ANOTHER CHRISTMAS HAS COME AND GONE

 The old rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Russell Burton, an Old Person

Well, here it is December 26, 2013 and I am cleaning up by home where some nine of us had dinner yesterday beginning sharply at 1 PM.  I mention the fact that it was at 1 in the afternoon and not one minute later because these things can get out of hand with guests not arriving on time.  So, it gets put off and off until the dinner is served much too late for people who must live on a tight schedule.

This exact thing happened this last Thanksgiving which was scheduled to begin at noon, but someone phoned that she had to work and would get there as soon as possible.  Well, that ASAP was three in the afternoon.  One guest was a diabetic and this caused all kinds of problems for her as she must eat when it is time to eat and that is not three in the afternoon.

A young couple was a bit late this year but people were still serving themselves so my schedule was maintained.  Of course, there were the usual compliments about the food and some people even wanted a couple of the recipes.  Someone wanting the recipe to me is a sign that they really did like the food. 

One food I cooked was my version of Boston Baked Beans made from canned baked beans. The label on the can states that the contents are baked beans, but unlike Boston Baked Beans, they do not have any molasses and that is necessary.  I love BBB and I have tried to cook them from scratch with dried Navy Beans but without any success.  This recipe is my own and I like it a lot. 

I start with a can of Bush's Boston Baked Beans adding molasses, mustard, dried onions, a strip of uncooked bacon cut into pieces, and a squirt of Worcester Sauce.  I bake them for 2 hours at 325 F.  

My son-in-law mentioned that that kind of beans served with BBQ beef brisket was odd.  You know, in Texas some form of BBQ beans is not the norm.  But, he did eat a couple of portions and my other son-in-law wanted the recipe.  

The brisket I bought already cooked and it is very good, so why should I try to do the same when I really can’t do as well. Of course I think I can do better but then I think of all that electricity I'm saving keeping the oven going for hours upon hours.  I served three different kinds of BBQ sauces.  You know what they say, ‘the sauce is the boss’.  Not sure about that but I do know that different people like different sauces.

I tried for the first time making what was called ‘corn pudding’.  I saw it in the local newspaper the other day.  I know it is chancy trying out a new recipe on your guests but made of butter, sour cream, eggs, and cheese it had to be good.  And, it was very good.  Most everyone wanted that recipe!

The conversation was pretty thin as each family has its own history, activities and friends, etc. so there is really not much in common among the in-laws for topics for discussion.  So, after the gifts were opened we had disserts and everybody went home.  One dissert was a sugar-free pudding and the other a sweet-potato pie.  I love that pie but most everyone turns up their noses at the word sweet potato even though it tastes a great deal like pumpkin pie.

The gifts were traditional with clothing, etc. but what is becoming more common and expensive are these e-games for the younger people, both boys and girls.  One good thing about them is that they don’t take much wrapping paper as three games will fit into a small Christmas bag.  And, these games are not cheap.

Every time when I am in a store that sells $10 movies, I remember when the big deal was William Randolph Hearts had a movie room in his castle where guests could watch a movie all to themselves.  Boy that was a big deal for how could anybody be that rich?  My how times have changed!

Back to cleaning up the mess left in my home, which I will do in small jobs and be finished by bedtime.  But, I will be tired and sleep late in the morning and tell myself that this is the last year that I am going to do this, for I am getting too damn old.  Now, I said that last year and the year before that, so I guess next year I will have Christmas or Thanksgiving here again.

I know for sure if I stop having them at my house, it will be like giving up on another thing for the rest of my life.  And, I don’t want to give up anything until I really can’t do it anymore.  You know, just another bad sign of growing old.

Every Christmas brings back many fond memories of how much fun it was when I was a young boy especially when we were living in South Dakota.  Now there they have real winters with snow and really really cold weather.  I lived there with my folks from when I was six years old until I was ten and most of that time I believed in Santa Claus.

It was a tradition in my family that we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve and during the night Santa Claus would visit with special gifts just from him for me. 

Gifts I remember were leather gloves I got every year from my Grandmother who lived in Washington DC.  I always knew that in the small box from her would be leather gloves lined with fur.  And, how I needed them in that cold weather!  But, my mother would not let me open the box until it was Christmas Eve even with much begging.

The other gift I remember was a bike that we ordered from Sears Roebuck, yes not just Sears like it is now but Roebuck was part of the name.  I believe it cost $15 but they didn’t have the one my folks ordered so they sent a more expensive one that was much too big for me.  It did not cost my folks anymore money but my dad had to wire wooden blocks onto the pedals so I could reach them.  It took several years before I was big enough for that bike.

Yes, that was the best age for Christmas.

Well, I will close another BLOG article.  As I read over it I thought how much of it was my remembering things that happened but then that is some of the fun of being old.  Yes, memories especially fond memories are a pleasure which are ours alone and can’t be bought but must have been acquired by living for 82 years.