More than perhaps any other time of year, our memories of the holiday season are usually linked to a specific place. Whether it's your childhood home, your current one, or that of a friend or family member, we associate certain houses with the festive season. For my part, I have a list of dream holiday homes- some real, some imaginary.
The Obvious
My parents' house in Canada is the clear winner here. With family and friends close by and 25 years of our Christmas memories contained within its walls, it's where I most love to spend this time of year. I'm flying home next week for my first Canadian Christmas in two years, and I'm looking forward to indulging in all my favorite traditions, from decorating the tree (our family motto is "If you can still see green, there aren't enough ornaments!") and baking with my sister, to opening stockings on Christmas morning.
The Maybe-Someday
I dream of spending Christmas in a beautiful property owned by the Landmark Trust, a UK-based charity which rescues buildings of historic and architectural interest by converting them into holiday lets. My family are all keen Landmarkers, between us having stayed in close to 20, though we've never managed to find ourselves in one over the holiday season. We did attempt to spend Christmas here last year, but an unusually snowy December in England scuppered the travel plans. I'd still love to try a Landmark one year, which I imagine would be like stepping back in time for a simpler kind of holiday.
The Hollywood Dream
Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie house, right? For me, it's the Watertown, Connecticut beauty in The Family Stone. Maybe it's the picture-perfect, snow-dusted exterior that I love so much, or perhaps it's the interior scenes, which reveal a home as cluttered and chaotic as the family dynamics in the film. Who knows- maybe I'm just down with any family who incorporates watching Meet Me in St. Louis into their holiday traditions! Either way, this house is real and warm and one I'd gladly spend some time in.
So, what's your dream holiday home? Is it somewhere you actually spend time year after year, or a festive pipe dream?
Images:
1. Photo by Hilary Büsing, used with permission
2. Ascog House by oosp, used under Creative Commons
3. The Family Stone via Hooked on Houses
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The Family Stone house is my favorite Xmas house as well!
I must be strange: I don't associate Christmas so much with an individual house, but as soon as I smell a Spruce tree, I have Christmas on my mind. For me, it's just not quite real without a real tree filling the house with its glorious scent.
We've spent Christmas in so many different locations, and our traditions are continuing to change and develop. So, it's almost freeing to have the kind of Christmas I do...
Fourth of July on the other hand, if I'm not lighting fireworks at my grandparent's cabin, it just doesn't seem like the real deal.
My most precious Christmas memories are of Christmas in Europe. I was very young when we moved to Canada -- at Christmas. So, Christmas is very bittersweet -- the time I lost my extended family, and the time when we escaped the Russian invasion and communism.
My very earliest memories are of spending Christmas at my grandparents' home, of driving from Prague, of big, fat, soft snowflakes falling on the stones in their paved courtyard. Of sitting in the dining nook, designed by my great uncle the architect. Of smelling apple strudel baking. I remember seeing the huge barrels of carp in the streets of Prague.
When we moved back to Europe, even though we were in Switzerland, everything felt much more familiar than the Christmases I had experienced for over 30 years in North America. I guess you can take the girl out of Europe, but you can't take Europe out of the girl.
I just wish I could find a Nordman fir here...
Where's your parents' house in Canada? I love that you can find homes with that kind of European charm so close. Well, not too close to me. I live in Chicago, but closer than the English countryside. I've always wanted to go to Europe over the holidays. "Place" always seems to help me get that sense of Christmas, and growing up in Florida palm trees and alligators really didn't do it for me.
rwseven80, my parents' house is in Ottawa, and a past Christmas tree of theirs is in the first photo. (I've just realised that the photos could be confusing, and it might look like the second photo, actually of a Landmark Trust property, is theirs. Believe me- I WISH my childhood home looked like that!)
I just watched The Family Stone with my mom yesterday and after reading this post, I've realized that I also embrace their chaotic, cozy home overflowing with people and memories.
My personal favorite would be my grandparents' old home in east Texas. The property was on a few acres with a hundred or so pine trees. I remember the cousins all running around out back, zipping on the zip line and picking up pine cones by the bucketful. Grandpa would pay us a nickel per pine cone so they wouldn't get caught up in his mower. Well played, Grandpa!
Does anyone have a source for the bedspread/comforter in Amy's attic bedroom?