Saving the Solstice . . .

 

. . . One Last Time

Dateline. Saturday, Dec. 21st, 3:19AM:  

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year!

20^th Annual Winter Solstice Story

For 19 years I have fought back against this long night with stories and strategies of hope - but I recently vowed that I wasn’t going to do this anymore. That I just didn’t have it in me; that I wouldn’t rip my guts out with the huge effort it required. I was just going to silently sneak out, or as Gen. Douglas MacArthur (sort of) said, "old solstice soldiers never die, they just fade away." But alas, I can't just fade away. I can’t let you, my dear friends, neighbors, acquaintances - and even people who intensely dislike me - face these dark winter nights alone. I will summon the strength one last time to confront the daunting task of fighting off the cruel realities of life in these northern latitudes by weaving a final story around the Winter Solstice. (Also, I wanted to end on an even number.) 

In other news, this will be Mrs Dear Leader and my 12th annual Solstice S'mores party - and almost certainly the last as well. Why that is will soon become clear. 

This should be the 13th annual event but to my memory we missed a year. No, not the covid year - as you will see - but 2022, the only year that was cancelled and embarrassingly it was due to weather. 

It was just a blizzard and to this day I feel bad about it especially since my daughter Michelle had flown in for it on her first ever trip to MN. 

In my defense, I didn't think my NY daughter would get the full Solstice S'more effect with just her and I standing all alone out in a blinding snow storm with a pitiful fire - so I took her to the Minnehaha "Glacier" instead. 

Anyway, it has been many years of great fun and camaraderie and we hope to finish strong this year! But first some background. 

This year, after a rainy early summer, we had one of the nicest summers and falls ever experienced by we long-suffering Minnesotans. Long days and short nights with whispering breezes rustling through our backyard. Idyllic days wasted on the dirty, rotten, expensive, frustrating game of golf. (Uh, sorry, please disregard that last part) now drifting aimlessly into winter. It's time once again, as we do every year, to say . . . “so what?” After a 584-million-mile trip around the sun we arrive back at this same meteorological – and metaphorical – crappy place in time as with every other year. A time of cold so penetrating that it obliterates our soul like a fair and balanced blast from Fox News. A darkness so long and endless that even a nanny state Democrat turns into a snarling, unforgiving animal.  Okay, okay sorry, as you can see I'm in somewhat of a different mood (and with good reason) for what is usually my favorite day of the year.

All that said, it is still the time of the year that has caused a hundred generations of Northern Hemispherians to bring light and laughter into this dreary time. And that has been my quest, lo these many years. 

It is that same primeval urge that brought about the Solstice S'more party. 

Important  prep for the party in full Celtic regalia

In the beginning there were lots of kids, which of course was the point. The neighborhood was crawling with 'em! 

One of these kids is now a high school senior
and the other two freshmen (precocious Rokala imps!)

The early days before fancy fence and accoutrements (you know, like plates and stuff)

Tall young lad on the left is Cody, one of  Mrs Dear                                                                   Leader's first piano students at age 8. Now a college graduate.

Hungry celebrants - and snow

Year with no snow

Our party has been a time to teach the kids the important things for the holidays - like the proper way to open a beer.

Nanook of the North, Msr. Provenzano and his daughter Lili. She sang on Mrs Dear Leader's Christmas song when she was 11.

Now a college graduate (in sneakers -                                                                                                      not a BA in cold weather clothing, I presume)                                                                            Nanook's younger kids are in college now too

Snow

Another daughter, Whitburt, sharing secrets about Dear Leader with neighbors - over cocktails (she's now out of the will.)

Little snow

And yet another daughter, Missy, with her good friend Anne and her "nephew." Sorry, Grant, you're a little too young for beer lessons but just right for S'mores!

                                      

                           

                                                                                                              

Dumpster fire candle, a gift from a neighbor in honor of a crappy year - (I'm assuming not for the solstice party.)

The ever-thoughtful Mrs Dear Leader even made individual packets of S'more ingredients for 2020 celebration (masks not included.)

Instead of offering my usual amusing tale about the solstice itself or confirming that winter will indeed end, I will take a more practical approach and provide advice on how to add some joy to these long months of gloom and frigid boredom.

Up to now, as far as I can tell, there are only two ways to get through our shared misery. First, (and this is one that I subscribe to) is to drink heavily. After all, with darkness coming so early shouldn’t we therefore take advantage of the early happy hour it provides? Everyday? Of course! (Many people I know got very good at this during the covid lockdown.) 

The other major distraction from our pain has been to embrace the cold! Enjoy the outdoors! Go skiing and skating and . . . whatever else weirdos do during the winter. (I leave this option to those of you who are more courageous than smart.) 

Read on for another solution to the winter conundrum.

A great crowd but natives getting restless from lack of s'mores, booze and/or snow.

Year with snow 

 

Neighbors exchange brilliant repartee. Well okay, Mrs Nanook repartee's the heck out of Msr. Edevold over cocktails. (Both their kids were twerps's for first parties, all now flown the coop.) 

Blaser family smiling (the laugh is on them though - they haven't seen their bill yet.)

Now here is that other option to help us when we feel like breaking into tears every time we crank up the furnace or pull on heavy coats or fall on our ass climbing over giant snow banks. It also has the benefit of saving money, time and argument about placement of the star - 

Create your very own Solstice "Tree"! 

I can't take all the credit for this idea. (Okay, I can't take any credit for it - but I did carry the sled up from the garage.) It's a little awkward for presents but it has the extra bonus of not dropping needles, need watering or being a target for small pets. Also, unlike those fake trees (and if you have one, I certainly hope it's not one those stupid flocked ones!) it doesn't need assembly. AND you can leave it up until winter is over - you know, til about mid-June. If you don't have a sled, shirley, you can find some other symbol of our beloved winter to turn into such a magnificent yule sight. An old snow blower perhaps? A shovel with Yak Trax hanging from it? Rockin' around it is optional. (For those too young - or musically impaired - a head nod to a  famous Christmas song from when Dear Leader was 10 yrs old - Rockin' Around the Solstice Tree    Brenda Lee   -  Brenda was 14 then and like me she is still kickin'!)

Warning - gratuitous memory!

Something else from the '50s - Christmas card holder my grandpa made for our family back then. Sadly, we don't send/receive many cards anymore. (More sadly, none of his imagination and craftsmanship was passed down to me.)

Despite odd outfit, no snow

Apparently that year Michael Myers visits our little soiree. For those who have lived in a cave (like a certain friend in Las Vegas) that is another cultural reference, this to the horror movie, "Halloween." Thanks for scaring the kids, Mark.

Perhaps you are beginning to see why I have little left to say about this, my most favorite day of the year. As Thomas Wolf wrote, "You can never go home again" and he was right, you can't. It's the same with this. There is no recapturing a moment in time; there's no going back. Kids grow up, we get old(er) and the world changes. But while we (okay, I) may feel a little melancholy about the constant change and a sense of loss of what was, there is also hope. 

Watching our kids grow up and becoming productive young (or not so young!) adults is not unlike why I love the winter solstice. Just as it reminds us that light and hope always returns, they bring that same hope for the world - with the added benefit they will almost certainly treat it better than we have. 

Besides, some wonderful young parents - and ensuing kids - have moved into the neighborhood just waiting for the next solstice warrior!

Hey . . . 

. . . Sit somniantes somnia*

(Yeah, some Latin for you pagans)

Good news! By the time our happy revelers gather for our festive party on Sat. the earth will have turned that celestial corner and starting its long journey back to the Tropic of Cancer - and our long summer days.

Now, in those immortal words of Porky Pig, "Th, th, that's all folks!" From the hearty souls of the Thomas Avenue Winter Survivor club to you, a hearty happy holidays. (Now let's go inside and warm the hell up!)

And from Mrs Dear Leader - and Me - Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and have a Great New Year!

The host and hostess (and Princess Prudie) of the premier holiday event of Bryn Mawr

* "Let dreamers dream"

D Roger Pederson, Winter Warrior (Retired)                                                                                (And you'll miss me when I'm gone)

A potpourri of holiday music just for you. . .

Handel's Messiah    Sydney Orchestra and Choir (Possibly the most magnificent oratorio ever written)

Little Drummer Boy    Mannheim Steamroller

Wonderful Christmas Time   Paul McCartney

Little St Nick   Beach Boys

In Dulci Jubilo   James Galway (Listen to as much as you like)

Christmas in Killarney    Bing Crosby