The 2:35 AM Oakland Nativity
So yesterday I stood in the kitchen for four hours with the cordless headphones playing This American Life episodes. (To me, this is pure unfiltered heaven. There is nothing I like better to have a pound of unsalted butter in hand and have Ira Glass' staccato phrasing in my ears.)
What did I make?
The Brothers' family are life-long friends of utterly platinum quality. They are gracious enough to have us over every year to sing carols, although no one in my family could carry a tune is a bucket. The party had about 14 more people than usual. Still, all was going well... Until some yahoo I've never seen before at the annual gathering gave the six very active little children Christmas gifts of musical instruments (recorder, drums, castanets, cymbals, triangle, etc.) So it make the previously merely unsonorous occasion really quite horrifying. Steven & I had to duck out after "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" as there is not enough booze in the world to blot out the sound of a six year old with cymbals four feet away. There is a special hell for that generous stranger.
So. Here I am awake at 3 Am on Christmas. Past 1:04 AM, I couldn't sleep. (Money & employment worries, unfinished knitting, misc. coughing that refuses to go away) I seem to have left my book at the parent's house so it's TIVO for me, yipeee!
To my astonishment and delight I have found that there is a gay television cable channel already! Logo! I just had the happy chance to catch the last 30 minutes of HBO's jaw-droppingly brilliant Angels in America, right when Prior (oh, is there any man more beautiful than the lion-faced Justin Kirk?) is addressing the Board of Angels, telling them he will not be the prophet any longer and that he is going back to living, thank you very much. This 30 minutes is enough to reset me back into the right frame of mind. If you haven't seen this HBO masterpiece, go find it now.
What did I make?
- Sesame flatbread with a few variations
- Fleur de Sel caramels (these took longer to wrap than to make)
- Toffee with toasted pecans and dark chocolate
- Mark Bittman's cheese straws (ooo, I love mark bittman's nyt.com column)
The Brothers' family are life-long friends of utterly platinum quality. They are gracious enough to have us over every year to sing carols, although no one in my family could carry a tune is a bucket. The party had about 14 more people than usual. Still, all was going well... Until some yahoo I've never seen before at the annual gathering gave the six very active little children Christmas gifts of musical instruments (recorder, drums, castanets, cymbals, triangle, etc.) So it make the previously merely unsonorous occasion really quite horrifying. Steven & I had to duck out after "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" as there is not enough booze in the world to blot out the sound of a six year old with cymbals four feet away. There is a special hell for that generous stranger.
So. Here I am awake at 3 Am on Christmas. Past 1:04 AM, I couldn't sleep. (Money & employment worries, unfinished knitting, misc. coughing that refuses to go away) I seem to have left my book at the parent's house so it's TIVO for me, yipeee!
To my astonishment and delight I have found that there is a gay television cable channel already! Logo! I just had the happy chance to catch the last 30 minutes of HBO's jaw-droppingly brilliant Angels in America, right when Prior (oh, is there any man more beautiful than the lion-faced Justin Kirk?) is addressing the Board of Angels, telling them he will not be the prophet any longer and that he is going back to living, thank you very much. This 30 minutes is enough to reset me back into the right frame of mind. If you haven't seen this HBO masterpiece, go find it now.
So good morning, Darlings. Merry Christmas.
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