"Voices leaking from a sad cafe... On Bleecker Street."

Being away means keeping to a schedule that bears no resemblance to the one at home. It means not reading the Sunday Times, not tracking anything beyond the top half of the front page (displayed on newsstands). And not cleaning, organizing for the week. And it means writing inconsequential posts.

There is something innocuously pleasant about going to the Village and walking down Bleecker Street, stopping at the (crowded!) Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes and looking at the cute and quirky holiday decorations on brownstones and in store windows. That’s it. Nothing could be simpler, less taxing. And short-lived.

Tomorrow, a return to the moment when I nearly missed the bus for O’Hare. Sigh. Poland didn’t quite leave my system the way it was supposed to.

No room inside for a tree, or for the family bikes. 

From Magnolia Bakery: two down, seven to go 

holiday pink, inside and out 

Holidays? What holidays? Oh, those holidays! Yes, sure, right, I remember.

Hey, jingle bells, jingle bells!
Huh? You mean we’re in the Christmas season?

Where have you been? We are moments away from the big day itself!
This year I just cannot wrap my mind around Christmas. I have been in places that have holiday spirit up the wazoo, yet being away from home makes me think that the holiday season is remote.

Get with it! You are out of step with the calendar! Quit flipping the channels to different cities around the globe and start baking!
Monday. I am going home tomorrow. But why bake when there are holiday cakes for sale around the corner of every place I go to? This begs for a photo run. Just three examples from the past week:

Warsaw cakes, just down the block from my father's apartment 

the more elaborate Parisian holiday cakes 

around the corner from the NY apartment 

Haven't you had any cool Christmas moments in your travels?
Oh sure. Clearly the most pristine “holiday” moment has to be handed to Rynias. I mean, don’t they make Christmas cards that try hard to replicate these kinds of scenes?

A simple hay-stacking device used by highlanders 

winter sun, tall pines -- the mood is perfect 

And I have to give a thumbs up to Krakow for its holiday craft market. Insofar as people associate glass ornaments with Poland, you had them aplenty there. No, I did not bring one home. Bad enough that my sister gave me several hand-painted eggs (blown-out, of course) and they broke, I did not need to travel with broken glass as well. Things are pretty tight in my suitcase(s).

glass ornaments from Krakow: every tree should have some 

And in spite of the fact that New York department stores offer the most elaborate Christmas displays, I am drawn to the little ones in Paris. They are singularly different, each one attesting to the mood and predilection of the store owner.

a food shop with a traditional take on things (the little sheep move their heads) 

one of my favorites: a window in a small designer-clothes store 

In New York, what I find most evocative and holiday-ish are the trees propped against lampposts and parking meters. Nothing speaks so perfectly to the idea of a city Christmas.

Are New Yorkers rather 'last minute' about their tree buying?  

Ah well. Tomorrow marks the end of living out of a suitcase for a little while. I would say it’s full steam ahead in terms of holiday cheer except that I just got an email from a friend who is complaining about the traffic on streets leading to malls, and another email from someone who says it’s damn cold in Madison, and of course, my students have been “enjoying” themselves filling out bluebooks all week-end long – blue books that I’ll have to read with alacrity, so I can’t say that returning home will be one happy holiday indulgence. I’m thinking a snowstorm might be nicely evocative. Just hold the flakes until I’m done traveling, please.