Ramblin' RET: 12/25/15

Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry F...Fake Christmas

My 2015 Christmas Tree.

In memory of my late, former mother-in-law, Judy: "Merry Fffff..ng Christmas!! That is F for "Fake." It occurred to me recently, that Christmas has turned into a fake holiday designed to sell product and generate revenue. It's a big show for everyone.

I'm not sure when Christmas lost its soul but it is no longer the same. Christmas now starts in September and snowballs into December. The same dozen or so songs are constantly playing in all the stores all the time. I read about a DJ who got so fed up that he played the same song over and over, over 20-some times before they broke the door down and switched the record. It drove everyone crazy to hear the song continuously. Therefore, one has to wonder what the motives are for the folks who play the same songs over and over for months.

Everyone has fake (I mean artificial) Christmas trees. My protest is make my own tree and tape it to my apartment door where someone can actually see it (as they pass through the hallway). It may not be a real tree but I made it fresh this year.

Christmas is actually fading away. It is morphing into just "holidays." Happy Holidays everyone says. We have Holiday parties at work. People send (email, text, tweet, twit) holiday greetings. No more Christmas cards-Seasons Greetings instead. In many places it is considered improper to say "Merry Christmas" or to post red and green decorations. Really.

Christmas cards are out. If you don't want a holiday photo (generally of the kids only), there are online services (e.g., Shutterfly) that will not only print your card but will mail them to your list so that you don't even have to touch them (if you want to add a personal touch, Shutterfly will send them back to you ready to go except for the stamp).

This year I received several text greetings from siblings on Christmas. Several included pictures. Most were sent to multiple people rather than just to me. Efficient but impersonal. WWJD? I despise these kinds of texts. None of these siblings bothered to call me. They were apparently too busy (sending mass texts I suppose).

FedEx is working Christmas Day in order to squeeze out more $$$ (and indulge your materialism).

When I was growing up, it was a big deal to go to midnight Mass. Now, it is almost impossible to find a Mass at midnight. Most churches have a service/mass in the evening (10 p.m. at the latest) on Christmas Eve. This way you don't have to bother leaving the house on Christmas Day to attend religious services. What does religion have to do with Christmas anyway?

The weather today was (appropriately) unseasonably warm. The grass is dark green and no sign of snow so far this year. This must mean that Pope Francis is right about global warming (errrr, I mean Climate Change). Bless me Father for I have sinned....

Like last year (and Thanksgiving), I went for a walk to justify indulging in the gluttony of a ~~Christmas~~ holiday dinner. Since I walked for about an hour and a half, I probably covered three or four miles. While walking, I had a nice chat with my mom and a couple of my sisters courtesy of the miracle of a cell phone. However, I was shocked and disappointed to hear from my mom that she had not gone to Mass. It apparently wasn't very high on their list of things to do for Christmas. I guess that is what contemporary RCism does to a person.

Sunset on Christmas Day at the end of my (first) walk.

Later, after eating, I went for another walk to work off the calories (hahahaha). Again, thanks to my mobile phone, I had a nice chat with a nephew, niece, and one of my sisters.

And so Christmas Day drew to a close. What is Christmas? How did we get to this place now? Happy Solstice, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Shone Knife - Space Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noq_JBcMM08

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Written Saturday 26 December 2015

My Christmas Dinner

This is the story of my Christmas dinner. First I obtained the ingredients. I went to my local Stop & Shop for a few items and then went across the street to Boston Market for the main course and side items. I shopped on Christmas Eve in order to avoid trying to find food on Christmas Day. Even if anything is open on Christmas, I do not want to buy anything and encourage stores that there is enough demand to be open on a holiday.

My local Stop & Shop (Photo by David B. Newman)

My Boston Market (courtesy of Yelp).

From Boston Market, I got a large Turkey Breast dinner (for 1). The two sides I chose were sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and gravy. I also got an extra side of creamed spinach. I also got some shoe peg corn from Stop & Shop.

Before dinner, I went for a long walk (probably 3-4 miles) to work up an appetite and hopefully burn off some calories.

In the beginning....

I cooked the corn first and then filled my dinner plate with the Boston Market items. I microwaved the dinner plate. Since the corn was already cooked, I added it to the cooked dinner plate and then sent it through another few seconds.

Thoroughly cook until well heated....

For Thanksgiving, I had a glass of wine with my meal. But this time, I decided to skip the alcohol this time and go with sparkling cider (Apple-Grape) - Sort of like champagne.

My beverage this time.

Boston Market also includes a small piece of corn bread. And so my meal is complete (see picture below). I have enough left over for a second plate (meal).

Dinner is served.

For dessert, I got a 1/2 of a pumpkin pie from Stop & Shop. At Thanksgiving, they didn't have Vanilla Frozen Yogurt but this time I was in luck. I could've gone with whipped cream but I thought the ice cream would be more versatile.

Dessert: pumpkin pie and ice cream.

After dinner, I went for another walk to try burn off some calories. Again, I walked for over an hour (probably not enough to offset the calorie intake from the meal).

A gift from my sister, Amy.

When I got back from my walk, it was essentially time for bed. But craving something sweet, I had one of the Berger Cookies my sister had sent from Baltimore. These cookies are delicious but I don't dare look at the nutritional information.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Links:

https://www.bergercookies.com
-----------------------------------------------------------

Written Saturday 26 December 2015

Midnight Mass (in Latin)

Cover of program

This Christmas I wanted to do something different. Something got me thinking "Midnight Mass." I mean, really midnight not 5 p.m. or 10 or 11 p.m. Then to make it more novel, how about a Latin Mass at Midnight. Since finding an actual midnight mass at midnight is now quite a trick, my choices for a Latin Mass at Midnight were essentially whittled to one unless I wanted to travel out of state.

It was a 70-mile drive to get to St. Mary Church. I made excellent time and arrived early for the rosary (see schedule below). This was my first visit to this church and I was knocked out by its beauty. The mass was in Latin but it was not that difficult to follow along because there was a well designed program to use.

Altar at St. Mary RC Church (photo by Jill Chessman)

Christmas Eve:

11 pm Rosary by the creche

11:20 pm Orchestral Prelude: Christmas Concerto (Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8) (Arcangelo Corelli, 1683-1713)

11:30 pm Christmas Carols

Carol: What Child Is This (Greensleves)

Carol: O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël)

Carol: O Little Town of Bethlehem (St. Louis)

Carol: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Carol: Tu scendi dalle stelle (St. Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori, 1696-1787)

Carol: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (Es is ein’ Ros’ entsprungen)

Carol: De Virgine Maria (Carl Rütti, b.1949)

Carol: Silent Night (Stille Nacht)

Prelude: Desseins éternels (from La Nativité du Seigneur) (Olivier Messiaen, 1908-1992)

The Solemn Proclamation of Christmas

Hymn at the Procession: Adeste Fideles (John Francis Wade, arr. David Willcocks, 1919-2015)

Hymn at the Procession: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn, arr. Willcocks)

Sample page of program; Latin is on left; English is on right.

12:00 Solemn Midnight Mass

Mass in C Major (K. 258, “Piccolomini”) (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791)

Gregorian Mass of Christmas Midnight: Dominus dixit

Motet at the Offertory: Laudate Dominum (from Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339) (Mozart)

Motet at the Communion: Verbum caro factum est (John Sheppard, c.1515-1558)

Postlude: In dulci jubilo (BWV 729) (Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750)

Postlude: Fugue in A Major (BWV 536/2) (Bach)

More pictures can be seen here. They are worth checking out.

My cell phone camera shot of the altar at the end of Mass.

The painting behind the altar is of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary. The artist, Leonard Porter, has a detailed article and several pictures at his website.

Mass ended a little after 2 a.m. By the time I returned home, it was nearly 4 a.m. Although this evening was cloudy, the clouds had broken during the ride home; so I could see the Full Moon.

Couple of interesting/ironic items:

On the drive to church, I was listening to Christmas music on the radio. For some reason, they played Sunny Afternoon by the Kinks. It has nothing to do with Christmas (nor Winter). Perhaps it was the DJ's poke at the record setting warm temperature today. Nonetheless, it was a delightful surprise for me since I love the Kinks and this is one of their best.
The husband & wife who do the Latin Mass blog where I found the info about the mass, sat in the pew in front of me.
I later found out that the priest who said mass, is one of the rare married RC priests. He was originally an Episcopal priest (married) who converted to Catholicism and was accepted in the RC Church as a married priest. So a married priest saying a traditional Latin mass. Definitely a full moon tonight.

(Photo by Chessman)

All-in-all it worth the drive. It was an interesting mass and everything was good. I had to work hard to keep from crying because this mass was so much better than what is presented as RCism today. I wrote to one of my friends afterwards, that if the mass were still like this, I'd probably still be RC.