CHASING DOWN THE MUSE: Thankful for a Laguna winter

“Sleigh bells ring; are you listening?”

Not if you’re in Laguna Beach. Not this week, at least.

With perfect fall weather — warm days and cool nights — we have only to gloat that we are not one of those who have already taken to shovels and heavy jackets. Instead, we wander our beaches in shorts and flops, sipping our Starbucks and maybe flipping a volleyball. At worst case, we may layer on a sweatshirt, but the perfect weather is one more in a long list of reasons to be grateful for our Laguna homes.

Today is the start of the shopping season. In years past, my mother-in-law, Bessie Kawaratani, and her daughter, Linda, would be lined up at South Coast Plaza before the doors opened. They were keen on those after-Thanksgiving sales and the variety that the shopping court provided.

Linda has since moved to Tokyo with her husband, Ken Minohara, and Bessie hasn’t been able to instill in Stephen a wild sense of department store angst. They both seem happier to share breakfast and do some shopping at the Japanese market.

It makes it hard to think of winter when the weather is so nice. Some kids, like my son Cooper and his girlfriend, Kerri, have rushed off to the mountains to ski. Park City was their destination this week, to share the holiday with his dad and his new wife, and his five younger brothers by his previous step-mom. The report, sadly, was no snow, so the skiing part lacked. But at least they were all able to get together and create some new memories.

Memories. I think that fills the holiday season more than anything else. For those of us whose kids have left the house (grateful here), tiny feet and Santa’s cookies have been shelved for future grandkids.

The spirit of Christmas past races through the heart, carried forward with photo albums. When my family of origin was intact, it was Dad who went out just after Thanksgiving to find the biggest tree he could fit in our house. Usually, it was taller than one story, and so sat in the entry stairwell, it’s beautiful star reaching upward almost out of view. The season was filled with holiday parties — as it is now. I like that we come together more often. The spirit of giving truly comes alive — even when financial resources are strapped.

This season has become one that seems more directed at sharing. We are dedicating more time for one another and worry less about what stuff we need to give.

This week, Michael Kang of 5’ fame, again hosted a cooking/cutting /mashing soirée in the back lot of his restaurant.

Turkeys were sliced, stuffing packed and potatoes mashed.

The results were shipped to shelters and food kitchens across the county so that those without resources might enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

It is hard to find a more rewarding feeling than devoting an evening to feed others, and the camaraderie in the preparation truly jump starts any season of giving.

Thank you, again, Michael, for your unwavering devotion to the community and those less fortunate.

With only a few days to spare, we’ll say a sad (or fond) adieu to November and come crashing in on December and the end of 2008. This has been a tumultuous year, and one that I’m sure most of us will be glad to tuck into the “past” file folder.

There is sufficient confusion about our individual and collective futures that remembering our good fortune can only enhance our interactions. We have so much, even when we have less or little.

We live in a country where we are free to speak our minds, practice a religion of our choice, have opportunities for education, and the option to pick and choose satisfying work — without consideration of race or color. We flirt with being able to marry whomever we would choose. This year, we have gifted ourselves with a president whose platform embraced ideas of change and hope.

It is hope that engages my mind. Not the “pollyanna” idea that if I hope enough, then it will be so. But hope that my energies will be rewarded; hope that my country can ascend again as a respected world power. Hope that my children, instead of inheriting stifling debt and a broken economic, social and educational system, will be able to carry forward our tradition of improvement and greatness.

It is an unwavering belief in our collective strengths that carries me on this fall day down our sandy beaches.

I watch surfers ride small waves, a pod of dolphin dive for fish and a handful of small children splash giddily in the cold waters.

We have so much.

And yes, thankful...and not a sleigh in sight.

CATHARINE COOPER writes, designs and loves to play. She can be reached at cooper@catharinecooper.com