By Nancy Z. Paul Special Writer
Instead of dealing with crowded airports, security checks, missing luggage, bursting resorts, and a very weak dollar, we are going to enjoy the holidays at home this year. The goal is to feel as if we are “away” without actually packing our bags.
Moonlighting as my family’s personal travel agent, the task has fallen to me to come up with a good time for the gang. I must admit the family is not very excited about the thought of vacationing between Philadelphia and New York City. Something about the familiarity of place makes them skeptical that enchantment can be found in terrain so well-known.
Already I’ve heard whispers of longing for the good old days of busy beaches and swarming ski slopes, even before we “take off” for our local adventures. In fact, one of my sons thinks that the very notion of having a “local adventure” is something of an oxymoron, while the other feels this holiday is destined to take last place in future rankings of winter holidays.
This will be the first winter in their memory that we will be home for the holidays. The boys ask what the “theme” of this upcoming holiday at home will be, sans the props of snowboards or bathing suits. The word “magical” escapes my lips. When my family raises their collective eyebrows in disbelief, the gauntlet is thrown down.
Having never gone on a family winter vacation as a child, I tried to recall how I “survived” without boarding an airplane to Somewhere. Back in the day, there were books to while away a winter break from school and visits with friends to pass the time enjoyably. While books are still an option, apparently all friends will be away, far away, where the water is turquoise and the mountain tops are shrouded in snowy mist.
I realize that my mission will require pulling some real charms out of my hat in the form of a New York City show, life-size sculpture, nature, good books, and a parade.
For starters, we will see Cirque du Soleil’s “Wintuk,” which has been described by one reviewer as follows: “If you ever dreamed of sitting inside a snow globe, your lucky day has arrived.”
It sounds like the stuff of magic to me. After the matinee, the plan is to lace up our skates and glide effortlessly on the sparkling ice at Rockefeller Center. Even if the ice doesn’t exactly sparkle and we don’t quite glide, it is not every day that we get to skate in what feels like the center of the world. The wonderful mix of people and languages in the city has always made me feel as if I were Everywhere at once.
Next we’ll explore the winter landscape at the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton. This 35-acre park has more than a thousand trees, many of them unique evergreens, in addition to glorious outdoor sculpture. The life-size sculpture by John Seward Johnson Jr. alone is enticing. We must remember to bring along a camera to capture ourselves in his three-dimensional bronze, “Were You Invited?” It will be fun to step into a scene reminiscent of French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir’s “The Luncheon of the Boating Party,” on a cold winter’s day.
Another plan calls for a leisurely stroll through Princeton. The town looks especially nice decked out in its seasonal greenery, with the holiday carriages adding a nostalgic touch of old-fashioned Americana to Nassau Street. I thought that we’d stop at The Bent Spoon for ice cream and later in the day see “Planet Earth” on DVD. This holiday, my sons will be treated to steamy jungles, mysterious caves, great open plains, vast deserts and gushing rivers. The Route 1 corridor will surely be out of sight and mind for the length of this special journey.
Day 4 will be devoted to beginning some of the books we’ve given each other this holiday and roasting marshmallows by the fireplace. I envision the floor strewn with pillows, a big pot of soup simmering, and nothing else. I am looking forward to a “home-sweet-home” quiet moment in time. Because a holiday at home requires the strategic planning of a peace conference: trying to keep all parties content and scheduling what happens next – this day will be all about keeping the fire going and reading with abandon.
We’ll end our holiday by going to Philadelphia’s legendary Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day, considered to be the most authentic folk festival in the United States. Being a Philadelphia girl, I know that Broad Street will be booming with basses, banjos, and saxophones, as string bands, comics and fancy brigades “strut their stuff” in over-the-top costumes that can leave Las Vegas performers envious. It will be a colorful finale to a holiday that hopefully will be warmly recalled years from now.
Living between Gotham and The City of Brotherly Love makes planning holiday day trips easy. But can we really achieve the feeling of “being away” without the hocus pocus of airline travel whisking us off to Someplace Else? I think so.
Have a happy holiday, wherever you find yourself.
Nancy Z. Paul of West Windsor is a freelance writer and contributor to The Princeton Packet.