Photo Journal #2

Holiday hangover

Happy New Year friends! Or maybe you are in the teensiest bit of denial that the calendar has swung around and deposited you on the doorstep of a January that you feel wholly unprepared to look at let alone shake hands with. Respect and zero judgment. The pressure we put on to ourselves to hit January as NEW! BETTER! BADASS DRAGON SLAYERS AND DESTOYERS OF TERRIBLE HABITS is stupid, exhausting, and did I mention stupid? Maybe your 2023 is on track to kick off in March. So be it.

I have one foot in and one foot elsewhere in terms of shaking off the cocoon of a lax schedule and overall respite I enjoyed over these last few weeks. And that’s probably why I am still happily sifting through tons of photos I took of holiday scenes in various locales around the area. I know that it’s time to recycle trees and take down wreathes (HIDE THE EGGS! EASTER WILL BE HERE, LIKE TOMORROW!), but there is something to be said for pocketing a little bit of seasonal magic. I’m not talking about the kind in the Hallmark Channel movie, A Magical Fairytale Christmas One Magical Night in Magical Snowy Pinetree Valley. I mean in the things we cull from a desire to reconnect with our most whole selves during this time of year such as kindness, connection, empathy, and gratitude. I would like to jingle those damn bells for longer than a month out of the year, please.

Beacon Hill:

I’m a frequent visitor to Beacon Hill because it’s simply one of the coolest, prettiest, historic neighborhoods in Boston. And yes privilege and class disparities and probably race and ableism and all the inequalities that come with this extremely monied area, but I will choose to hate the game and enjoy the lovely, unique player.

The holiday decor game was especially amped in Beacon Hill through the pumpkin-harvest-Halloween seasonal kick-off straight through to the fests of Christmas-Hanukkah-Kwanza. Maybe people were leaning into the shallow pocket of hard-won optimism after several years of glass-cracked-and-totally-empty. Or given the nature of the neighborhood with its strict guidelines on appearance and upkeep-- (Want to refresh the paint job on your black shutters? You will have to petition a board and if you’re approved they will let you know what shade and brand of black paint to use. Welcome to a special kind of homeowner hell)—maybe they were bound by law to pull out all the holiday stops. Either way, I was one of the many who came to bask in the shine and greenery and merry seemingly effortlessly produced by some highly compensated exterior design elves.

Louisburg Square is a little enclave within the Beacon Hill area. It’s named in homage to Massachusetts merchant and soldier, William Pepperrell and his involvement in the Battle of Louisbourg. In 1745 Pepperrell organized, financed, and lead the defeat of the French Fortress of Louisbourg. I grew up in a neighborhood I would refer to as “up behind the Store 24,” which was our town’s version of 7-11. So it should not even surprise you a little bit to learn that the townhouses ringing this sliver of Boston real estate are priced in the low, low $16 million range.

I was completely tractor beamed over to this house with its luxurious greenery foaming, spilling, practically regurgitating its seasonal splendor all over the damn place. Tacky? Busy? Marvelous? Or a clear case of someone using their house as a proverbial measuring stick amidst their fellow Louisbourgians?  I honestly still can’t decide and seventy-three photos didn’t help.

Fancy and REAL. Nothing bought here at Big Lots. Nope! ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography

I failed at getting a wide shot, but there are two massive stone urns on either side stuffed full of the same wreathy greenery. I half expected to see it creeping down the entire block like a deranged holiday beanstalk (Sidenote: I WOULD watch that Hallmark Channel holiday movie!) ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography

One of the many twee doors tucked into parts of the neighborhood. Perhaps the setting for the Hallmark channel’s holiday movie: The Night Golem Saves Christmas! A Magical Hobbit Holiday Merry Movie!

One ring to rule the yule in this merry Hobbit house! ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography

There are also many mysterious-looking alleyways and courtyards stealthily wedged between the storied townhouses and stately residences. What? You think Harry Potter invented the weird, wonderful, trippy little alleyway? Beacon Hill folk pay good money for the added atmosphere and possibly time-traveling capabilities provided by these unique spaces.

I already inquired and offers for this alleyway begin at 8 million. ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography

Charles Street is the neighborhood’s main boulevard littered with charming shops, cafes, and restaurants. Every storefront looks like a sketch from a Charles Dickens’ novel. Isn’t it nice to know that the folks of Beacon Hill are regulars who buy their hand-embossed stationary and get their Florentine couches reupholstered locally just like you and me?

Just take my money for the sheer sweetness of this entire block. ©SheilaMoeschenPhotography

Thanks for reading friends! Stay well and stay curious!

X! She