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7 Tevet/24 December, 2009
Dec. 24th, 2009 11:00 pmIt is the Christmas season with all the holiday traditions and fun that come with it. When I was little (and now too really) New Year was the big non-religious winter holiday that sort of combined Halloween and Christmas. We got to dress up in costumes in school assemblies and get some candy and Grandpa Frost or Ded Moroz would bring all the children presents under the tree on New Year’s morning. Only children got presents and there were no elves really. We never really celebrated Christmas in America either, since we are not Christians and all that. We used to go to the movies on Christmas day sometimes as something to do. But five or six years ago (or maybe more, I don’t even remember when exactly) Bears’ family invited me over for the holiday and I started spending Christmas with them every year since. Since his family is very religious and Christmas was always Bear’s favorite holiday, their Christmas celebrating is very Christmasy with the decorations (like a real Christmas tree with white lights and a major on a mantle) and things like church. And all the rituals are now habit to me and are very comforting in their holiday regularity. I always look forward to it. Plus I get to spend much time with Bear which is always great.
Most morning I was either packing or cross-stitching.
By the time Bear drove over to my house and had lunch and we left there was lots and lots of Christmas traffic – two and a half hours in the car for a hour and a half ride. Which is always part of Christmas. Somehow it always takes us forever. There was one stretch of the road that felt like eternity because we were barely moving but it was twenty minutes in reality. We listened to Christmas songs.
By the time we got home it was really time to cook. Bear and I usually make Christmas Eve dinner. We started this years ago when we tried a seafood lasagna recipe which was a hit. The following year it was regular lasagna but we went back to seafood lasagna again. I think this was the third time we made it. It is a good combination of crab meat (and sometimes lobster meat) and shrimp and ricotta cheese and mozzarella. It is yummy. This year seafood lasagna was mixed with a bit of grumpiness because others tried to impose on it. Bear’s parents thought they might start on the noodles since we were in traffic and then his Mom kept hovering a bit. I get that at home when I try to cook and this was our recipe and our thing, so I got a bit grumpy but Bear made me less grumpy with hugs. The lasagna was still very tasty and a success.
After dinner we went to Christmas 10 o’clock mass. This is the only time of year I go to church. I figure it is only polite. I kind of view it as a social experiment and relate it to my medieval people, although I know exactly how different the Catholic Mass is today. And chanting in one voice by the whole congregation when they recite articles of faith does creep me out. But some things are interesting. Usually we go to a mass on Christmas day but Bear’s parents got this assignment to be Eucharistic ministers so we went in the evening. And actually it was better in the evening since it was a different reading and sermon. The priest read from Isaiah, which I wanted to mock a bit. I also found amusing that the priest is referencing Googling. The cantor guy or whatever the main singer is called in Catholic church had an amazing bass-baritone voice and the choir was very pretty.
Overall it was a nice Christmas Eve although with Christmas season came palpitations too and there was some foreshadowing of it all day.
Most morning I was either packing or cross-stitching.
By the time Bear drove over to my house and had lunch and we left there was lots and lots of Christmas traffic – two and a half hours in the car for a hour and a half ride. Which is always part of Christmas. Somehow it always takes us forever. There was one stretch of the road that felt like eternity because we were barely moving but it was twenty minutes in reality. We listened to Christmas songs.
By the time we got home it was really time to cook. Bear and I usually make Christmas Eve dinner. We started this years ago when we tried a seafood lasagna recipe which was a hit. The following year it was regular lasagna but we went back to seafood lasagna again. I think this was the third time we made it. It is a good combination of crab meat (and sometimes lobster meat) and shrimp and ricotta cheese and mozzarella. It is yummy. This year seafood lasagna was mixed with a bit of grumpiness because others tried to impose on it. Bear’s parents thought they might start on the noodles since we were in traffic and then his Mom kept hovering a bit. I get that at home when I try to cook and this was our recipe and our thing, so I got a bit grumpy but Bear made me less grumpy with hugs. The lasagna was still very tasty and a success.
After dinner we went to Christmas 10 o’clock mass. This is the only time of year I go to church. I figure it is only polite. I kind of view it as a social experiment and relate it to my medieval people, although I know exactly how different the Catholic Mass is today. And chanting in one voice by the whole congregation when they recite articles of faith does creep me out. But some things are interesting. Usually we go to a mass on Christmas day but Bear’s parents got this assignment to be Eucharistic ministers so we went in the evening. And actually it was better in the evening since it was a different reading and sermon. The priest read from Isaiah, which I wanted to mock a bit. I also found amusing that the priest is referencing Googling. The cantor guy or whatever the main singer is called in Catholic church had an amazing bass-baritone voice and the choir was very pretty.
Overall it was a nice Christmas Eve although with Christmas season came palpitations too and there was some foreshadowing of it all day.
