Brandon's Buzz

Donna Lewis — “Christmas Lights”
(from Women of Christmas in the Garden of Lilith) —

When my sister and I were churren, my mother — who is otherwise a normal and perfectly level-headed woman — loved to go apeshit crazy with the Christmastime decor. (I’m talkin’ huge tree, lights and ornaments galore, mistletoe gracing every door jamb, Santa Claus shower curtains, toilet seat covers, and toothbrushes… literally, the works!) And though we all loved to poke gentle fun at her for her extreme dedication to the divinely insane rigors of such decorating, we all secretly loved it too. I think my father — a Christmas freak every bit her equal, in his own way — probably loved it best of all, and I’ve come to believe that she put all this gorgeous madness together for his benefit as much as for her own, because in the six years since he passed away, December has become — sadly, if not unexpectedly — a markedly more muted affair around Chez Mom, to the point that, when I visited last summer, she declared that she wanted me to take off her hands the centerpiece of her holiday wonderland: a Victorian-style Christmas village scene that, I kid you not, occupied one whole half of our living room, replete with lighted porcelain buildings and facades (which accurately depict a church, a school, a city hall structure, a train depot, homes, pubs, you name it!), a convincing facsimile of an ice rink (which actually has five skaters doing all manner of axels, lutzes, and figure-eights with the help of magnets and magic), and a passel of resin figurines representing the citizens who are apparently out for a nighttime stroll through the town square.

 

I couldn’t quite believe at first that she actually trusted me enough to bequeath to me her pride and joy to me to assemble in my own home, and I hadn’t the foggiest clue what a monumental endeavor I was in for when I started to unpack the two huge Rubbermaid containers to get a sense of each individual piece in this massive puzzle. (As a young ‘un, I would literally go to school one morning with a normal living room, and return home to find the sofa and chairs having been scrunched together in order to accommodate this massive spread. I had no idear how much work went on in between those two poles!) And, to further complicate the issue, I took advantage of some key pre-Christmas sales last month and added a few structures (a lighthouse, a clock tower, a radio station in honor of the Buzz, a record store in honor of my preferred leisure activity, a doggie day care in honor of my beloved Shmoofy-head); I was quite literally unpacking boxes and checking light bulbs for two full hours, and spent another three or four arranging, moving, and tweaking the evolving end product, which I set up atop a pair of 3×6 tables. A was originally incredulous that I intended to actually go through with the seemingly mad notion of recreating this village scene in our home, when we have scarcely not gone further than a tree and stockings in terms of holiday decor heretofore, but I think even he is duly impressed by the sheer spectacle of this ostentatious presentation. As for me, this village always meant Christmas when I was younger, and, in a funny way, it always meant home, and it fills me with a peculiar pride to have been able to conjure those feelings anew as an adult. (I love you, Mom, and I hope I did you proud!)

names dropped with reckless abandon: A, Donna Lewis, Kelly