Dec. 25, 2004

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Happy Holidays! [ General ] -  grace - grace@graceuncensored.com @ 9:31 am


Well, Merry Xmas to you. I was planning on sleeping in this morning, but I woke up at 7:19 a.m. I actually woke up a lot earlier than that, somewhere around 6, but managed to convince myself that it would be a crummy idea to get up that early.

Last night, Xmas eve, was filled with quite a few things. Mom was playing the flute at a Catholic church in the early evening, so Dad and I were in charge of making much of the food. This only involved quesadillas, oyster stew and devilled eggs, so it wasn’t too taxing.

This isn’t our Traditional oyster stew-devilled egg-quesadilla fare, mind you. We’ve never had a huge amount of traditions in my family, and holiday meals have frequently been less traditional than most peoples’. When I was a kid, things were especially non-traditional; one Thanksgiving we had fish for dinner, and another time, Mexican food.

Lately we’ve been doing the turkey/roast beef sort of thing, and I think oyster stew is typically thought of as a standard holiday dish. Dad made it, and it was the best ever. I happened upon some fine tortillas and exceptional Mexican cheese at the grocery store, so the quesadillas were also top notch. Oh, and we also had shrimp. Today we’re planning on fondue (two kinds), plus various snacks and sweets, including a fruitcake that I made a week ago.

The fruitcake was a somewhat troubling endeavor. The recipe called for baking it for 3 ½ hours, which I did. But it overflowed over the top of the pan and dripped onto the floor of MB’s newly-cleaned over. It smelled burned, and I couldn’t tell if the burn was from the globs of fruitcake sticking to the oven, or to the actual cake itself.

I took it out after the 3 ½ hours and the burning had clearly happened to the cake. It smelled burnt, and the top had a thick, hard crust. I attempted to saw at it, to remove the burned portions, but all I managed to do was spill huge quantities of crumbs on the floor (Mollie the dog was very appreciative of this), plus, and, the worst thing, the cake started SPLITTING in various places. So, after the huge amount of dried fruits/nuts added to the cake, the time and trouble, I was left with a burnt and broken spectacle.

Fortunately, a key part of the fruitcake is alcohol. I heated up a cup of wine and rum and poured it over the cake. I added a little more alcohol, hoping it would magically disguise the burns as well as heal the cracks and fissures.

I had to leave for a while, and instructed MB to hug the fruitcake as much as he could, in order to help the healing process and squish it all together. When I got back he assured me he’d done plenty of hugging, and we wrapped the cake in wine-soaked linen.

So here’s my Christmas miracle – we unearthed the cake last night, and it was moist and delicious. Lesson learned: alcohol fixes anything.

After more food than was really necessary, last night we headed to the First Methodist Church for a candlelight service. We hurried inside, grateful to be out of the bitter cold, and rushed to the seats that my friend Randy had saved for us down in front. We were in the second row, a perfect vantage point for seeing Mom play the flute with the Eddy Flute Choir. They were quite good, and I was impressed with the beauty of the church. I can’t tell you the last time I was in a church, and I thought if it was decorated for Xmas all year round, it would be worth going to. Perhaps.

The service lasted an hour, and my favorite part was the singing. The choir actually sang kind of softly, but I liked it when we all joined in. The Minister did his sermon (I know it’s not “did,” but what is it? Pontificated? Orated? Performed? Held? No, no, no), and it was pretty neat. He talked about the point of Xmas. The message, in a nutshell, is that we should all be like Joseph, that is, we should be loving and kind, and accepting of others. A fine message, indeed.

Here’s the only part of the service that creeps me out a little – it’s the chanting in unison. I realize this is a standard thing in church services, but I haven’t been around it enough for it to seem normal to me. At the cue from the minister, everybody launches in, with that dull drone, chanting the words, and it makes me feel that I’ve accidentally happened upon a cult. It makes me want to sneak out, as fast as possible, in order to not get sucked into the cult’s clutches. I know, I know, this is crazy, but I can’t help it. I’ve never actually run screaming from the place, so at least I manage to have a little restraint. So far.

OK, one more thing – it was a candlelight service, and I guess I knew it was going to be a candlelight service, but I assumed they were talking about the candles decorating the church. But near the end of the service, Randy waved his candle at me. I was slightly horrified; had he stolen it? Stealing would definitely be frowned upon. “It’s a candlelight service, Grace!” he whispered at me. “Your part of the row is going to be all dark.” Because, somehow, none of us in the family had managed to get candles. We were supposed to receive them when we first came in, but all anybody offered me was cocoa and cookies, and I rushed past those because I’d vowed to never eat again after our holiday meal.

We were instructed on the proper method of candle-lighting; don’t pour wax on your neighbor when you light their candle. We sang, the candles were slowly lit, and it did look beautiful. I pretended we were all allergic to candles, or that they forgot to give us any, or they ran out.

After the service, Amy and (her new husband) Jim and I went to Walgreen’s. Also not an Xmas tradition, except if Amy couldn’t buy some eye drops and a humidifier RIGHT THEN, she would surely wither away and die. I sat in the car with their dog, Shadow, while they shopped. The car next to me was a beat-up looking little thing, and there were two guys inside, one wearing a Santa hat, and I’m pretty sure some kind of drug interaction was going on. I tried not to look over at them, focusing instead on petting Shadow, a little dog who was happy to sit on my lap and be petted.

Quite a few people were walking around, even though it was only 13 degrees outside, and I wondered where they were going. Perhaps they, too, had Walgreens emergencies.

After about all of eternity, I prayed that Amy and Jim would come back soon. I thought of driving off, but since it was their car, and plus it was Xmas Eve, I figured that wouldn’t go over so well. It definitely wouldn’t be a Joseph-like maneuver. He never would have driven off and left Mary at Walgreen’s, even if she was in there for about a year.

Finally they returned, overflowing with stuff Amy couldn’t live without, including heated slippers that you put in the microwave. We went to Mom and Dad’s and ate some more and my brother David watched one of the neverending Bond movies on TV and a good time was had by all.

I’ve been sitting here for a while now, admiring the packages under the tree and spread around the room. Xmas sometimes feels anti-climactic to me; it’s all over so fast, and frequently the wrapped packages look more enticing than the stuff inside them. But this year I’m eager for people to see some pretty cool things I bought for them. Plus, MB comes back from his parents’ house tomorrow, so we’ll have even more present-opening and food then. Not to mention Christmas Karaoke, which IS a Smith Tradition, and I’ll have to let you know all about that.

Ok then, once again, Merry, Merry Xmas,

grace



Dec. 21, 2004

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shortest day of year! [ General ] -  grace - grace@graceuncensored.com @ 10:36 am
today, december 21st, is the shortest day of the year, in case you weren’t aware of it. this is great, because it means that it’s going to start getting lighter each and every day, which surely means that spring is VERY VERY CLOSE.

ignoring the forecast of snow for tomorrow and the bitter, bitter temperatures that are predicted.

i celebrated the shortest D of Y with a run with Mollie the dog, who was most pleased to be out in the fresh air, although she didn’t seem to care if it was light or not. her main focuse was CHASING BUNNIES. i’m sorry to report that she didn’t even spot any bunnies at all, but she managed to enjoy herself just the same. i recently read in some magazine somewhere about how we should strive to live our life like dogs do; play like dogs, having total fun, work like dogs, zealous in what we’re doing. i don’t remember if it said anything about sleeping like dogs, and i suppose that wouldn’t be such a good idea, since dogs sleep about 75% of the time. then again, i’m completey in favor of sleeping.

no time for that now, though, because i’ve decided that TODAY IS THE DAY when i’m going to finish my gift-purchasing. because, fyi, xmas is in FOUR SHORT DAYS.

whew.

ok then,

grace


Dec. 16, 2004

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abe’s new library [ General ] -  grace - grace@graceuncensored.com @ 11:03 am
i went to the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library a couple of days ago for the first time, and i liked it a lot. once you actually get into the buiding, it’s a lovely place. there’s very tight security there, though, so don’t think you can just waltz right in with your cup of coffe and your backpack.

i went with Mom, who had just bought a cup of coffee. No coffee in the building, said the security guard. Can i just set it here on your desk, then? asked Mom. No, he said. How about if i leave it outside the door? Nope, not a good idea. Oh dear. We had to put our purses, coats, and bags in a locker. I really need my afternoon caffeine, said Mom. Could i put the coffee in the locker? She smiled her sweetest smile and he said OK. It seemed that this was probably not strictly adhering to the obviously very very stringent no-coffee-in-the-building rules, and i hoped the nice security guard wouldn’t get fired for this laxness regarding Mom and her caffeine addiction.

We piled our stuff in the locker and looked around. right now they’re having a display of holiday quilts, which are pretty mand appropriately holiday-like. There’s an enormously tall xmas tree in the lobby, and i wondered how long it took them to put up all the lights. a very long time, is my guess. it was decorated with cabins made of popsicle sticks, and Mom observed that they were probably made by children. I hope so, i said, i can’t imagine that they bought them at a store, or that adults would do such shoddy work. I don’t mean they were bad or anything, but clearly they were the project of small children.

the library part of the library, filled with the various lincoln-type books, is a great, sunny room. i thought it would be a wonderful place to sit and write, but one problem would be that i couldn’t bring a beverage in with me, and the other problem is that i bet they don’t let you take a computer in, either. maybe i’ll just go there and hang out, meditate or something.

i’ve tried meditating before, but i’m generally too impatient to sit quietly, and it’s almost impossible to get my mind to stop whirring. on the other hand, if it were to stop whirring, that might be a sign of illness or trouble, so the whirring is OK by me. maybe i should try meditating early in the morning, when i’m not awake anyway. perhaps meditating while still lying in bed. but then maybe this would be called “sleeping.”

on other fronts, my xmas shopping is almost complete, and i’ve even made a dent in the wrapping. also, i just got cast in the play “you can’t take it with you” at the theatre centre, and i’m excited about it. i got the part i wanted; her name is essie, and she practices ballet all the time, although she’s horrible at it. it should be very fun, and luckily i am horrible at ballet, so it should be a snap.

i was in “a chorus line” many years ago at the theatre centre, and we had to do a ballet, and it was a fairly horrendous experience for me, personally. all the other women were at least familiar with ballet moves, and some of them were quite good. me, i could never get the hang of any of it, and i remember another cast member trying to get me to bend my back properly while i attempted some kind of...bend thing...and it involved her beating on my back and being quite unpleasant about it and i’ve tried to block the whole thing out of my mind, to no avail.

so i think it’s funny that i get to do ballet again, only this time it’s supposed to look bad, and people will appreciate the badness, instead of trying to get me to do it correctly.

it’s also funny that My Boyfriend was in the Nutcracker and actually knows real ballet steps. maybe he’ll show me some moves that i can slaughter.

ok ok ok,

grace


Dec. 14, 2004

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the party season [ General ] -  grace - grace@graceuncensored.com @ 11:42 am
i’ve been to a few holiday parties recently, and they’ve all featured shrimp. i find this to be a very good thing, because i love shrimp. my only question is, why does shrimp-offering only seem to occur during the xmas season? what about a big bowl of shrimp at a fall party, or even during the summer? shrimp should be more year-round. in my opinion.

what about groundhog’s day, for example? i’m going to have a groundhog’s day party next year (and next year is COMING RIGHT UP), i’ve just decided, and i’ll feature a HUGE bowl of shrimp. why don’t we ever have any groundhog’s day parties, anyway? there are plenty of xmas parties, but why aren’t parties spread out over the winter? by the time groundhog’s day rolls around, won’t we all be crazed from the lack of sunshine, cold and bitter coldness, and gobs of snow? i’m being optomistic about weather this winter, but i’m also very pragmatic and realize it’s probably going to get bad. (it was 12 degrees last night, but i’m trying to ignore that).

Groundhog’s (is there really an apostrophe? maybe it’s just “groundhog day.” but isn’t it the day of the groundhog, therefore groundhog’s day?) day should be a national holiday, as a matter of fact. i guess there are already some president-related february holidays, but groundhog(’s) day could be a day of celebration, of anticipation of spring. Instead of whatever kinds of parades and somber ceremonies they have for presidential-birthday holidays (and since they’re presidential birthday holidays, why do they not include cake?), the Groundhog Day Holiday would be all about celebrating, all day long. There’d be a Groundhog Day Eve Celebration, involving games, music, and merriment of all kinds. fun stuff for everybody. including, of course, big bowls of shrimp. everybody could dress in Hawaiian shirts and shorts, sunglasses and all manner of warm weather clothes, in defiance of the evil, cold winter.

i don’t know what people in warm weather states would do. perhaps it would be a special holiday, just for states where it gets really cold in the winter. don’t we deserve something special for making it through the winter? a paid day off work would be a good beginning, and the statewide parties would be something to look forward to, something to keep hope alive while slogging through the snow...

last night at the mall there were some big ugly dirty black piles of snow. this was troubling to me, because we haven’t had much snow yet, and the snow was at least a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been pretty warm since then, so those big dirty piles of snow shouldn’t have even been there. it’s vexing, and i’m sure there must be some sort of conspiracy involved in it all.

my groundhog’s day party, it’s going to be big. i’m sure it’ll catch on. even if they DON’T give us the day off, we could all take the day off anyway, sort of a passive, ghandi-like protest of being forced to go outside in the wintertime.

now i must spend a half hour putting on coats/mittens/scarves/boots/hats now in order to venture out. wish me luck.

ok then,

grace

p.s. ONLY ELEVEN MORE DAYS OF SHOPPING LEFT (including today)!! GET MOVING!!!


Dec. 08, 2004

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the weather outside is...not so bad [ General ] -  grace - grace@graceuncensored.com @ 11:32 am
considering it’s december. in the high 40’s this week. maybe the winter will be mild after all? one of the banks on stevenson drive has one of those time/temperature signs out front, and for the past couple of weeks, the temperature has read 96 degrees. one day it said 178. i like it when it says 96, because it instantly makes me think it’s REALLY 96. and it makes me think of summer. the 178 is slightly troubling; hot weather is good, but a nuclear holocaust would not be so nice. especially with xmas coming up so soon.

this afternoon i’m going to shop; a couple of stores have TODAY ONLY fabulous sales. allegedly. we’ll just see. i probably won’t buy anything at all, but you never know. i’m torn between wanting to go out and buy millions of gifts, and being practical and realizing i don’t have a lot of money to spend on things, so i’d better just relax about the whole thing. i find, though, when i’m in a store and i see all the piles and mounds of stuff, attractively displayed, that i just want to buy stuff for everybody, all the time. i think maybe this is because i normally realize i can’t go around buying stuff willy nilly, but somehow xmas makes me think NOW’S THE TIME!

prudence and practicality, i’m really working on those attributes. not that i’ll ever succeed, but you have to have goals.

(ok, but on the other hand, when i’m near death, will i reflect on my life and think, "i wish i’d been more prudent and practical?)

ok then,

grace




Dec. 06, 2004

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ONLY 18 MORE SHOPPING DAYS TILL XMAS!!! [ General ] -  grace - grace@graceuncensored.com @ 11:39 am
In case you’ve been living in a cave and haven’t seen any ads for the upcoming holiday. just a reminder. shop! buy! spend! the true meaning of xmas.

i, personally, have bought two fabulous presents already. I’m very excited about them, and have been showing them to everybody, except the lucky people who have no idea that they’re getting such wonderful things.

i was in the radio play of “it’s a wonderful life” over the weekend. most of the time, i just had to sit in a chair, waiting to read my lines. i didn’t fall off the chair at any point, and when i sauntered offstage to get a drink of water, i didn’t crash into any random pieces of scenery lying around. so i have to say things went very smoothly. i explained in another entry about how the radio show worked - it’s like a 1940’s radio show, we were all decked out in 40’s clothes, and we read the script in front of microphones. a couple of guys did sound effects, and the show is going to be broadcast on WUIS on christmas eve and xmas day. if you want to read more about it, i’m including the link to the gordon website. in the cast photo, i’m the one in the gold top.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

the phone rings several times during the show, and one night the phone wouldn’t work. gus gordon, the producer and director who is also in the show, finally stepped up to the microphone and made a “ring ring” noise. it worked well, and i don’t think anybody in the audience knew it wasn’t supposed to be like that.

that’s about all the calamaties we had in the show; it wasn’t the kind of thing where too many bad things could happen, since we were just standing there reading from scripts, and like i said, i managed to remain upright the whole time. I do have to say i was a little panicky about potentially falling; i fell down on our front walk on friday morning, wearing clogs. i skinned my knee, the same one i always seem to fall on, and it’s still sore. so my apprehension about falling during the show was not unreasonable, considering that i was wearing very teetery 4 inch heels.

i also went to see the ballet “Nutcracker” at the Sangamon Auditorium over the weekend. It was incredible. I hadn’t seen the Springfield Ballet Company’s Nutcracker in about 20 years, and this version was nothing like the one i remembered. i don’t usually see lots of ballet, but this one was amazing. the sets and the costumes were absolutely beautiful, lavish and lovely, and the dancing was very fine. MB happened to be in the production, so i felt i had to go see it. i wasn’t looking forward to it, to tell you the truth. i was excited about seeing him on the stage, but i figured the rest of it would get boring. but i was so wrong, and so happy to be so wrong.

i got all dressed up to see the show, but when i got there i felt overdressed. Mom pointed out that all the little girls in attendance were also very dressed up, in their frilly holiday outfits with matching purses and sometimes hats, so i didn’t feel bad. i pretended i was a (giant) child.

MB was marvelous, by the way. He played Clara’s father, and when the curtain opened, there he was, up there at the tree with clara’s brother. I couldn’t stop grinning as i watched him. MB told me last night that Clara was on the stage then, too, but i was too busy admiring MB to pay any attention to her. he danced with her at one point, and even had to lift her a few times, and he didn’t drop her at all. i wish i could have seen the performance twice, because i was so busy watching MB all the time, i didn’t pay any attention to anything else going on in the party scene, and apparently there were many different things happening. but it was all basically just a bunch of girls dancing, and there was plenty of that to watch once MB had left the stage.

if you didn’t get to see the production, you should definitely make it a point to go next year. the springfield symphony plays the score, by the way, and they add a lot to the production, which is fabulous to begin with.

once again, i get tired of people whining about nothing to do in this town. there’s all kinds of things going on, all the time. next saturday, for example, the food mart downtown is having an italian open house. the food mart is on monroe street, just west of 5th street, and their open houses are great. they always have lots of good food, sometimes wine tastings, and great sales on all kinds of delicious stuff.

did you make it to the festival of trees this year? my niece mercedes, my mom and i have had award-winning gingerbread houses in it, but this year we didn’t have time to make one. the festival didn’t seem as big this year, and there weren’t any really spectacular gingerbread houses. we tried to find the most garish tree; they give out lots and lots of ribbons, but i think they should have a prize for most garish tree. i thought that one covered with pink feathers was quite hideous, but Mom insisted that a silver-covered one was worse. MB had never been to the festival of trees. he did seem to like it OK, but he’d expected the trees to be in neat rows, instead of plopped down randomly. he’s slightly obsessive-compulsive, but not in a bad way.

i must go shop now. time is slipping away! don’t forget, most stores are open till about 11 or so, so you can shop very late at night if you want to.

ok then,

grace

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