We need a little Christmas
Sometimes we need a little jump start.
Last week I wanted to get focused on the holiday season, but was having trouble getting focused on anything. And then, this song popped into my head. I hadn’t thought about it in years, and just when I needed it, there it was for me. It is from the musical Mame, which is one of dozens of Broadway musical soundtracks that used to play on rotation when I was growing up.
In the musical, the main character Mame has just lost her fortune in the U.S. Wall Street Crash of 1929, and she decides that she and her family "need a little Christmas" to cheer them up.1
Here’s a link to the original version if you want to listen:
Recognising that not everyone celebrates Christmas, I hope you will indulge me in this sing-song reminiscence and substitute the winter holiday of your choosing instead. The goal is to boost our spirits with whatever it takes to trigger the good vibrations of your chosen winter holiday; in my case it is the music and songs of Christmas. Also, I’m particularly fond of the wonderful lights and decorations that sparkle in the darker and wetter days of winter here in the Northern Hemisphere.
After singing the song above a few times, and actually putting up a few decorations, I started to feel a little better. We decided another good way to fill our need for a little Christmas spirit last weekend was by spending a day in London, something we do every now and again. Each year I try to get into the capital city at least once during November-December whilst all the winter decorations and lights are up.
Visiting a big city to see the lights is a throw-back to my childhood when we would always spend at least one evening in the City (San Francisco, in my case) in December. My dad and I would drive in and park at the enormous downtown Stockton-Powell garage, and meet my mother at the end of her workday.
Dad would buy us each corsages at the flower stand in front of Gump’s store2, and then we would walk through the packed Christmas tree displays inside Podesta Baldocchi Flowers. When I was very young my father would pick me up so I could see some of the hundreds of ornaments festooning the rows of trees that crowded the narrow aisle on both sides. Along with the sparkly lights and glittery decorations, the fragrance of pine needles and winter-blooming roses and gardenias was pretty close to heaven. Sometimes we were lucky enough to pick one of the special ornaments or garlands to take home with us.
We would then walk around the corner of Union Square to the City of Paris store, with its legendary 4-story high Christmas tree standing tall in the front circular atrium. We would go up a few levels to look at all the lights and ornaments twinkling in the heights of the tree. I would stand quietly at the balcony overlooking the magnificent tree, in awe of its hugeness and stately manner. I knew if I stayed still and quiet enough, it would talk to me.
Eventually, I would get pulled away to go see Santa Claus, which was not always a happy experience. I was terribly shy anyway, and this giant man with strange smells and velvet trousers and coat was not someone I wanted to get near to. However, I was cajoled and, being a good girl, did what I was supposed to. I don’t think I ever told him out loud what I wanted unless my mother or father prompted me. And every year there was always a photo of me sitting with the strange man, my smile barely there.
After seeing Santa, I would get to go to the Toy section, and pick out which Madame Alexander Doll I really wanted for Christmas, regardless of what I had said moments ago to Santa. There was a collection of dolls based on the characters in Little Women, and for many years, I adored all those character dolls. I didn’t know the story very well, but I did love those dolls with their pretty long wavy hair, petticoats and floral patterned dresses. No fashionable Barbies on my list, just Madame Alexander dolls.
One of the best parts of the trip into The City was that I would get to wear that years Christmas dress, and THAT was very exciting. I loved my annual Christmas dresses, and wearing special shiny black patent leather shoes with warm white stockings. As I also recall, the stockings would start to sag halfway through the evening and be somewhat less comfortable than at the start of the day. But still, it was worth it!
Eventually we would head back home, and Dad would drive slowly through the Marina neighbourhood of San Francisco, where we ohh’ed and ahh’ed at each of the Christmas trees lit up in the front bay windows of all the houses facing the bay. It was our routine every year for many years, and I still remember its magic.
This year besides a couple of errands in London, we aimed to look at holiday lights and decorations whilst soaking up the holiday festive spirit. Mostly what we soaked up was bone chilling cold as we spent more of our time outside walking from place to place and wandering around outdoor markets as every place we tried indoors was rammed with people.
One place we really wanted to spend time was Liberty, because, well, its Liberty!3 If you’ve ever been there, you will know why. However, the crowd was so dense throughout the store, we had to push through gently to move from room to room, and there even was a queue to go up the last flight of stairs to the 5th floor ornament gallery. For those of you who have never been there, below is a small part of the LEGO model of the outside of the store (the store fills a large city block):
Towards the end of the day we ended up in Marylebone Village which is always lovely and slightly calmer than much of Central London. We browsed the amazing Daunt bookshop and La Fromagerie, and enjoyed twilight as the twinkly lights grew brighter.
Thankfully there was no Santa Claus to have to visit, but also no special Christmas dress or corsages this day. Instead, we enjoyed warming onion soup in a french cafe at one of the markets, and a couple of cocktails here and there when we needed to warm up. And our eyes feasted on the always delightful street lights and decorations.
Eventually we headed back to Waterloo Station for the train home. We always aim to cross the river to the South Bank by foot if we can, so we can glimpse the changing river view:
Whilst I love a day in London, I am always so relieved to get back on the train heading south towards home. The crowds almost make access to the overwhelming variety of places and culture to enjoy more of an endurance effort than a pleasure. Of course we typically go on a weekend, when there are loads of others visiting, so now we just brace ourselves. Still, the tradition of visiting a bustling City transports me to the holiday state of mind year after year, and once again, I’m feeling the magical sparkle.
To end with a few words from the song above:
“For we need a little music
Need a little laughter
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter”
I hope you too find yourself filled with music and laughter and singing to enjoy the darkest season!!
As you know I always love to hear from you: what are your favourite holiday traditions that are guaranteed to put you in a festive mood? Are there certain songs, foods movies, activities? Are there things you still do because you remember them from your childhood?
Thanks again, as always, for reading. I appreciate every single one of you for subscribing and reading. ❤️
Until next week,
xoxo Sabrina
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Need_a_Little_Christmas
https://gumps.com/pages/about-us
https://www.libertylondon.com/uk/information/our-heritage.html
Lovely, Sabrina - though we sang that song at Town School for Boys, which ruined it for me. 😊
Our Christmas tradition when the kids were young was that the presents under the tree were from us and their grandparents and whoever, but the stockings hanging off the mantelpiece remained empty until, after the kids had gone to bed on Christmas Eve, Santa came and filled them with trinkets and chocolate. Every Christmas morning was a miracle! One year, when Lizzie was old enough that some classmates were telling her that Santa didn’t exist, but young enough to still want to believe, we put the kids to bed and retreated to our bedroom to fill their stockings... and suddenly there was Lizzie, who couldn’t get to sleep, at the door. She saw what we were doing and her eyes widened as she realized the awful truth.
I was horrified, but came up with a plan: Heather would take her back to her room and put her to bed again, while I turned on the shower (so if Lizzie, or Tito or Thea, reappeared Heather could tell them I was in the shower). Then I got out our stepladder, climbed onto the metal roof of our one-story house, walked down to the kids’ end of the house, and began stomping around and loudly bellowing, “Ho ho ho!”
My plan worked to perfection (aided by our confused old dog Phoebe, who started barking loudly when she heard something on the roof.) Unfortunately, it was sleeting that night, so the kids also heard Santa yell some bad words while trying not to slide off the roof. But it was all worth it the next morning, when Lizzie and her siblings told us in wonderment that they’d actually heard Santa Claus last night. A child’s belief saved for one more year!
Happy holidays to all!
Wow SUCH a lovely description of holiday celebrations Sabrina, and all...I love these! And blasts from the past indeed - Gumps was my mother’s favorite store and I remember spending many an hour there waiting for my parents to look at furniture! Union Square, Magnin’s, Blums (with the toffee sundaes!!), the sidewalk flower stalls that smelled so wonderful, and driving home to Marin in the dark and oohing and ahhing over the beautiful trees in the front windows of the houses lining the Marina, and the mammoth gold Buddha in one of the windows every year! Completely magical....
I’m now rotating favorite holiday music CDs and Spotify playlists of holiday music while getting cards ready and making my favorite holiday cut out cookie dough recipe to chill. Happily that recipe (and the collection of cut out shapes) adapts easily to both Hanukkah and Christmas so that I have lots of fun making batches of both! Blue sprinkles for the Hanukkah batches, red and green for the Christmas ones. With twinkle lights, engaging advent calendars (thank you Sabrina for introducing Jacquie Lawson and her amazing artists to me years ago!) and Hanukkah candles to light, the winter dark is lit up!
Growing up in California I yearned for the snowy scenes of “traditional” Christmases, and think that that was a big contributor to my pull towards living in the northeast part of the US, and to this day absolutely love the changing seasons and the snowy winters in upstate New York.
Happy lights and winter holidays to everyone!