NewlyNested: Where is Your Holiday Taking You?

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a blogumn by Debra Goykhman

Photo Credit: Lauren Manning

It’s my favorite time of the season.  For days I’ve been walking around the house singing Christmas carols and Chanukah songs while I’m alone.  My favorite repeated lines are always, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.  And since we have no place to go, let it snow, let is snow, let it snow!”  Now that the east coast is literally flooded with snow, I am no longer looking forward to heading in that direction in the upcoming weeks.

It’s not even the family time that the holidays bring that stress me out.  It’s the weather.  I have finally become Californian, not because I’ve lived here for a few years, or because I bought a house.  I am California because anything below sixty is unbearable.  One thing that amazes me about being out west is how far we are from even thinking about the weather.  Therefore, a winter coat does not exist in my small town.  They only carry polyester coats that lay at your waist.  This winter I am braving the east not just with my Californian skin, but also my lack of preparation.

Traveling for the holidays is more than just whining about the weather.  There are the winter memories that I cannot get out of my mind: sled riding and drinking homemade cocoa, heavy winter meals, and losing myself in a big blanket while I finish a book.  Then there are the family memories: movie nights, Italian night, and banter about some new television show that both my brother and me discovered around the same time.  So even though I might dread the atmosphere I am entering, the holiday time is still warm and fuzzy.  Where is your holiday taking you?