I’m not sure if Boston is just that different from Seattle during the holiday season or if I’m merely feeling a holiday overload because for the past three years I’ve spent the majority of the holiday season working in a windowless warehouse or sleeping in a hotel, but wow. The holidays are here. Part of me suspects that Seattle just doesn’t play the holiday game like they do here in the Northeast. After all, the weather is never wintery this time of year. Here, the wreaths and bows are a startling contrast to the bare trees and the lights look beautiful on a snowy night. So few trees lose their leaves in Seattle that the holiday foliage blends in. Walking into Wilson Farms this afternoon, the smell of pine was overwhelming, and the wreaths, trees, ornaments, centerpieces, poinsettia dominated the store, making it difficult to find what I was looking for, mainly parsnip and jalapenos (for two separate recipes, thank you). (You know, I just tried to work obfuscate into that previous sentence just because I’m digging that word today, but I realized it wouldn’t work there. Just wanted to mention that.) Christmas is here with a bang. The strange thing is, the Boston area has such a larger Jewish population than Seattle, but it feels like an unusually gentile town. Maybe because Seattle’s was smaller we banded together more so our presence seemed stronger. It’s too diffuse in Boston. The smell of pine trees is the only think I’m jealous of the Christmas-celebrating folks about. I love the smell of pine. I’ve tried pine scented candles, but it’s just not the same, and there’s no way I’d hang a wreath or anything in our house. I’ve thought about secretly hiding boughs of pine somewhere in the house, but it just seems a little to weird. And I guess the other bad thing about being a Jew at Christmastime is it’s one less event that I can be Martha about. In retaliation for the Christmas overload, I went to the other extreme. I had homemade chicken soup simmering all day, so now the house smells even less Christmas and even more Lower East Side. And that’s a good thing.
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