mardi 25 décembre 2007

Christmas eve and day re-cap

Ahh..Time to blog. Lucia just left, helping me get rid of our amazing leftovers from last night. So good...This Christmas was not too shabby. I'll start with last night...

Was freaking out that the boucheries would be closed by the time I got back from Lucia's so I went ahead and went home. Bought a lovely roast chicken. Got home, made some pasta for Sally, who I know is vegetarian, and set up my place. Lucia came and brought another chicken, dessert, and some decorations like candles and a string of Christmas lights.Sally came and surprised us with a GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE! I was so astonished, so happy, it almost brought tears to my eyes. I know that sounds silly, but the thought of her asking her family to send her the ingredients necessary for green bean casserole (the soup, the fried onions) that are unavailable (at a reasonable price) here just makes me...well, I'm filled with gratitude. After Sally had uncovered the dish from the paper bag it was in, Lucia and I just looked at each other like we both received the best Christmas present ever.Barbara made mulled wine on my stove and bread, olives, and cheese. Teresa brought cider, the yummiest, crispiest palmiers (cookies that were literally all sugar and butter). We had a feast. It was nice to have a small Christmas, nothing too hectic and crazy. I didn't want to get drunk or worry about getting home at a weird hour. I just wanted to sit down to dinner, talk to people I haven't seen in a long time, and eat some really great food. Thanks everyone for pitching in.

Afterwards, we headed to Notre Dame for midnight Mass. We got in, thank God. I even had a "seat" at a base of one of the pillars. The Mass was beautiful. They had a whole choir and everything. We stayed until the very end until they finally kicked us out. I didn't get communion. Sometimes I don't get it when I don't feel worthy enough to have God in my tummy. I just don't feel like I haven't been my best lately. Instead, I just stood there, taking it all in, being surrounded by people from all over the world who wanted to be here, who all felt compelled to witness something truly spiritual and enlightening, and you didn't have to be Catholic to feel that every word, every action meant something, you just had to be human.Around 2am, Lucia and I walked back to my place. I told her she could sleep over, it would just be too crazy to go home. We were silent for most of the walk.

Christmas day
Woke up at 11. Lucia and I had big, heaping plates of leftovers for lunch. Lovely. Got a call from Nayo asking if we wanted to go ice skating at Hotel de Ville. Politely declined. I seriously just wanted to veg out all day. I know "it's Christmas" and all, and that was her repeated excuse for trying to make me and Lucia go out (first ice skating, then Indian food, then a bar after that). But neither of us wanted to do those things even though it was Christmas. Also Lucia had said, "I don't think I can handle smelling Indian food right now." I agreed. I just didn't want to go out and spend money. I also didn't want to change out of my pj's. So Lucia and I had a lovely Christmas, in my opinion, eating leftovers, talking, and watching movies. It was most excellent.

We talked about how much we changed in just the past few months here. Like just having roasted chicken at our table was a real blessing, an absolute treat. And green bean casserole is the best gift ever. My own home, which is probably half the size of the master bedroom in my parents' home, is deemed as "huge" in the eyes of my friends and I. We make due with no microwaves or no ovens, bad plumbing, 5 minute showers, or yogurt for dinner. We all have found our own ways to survive. Even if we've felt that we haven't learned anything in our classes, I think we all learned the value of things, to appreciate things more, and that's not something we could have got back home or in a classroom.

Talked to the fam, and they're having Christmas without neither me nor my brother! It just sounds so wrong. I have a legitimate excuse for not being there, but my brother? He's working Christmas day! 6am to midnight! Not cool. I guess next year things will be back to normal.