The Deleted Scenes - Christmas Then and Now
One of my Christmas traditions is writing a Christmas article every year, going back to 2016, the year I got my first magazine job. These articles have been fun to write, and yet they’ve often been…not exactly merry and bright. Last year’s piece was an utter downer, arguing that as America has “grown up” as a nation, our popular culture has become more complicated, more mature, and less cheerful. The final line was downright chilly: “Perhaps, when Auntie Mame sang in 1966 that ‘I’ve grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, Grown a little sadder, grown a little older,’ she was merely half a century early.” All of this is to introduce that my wife advised me to write something positive this year. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, after all. Why brood over sad Christmas songs or haywire consumerism? So I thought about that, and I started thinking about food. Especially since, for the first time ever, my wife and I will be hosting Christmas, in our new house. And I have a piece in The Bulwark this morning, thinking about how the Christmases we celebrate today differ from those of my childhood, and even more from those of my parents’ childhood. In their time, as I wrote, the antipasto was a relatively quick affair: some plates of cold cuts rather informally arranged, and a lot of the antipasto ingredients combined into a salad, rather than served separately. And the main meal either consisted of, or included, lasagna or some other Italian specialty. The meal was eaten at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, pretty much right after the relatively light antipasto. But over the years, that turned into a full-on heavily arranged charcuterie lunch followed by a fancy but thoroughly American dinner served at dinnertime: prime rib. Like this: And that’s a relatively simple one for me. Yes, I’m sort of showing off my menu, but I mainly wrote about this because I find the cultural evolution really interesting. You can see the through-line across the generations, but there are things that have been lost, like the mid-afternoon dinner (which I really don’t quite get) and the Italian main course. I wrote:
And then I thought about how simple the few hints of Christmas foods we get from the classic Christmas songs are: turkey and pumpkin pie. It never really occurred to me how foreign those old Italian-American Christmas dinners would have seemed to non-Italian Americans. And it also makes me think of how much higher our standards and expectations are now. As our standard of living has increased, I wrote, “so has the extent to which our Christmases surpass our ordinary days.”
I can’t really write about Christmas without writing about Christmas songs and consumerism, I guess! So here’s a little more. I think sometimes of a comment I read a long time ago on a web forum, on a discussion about Christmas consumerism. The problem, the commenter wrote, wasn’t that we went all-out for the holidays. That was one of the points of the holidays. The problem was rather that our everyday standard of living has gotten so high that in order to maintain that sense of holiday specialness, we need to dial up the consumerism to 11. In other words, the over-commercialization of Christmas is a sort of does-not-compute result that arises from our affluence clashing with our deep human need for a special time. But as much as I look forward to the prime rib and the fancy deli meats and the cookies and the eggnog and the gifts, I remember that it isn’t all synonymous with Christmas. I’ve suggested before that Christmas is really two holidays: the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, and the secular, almost civic American festival of food and stuff. I am a Christian, and I love both of them. The more, the merrier. So there it is. No cultural ax to grind, no doleful message to deliver about society. Just some reflections on the evolution of a holiday. Check out the whole piece at The Bulwark. And Merry Christmas! Related Reading: The Christmas Song Cultural Barometer Thank you for reading! Until Christmas, I’m offering 20 percent off annual paid subscriptions! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive: over 400 posts and growing. And you’ll help ensure more material like this! You're currently a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Key phrases
Older messages
The Dragon Inside
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #89
The Craft Meat Revolution?
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
A gift box and some interesting observations
Towns of My County
Monday, December 19, 2022
Part 1 of a central New Jersey photo essay
How Far to the City That's Not on the Map?
Friday, December 16, 2022
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #88
The Rest of Cary
Friday, December 16, 2022
The new and the old
You Might Also Like
Your gift to poetry matched!
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Today only. Dear Friend, I have some exciting news: an Academy board member has pledged to match any gifts made TODAY only, up to $20000. Your special gift in support of all the Academy's programs
Preserving Process
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Sometimes someone else says it best ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
India's Sign-Wallas: On the Brush on the Subcontinent
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Meena Kadri takes us to India to appreciate the flamboyant work of the country's 'sign-wallas'. BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & Culture bl.ag online weekly
I’m Fine
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Is your story hindering or helping you? ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
No Pain, All Gain
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Physical activity can protect you from chronic pain, a GPS wearable lets you train like the pros and your weekly recommendations. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
DO Manifesto: A new, live, online course.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
100 places only. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Falling into your ocean eyes
Thursday, April 25, 2024
But first: save $ — and earn rewards — on your prescriptions — Check out what we Skimm'd for you today April 25, 2024 Subscribe Read in browser Together with goodrx But first: save $ — and earn
"Epistle" by Ellen Hinsey
Thursday, April 25, 2024
When the sky darkens with alabaster and mahogany— Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day April 25, 2024 Epistle Ellen Hinsey When the sky darkens with alabaster and mahogany —— Storm and
Kourtney Kardashian Wore The Ultimate 45th Birthday Bikini & WOW
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Vintage Dior, of course.
Should You Use 'Debt Avalanche' or 'Debt Snowball' to Pay Off Debt?
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
You Can Check a Car's VIN History for Free. These are two well-established methods that can help you systematically pay off your debts, but how do you decide which approach is right for your uni