Christmas Eve

There have been a lot of lazy days (and some not so lazy days) recently. Dave's vacation started last week and will continue into the new year, so there has been a fair amount of lazing about the house. But he also spent a day making stollen with his mother and another day joining me, my aunt, and mother in a big tamale making endeavor.

It's been a couple of years since we got together with my aunt to make tamales. It was something that my grandmother did almost every year, but since she died, we've only done it sporadically. This past Sunday however, we started around 7:30 and made tamales for about nine or ten hours. In the end, we had about 33 dozen, not including what we ate (and a few that got burned accidentally). My mother took one dozen, my brother another couple dozen, then my aunt and Dave and I split the others down the middle. Our freezer is filled now and I've probably eaten a dozen in the last two days. They're very tasty.

(Lu Ann, if you're reading this, let Chris know I *do* have some tamales for her after all!)

What else has been going on? I ordered a couple of new art supplies this week, a set of Kuratake Gansai Tambi watercolors from Japan and some calligraphy pens. I also got a book by James Gurney (the artist who did Dinotopia) about color and light. I've been using mostly watercolors and water-based media these days, which I enjoy even though I am shockingly incompetent at it.

I also ordered a copy of Mary Oliver's new book of poetry, Felicity. I like Mary Oliver. Here's one from her:

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

I had therapy last night, the last of the year. I won't see my therapist again until after new year's. We took it easy this time, since I wasn't up to digging deep just before Christmas. So that was fun.

The next day...

The next day, Dave and I met my mother, brother, aunt, and little cousin for an early Christmas lunch. Of course we had to go to China Express, where we ordered a lot of food, including my beloved spicy broccoli. After a couple of hours of eating, chatting, and laughing, my brother, aunt and cousin all headed out. My mother, Dave and I decided to head over to the theater to see the new Star Wars movie in 3D.

My opinion? I think of all the sequels and prequels that followed the original three Star Wars movies, it was the best, but only just.

There were lots of parts I didn't like. The pacing wasn't great. Lupita N'yongo was completely wasted. Character development was sparse. The moral ambiguity that added complexity to the first three films was lacking. The OTT acting of some of the characters was cheesy and the symbolism surrounding them stupefyingly heavy handed. The CGI characters (which I hate as a general rule of principle, in any movie) were ridiculous. It's debatable whether the movie passes the Bechdel Test.

But there were lots of parts that I did like. Oscar Isaac's character was the most likable of the new characters to me. There were women and minorities in major roles, always a plus. Adam Driver did a great job. It was nice to see Chewbacca again. (He always was my favorite.)

The day after...

We're back on our de-cluttering kick. I proposed to Dave that we each get rid of the number of things that matched the date. For example, on the 24th, we each got rid of 24 things. So we got that out of the way. That led to me doing some reorganizing of my art supplies. They had been taking over the kitchen table (which I needed to clear off for dinner).

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon making vegetarian posole to have for our Christmas Day dinner. (It's always better the second day.) For dinner, however, we had a selection of cheeses (I only had a  bit as I'm supposed to be avoiding dairy), bread, and salad. I also had a bit of rotisserie chicken that I picked up at the last minute from the co-op.

Before we had dinner however, we went out and looked at the luminarias. I didn't get any pictures, of course. My favorite house did not have luminarias, but about 12 or 15 huge trees with the trunks and bare branches wound with white lights. Luminarias are one of the most magical things about Christmas, I think.