{"id":278,"date":"2005-12-25T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-25T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/2005\/12\/25\/christmas_prese\/"},"modified":"2005-12-25T13:33:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-25T13:33:00","slug":"christmas_prese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/2005\/12\/25\/christmas_prese\/","title":{"rendered":"

Christmas Present … as in Current, Today, Now, 2005<\/h2>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today started with a poppyseed bagel and goat cheese with peppercorns. The goat cheese is made locally by a man who has goats. Of course! We bought the cheese in a small cheese shop that I love. The proprietor is a cheese aficianado. He sells cheese the way wine sellers sell fine wines. He is knowledgeable and friendly. Most any cheese in the shop that can be sliced is available for tasting. He recommends cheeses and describes how they taste. I don’t drink wine but I love cheese. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Truth be told I shouldn’t be eating much cheese but recently, after
\nhaving some health problems, I learned that my allegedly healthy diet
\nmay have been the cause of one of my health problems. Now I am less
\nstringent about how I eat. I am thinking that it’s possible that one of
\nthese days they’re going to tell us that high cholesterol is caused by
\nan insufficient consumption of chocolate and they were wrong all along
\nabout some saturated fats. I’m not to the point of being a nutritional
\nwildwoman in my change in eating habits but if I want cheese and even
\nsome chocolate and an occasional french fry or three, I EAT THEM! Today
\nI have dined on lovely goat cheese and a Pina Colada juice as well as
\nIndian Mysore coffee. No day can start better than that!<\/p>\n

I have a chocolate layer cake for later. For after we eat sandwiches
\nwith sweet Lebanon bologna, horseradish cheddar cheese, whole wheat
\nbread. For after we eat the chicken with curry, cumin, cayenne pepper
\nand ground cashews in a yogurt based sauce. This is very good! <\/p>\n

Today didn’t really start with the food though. I neglected to
\nmention that I came downstairs in my bathrode, turned on the computer,
\nand checked for my email and internet messages just like how many
\nmillion people in the world today? This is a daily tradition now that
\nwe take for granted. The email doesn’t stop for Christmas or any other
\nholiday. If we had a major power failure, it would stop but how often
\ndoes that happen? <\/p>\n

Last night I corresponded through email with online friends. The
\nsister of one friend was visiting her. My friend lives down south.
\nWe’ve never met. My friend, her husband, and her sister were all on
\ndifferent computers at the same time in the same house on Christmas
\nEve. This is funny! The sister commented on it, on how we were
\ncommunicating with each other on Christmas Eve on our computers. Our
\ntraditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas extend to hanging out with
\neach other on our electronic boxes. Most of us have never met. This is
\na nice thing too. Few who have computers need ever be completely alone
\nif they are comfortable socializing through their blue or grey or
\nscreensaved windows on the world.<\/p>\n

I posted last night about Christmas traditions of over 20 years ago
\nthat ended when I left the circle of that large noisy Italian family.
\nNow I have in-laws who live a three hour drive away. They are on good
\nterms with their son, my husband, but interestingly the three of them,
\nmy son and his parents, don’t get together for Christmas day or eve.
\nThey leave it loose as to when they’ll celebrate Christmas. Some years
\nit hasn’t been till spring that we’ve gotten there to exchange
\npresents, eat meals together, and catch up on stories. One year it
\nwasn’t till October! My in-laws this time are endlessly patient. They
\nare so patient that I feel guilty about how late we get there! Yet I
\nappreciate their patience.<\/p>\n

My mother-in-law loves to shop and find great bargains. She loves to
\nbuy us presents. By the time we see her, whenever we see her, she has
\nbags of presents for us. Some are useful. Some less so. I know she has
\ngreat fun shopping for them and buying them. She loves to share the
\nstory of the find. How much it was priced before a markdown and how
\nlittle she paid. She is an excellent shopper. One of my great regrets
\nis that I have never gone to shop with her at all the stores where she
\nfinds her bargains. But I am not a big shopper. So the regret is in
\nfantasy only. The reality might not have been anything like the fantasy
\nof the shopping trips I have missed. Did that make sense? I hope so.<\/p>\n

Our Christmases these days are loosely planned. We decide just days
\nbefore THE day what we are going to do, if anything. Sometimes we must
\nseem to be drab people to others who love the flash and glitz of
\nholidays if they knew us well enough to know what we are doing. I
\nagree. One person’s drab is another’s joy, peace, and quiet. <\/p>\n

Some Christmases, like this one, I don’t put up a tree and decorate.
\nSome Christmases, like this one, we don’t go to visit anyone, no one
\nvisits us, and we’re satisfied with each other’s company and the more
\nremote company of internet friends and strangers. These days this is
\nnot so different from the Christmases of a lot of people in the world.
\nSome might even find it enviable. We’ve had Christmases where we have
\ndone less. One Christmas a few years ago I spent part of the day having
\nmyself photographed by my husband as I stood outside in the snow, arms
\noutstretched, with a sheet over my head so that I could have a picture
\nof myself as a ghost to share with my online friends. I may have that
\njpg file around here some place to share. I’ll have to look. Here it is!\n<\/p>\n

\"Ghost<\/p>\n

The Ghost of Christmas Past
\nFrom Christmas 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

So we have no presents to unwrap today, no children to watch
\nunwrapping presents, no need to drive somewhere else for dinner, no
\nstress, no big party, not even any church. I haven’t turned the TV on
\nyet. I am still in my bathrobe and it is 11:30 AM. The computer has
\ntaken the most of my time so far and it’s been enjoyable. Some people
\nmight think I should be unhappy because our Christmas is so different
\nfrom the projected ideal. To me it feels like a fine Christmas. I’m
\nhappy with it. I’ve enjoyed the other kinds of Christmases too, the
\nkind where there are lots of live people and children and rush and
\nbustle and others cooking food and lights and the sound of wrapping
\npaper being crinkled and Christmas music and conversation and the
\nsmells of roasting ham or turkey or tomato sauce and pine trees and
\nbaby diapers and alcohol and cigarettes and beer and wine and … uh oh
\n…. let’s stay away from the memories of the beer and wine and what
\nhappens then! Quick! Think of the decorated trees and the friendly
\npeople and the nice aunts and uncles who kiss on the cheek and hug and
\ngive great presents! Hmmmm.<\/p>\n

It’s a fine fine Christmas and not a tradition because here our
\ntradition is loose. We have a tradition of no traditions. Each
\nChristmas is its own day, forms its own memories. Each Christmas is its
\nown present to us and may or may not be a surprise. We like our
\nChristmases to be like a wrapped present which isn’t figured out till
\nyou take the paper off and then you find out what it is. The answer may
\nbe different or it may be the same but the answer is never known till
\nit’s Christmas.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n

Snicks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today started with a poppyseed bagel and goat cheese with peppercorns. The goat cheese is made locally by a man who has goats. Of course! We bought the cheese in a small cheese shop that I love. The proprietor is a cheese aficianado. He sells cheese the way wine sellers sell fine wines. He is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays","category-weblogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estrangements.com\/theblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}