Real is in (“”) because Christmas in Southern California does not fulfill the stereotypes that we associate with the holiday. Like many of you, I have always thought that Christmas belongs with snow swirling outside the windows, fires in the hearth, a cup of tea in hand, and a cuddle buddy on the couch with Christmas songs on the radio.
Being that I’m from California, I always missed out on the whole cold weather thing and all that goes with it. Now that I am in Vienna I have been living my “real” Christmas, and it is more than I expected.
First off, it snowed. Nice and beautifully, it DUMPED two feet of snow in less than 24 hours. I bravely got up for work and dressed myself warmly enough. I sang to myself “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas!!” and enjoyed the snow.
Just a few days after the snowfall I watched the pristine whiteness turn black with car smog. No surprise there, I’m from L.A. But then the unexpected happened. The snow melted and left little pebbles everywhere. The city workers throw pebbles on the ground to prevent slipping both for pedestrians and cars. And no one sweeps these pebbles away. Have you tried walking on a sea of pebbles in heels!?! The foot slides on these little demons. The ankle twists. And I thought cobblestone was a challenge! The pebbles don’t stop there. On no! They shred the heels of my beautiful shoes as I try to wade through their sidewalk jungle. They lodge themselves into the bottom of my shoes’ leather, so even when I have made my way through the pebbles, I still wobble around like an idiot scraping the bottom of my shoe on the sidewalk as if I have a dog poop problem in an attempt to dislodge the wayward hellions. Of course, there are the tricky few who manage to JUMP INTO my shoe, so that I have to take my shoe off in the U-Bahn and shake it around until the pebble comes tumbling out. Yeah, I’m real popular with my seatmates. This has been going on for weeks!
But despite the pebble thing, I have been staying strong. After all, chestnuts are roasting over an open fire. At every street corner. Sold by Turkish men with heavy German accents. In steel barrels. Using their fingers to pick out the chestnuts for you and serving them in rolled up paper that has seen better days. Clearly, I only bought the chestnuts the one time. And they weren’t even that good. Why do people make a big deal about them? Am I missing something?
And let’s talk about Jack Frost nipping at your nose, shall we? The first snow fall wasn’t so bad. The temperature flirted with freezing, but didn’t really get that cold, and the snow melted fast. Overall I was undisturbed by the occurrence. HA! Wanna know what FREEZING weather feels like? Oh, what about -2 degrees Celsius? Well, that’s where the temperature is now, and it is no fun. It doesn’t matter how thick my socks are, my toes get cold immediately. And just for your information, leather gloves are rather useless. My ears sting, my eyes water. My makeup freezes, bunches, and clumps on my face (yep, I am one attractive female). Please keep in mind that this all occurs before 8a.m., while I am standing outside waiting for my bus, which happens to always be 2-4 minutes late in arriving to pick my cold butt up. I never would have thought 2-4 minutes would mean so much.
So yeah, I have a few complaints about the holiday season. But let me tell you, not many cities do Christmas as well as Vienna. Beautifully lit Christmas trees everywhere. The old part of the city with the most amazing lighting. The Christmas feel here is so wonderful and different, it infuses me. Even Business Week magazine has recognized it as one of the best places to be for the holidays.
(Above photo of Vienna’s old part of town during December)
And let’s not forget the divine, delicious, out-of-this-world homemade Christmas cookies either.
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