Christmas
Spending Christmas at home was mighty nice...
For many years now, it is a rare thing for me to be in the US for any major holiday...I usually have to settle for some sort of freeze-dried, cello-packed, cardboard-cutout generic version of the festive day, provided by well-meaning but easily-confused host nation caterers or whatever can be cobbled up by a small circle of dedicated expatriates from items found in the local market-places of whichever odd corner of our little planet we happen to find ourselves....
Necessity is truly a Mother...
Sharing those experiences with other lonely travelers has its own charm...Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years dinner on a battlefield is a very poignant experience...putting together a festive meal and holiday decorations with your expatriate co-workers in the middle of nowhere is a test of your ingenuity...hearing the sound of a local church choir in the African bush pouring their hearts into each note as they celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, makes the all pomp and trappings of first-world mega-churches seem very tawdry and garish ...
Those days spent abroad are very special....
But for all that, as Dorothy said, "...there's no place like home..."
Precious Bride, Precious Dafter, our neighbors, relatives and livestock seemed rather pleased to have me around for a change, not only for my companionship but because I planned on baking a stack of my ever-popular buttermilk pies...
"Bob" the "Sheredale", attached herself to me at the hip as soon as I made it through the door... apparently, I am either the Boy she always wanted, or, more likely, the other dogs have schooled her in the art of kissing up to the Big Dog so he will make a jug of Gravy....
In any case, I seem to be appreciated by all as much for my company and entertainment value as my culinary skills...
Ah!!!!! To be loved!!!!
I discharged my kitchen duties, leaving a stack of 6 pies / 8 ramekins and a gallon jug of dog gravy in the fridge and a pile of clean pots and pans in the drainer... then scrubbed up, put on some clothes and prepared to be sociable....
Precious Bride thinks I clean up pretty good...Bob and the Pack don't care what I look like so long as I make gravy...and since this time of year I leave a trail of buttermilk pie everywhere I go...so as far as the Pack is concerned, I only leave Texas to return to my REAL home on Mount Olympus....they are easily impressed....and a little kibble and gravy goes a long way in ensuring their adoration...
With Pack sated and lounging, Precious Bride, Precious Dafter and I loaded up in the Big White Truck and headed off to be festive...
A Blue Norther had swept down from the Panhandle, triggering bands of torrential thunderstorms that started just north of our town....the storm reached its peak at about the halfway mark in the journey....blinding sheets of rain and buffeting winds that rocked the truck...the blow almost made us turn back, but, there was wisdom in choosing a heavy high-clearance vehicle and by sllowing down and slogging on just a little farther up the road, we were rewarded with clearing skies and dry roads.
If you don't like Texas weather, just wait a minute...
The Christmas feast was held at my BIL and SIL's house and attended by FIL and MIL and a favorite Niece, whose hubby unfortunately could not attend due to work....
....oh my...that whole "work" thing is a familiar story in our family circle, it seems....
Miss Manners would have been proud of me...I was at my jovial best, and to everyone elses credit, nobody asked me for my Real Opinion on anything, so there was no excuse for rancor...
Static...don't start none, won't be none...
Everyone had cooked something to add the groaning board...nothing beats a Pot Luck feast among friends and family....
The meal was wonderful, the Fellowship rare and precious....the former savored only until the next meal, but the latter savored over and over again in memory....
We all parted with full bellies and light hearts....
Our ride back to the coast was sped along by much improved weather, and the Happy Dance from the Pack was epic....Bob sure does like having a Boy again...even a high-milage model like me...
Precious Dafter made her exit and went off to check up on her chums, Precious Bride and I wrested some couch space away from the Pack and settled in for a couple of glasses of a nice Port and some snuggle-bunnies...
...and I found myself wondering what how my chums off in Nowhere were spending their evening....
Ahhhhhhh.....it's good to be home for a change...
T
