It's The Most Wonderful Time...

 

Drum roll please!  Ladies & Gentlemen it is officially my favourite day of the year, Christmas Eve Day!!!  (A quick reminder that my family celebrates on the 24^th in true European tradition.)  Once again my job has taken me away from the hustle and bustle that is currently happening on West Afton Place, but I have come up with my own version of the Dlouhy Christmas, a sort of ‘to-go’ version of family events for a cruise ship.  (Available for $19.95 at any local Sears Outlet Mall.)

At home, smells that permeate the house on the 24th around 1pm are indescribable.  It is the seafood chowder that my Mom tempts our taste buds with for this once a year hullabaloo.  She makes it from scratch, from memory each year.  This specialty (that will one day be bestowed upon me) contains among other delights, chunks of lobster, crab and scallops, potatoes, 4 litres of cream, and oodles of love.  This year my version of this holiday treat is a can of Pier Market Restaurant’s version of clam chowder from San Francisco.  It’s a step up from last years Campbell’s version, but it doesn’t hold a candle to my Mom’s original masterpiece.

Everyone arrives carrying Jenga-like teetering piles of presents, mainly for my niece Émilie. This year Adam & I carried our piles down deck 5, and have now forbidden each other from looking in each other’s closets.  (Insert jokes where necessary.)  We then simulate the Rudolph walk my family takes after dinner, where my Mom stays home to “do the dishes” while the remaining Dlouhy’s, (including our dog Jenny) wander around the neighbourhood in sub-zero temperatures and are allowed to return to the warmth of the living room only when the Christmas lights are turned back on.  This year I will walk around deck 7 in 30 degree Celsius sunshine while Adam “irons his work shirts”.  I can then return to the cabin to find that Santa has arrived, much like he does on West Afton Place.

After that, the festivities include visits from family friends, further investigation of presents and lots of home-made cookies, (which I have thanks to Mom and Canada Post) wine, coffee and stories.  We occasionally go to midnight mass, which this year will include me singing hymns for the passengers in the Princess Theatre accompanied by Steve Lee, our bandmaster and piano player extraordinaire. 

And so there you have it; A pint-size version of the Dlouhy Canadian Christmas brew ha-ha that can be yours for four easy payments of $4.99.  Don’t bother keeping your receipt, it won’t be necessary.  After 30 years of celebrating this way, there is no way I would ask for a refund of these events.

So to everyone from a very humid Cartagena, Colombia, I wish you a very Merry Christmas (yes, in my blog I can actually say that) and a wonderful and exciting 2011.  Wherever you are or may end up for your celebrations, may a piece of home be with you and the true meaning of Christmas remain in your hearts.

Now then, who can tell me if FedEx ships seafood soups for a reasonable price?