Wednesday was a bit of a stressful day for me. My period was due in a couple of days and my hormones were making me very irritated indeed. Although how irritated I would have been if I hadn't had to go Christmas shopping and could have just stayed in the house instead I don't know. Christophe, Meghan and I headed into the fray and I managed to get all that I was looking for, which was a relief. Me, being lazy, only wrapped three of my presents, I left the rest for Christmas eve morning. Dinner was at the house with guests, Billy and Linda, some family friends. Billy and Linda supplied a shrimp starter and a huge bottle of Champagne. Dinner was a fantastic rack of lamb with all the trimmings. The fact that I can't remember the dessert is a testament to my love of savoury foods.Then we moved on to the first present opening of Christmas. Billy and Linda very kindly gave me a present, a candle. I hoped I would be able to make good use of it. After dinner we all "bag danced", this is a game where you have to bend over and just using your mouth grab the bag without falling over. Meghan and I were the last people standing, I didn't know I had it in me. Unfortunately I did feel it in my thighs the next day.
Christmas Eve started gently with me wrapping my remaining presents. Most of the presents were pretty straight forward, but for Meghan and Christophe I had decided to do a kind of scavenger hunt before they would get their present. I was afraid that they would easily guess what I had got them and the enjoyment would be short lived, so I wanted to extend it. I was also worried that they might have mentioned that they wanted this particular gift to a few people and I wouldn't be the only one who had bought it. This was especially a concern as Christophes family opens their presents on Christmas Eve night and Meghans family on Christmas morning. I also had to hide a couple of the presents around the house and the rest in my room to be hidden on Christmas morning. At least I would carry out my plan, I often think about these things and then don't do them.
Christmas Eve afternoon we all headed into D.C. to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic church. Christel,Christophes sister, was going to sing in a concert in the church as well as singing in the mass that would follow. The basilica is unlike any other Christian church I have seen before. It was built in a neo-byzantine style with lots of mosaics on the inside. At the top of the nave is a mosaic of Jesus. When I saw this,I'm ashamed to say, my first thought was "what amazing pecs he's got!". I felt a little better when Meghan made the same comment, we can both go to hell together. The concert was great and just what I needed to help get me into the Christmas mood. We stayed for the mass afterwards, although I didn't take communion, it just wouldn't have felt right. I don't consider myself as Catholic now, sometimes I am not sure that I still believe in God. At the moment my faith is a work in progress. Despite this some of the Mass felt really familiar to me. I can still understand why people find comfort in their faith, although I still want to ask the question what are they missing in their life that has to be replaced by faith. I do get it that just because this is what I think, does not make it so.
Christmas Eve started gently with me wrapping my remaining presents. Most of the presents were pretty straight forward, but for Meghan and Christophe I had decided to do a kind of scavenger hunt before they would get their present. I was afraid that they would easily guess what I had got them and the enjoyment would be short lived, so I wanted to extend it. I was also worried that they might have mentioned that they wanted this particular gift to a few people and I wouldn't be the only one who had bought it. This was especially a concern as Christophes family opens their presents on Christmas Eve night and Meghans family on Christmas morning. I also had to hide a couple of the presents around the house and the rest in my room to be hidden on Christmas morning. At least I would carry out my plan, I often think about these things and then don't do them.
Christmas Eve afternoon we all headed into D.C. to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic church. Christel,Christophes sister, was going to sing in a concert in the church as well as singing in the mass that would follow. The basilica is unlike any other Christian church I have seen before. It was built in a neo-byzantine style with lots of mosaics on the inside. At the top of the nave is a mosaic of Jesus. When I saw this,I'm ashamed to say, my first thought was "what amazing pecs he's got!". I felt a little better when Meghan made the same comment, we can both go to hell together. The concert was great and just what I needed to help get me into the Christmas mood. We stayed for the mass afterwards, although I didn't take communion, it just wouldn't have felt right. I don't consider myself as Catholic now, sometimes I am not sure that I still believe in God. At the moment my faith is a work in progress. Despite this some of the Mass felt really familiar to me. I can still understand why people find comfort in their faith, although I still want to ask the question what are they missing in their life that has to be replaced by faith. I do get it that just because this is what I think, does not make it so.
Later we headed to the Richard house for dinner, which started with a very simple,delicious salmon starter, accompanied of course by Champagne. I have to be honest, I don't think that I have drunk so much Champagne in such a short space of time. And that is so not a complaint. Dinner was fantastic, the only bum note for me was the dessert. It was a a chocolate Buche de Noel, a French chocolate cake in the shape of a log. The execution and presentation was amazing and it tasted great, but I never know how to explain this to people. (I am not sure if Darren understands this or not, I know my parents don't) I like chocolate generally but some chocolate desserts I really do not like. And I do get how amazing the Bouche was, but I wouldn't order it off a menu and would probably say no if offered it again. I should really learn to cook so I can offer my friends some real English puddings with real custard. I love custard. After dinner came the presents, it was organised chaos. The Richards gave me a book card for Barnes and Noble, I was so happy, this is the perfect gift for me. I am currently borrowing books from Meghan and her parents at the moment so in the near future I do need to go and buy some books. I got to bed after 1am and didn't hear Santa arrive.
Christmas day was just going to be the six of us, Meghans family, Christophe and me. I got up and wrapped my last presents and then went back to bed to read a little. When I did get up for real there was Mimosas and coffee waiting for. Jean put our breakfast in the oven to cook and we settled in the sitting room to open presents. It was different from the previous night, more restrained and organised. Although that could be attributed to a lot less people being present. Jean and Jim were incredibly generous, they bought me a pink jumper, so beautiful and feminine. It's not a colour that I would have chosen for myself but that's what makes it such a great present. They also got me a travel bag from L'Occitane, a Starbucks gift card and finally a White House 2009 Christmas ornament. This last present was especially great as I had been planning to buy one for myself. Meghan and Christophe supplied me with another book gift card and a scarf. The scarf was another present that I had been hoping for, I didn't have one and now that the weather has turned it's something I definitely need. When all the presents were opened we sat down for brunch.We didn't stray far from the table, we played board games through the afternoon and I read for a little bit. It was nice to finally have arrived at Christmas and to be able to relax and enjoy it. Of course Meghan and Jean were busy cooking dinner and I am eternally grateful for their hard work. Dinner was great. We started with shrimp and Champagne, then we had beef. The beef was perfectly cooked, brown on the outside and pink on the inside. It's only since living in Japan that I can now handle rare cooked meat. Before I would always order my steak well done. I had an amazing Christmas. I am so lucky that I wasn't spending it by myself in some hostel. I was staying with a family, my friends, I had presents to give and receive and could sit down to Christmas dinner with them. Dessert was a selection of Christmas cookies, which was just perfect. I enjoy savoury food so much that I often don't have space for a dessert at the end of the meal. Here I could have as little as I liked and over a longer space of time. After dinner I even played a video game,this is not something I normally do. I am terrible at them have no hand to eye coordination.When the day finally ended I can honestly say that it was one of the best Christmas days I have ever spent. Thanks to the Ball family and Christophe. It truly was a merry Christmas.
Boxing day in England, an ordinary day here in America was spent totally in the house for me. As usual I hadn't planned anything and needed to book a bus to Philadelphia and somewhere to stay. I got a bit of a fright when I looked at the hostel booking websites, I couldn't reserve a room for all three nights that I would be in town. I booked for the Sunday and Tuesday night and hoped I could find something for the Monday night after I arrived. Again I hadn't realised how close my next location was and getting a bus ticket was no problem. I was going to take one of the Chinatown buses, my first, to Philadelphia. I read about these buses in one of our book club books, "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles". New York was a major arrival point for people from China and businesses were set up to help them get work as well as provide all the necessary items to Chinese restaurants. In order to facilitate the transport of Chinese workers, many who had little or no English, bus companies were set up by existing Chinese businesses in the New York Chinatown. They sent workers all over the U.S..After a time people outside of the Chinese community started using the buses as an inexpensive means of getting across the country. I was curious as to how this would work out, my ticket only cost $15.
No comments:
Post a Comment