A Famous Hat Christmas

I hope my readers had a good Christmas. I had to come into work today. It is a little eerie here at the office, because I am the only one here at the moment. It’s very tempting to sneak out early… There is another office with the light on and music playing, so presumably that person is still around somewhere.

Christmas Eve Luxuli and I were planning to help Richard Bonomo decorate the church, but after we met for coffee and then prayed the rosary, I had to hurry and make two cassatas this year. (Luxuli did stay to help Rich out.) One was for my future in-laws, and the other was for the crowd at Rich’s house. Rich had been up all night making a stable for the church's crèche scene, so he was like a zombie. He fell asleep, and I was frantically preparing cassatas, so we were late to warm-up at our church. The choir sang carols for half an hour before “Midnight” Mass at 5 pm, and then afterwards Luxuli and her husband had Rich, Kathbert, and me over for appetizers and coq au vin, followed by Kathbert’s chocolate pie. Then Kathbert and I went to the Lutheran church and then Fruit Soup at my OTHER choir director’s house. I didn’t get to bed until 3 am, but this year my choir director gave me permission to sleep through Christmas morning Mass, so Rich did not put in a wake-up call with my guardian angel. I had a refreshing six hours of sleep and then headed to Travalon’s house. We drove to his mother’s house and did the family dinner: turkey with stuffing. Travalon gave me a bouzouki, which is like a little Greek mandolin, and I gave him a fake newspaper saying he was joining the Beatles. Only half my cassata got eaten, so I brought it back to Rich’s house, where it was demolished along with the other one I had made for that gathering. People sure do love cassata! At Rich’s house the menu was lasagna and leftover coq au vin, as well as various other things people brought, like Cecil Markovitch’s famous spinach salad. He also provided a card table and some chairs for extra seating. Rich had an 18-inch Christmas tree this year, and after most of the other guests had left, his neighbor and Kathbert decorated it. My parents sent Travalon and me some presents in the mail, but we haven’t opened them yet. Maybe tonight… 

Famous Hat