Christmas ... and menus

It has been a lovely Christmas here in many ways, filled with good memories. For me, at least, continuing our Christmas traditions has been mainly comforting. A few moments stand out

-- going caroling in the neighborhood during our party, with perfect weather -- just below freezing, with snow on the ground, but no precipitation, neither too cold nor too warm -- and many appreciative and receptive folks to carol too -- finishing up with the local grocery store, where shoppers got out their i-phones and filmed us, and asked what organization we were from... I told them we were just a group of friends.

-- wrapping presents using the cloth bags Angela made for present-wrapping many years ago, which we have used ever since -- in all kinds of Christmassy fabrics -- a way to avoid throwing out all that wrapping paper -- and finding a label from last year on one of the bags -- "to my Michael, love, Angela" -- this was both a kind of gift and a painful moment of realization that she wasn't there -- and of realization that although last Christmas was truly beautiful I can't for the life of me remember what my gifts from her were -- I suppose the greatest gift was just that she was with me. This has stuck with me for the last several days.

-- having the girls make me a truly elegant birthday brunch for Christmas Eve morning.

-- almost all the presents arriving on time in spite of a lot of last minute gift-ordering

-- visiting Angela's grave on Christmas afternoon and seeing her freshly-laid tombstone for the first time.

-- many dreams about Angela during the last month or so, which have been a great comfort to me, and thinking over and over again how present she is in everything we are doing as a family during this season.

And, of course, a lot of good food, without too much terribly demanding cooking. So, here are our menus from the last three days...

Our Christmas menus

Dec. 23rd: Caroling party at our apartment.
Salsa
Guacamole
Tortilla chips
Chili
Mulled apple cider
Beer
Hard Cider
Assorted Christmas cookies

Dec 24th: Birthday Brunch for me, prepared by the girls
Omelettes
Home-made muesli with macerated berries (blueberries, strawberries and raspberries) and Greek yogurt
Blueberry scones
Mimosas
Coffee

Christmas eve dinner at Gloria’s apartment
Squid-ink pasta with squid sauce
Fried shrimp
Salad
Water
Pears cooked in wine

Dec 25th: Brunch before gift-opening
Tourtiere
Pomegranate seeds
Fruit from “edible arrangements”
Spiced coffee

Christmas dinner
Raclette
(with Raclette cheese, ham, prosciutto, French bread, baby potatoes, pickled onions, gherkins, pickled asparagus, and blue-cheese stuffed olives)
Riesling
Lemon tart with freshly whipped cream

This morning I think I am going to have oatmeal and fruit.

(cross-posted from Facebook notes)