Years ago when I was in grad school we went one year without having an end of the year holiday party. It was a memorable event because of the way the party was canceled.
Just as she had done every year, the admin who was responsible for sending out the party invitations and getting a head count placed beautiful cards in our department mailboxes. The card had all of the usual details–date, time, location and a request to RSVP. My friends and I were all slow to respond to department parties back then. We thought we were cooler than the other grad students and we weren’t sure if we wanted to spend any of our free holiday time with them. Soon enough we found out that we were not the only ones who didn’t want to attend the holiday party. As the weeks went by the poor admin in charge of party organizing got more and more frustrated because most people hadn’t RSVP’d despite her hard work. Finally she gave up and sent everyone in the department another card. This card showed a picture of Santa Claus looking extremely confused, and above his head was a bubble that read “Happy Holidays?” Inside the card was a sad note indicating that the party was canceled. This should have tugged at our heart strings, but it didn’t–the look of that confused Santa was hilarious!
From that day until the end of the year, we would say “Happy Holidays????” to each other with an exaggerated intonation, raising the pitch of our voices at the end of the question. “Merry CHRISTMAS?????” I would ask with a look of deep confusion as I passed friends on campus. “Happy HANUKKAH???” they would respond, their brows furrowed and a look of disorientation on their faces. The season-greeting-in-question-format would give us such pleasure for years to come. It became a holiday tradition for us grad students in the years following the Great Holiday Party Cancellation.
I’d forgotten all about this experience until I moved to Bed-Stuy. The memory came back to me when I was walking down the street yesterday. Where are the holiday streets in Bedford-Stuyvesant? As I looked around the neighborhood this first week of December, I find myself looking confused and thinking “Happy Holidays?” Where are the neighborhood decorations? The holly? The Christmas tree lots? This is the one time of year I’m willing to tolerate music blasting from car stereos and storefronts, so why isn’t anyone pumping out Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas?”
The irony to top all irony is that Bed-Stuy, holiday-decoration-free Bed-Stuy, is chock full of churches! The picture above is of the intersection of Bedford and Lexington. There are 3 churches at this intersection–and not even a sprig of mistletoe to be found! Merry Christmas???? The least thing a bunch of Christians can do is celebrate Christmas.
When I visit people in other neighborhoods, I see that their neighborhoods have already started rolling out the holidays in the form of lights and bows and decorations, so I’m searching for streets in our neighborhood that are showing some holiday spirit. Are any of the streets (residential or commercial) in Bed-Stuy displaying a little holiday cheer this season? Does anyone know where the best places to experience the sights and sounds of the holidays are in Bed-Stuy?
i have a similar catch phrase. when i see or hear something that defies all logic and reason i say “the heck??”
i agree about the lack of holiday decor in bed-stuy. my roomate and i want to get a tree but unlike other neighborhoods where there are tree-sellers on corners we are at a loss as to where to procure one in our area. the heck??
anyway, if there is a tree emporium that is evading us please post the information. thanks!
I agree! Where are the Lights? Where is the music? What is going on here? I walked out of the subway yesterday and saw one street decoration on the corner of Nostrand and Fulton. It made me a little bit happier, especially because it was also snowing
laduchessa: Doesn’t Home Depot sell trees?
I am noticing more people putting up decorations this year. I have yet to put out mine, but the cold weather has inspired me to get cracking this weekend.
Exotic Homes & Gardens on Atlantic has very nice decorations for the holidays.
Although I live in CH….Fulton St used to be decorated all the way from Bedstuy to Downtown Bklyn. Either they are slow or they didnt put it in the budget.Guess a call to 311 is in order.Some nabes are already decorated, even if sparsely..especially Montague St.I remember when I was little…getting excited to go see the Xmas window displays at A & S.Then going next door to Woolworth for hot chocolate and nuts.Miss the good old days.They used to sell trees on the corner of Fulton St and Marcy Ave years ago. Dont know what is up with the trees but come on over to Clinton Hill on Myrtle Ave and Hall St and get a real tree…they have every size from the rooter to the tooter.From 3 ft and up.
THERE IS A TREE LIGHTING COMING UP DONE BY SOLA THE STORES OF LEWIS AVE IT SHOULD BE NICE IT WILL BE HELD AT FULTON STREET PARK WHICH IS AT FULTON AND STUYVESANT AVE SHOULD BE A GREAT TIME PASS THE WORD AND LETS BE THERE IT STARTS AT 7PM
Mistletoe is an ancient, pagan symbol which I’m sure “the Church” frowns upon.
Much like XMas trees.
Some Christians (Baptists in particular) don’t
make a big to-do for Christmas – which they see as more secular/pagan than Christian. Easter is their biggie. Maybe that is one reason why there are not a lot of store-bought lights and tacky plastic decorations everywhere we look. The bare tree branches and occasional dusting (I hope) of snow are more beautiful and authentically seasonal.
(Not to mention: where do renters store all that stuff for 11 months of the year, anyway?)
Nostrand ave from Fulton to Atlantic has decorations going across the street with lights and all. It brings me christmas cheer everyday on the walk to the A
Rejin-
I dont know where you’re from, but I’m from the deep south which is swarming with Baptists and I can PROMISE you that even the biggest bible thumpers and holy rollers go absolutely nuts for christmas. I’ve NEVER known a hardcore christian to not make a big deal over christmas…
And I do agree that there’s a sad lack of it here in the hood. One of my neighbors on lafayette has some lights up but thats about it!
I gotta side with Carmen on this one. You all know I’m from the south. The majority of people are Baptists and as Carmen said they go ALL OUT for Christmas. There is not one part of the house that doesn’t have a light, a red bow, a decorated tree, a poinsettia, mistletoe, an image of St. Nick, Rudolph, baby Jesus, etc., and that’s only the inside of house. On the outside of their homes they decorate their yards, the trees in their yards, their mailbox, and they even hang Christmas wreaths on the grill of their cars. Southern Baptists don’t play when it comes to Christmas. This points to another reason why I’m surprised by the lack of decorations around here–many of the people in this neighborhood are only one or two generations from being southerners. That is, their parents or their grandparents are originally from the south. One would think that the tradition of decking the halls during Christmastime would have remained in an area with such close ties to the south. I was on Fulton St. today, and I still couldn’t tell it was the holiday season. If I didn’t know any better I’d think Bed-Stuy was filled with a bunch of atheists.
Xris, I knew that the tree was a pagan symbol, but I didn’t know that mistletoe was. Thanks for the enlightenment.
Changeling and Carmen – Well maybe its just my friend’s sect. They seem to frown on the pagan and secularized aspects of Christian holidays.
Maybe the renter/storage aspect is more of a factor, in that people don’t have storage space for all the holiday decorations. Or that people are busy, trying to make ends meet, or are spending time with their families instead of on the cosmetic and commercialized aspects of the holidays. I really don’t get the emphasis here on plastic Santas and colored lights.
By the way, do we have a problem with atheists?
I’m an atheist and I like my pretty winter lights. We’ll be decorating this weekend, pagan tree and all.
I’m from New England and even we decorate for xmas … but usually a bit later.
I wish there were some of those tree lots around here were we could easily go get a tree and carry it home. There is a local nursery on S Portland (garmin’s? sorry , I am bad with names) where they are super helpful about choosing a tree–they cut one to fit for us last xmas. I don’t know if they deliver though. You can get trees and lots of other stuff–wreaths and so on–at Home Depot as well, but again, you need a car to get it home, unless it is teensy.
I want to get evergreen roping for my front railing and a wreath again this year, I guess I will have to find a car service guy who doesn’t mind getting fir needles in his trunk.
Maybe this year I will do lights, but I don’t have a separate outlet so that always makes me nervous (isn’t that a new city law, anyway, that you are supposed to have an exterior electrical outlet for your christmas lights?)
I do see individual decorating everywhere, and I applaud all the efforts people make, from plastic santas to Solstice shrines. Yes, a lot of the imagery is pagan, but I don’t mind. It’s an fundamental human urge to celebrate certain aspects of the earth’s seasonal cycle, so let’s all be human.
Xris, I’m an atheist and I like my pretty winter lights, too. I think of it as a way to mark the pre-Solstice, days-are-getting-shorter season.
In past years, we’ve even had a tree (as a concession to the religious members of the family). But after reading about the quantities of pesticides used in tree farms, if we have a tree again it will be a live one that can be planted in the garden later.
Hey, I have nothing against atheists! But I know that they are a very tiny minority in Bed-Stuy. I didn’t think atheists decorated their homes during this time of year, which is why I said that I thought Bed-Stuy looked like it was a home to a bunch of atheists. I realize now that the winter solstice celebrations are also taking place. Maybe I should’ve said that Bed-Stuy looks like it is home to a bunch of Ebenezer Scrooges.
Nevertheless, I wish we had more people (of any faith) who would put up lights ’round here! Part of the reason that I like the lights is that I loathe the darkness of northern winters. I hate short days and long nights, but the lights of the holiday season are usually enough to get me through to the spring.
@Rejin: Where can we buy pesticide free trees? I’m about to go to that little Chrismas tree corner on Hall/Myrtle in Clinton Hill.
@Alexa: I don’t know about the outlet laws. I’m glad that you’re seeing people decorate.
@Changeling: “Part of the reason that I like the lights is that I loathe the darkness of northern winters. I hate short days and long nights, but the lights of the holiday season are usually enough to get me through to the spring.” I think people have always felt this way, and thats where the tradition originated.
I haven’t done the research on buying pesticide-free trees, but I’m pretty sure we won’t find any in Bed-Stuy. Are any Farmer’s Markets still open.
(Oh, and sorry to drag the atheist thing along, but I don’t know of any surveys, so I wonder how many of us there are.)
I’m another atheist in Bed-Stuy… There are probably more of us than you think!!
I will be putting lights on my house this weekend, and getting a tree. Winter festivals around the solstice existed in many cultures long before christianity, and involved trees and lights.
Interesting article in the Times today regarding real vs. fake trees. Link below.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/us/07trees.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
Changeling, if you want an overdose of lights, go to Dyker Heights. I can’t remember the street exactly, but it is near 11th Avenue and 86th Street. Over the top craziness on one street and lots of professionally hung lights throughout the area.
I grew up around there and there has been a bunker mentality, an almost group depression since the late 60′s riots. I truly believe that it is up to the new people to break the old timers out of their lethargy. Put up some lights! Brownstones look amazing with huge beautiful wreaths and garland ropes (natural looks better) cascading down the stoop banisters.
i stumbled upon dyker heights once getting lost on the back roads from coney. IT’S AWESOME!!! it is so deliciously over the top that words cannot do it justice!!
i like the decorations. to me it’s a “winter” thing as opposed to a religious thing. but that’s just my take… bring on the smell of pine, the twinkly lights, and lawn ornaments! oh, if i only had a lawn…
shit, if there were christmas lights up, half the white kids in bed-stuy would be complaining about gentrification.
Wow, I was just thinking the other day how odd it was that very few people had lights & wreaths on the outside of their houses (especially on Stuyvesant Avenue – that strip from the Utica station, north is just BEGGING to be brought to brightness!)
I put lights on the outside of my place, but I am a newbie to the ‘hood, and I do have storage. Join in the fun everyone, decorate!
I agree lights and whatnot just look cheerful and cozy, and even better when it snows.
Count one more aestheist to the neighborhood count – my fiance, a lapsed Jew. I’m a lapsed Catholic, but can agree with much of the aetheist platform.
“aestheist” – I think I have a new word to describe my winter decorating sensibilities! [g]
Hey, atheist, Christian, or whatever, the lights on Macon and Macdonough between Ralph and Howard are starting to look really nice…. Actually, when my family moved here last year one of the REASONS we picked Bed Stuy was because there were so many Christmas/winter decorations up, and you could really feel the great neighborhood spirit. It’s always this way – by next weekend there’ll be a ton of lights.
I definitely have to get over to Dyker Heights to see the display! I’m going to take a look at those blocks between Ralph and Howard as well. I did notice yesterday that there were a couple of apartments with lights adorning their balconies on Bedford Avenue. It really looked pretty. I also saw that an apartment near the top floor of one of the buildings in the Tompkins Houses had a beautiful display of lights last night.
I went to Home Depot for a tree this evening and there were THREE left. THREE! And they were all too big to be carried the 5 blocks back to my apartment
Other than going all the way over to Hall and Marcy, is there anywhere around Bedford to find a tree?
Also, there are about 5 houses on my block with lights up. My landlord just did ours yesterday and it makes the place look so cozy. Brownstones just *need* to have lights!
I bought an evergreen spray (decorated with juniper berries and mini hot peppers, so cute!) for my front door today at the cadmun plaza farmers market. Now to find the evergreen roping for my railings!
My daughter and I walk home from the subway at Fulton and Nostrand to Jefferson and Marcy. We have our choice of blocks between Nostrand and Marcy–Macon, Halsey, Hancock, Jefferson. Every night there are more decorations–each one pretty modest so far, but building in effect! Tonight’s walk we saw an interesting brownstone stoop on Jefferson, closer to Marcy. Cool rope effect on the railing!
Roberta, I’m starting to see more pretty lights as well. I saw a couple of nicely decorated brownstones on Willoughby (between Nostrand and Marcy, I think). I tried to get some pics but they didn’t come out looking too good.
I’ll have to head further south to Macon to see the decorations down there. I’ll try to get some decent photos. Thanks for letting us know which blocks are looking festive.
I live on Dekalb Ave (near Marcy Ave) and there is a house that is very nicely decorated.
There’s a house on my block (across the street) which has been adding decorations every yea sine we moved it. They started with just lights on the balusters and now they have a small freestanding building (I think it’s meant to be a church) covered in lights, and a small lit tree in front, and lights in every window. The only dark part of the house is along the roofline!
For those of you who can reach back or research back into the 50′s, 60′s and part of the 70′s, will find that Bedford-Stuyvesant is/was well known for their christmas decorations on many Brownstone homes and blocks. Starting from Albany Avenue down and into Bushwick Avenue or Broadway.
We (those of us born in the community) admired the displays for years. When Kwanzaa was introduced into the community, we no longer diplayed those decorations. Many people in the community celibrate Kwanzaa as was the majority of schools in the community. The African-American flag is also displayed largely in Bedford-Stuyvesant, it’s not uncommon. Bed-Sty is a cultural community rich in a variety of African cultures. For many in the community, christmas trees and lights are no longer a part of their lives. There are various religious groups in this community that do not deal with paganism. Get over it. You are not going to xmas trees and lights on every Brownstone, church and storefront, live with it and move on.