My family has been saying we want a "presentless" Christmas for years. Yet it never fails that we find ourselves curled up on our living-room furniture, picturesque fire ablaze in the background, poised for a Halmark moment. To my credit, I have long since refrained from meticulously setting up over a dozen of my favorite stuffed animals as audience to my grand gift dismantling.
Tradition can be as habitual as morning coffee. But it is the familiar in the big picture sense that we cling to, especially when the day-to-day is always change. Perhaps its why so many families do the same thing for the holidays year after year, including the stressful preparations; a testament that family can be relied upon to always be familiar, through the stress and the change and everything else.
So I don't mind it. We have tailored our gift giving to be more meaningful or pragmatic. And our tradition is more than gifts.
On Christmas Eve, my parents go to the 11pm service. Jordan usually declines. I have been in the same boat in the past but as I grow older, I want more and more to understand how I can let my Dad's religion more into my life.
For the past few years, he has been looking for a church to call home so it changes around a lot. But this year, we went back to the same little small congregation we'd gone to the year before. The minister of the church is there with a giant family. And then there is us. But I like the pastor leading the service. She is a story teller with an open mind.
On Christmas morning, we head out to Meals On Wheels for our morning of volunteering. The gig is kind of a grab bag. Last year, none of the folks we delivered to were expecting us. Some of them seemed bothered that we woke them up, or disturbed their holiday. This year, our recipients are more expectant but I am in the market to find another way to lend a hand on the holiday.
Back at home, we have our Christmas Brunch before gifts. This year, I proposed we try Crepes. Mostly because I have had a ton of vegan and otherwise odd variations bookmarked to try. With toppings galore, they also seem like a please-all option.
My non-vegan average joe crepes look like French perfection. My vegan attempts, not so much. The first try at Buckwheat crepes becomes a muddled, spongey brown glob which I mold into a sort of pancake mash. Adding an egg to the Almond Flour recipe, I manage to pull off those decently enough. I will perfect those buckwheat ones. It is possible. The site had pictures!
My gift creativity is lacking this year, but my parents take up that slack. As per usual, they try to be clever with misleading packaging and complicated gift orders buy my mom put together an expandable book of my best recipes and a "coupon" to get an Astrology Reading session from a trusted and true professional who works with a friend of the family. My dad gives my mom and I a binder of Carrie Newcomer's latest Creative works. Jordan gives me coupons which I will try to use up more quickly than the "free movie outing" I cashed in at least three years late.
Saisha is the entertainment, making one of the giant gift bags come alive from the inside:
See my cat be adorable.
That evening we see "Saving Mr. Banks." I highly recommend the film, although the warmth and sincerity portrayed by Tom Hanks' Walt Disney is questionable. The movie is more about the writer of Mary Poppins and she is a very interesting character indeed.
Post-holiday, we go up to Detroit for the day to see a special Animation exhibit. The collection would have taken someone at least a few days to go through if they were really serious about watching every clip. It is quite impressive. Muybridge is once again stomped into my brain opens with the humble beginning of stitched still-frames. It takes us into the flashy illustrated world of Disney and Anime before coming full-circle to more engaging contemporary stop-motion. A couple of favorites:
Dimensions of Dialogue
Rabbit Run
Frank Film
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