So much to tell:
8:30 a.m. breakfast of leftover almond poundcake since the top collapsed and we can't take it to church tonight (yummy Wildtree mix, with slivered almonds on top!)
10:00 a.m. Mama and Sis head to Italian deli to get cold cuts for dinner; Sis receives myriad tastes from the boisterous men behind the counter. She chooses some panettone-like croissants and pandoro to share. Plus cannoli. Meanwhile, Bud and I make more fantastic snowflakes from the Make Your Own Snowflakes book (which basically involves a funky 6-fold shape and tracing a snowflake stem)
11:00 a.m. We head outside into the barely above freezing weather to burn off some excited energy by scootering.
11:45 a.m. We glue our gingerbread houses together and wait for them to harden
12:15 p.m. Ma, Gong, and Goo arrive from the city with tons of food from Chinatown in Flushing
1:00 p.m. We have a huge lunch of Peking Duck, vegetarian Peking Duck roll, and lots of other steamed dumplings, scallion pancakes, scallion noodles, and such.
2:00 p.m. Sis and Bud play chess and Cranium Jr with Goo. I talk briefly to Uncle Sis in coastal Texas (Aunt Sis wasn't near the phone.)
3:00 p.m. They make holiday Shrinky Dinks and the accompanying tree (Shelley, we didn't realize the tree came with the set!). I nap on the couch.
4:00 p.m. I wake up; Goo sleeps. We start decorating gingerbread houses. Sis creates the most colorful and ornate roof ever. Bud devises a door made out of fruit leather. I make an English cottage with thatched (Chex) roof and half-timbering (pretzels), plus a fence and an open gate. Goo wakes up later and makes a teepee.
5:00 p.m. We eat dinner--muffalettas, while listening to our Preservation Hall holiday CD, the first of our New Oreleans-styled Christmas food. Ma, Gong, and Goo surprise me with candlelit Hong Kong pastries for my birthday.
6:15 p.m. We change clothes and head to (our new) church. Mama has warm virgin Gluwhein for the car and a faux sheep fleece blanket for me to lie under.
7:00 p.m. Service is beautiful. Lots of music. And a congregational carol sing. And for the first time ever, Sis and Bud actually read the lyrics to the songs we sing, including "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "Come All Ye Faithful," "Joy to the World," "Silent Night," "In the Bleak Midwinter," "The First Noel," "Angels We Have Heard on High," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (one of Mama's favorites.) It made me teary to hear their little voices (I was already teary--not our "old church," our third wedding anniversary, Gommie and Pop weren't there, etc.). There was an hilarious story read about Eddie the Elf, an injury to Santa, and Murray the substitute Santa who thinks the reindeers' names were "Mason, and Dixon, and Richard M. Nixon." Cookies (we take store-bought chocolate-dipped, raspberry filled madeleines) and cider afterwards rounded off the evening.
8:45 p.m. On the way home, while singing more songs, we spot an amazing sight: a boat fully decorated with lit tree, other glowing decorations, and mini-lighthouse, tooting down the river. We turned around so we could see it again. And again.
9:00 p.m. We feed the reindeer oatmeal, put out warm chocolate chip cookies (because that's what OSV Santa said were his favorites) and egg nog, put on our new Christmas pajamas (candy for Sis; penguins for Bud), and head off to SQUIRT time with new Nutcracker books for each.
9:30 Ma and Gong head to their hotel. Goo, Mama, and I are up chatting and wrapping presents.
Merry Christmas Eve, y'all!
No comments:
Post a Comment