the rail beds must have been quite the
trek over field and mountain as workers hammered away until a yonder
star let them call it quits. But all that work was most appreciated.
Not that many years ago there was a rail link from the Sault to
Toronto, and all stops between. Coming home for the holidays meant
packing sandwiches, cheese, cookies, apples and a thermos of hot tea
into a cardboard box, boarding a chugging train and finding a seat
next to a window, if you could. The world whirled by as you dreamt of
that snowy white Christmas in your home town.
The romance in Christmas is so important. It comes at a time when
people often need their moods lifted. Darkness can breed loneliness.
Nostalgia can become ponderous. Being the inventive species that we
are, we then create. Art, with the resulting urges to dance, paint or
sing, is a natural response. Our creations give us light; offer
another perspective. The movement forward is a momentum that keeps one
going, even if we are sometimes asking, “What child did this?”.
This interactivity with art is a mystery. Look at what Dickens has
done to Christmas. His word art has created a culture of honouring the
ghosts of the future. That’s such an interesting concept. An entity
that hasn’t yet existed forces a character to redefine his life. And
then there are the countless versions of the red suited wonder that
lands on rooftops and flies with Rudolph, a red nosed reindeer. But
that’s ok. Like tracks in the snow, everyone has their own identity,
their own version of Christmas delight. Some might even watch Polar
Express and add a little extra whipped cream to their hot chocolate.
Such an easy comfort and joy.
Happy Christmas everyone and to all a good night.
The approach of winter enhances the beauty of the night sky.
Last Friday morning, as I looked at out over Lake Superior, I noticed a planet sparkling
beside the full moon. A quick read of the mag, Sky News, let me know that it was Jupiter. The name corresponds to
the idea of brilliance or celestial light. Mythology says that Jupiter himself
had some unusual ideas. Once, when besieged Romans asked Jupiter for advice, he
told them to throw bread over the wall at their attackers. This was to show the
enemy that the Romans were doing well, not starving and not intimidated at all.
Such a unique approach is certainly opposite to traditional warfare. But it
goes along with Jupiter’s turn at sky dominance. On Sunday December 2 it was in
direct opposition to the sun, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise.