The Joy of Seasonality

I’m going to sound old here, but bear with me. Once upon a time, we had less control over what we could watch on television. If you wanted to watch a holiday special, you had to wait until it aired in the days leading up to the holiday. And while there was always a danger you’d miss your favorite special (What if you couldn’t be at home to watch it? What if NBC and CBS ran two specials you liked at the same time? The horror!), this was one of the things that made seasons special to me. I loved opening our newspaper’s weekly TV insert, flipping straight to the “specials” section, and circling all of the shows I wanted to see that week.

Now the specials aren’t so special. I can watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas! any time I want.

Granted, that was the only way I was forced to confine my holiday celebrations to certain seasons. Recordings of Christmas music have been available since at least the mid-1930s, and if you had musical training and access to an instrument, you could play Christmas music any time you wanted long before that. For centuries, you could read the story of the Nativity in your family’s Bible in June as easily as December. So the demise of the holiday television special isn’t that big a deal; it was here for only a few decades anyway.

Despite my fond memories of seasonal specials, for many people in the world, it’s been possible to celebrate your favorite holidays or seasons whenever you wanted if you were willing to defy cultural norms. Thanks to refrigerators, freezers, and worldwide shipping, you can even eat seasonal foods out of season, and many of us do so without thinking about it. Is seasonality really that big deal?

I’d argue that it is, because part of what makes your favorite season or holiday special is its fleeting nature.

That doesn’t mean it’s wrong if you want to listen to your favorite Christmas music in May.

Let me make it clear that this post isn’t meant to be judgmental. If you love to Christmas music year-round, who am I to say “don’t play it; it’ll be more special that way”? I understand the sadness of saying goodbye to a favorite season for another year (especially summer, which is far too short where I live). And I’ve certainly done things out of season. As far as I’m concerned, sometimes on a really bitter January day, there’s nothing wrong with spending a day in the Como Conservatory, pretending it’s actually summer.

Also, seasonality can vary from one person to another. I admit to feeling a bit sad when everyone turns off their Christmas lights on January 2, as if they were tired of Christmas. As a big fan of celebrating all twelve days of Christmas (December 25-January 5) and someone who really hates January, I can do with a little holiday cheer in the first days of the new year. But my definition of the Christmas season may vary from yours, and you may, perhaps, wonder why I continue to turn on my tree lights for several days after you’ve taken your tree down.

I do draw the lines at stores and restaurants. I understand the desire to push the next holiday as soon as one is over, so that the Valentine’s Day stuff gets put out on January 2, but it really distresses me to see Christmas stuff before Halloween and Valentine’s Day stuff before Christmas.

However, since stores don’t seem to care about seasonal cranks like me, I guess I’ll have to stick to focusing on seasonal celebrations in my own home.

How might we stay in season?

I love seasons and holidays, but I also like keeping things (relatively) simple; the way I celebrate a season might appear dull to you or too involved to someone else. Nevertheless, here are some of the things I’ve done to make seasons special:

• I try to focus on seasonal eating. Of course, we all do that to some extent. We have picnics in the summer and eat soups and stews in the winter. We also all — except for the really dedicated folks, whom I admire — have been known to eat out of season. I don’t screen my recipes carefully to make sure all of the fresh fruits and vegetables in it are in season. But I do try to eat lots of seasonal food. There is absolutely nothing like a fresh strawberry from a local farm in June. This year I bought a ton of strawberries and took some to a party and used some in strawberry shortcake. It’s every bit as exciting as it was to be a kid hunting for holiday specials in the TV guide.
• I make seasonal playlists. If you are a regular reader, you probably know I have an autumn playlist and a playlist for Independence Day. I also have playlists for spring, summer, winter (non-Christmas music), Advent, Christmas (actually two playlists — one classical, one everything else that I own), St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and rainy days — not to mention a BeauSoleil album I bought to listen to on Shrove Tuesday (or Fat Tuesday). Of course not every song on every playlist is reserved for that season, but gray November days are a bit better when I can pull up my Thanksgiving playlist.
• I sometimes indulge in seasonal reading. I read a lot, and most of my reading isn’t related to a particular season, but it can be a lot of fun to read a book of Christmas mysteries in December or something by Neil Gaiman in October.
• And, of course, there’s seasonal viewing. I’m not really into Hallmark holiday movies, but ask me if I want to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in December, and my answer is “yes.” This past year, due to the pandemic, I emphasized seasons and holidays even more than I usually do and so, while many people I know skipped their annual viewing of Groundhog Day (in the words of two different people I know, “This year every day feels like Groundhog Day”), on February 2 I watched that movie for the first time in years.
• To a lesser extent I decorate the house for some holidays. Honestly, I don’t want to deal with the expense and effort that goes into a lot of decorating, but I do like to a little nod to the seasons with things like autumnal potpourri in the fall. And at Christmas I go all out (for me) with a Christmas tree, a nativity scene, an advent wreath, and sometimes a few other touches.
• Likewise, I don’t put a great deal of effort into seasonal clothing (I had to borrow an ugly Christmas sweater from my kid for a Zoom party last year), but there is something special about cozy wool socks in the winter and wearing a sundress on a hot summer day.
• And, of course, I try to take advantage of seasonal activities. Being a summer person, I try to make a point of taking a break from deskwork and housework to go outside and enjoy the warmth and sunshine. In my least favorite season, winter, I bake more, make valentines (albeit not particularly good ones, since I’m craft-challenged), and generally try to find ways to enjoy my time indoors. If I were a really good seasonal person, I suppose I’d get outdoors into the crisp, cold (really cold) weather and indulge in winter sports, but… nah.

So, to steal and misuse a line from Ram Das, choose to “be here now.” There’s a lot to be said for enjoying whatever season we are in to its fullest.