It almost never snows in Oregon. Sure, we have rain – a record in Eugene this year, with rain falling hard every day since Nov. 30. It stops being gloomy after a while. You suck in a couple vitamin D pills a day, sit in front of a happy lamp at work, and curl up with a blanket and a good book at home.
With all the cold and rain, it's hard to be festive. Nobody wants to put lights on the outside of their houses in the rain. And even if we tried to time our outdoor light excursion with the brief cloud breaks, I live in a neighborhood of duplexes occupied by renters who don't want to jeopardize their deposits. It's not exactly a holiday hotspot.
Though I've been planning a holiday visit to my parents since Thanksgiving, I haven't been able to experience a jolly spirit. My sapling-sized (fake) tree fell apart, my stockings refused to hang prettily. Mom and I made a commitment to let the candy canes and wrapping paper explode upon my arrival to town. And boy, did my hometown deliver.
I began feeling the holiday hype when I passed through Ritzville and saw deposits of snow on the ground. In Sprague, pine trees weighed down heavily with snow dotted the landscape. Medical Lake was positively frozen over. And in Spokane, heavy snowfall pelted my welcoming windshield.
But finally, driving down the street to my parents' house, the real holiday magic set in. Here, the snow lay thick on the ground. Here, neighbors took time to plan exquisite lighting of their homes and yards. Here, Mom has decked the halls and hung the stockings and put up a tree and wafted cookie-smell through the house.
I came home to my family, but I also came home to Christmas.
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These little fellas greeted me as I walked in the door. Don't be fooled by the macro photo; they each are about the size of a quarter. This, a close-up shot of the all-encompassing holiday spirit I have the luxury of feeling tonight.
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