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NEXTnc Gift Guide: The art of giving - Holiday Gift Guide |
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Written by Erin Frustaci
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Thursday, 23 November 2006 |
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Page 5 of 8
HOME ALONE FOR THE HOLIDAYS? GET OUT! SERIOUSLY!
No, seriously, get out of the house. Even if you can’t make it home for the holidays, you don’t have to be a hermit.
 McClatchy-Tribune
No matter how many frequent flier miles you’ve accumulated — and no matter how badly you’re hankering for your Aunt Matilda’s roast turkey with chestnut stuffing — traveling home for the holidays isn’t always possible.
Air fares are up. Workloads are heavier. And a trip to grandmother’s house, once a jaunt over the river and through the woods, is now a trek over an ocean or through several time zones.
The idealized, Norman Rockwell-style holiday can seem very pumpkin-pie-in-the-sky — but that isn’t stopping resourceful celebrants unable to travel home from inventing ways to make the holidays special.
Adam Mohr, 24, a social studies teacher at San Jose Conservation Charter School, is used to bustling holiday gatherings with his family of eight in their Council Bluffs, Iowa, home. When he and three other friends, all unmarried and in their 20s in Silicon Valley, realized they were unable to travel to their home towns for Thanksgiving this year, they decided to start their own holiday tradition.
One by one, Mohr and company offered to cook the turkey, corn fritters and assorted side dishes. Their contribution had to be an example of the kind of culinary specialties their clans whipped up exclusively for such holidays. Mohr will bring pretzel salad, a family Thanksgiving fave made from whipped cream, cherry Jell-O and pretzels that he says “sounds awful but everyone loves.”
“This is a chance for us to be someplace new, but to still hold onto something familiar,” Mohr says. “Everyone has something different to bring to the table ... in this case, literally.”
Inventing such holiday rituals in lieu of going home helps feed a fundamental need for community, says Polly Matsuoka, a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Hope Counseling Center of Silicon Valley.
Sharing in some sort of activity, whether volunteering at a soup kitchen or having a dinner with fellow holiday orphans, “celebrates what’s important to you,” Matsuoka says. “It might be the first time you do it away from home or the place you grew up in, but doing it with others means you have something to come back to next year. Tradition and ritual are part of what makes the holidays really meaningful and valuable.”
Local universities regularly organize programs or leave their on-campus dining services open for students stuck on campus during the winter holidays. On Christmas, Bechtel International Center at Stanford University matches families with international students unable to travel home.
Getting away from your house on Thanksgiving or Christmas is a good step toward tackling feelings of isolation. Hopping on a plane isn’t always an option, but arranging something as simple as a hike —or any outdoor activity — can also help, Matsuoka says.
Becky Hellwig, 31, a sociology senior at San Jose State University, is taking it even further. Her adult siblings are spending Christmas with the families of their assorted in-laws, so Hellwig and her German-born husband are taking friends on a snowboarding trip to Kirkwood Mountain Resort near Lake Tahoe. After hitting the slopes on Christmas Eve, they will exchange gifts and break out the board games.
With her passion for working in the social services — Hellwig is also an intern for Santa Clara County, Calif., Supervisor James T. Beall — she says she can promote a feeling of togetherness at a time of the year when many people are left alone.
Because her pals hail from such far-flung places as Tunisia, Peru and Korea, the gathering will give them the chance to experience at least a taste of the kind of Christmas Hellwig had as a child, she says.
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|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
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I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
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|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
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| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
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