Christmas is Over (if you want it)

Yes, yes, I know most of you have moved on to New Years, but I'm just finishing up my Christmas because I'm doing everything at a leisurely pace this year just because I can.

This year, BigTea and I drove down to L.A. to celebrate our usual non-traditional Christmas with the kids. This was the first year in a long time that we didn't have a tree, the reason being that the Tootz's kitties eat trees and then urp them up all over the place. But she did have the decorations out and, like old friends, it was lovely to see them interspersed with her and the BF's pop-culture items. Pictured is my straw Archangel Gabriel tree-topper I got in Ensenada when I was ten, cradled in the arms of a well-loved teddy bear.

We had a non-trad homemade ricotta gnocchi Christmas Eve dinner followed by a non-trad roll-your-own sushi Christmas dinner. (I confess, we have done that a few times now that it is verging on being traditional--we'll have to come up with something else next year.)

Some of my blog readers might recall that last spring when the suitcases came out, The Pooh stopped eating--which is a very dangerous thing for a cat to do. So, because of the good graces of the Tootz he was invited to come along. Due to his largeness, we bought him a medium dog crate before we left, and I'm sure he was much more comfortable than in the normal sized cat carrier he's traveled in before. I'm sure there was a panic moment when he thought he might be going to the vets, but he did see the suitcases get into the car with him and I can only wonder what that made him think.

One thing's for certain. It did not make him think he'd be spending the next seven days with four other cats (pictured above is Francis checking out The Pooh). He did a decent amount of growling, but actually behaved very well when confronted with the fact that he isn't the only cat on earth. He also had An Adventure when BigTea, deciding that The Pooh needed to eat some grass outside, took him to the front yard where he was accosted by a friendly golden retriever. We did not know that our overweight thirteen-year-old cat (who has lived indoors for the last ten years) knew how to climb a tree. He does.

It has been a lazy seven days of present opening, eating at all our favorite restaurants, bird watching, and DVD watching. I saw the whole of Middlemarch--which led to a Rufus Sewell-a-thon and Dangerous Beauty--my favorite Christmas movie, The Ref and probably most of the second season of Arrested Development. Anybody recognize the picture on the right? Right. I kind of gave it away.

One of the very favorite things I did this year was to read aloud A Christmas Carol, which I downloaded from Project Gutenberg and imported onto my Kindle. BigTea and I started it before we left (and I discovered that he is a wonderful and dramatic reader). I read more of it on the ride to L.A. and then we finished it up last Sunday, when we went down to San Diego to celebrate my brother's fiftieth--a big surprise especially since his birthday was a month ago.

But I digress . . . It was especially lovely to read A Christmas Carol on the heels of the Voice II class I took from Barbara Samuel. Dickens is well regarded for his characterization and names (Ebenezer Scrooge!) as well as his ability to convey atmosphere. I especially like the fog . . .

The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms.

And there, with the word phantoms, the master foreshadows the story--a story that has lasted for 165 years and in many ways defined the spirit of Christmas as being all about giving, and caring for each other. It's about having enough to eat and enjoying it with the people you love and who love you.

I certainly had that this year. I enjoyed this year's Christmas far more than most. Usually the commercialism, the expense, the anxiety of whether I've got the right things for people take all the fun away. But thanks to Chas D., I remembered what it's really all about.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!