“Remoted” Day 283 (Thursday)

Christmas Eve has a different feel this year. Since I was a kid, and for decades before that, my family’s tradition was a Christmas Eve party with lots of food. When I was young, there was the exchanging of “family gifts,” which almost always included a new pair of pajamas, and stuff like socks and underwear. On Christmas Day, there was the opening of an obscene pile of “Santa Claus gifts” (whilst wearing the new pajamas), and Mummu came to our house for a big dinner.

When I was young, hosting of the Christmas Eve parties rotated among the homes of Mummu and her sisters. When it was Mummu’s turn to host, I would be there as early as possible to help her prepare. There was baking, cooking, setting out the “nice” dishes, and setting up the relish trays and bowls of nuts to be done. It was fun. Everyone dressed up, and we kids each had a new Christmas outfit from Mummu. Many of the recipes made in Mummu’s kitchen have become Christmas family traditions, referred to now as “Mummu’s Kielbasa,” “Mummu’s Mexican Mocha Ball cookies,” “Mummu’s Pecan Turtle Cookies.” 

Christmas Eve party of one,
your dinner is ready.

As the older generation died off, the party alternated between Mom’s, my sister’s and my house. After my nieces were born, before the party we attended the Christmas Eve Service at our church where the candlelight singing of Silent Night choked me up every time. 

Since I moved to Lowell, and after our church in Fitchburg was dissolved due to declining membership and increasing expenses, Christmas Eve shifted to my house, and Christmas Day dinner at my sister’s. My brother and his wife usually come up from the Cape on the weekend close to Christmas, which extends the festivities by another day.

But not this year. Today was a vacation day, and true to the saga that is my life, instead of a day of R&R, there was a morning trip to the vet. Both boys came for the ride, but the visit was for Winston, who is consuming large quantities of water again. Blood work was done, his sugar is a little high and he’s a couple pounds lighter, but that puts him back to what he weighed when he first came to me, so that’s not bad. In a few days we’ll hear back on some other tests. There was a gift drop and brief visit at my sister’s and a driveway meetup at Dad’s. It wasn’t the usual Christmas activity, but it was still nice.

Merry 2020

After returning home, it was a late lunch of pineapple and black olive pizza delivered from my favorite local pizza shop, a departure from the usual Christmas Eve supper. The remainder of the afternoon was spent with Christmas movies on Lifetime and Hallmark Channel. An added bonus made the day even more special. After a very ungraceful dismount from the car that had him splatted on his belly in the driveway, Moose is now limping. I can't tell if the problem is with his paw or higher up on his shoulder, but the little guy seems hobbled. My luck dictates this could only happen on a major holiday immediately after returning from a trip to the vet. 

For Christmas Eve 2020, instead of hosting my family tonight to enjoy an overabundance of food including finger sandwiches (like Mummu used to make), “Mummu’s kielbasa,” hot and cold appetizers, cookies from Mummu’s recipes, and mulled wine, it’s just me and the dogs. Except for the limping dog, it’s pretty much like any other Thursday. There was the jolt of discovery that I’ve already seen the movies playing on both the Lifetime and Hallmark channels, but that was bound to happen eventually. There was the sad discovery that my cable lineup doesn’t include either channel airing “A Christmas Story” (TBS and TNT), so this evening’s feature presentation is “It’s a Wonderful Life” which is always a nice reminder.