I was originally trained as an architect working mostly on interiors, but soon ventured outside - into garden design. I’m a functional tetrachromat, and a hopeless plantoholic. To me, contrast, counterpoint, and diversity are what makes life interesting and engaging.Ĭolor has always informed everything I do. Aesthetically, while drawn to the visually clean, functional practicality and sustainable solutions that are the hallmarks of modern Scandinavia, I also have a deep appreciation for the raw, the weathered, and the worn - materials that tell a story. My outlook on life has roots in a culture rich in history and tradition, and I care a great deal about environmental stewardship. I may joke that I’m a sybarite, but the truth is, I find joy and luxury in life’s simple things as well. The path I’ve taken has been long and varied, and has given me a philosophical approach to life. I was born and raised in Sweden, By now, I have lived almost as long in the United States. Or, if you have any insights, please help me out! My next holiday hurdle is to try to figure out why absolutely everything has to be covered in glitter… Could it be the urge to bring the effect of real snow on a blue-bird day inside? Bear with me while I try to work these things out. Anyway, this revelation is a big relief, as my new understanding brings me closer to tolerating what will unfold in the next month or so. Or, they could be switched out seasonally – you know, hang the football up in fall during football season, the scuba diver up during summer, etc. The only thing I haven’t figured out is why these kinds of ornaments – since they have nothing to do with Christmas anyway – aren’t left hanging up year round. US culture is all about the individual, so I guess it makes sense. So, I guess, in essence Christmas ornaments here DO have cultural meaning in that they represent the interests and allegiances of the individual. Suddenly I SAW… The attraction lies in that they are yet another mode of self expression – like bumper stickers on a car, except three-dimensional. “I’m looking for an ornament with a bike.” And then I got it! This type of ornament was never meant to have any significance whatsoever in terms of traditional symbolism, cultural relevance etc. “My grandson learned to ride his bike this year”, she said. Then, just the other day – after 23 years of living here, I had a major – no, better make that MAJOR – revelation! I overheard a grandmother as she was filling her basket with ornaments – one appearing (to me) more ridiculous-looking than the other. Stuff that definitely would incur a roll of the eye, or two. I’m sure each and all of us have some funny or cheese-bally stuff around that we’re attached to – I know for sure I do. Funny or not, it still reads as a christmas tree. I laugh, but even though it’s hilarious and phenomenally hokey, I still get the idea. It flickers on when you turn on the lights, and its priceless campiness makes me laugh every time. Every year, she puts it in her guest bath as a seasonal joke. My mother for example, found this ultra-campy white little light-up ceramic christmas tree in the house they bought.
Some of us ex-pats have even adopted bits and pieces of it for sheer kitsch value. These kinds of seemingly arbitrary, contextually detached decorations make many of us outsiders regard American Holiday decor with a kind of bemused wonder. The red balls of course, have sinister origins in and of themselves, but pink flamingos and blown glass renditions of styrofoam cups? Uum… whaaa…?
I can even usually stomach those mega-hokey nativity scenes that pop up here and there. Where I come from, pigs, stars, gnomes and goats are as ubiquitous as jolly Santas and candy canes are here. Evergreens and lights, for example, I totally get that. Whatever lens you look at the world through – be it pagan, Christian, or any other dominant culture – certain symbols make more sense and are easier to understand than others.
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