Tag Archives: Christmas

A Speedy Christmas

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Currently playing on Speed TV, a NASCAR Beyond the Wheel marathon. Each race of the 2006 season is being recapped, from a pit crew/spotter/crew chief point of view. At a half-hour per race, it’s a great way to review the season quickly.

Then at 6PM EST tonight, a bunch of Barrett-Jackson auto auctions. I admire and am a bit envious of those who can restore classic cars. But I do enjoy watching, and seeing the iron from days gone by. I’ll have my drool cup ready.

All in all, a good day for gearheads and gearhead wannabes.

-k-

O Holy Night

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O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Merry Christmas.

-k-

Gumbo Day

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SWMBO and I prepare a non-traditional, though extremely tasty Christmas meal, consisting of shrimp remoulade, chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, and a dessert. When you’re empty nesters, you can do things like this. We’ve had this meal on Christmas day for 6 or 7 years, so it’s our tradition now.

We’re kicking the meal ahead a day this year, Christmas falling on a Monday, and having other things to attend to tomorrow. So, the shrimp are boiled, seasoned and peeled, the cast iron pot is warming up, and in a few short minutes, I’ll be doing one of Emeril’s legendary two beer roux.1 Sometimes they turn out to be three beer roux. They have always been good roux, and I’m hoping to continue the streak.

-k-

According to Merriam-Webster the plural of “roux” is also “roux”.

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The Twelve Days of Christmas

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We’ve all heard the song countless times. Ever wonder about significance of the lords a’ leaping, et.al.? From my favorite e-mail jokester from Brown City MI, an explanation. And we all know that everything spread by internet email is a chiseled in stone fact. Right or wrong, I thought this was appealing, so without further ado:

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.

It has two levels of meaning:
the surface meaning, plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church.
Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

“The partridge in a pear tree”…. was Jesus Christ.

“Two turtle doves”…. were the Old & New Testaments.

“Three French hens”….stood for faith, hope and love.

“The four calling birds”….were the 4 gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

“The five golden rings”….recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

“The six geese-a-laying”….stood for the six days of creation.

“Seven swans a swimming”…. represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit-Prophesy, serving, teaching, exhortation, contribution, leadership and mercy.

“The eight maids a milking”….were the eight beatitudes.

“Nine ladies dancing”….were the nine fruits of the Holy
Spirit…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

“The ten lords a leaping”….were the Ten Commandments.

“The eleven pipers piping”….stood for the 11 faithful disciples.

“The twelve drummers drumming”….symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles Creed.

-k-

It’s Still Advent

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If you’ve heard Silent Night, or O Holy Night, or the extremely untimely We Three Kings one too many times this year, that’s because it’s not Christmas yet. We’re still in the Advent season, in which we prepare ourselves for the joy to come.

Jesus was a Jew. The Jews today still await the Messiah’s arrival in the world. And to that end, we all prepare; we prepare differently, but we prepare. We wait, with varying degrees of patience. But, we wait. Heaven on earth will never happen in our lifetime, nor anyone’s. It’s not in the cards. I’ll just submit a great Advent Hymn, while we wait for the glory that has been, and the Glory yet to be revealed:

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee O Israel

O come, thou rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny
From depths of of hell thy people save
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave

-k-

Brooklynite

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SWMBO is off at her hen dinner Christmas celebration with her female coworkers, so I’m scavenging for myself this evening. Even though there are plenty of home-cooked leftovers from which to choose, and several varieties of microwaveable bounty in the freezer, tonight I opted for a Brooklyn style pepperoni pizza from Domino’s.

I have no idea how authentically Brooklyn the pizza is; what I like about it is its thin but sturdy crust. Thicker then thin crust, much thinner than pan style and regular. And like the ad says, the slice can be folded. Mmmmm….

Domino’s doesn’t deliver beer, however. I took care of that situation on the way home. Now to find the remote for the teevee..

-k-

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The Pageant of Peace

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The 80th annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree takes place on the National Mall tonight. The President will light up the tree, and several musical artists will perform.

I’m all for peace, but this thing bothers me; there will doubtless be religious trappings of every religion but Druidism(though the tree itself may cover that), inspiring to few of any religious persuasion, and ignored by those that don’t believe. Or it will be devoid of any religious reference, and be merely a feel-good winter festival.

In either case, why bother?

-k-

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Deck The Halls

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SWMBO and I decorate on a more modest basis now that we’re here alone. But today, she got the place looking like Christmas; garland on the banisters, auto on/off candles in the windows. With just the two of us, we do a teeny tree if any at all. We await next week’s arrival of the fresh wreath for the front door, and we’re all set. We may be still putting stuff back in March, but we’re good for now.

-k-

118 Days

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118, the number of days until Christmas, 2006. SWMBO and I received our first “Christmas Gifts” catalog of the season. It gets worse every year; it’s not even Labor Day yet.

Having said that, I must admit the “Pull my Finger Santa” in the catalog was cute, in a cantankerous old wanker kinda way.

-k-