All in all, this year was a pretty decent one. No catastrophes, no drama, and I got everything I asked for. (Okay, so there were only two items on my list this year, but I got 'em, and that's all that matters.)
So here, then, is my Christmas roundup.
Firstly, a family tradition, which was almost lost to the ages this year. Each year on Christmas morning, I eat fruit stollen for breakfast. "Stollen?" you ask. "What the fuck is that?" Well, it's kinda like a fruit cake, only it's a little cakier, and it's covered with powdered sugar and it's got some kind of jelly center. Entenmann's, by far, makes the best one. And every year growing up, Mom would always have a fruit stollen on the table Christmas morning. There were, naturally, only two other members of my family who enjoyed it besides me -- Mom, and Grandmom Berenato. With both of them long gone, it's up to me to carry on the tradition.
This year, it almost didn't happen. Neither WalMart, ShopRite, SuperFresh, Inferrara's or Bagliani's had it. Panicked, downtrodden, I was about to give up, when I remembered that the ShopRite in Williamstown also used to carry it. Twenty-five minutes later, I run to their Entenmann's section, and BAM! Stollen! Sweet, sweet stollen! Yay!
While I was there, I checked out their decoration section, as everything was 50% off. I picked up these awesome little gems:
This magnificent bastard is 18" tall. I've never owned a nutcracker before, and I thought this was the perfect way to rectify that.
It's a snowman candy jar! How awesome is that? I've got it filled with Brach's peppermint nougat candies. Mmmm....
And, of course, the last thing I picked up at ShopRite was this...
Yep. I bought a Santa hat. And you bet your sweet ass I wore it Christmas morning. :)
I have mentioned all the jellies and so forth that Helena and I have worked on since August, and have also alluded to our ultimate goals for them. This year, every family member got them in a basket for Christmas and, if I do say so myself, they got some amazing fucking presents. Observe:
This was for my sister Annie and her husband Mike.
This was for my sister Debbie and her husband Joe.
This was for Helena's parents.
This was for my grandfather.
This was for my dad and his wife, Heidi.
Everyone loved them. I got compliments on the color of the jam -- which apparently is something to be proud of, Annie was excited about the hot pepper jelly, and Dad and Heidi were absolutely tickled over the Moahwk Farms mugs. So it's safe to say they were a hit.
We naturally got together at my dad's for Christmas Eve, where we had our traditional baccala, which is a stew consisting of cod (hence the name, which means "cod" in Italian), white potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, onions and raisins in a tomato sauce. We also had fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, and shrimp, clams and broccoli over linquini. It is, by no means, seven fishes as is tradition, but it's more than enough for us.
After my dad's, it was off to Helena's parents, where I got this:
It's my eagerly awaited DC Vault! Among various other treasures, it also contains a working replica of a Junior Justice Society of America Decoder Ring! Now I can send and receive secret messages! Awesome!
That night, the presents went under my tree...
...and it was off to bed to wait for Jolly Ol' St. Nick.
The next morning I was up bright and early and off to see my son and his siter (my god-daughter), who were already busy at play with their presents. Justin was enamored with is new "Spyro" game...
...while Taylor was trying to figure out how to work their new printer.
They both managed to rip themselves away from their new toys long enough, however, for me to open MY present from them...
...an absinthe glass and absinthe spoon! The resevoir at the bottom is measured for the perfect amount of absinthe, and then you place a sugar cube in thte spoon and drip ice water over it before you drink. Those kids are awesome, seriously.
After I left the kids, I stopped off at the cemetary to visit Mom, as I am wont to do on holidays and special occasions. And, as I have been known to do every Christmas, I left a small piece of stollen near the graveside. I know she's not going to eat it, but in my mind it's no different than leaving an empty chair or pouring out a beer for a fallen comrade. It's a memorial gesture.
From there, it was back home, and present time! I got Helena two cookbooks, one by The Barefoot Contessa and one by Giada De Laurentiss; "Alias" Season 5; a package of knitting needles; and some blocking wire contraption thingy.
From Helena I got these:
The "Family Guy" DVDs should, I believe, bring me up to date, and "The Simpsons" DVDs bring me that much closer to completion. "Star Trek Season 3 Remastered," however, DOES complete my collection, and fulfills the dream I've had since I was a kid of owning the complete series. Stay tuned for an eventual review of the entire remastered series.
For dinner we ate at my dad's again. This time it was ravioli, meatballs and sausage, a Berenato family tradition. Afterwards, we took a drive around town (and for those of you who live in Hammonton, take a drive by the house on Third Street, between North and Walnut. It's the one where the lighs are flahsing like crazy. Tune your radio to 104.1FM, and enjoy. The lights are synched with the music. It's amazing, particularly when "Carol of the Bells" comes on) then went home and called it a night.
And that was Christmas for me. For once, I actually got everything I wanted, everything went rather smoothly, and everyone appeared to have a good time.
Like I said, stay tuned for the eventual review of the "Star Trek" DVDs, and next week I should have a wrap-up of my New Year's Eve festivities, too.
Oh... and make sure you ALL buy this week's copy (that's the 12/24 edition) of The Hammonton Gazette. My column is the feature story for the Entertainment section!
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