Christmas on the Promenade

12-1-11

Christmas on the Promenade is my favorite event at Southern. At least, I'm pretty sure it is. Most everyone gathers out at Taylor Circle, listens to the academy band, watches the Thanksgiving tree be lit, and then walks up and down the Promenade listening to musical groups perform, looking at the decorations, and eating doughnuts and drinking hot chocolate or hot cider.

I found a couple different groups of friends to walk with, especially after I lost the one group when trying to make it through the hordes of people (students, staff, faculty, community) in front of Lynn Wood and the food tables. (I found them again by the library, where we listened to the Jazz Band and discussed Harry Potter.) It feels like it's the holiday season now--and that last year wasn't the same when it was canceled due to rain. Christmas on the Promenade is my favorite school event, but I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because of the feeling I get from milling around, seeing people I haven't seen for weeks, and listening to music.

It's like most everyone can pretend that it's not the week before the week before finals, that there's not major projects and/or papers to finish and turn in, that all there is to do in the world is strolling down the Promenade, seeing friends, smiling, shivering in the cold and not regarding the cold.

The stars are brilliant tonight--and I saw them as I came back to the village, the sounds of jazzy Christmas music fading behind me. The smell of wood smoke and snow was in the air, though I wouldn't know why either smell was there. But my heart was warm and my feet were light. Even if my feet were a bit cold after the two and a half hours I spent at Christmas on the Promenade.

More later.