Living in London for more than a decade, I’ve yet to develop any lasting Christmastime traditions. I’ve done my best to make it back home to the States to spend Christmas with my family and catch up with as many old friends as possible. Aside from that, I’ve just kind of winged it the few times I’ve stayed in London during the last couple of weeks of the year.
Maybe that will change this year though. Kemey and I just moved into a new house that had we purchased in the summer. We’ve got a garden (a first for me in London) and are thinking of getting a living Christmas tree to plant in the garden. Throughout the seasons whenever we look outside to the garden, we’ll be reminded our first Christmas together in our new home (assuming the tree lives!). And, I suppose, at the end of each year we’ll be able to have a look at the tree and see how it’s grown and changed – and reflect upon how our relationship may have done so as well.
The folks at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery have never been the type to follow the norm. That could be why their “tree” is anything but traditional. Standing over 25 feet tall and made entirely of barrels, it’s a seasonal sign of good times, good friends and damn good whiskey. Despite its unconventional nature it has a way of drawing people closer together, much like the spirit it once housed.
Growing up on the border of Georgia and Tennessee (about an hour and a half drive from the Jack Daniel’s Distillery), a bottle of Tennessee sippin’ whiskey with an iconic black and white Old No. 7 label was a pretty common sight. And on a nippy December night in Appalachia, such a bottle wouldn’t be such a bad item to keep within reach.
Of course, it should be noted that my parents were as teetotal as they come. Christmas was festive nonetheless, with family reunions, Santa Claus, a big Christmas tree (actually my family always had two – one fake and one live), and all the usual traditions. It was a great time of year, yielding plenty of fond memories.
As I’m hanging in London this year for the festive season and working on some renovations in our house, I might just have to a sip or two of Jack for a taste of back home. I might take inspiration from the distillery’s barrel tree idea. We’ve got an awful lot of boxes yet to be unpacked that might look nice stacked like a tree with some fairy lights slung round ‘em.
Are you starting any new traditions this festive season or looking forward to adhering to some well-established favourites? However you plan to enjoy the wind down to the New Year, be sure to celebrate joyfully and drink responsibly. Merry Christmas.
Published in association with Jack Daniel’s.
it’s hard to beat the twelve days of fap-mas.