Let me say first of all that the cooking Stacey mentioned in her most recent entry was the best Christmas meal I’ve ever had. The menu consisted of Marinated Sundried Tomato Salad, New Potatoes with Caper Sauce, Onion and Mushroom Tart Tartan. Stacey googled “vegetarian,” “Christmas,” and “New Zealand,” coming up with hundreds of recipes among which to choose. She chose admirably, and she assures me she’ll make this menu again. It was a real treat.
Last night we went to Christmas Eve services at Lansdowne Presbyterian Church down the street from our house. No sooner had we walked in the door than the minister, the Rev. Joan Ross, invited Beth and Katy to light the Advent Candles for the night. Katy was delighted to be asked. The hymns were the familiar ones, but with a difference. Silent Night used the tune we're used to, but the words were the translated from the German, “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.” “Away in a Manger” used the familiar words, but the second tune, which I like better, actually. And “O Little Town of Bethlehem” used Phillips Brooks’ words, but a tune I had never heard.
The “sermon” was actually a Christmas pageant, with the players recruited on the spot. (Stacey and Katy were shepherds.) The pageant focused on the sleep-deprived, put-upon innkeeper, who kept being roused, first by Mary and Joseph, then by Joseph alone to ask for swaddling cloths, then by shepherds, then by the kings, and finally—the last indignity—waked once more by the singing of the heavenly chorus.
Beth and Katy both went to the Chancel for a children’s sermon in which they constructed a blanket for the Baby Jesus in a manger at the front of the church. The tone of the entire service was so welcoming, and at the end of the service we were invited to the Minister’s house for tea on Christmas Day.
We watched movies Christmas Eve after the service, Santa Paws and Christmas in Wonderland. Santa Paws was about Santa and his dog Paws and their misadventures in New York City, with a villainous orphanage keeper (who makes Miss Hannigan in Annie look like a saint), talking dogs, and a transformation of the new owners of the Hucklebuckle’s Toy Store. Christmas in Wonderland was a pale reminder of Home Alone. All Christmas movies that I can think of seem to be derivatives. Stacey points out that even It’s a Wonderful Life relies on Dickens.
This morning we opened presents. Noteworthy for the girls were scooters, a cosmetics chemistry set for Katy, and some tiny dolls for Beth. The piece de resistance for the girls, however, was a spinning wheel, which Stacey won on Trade Me, the NZ version of eBay. Stacey received a Cuttlebug, an embossing machine to help with her scrapbooking, an ivory colored jewelry box from Katy and a singing bowl from Beth, both from a neat Masterton store, Trade Aid. For me there were a red and black glass tray of Maori inspiration, representing a wave, now perched in our bedroom and books Presenting New Zealand, a history, a history of the Waiarapa, a geology of New Zealand, A Continent on the Move, and a field book of New Zealand Birds. We also got a printer.
I was mortified, though. I forgot to fill Stacey’s stocking. There were stockings for me, for Katy and Beth, and even for Frisco. But Stacey’s stocking stayed in lonely isolation on the mantle. The most important thing about this gaffe, though, was her reaction: no moping, no damping of her good nature. I’ve certainly been fortunate in both my marriages (though undeserving) to have found such understanding and forgiving wives.
In the afternoon, we went to Tea at the munster. They were really friendly people. Joan Ross has been the minister there for five years. Her husband is James and her son is Adam, a superb woodworker whose work reminded me of Stacey’s Uncle Guy’s. Also there were the innkeeper from the previous night, Ronco, who was not at all crotchety, as well as his wife Jenny. They also had a dog Amber, who did agility drills through a training tunnel. The girls and I learned to play Bowls. Beth was loaned a Louisa May Alcott book, Good Wives, and Katy borrowed children's adventure stories from the 1940s, the Famous Five.
Christmas Day is winding down. Tomorrow is Boxing Day—whatever that is. I’ve enjoyed playing with the girls, going around to the Ross’, and, yes, watching the movies. Time to nosh.
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