The day started with me enjoying my bed until 9ish. I got going and found a banana for breakfast with my French Press-made liberal coffee. I am still working through my last bag of Equal Exchange from my previous purchase. I have a Christmas gift of coffee from the Smiths from NYC’s Zabar’s on 79 Street to use soon. I also have a subscription to coffee from the Kramers and have my Rwanda coffee waiting, too. These, too, are fairly traded, so exotic and liberal coffee (so perfect for a Democrat). Thanks, everyone!
It was the first Christmas Eve without Susie, but there were only a few wet eyes. We are also missing others, so Christmas seems like an exotic dark chocolate that you are not sure you like as it is so bitter. Yes, it’s still good, and I am happy to be here again in Oregon in the rain doing Christmas.
It is gray again and wet, but no flooding (so far), and it is cold (down to the high thirties, 3C).
I finally got started and made my puffy roll recipe. I cook the flour in milk and then add the cool milk, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and butter, and get a sticky dough, not the stiff dough I got the previous time! I use the KitchenAid’s kneed hook (I don’t kneed). Soon, the sticky dough will be proofed for 90 minutes.
I watch a DC Joker animated show with the best voice work and some jokes; I recommend Joker’s Favor. I decided on something boring for lunch, Beef soup from Cambell’s, which seems perfect for a rainy morning. I drained the rum from the dried fruit and pecans, and that made an ideal holiday spiced rum I enjoyed while assembling the rolls, this time stuffed with rum-soaked items.
I wrapped some presents, showered, dressed plain, and threw the now puffy rolls into the oven. I make the glaze and use it to glue the fruit, almonds, and cherry I added to each roll. One roll had no fruit; I got that one. I also take on a normal one. Excellent. I put the rest on a platter and will leave it with Dondrea, Z, and family. While I like them, they are not good for me.
Next, I pop over to Karyn’s house and deliver her gift. I get the Dungeons and Dragons crew something every Christmas. Karyn is in with her husband, and we chat for a bit. I show her how to use her new potion-styled d20 die roller. Next, I head to Safeway. I get something to make for dinner in the next couple of days: ribeye steaks and salad makings. I also replenished my supply of powdered sugar, and I hoped to have time to make more rolls–nope.
I am out of time. I shave again and dress in a suit with suspenders, a golden vest, a pocket watch, etc. This takes a while. I load the goodies and gifts into Air Volvo’s cargo hold (already stuffed with board games) and find a seat in First Class. The traffic is light, but the extra-legal driving has reached a holiday-induced pitch; I am braking and weaving. People are rushing for that last bobble or ingredient with the intensity of fighter pilots. Snoopy’s Red Baron was out there today!
I reach the church fifteen minutes or more early, and surprisingly, the church is filling. Candles are passed out–the better version with a plastic cup instead of the paper circle that lets you enjoy dripping hot wax on your hand, clothing, and the floor. I noticed that with the hand sanitizer (flammable), there are squirt bottles full of water. I made a joke to that pastor that it is vital to not confuse the bottle in case of fire. He and his daughters thought that was quite funny. Church humor.
The service was one of the longest ones I have attended at First United Methodist Church of Beaverton, going over an hour. Ken, our lead pastor, in his sandals and come-as-you-are Oregon look, gave an excellent sermon and managed to be political without being divisive–quite a trick in the USA. He points out that kings and leaders are often not with the people and that often they order, like the Czar in 1905, to have troops fire on peaceful protests. They are not the king or leaders with us, the folks. But, the name given to Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, and we were thankful that God is not distant like royalty or a leader, but with us. This is political in that God eschewed the distance like political leaders demanded; instead, God stands with us and attends to us. I thought it was an excellent message for a holiday with two wars ongoing.
We sang often, there were some excellent solos, and the church choir sang the best I have heard in years. A pleasant service.
Note: I often have trouble remembering the details of a church service, so I take the bulletin, which helps me bring the service back to my mind. I use memory tricks to recall a day after sleeping. I start with a framework: wake up, travel, lunch, travel, dinner, and after-dinner tasks. I try to remember what those framework events were for the previous day. I look for items I carried that day or recipes. Seeing these items brings memories barraging forward in my mind–often making me forget something else (it is best to write and then look for them when I get stuck). There is often something I miss that I remember a few hours later, but I have learned to forgive myself for that.
After that, I headed to a boisterous party at Dondrea’s house. I brought the wine Richard and Shawna gave me for Christmas. Wine always tastes better with friends and a party. The wine was great (we opened it and drank the bottle between the four wine drinkers). Dondrea serves Italian-style pasta and salad for post-church dinner. Dondrea has been working on reproducing a bolognese sauce she had in NYC, and she thinks it is close. It is pretty good–better than most restaurant versions I have had–more subtle. It was cooking all day and had even been reheated. I find the cool-down and reheat balances spices in Italian-style dishes.
Donna, Dondrea’s mother, and I talked about our losses at the party. We both lost our partner this winter. It was good to talk to someone affected the same way. Again, holidays come with wet eyes, often at unexpected times. Today, I could not sing some of the songs at the service as I missed singing them with Susie (though with my terrible voice, lack of pitch, and inability to follow along, I am sure my singing was never missed). I could not sing the first ones, but the rest I could–well, if you can call my attempt singing.
Returning to the narrative, we chatted, exchanged gifts, and then Air Volvo took me home. I was in bed around 11PM but had trouble sleeping. My hat fell at about 1AM. I put it in a silly place in the bedroom, which scared me right off the bed. F**K!
I finally managed to sleep later.
Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading.
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