Mixed Moss

I am a creature of habit. I love traditions. They make me feel connected with life, with history, with the earth and the seasons. In the fall I eat squash and pumpkin and apples; in the summer, melons and berries, corn on the cob, BLTs with fresh farmstand tomatoes. Somehow it isn’t summer without lemonade; it isn’t fall without hot apple cider; it isn’t winter without hot chocolate.

Holidays are the same. I celebrate Halloween the same way every year. I listen to the calssical music radio station play spooky music on their annual “Tunes from the Crypt” program; I drink spiced apple cider; I watch an old classic spooky movie of some sort: Rope, or Rear Window, or Arsenic and Old Lace. If I can’t get one of those I’ll settle for Practical Magic.

I never realized how important those traditions are for me until tonight. Nothing was ocming together; my roommates made fun of my music and turned it off; I couldn’t watch a movie because I didn’t have any of them on DVD, I didn’t have a car to get to Blockbuster, and even if I had one of them on DVD it is completely inconvenient to watch a movie in this house. You have to watch it on Steph’s computer, and it involves major rearranging of the furniture in the office/studio. So I was getting really ticked off. It was like Halloween was being ruined for me or something.

But I decided that I wasn’t going to let that happen; I was going to find a way. And eventually, it all worked out. The roommates went to do homework, at which point I put my music back on. I set some cider to simmer on the back of the stove, and put some sugar cookies in the oven for good measure. Then I called Ed– Ed, of all people– and lo and behold, he owns the Best of Hitchcock collection or something, so I went over to his house and we watched Rope. Yay, Jimmy Stewart!

I hope everyone had a good halloween– however they celebrate.

Next tradition of the year: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, with cramberry juice and club soda.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.