Doing Almost Nothing

We’ve had a wonderful holiday season in the Ellett household despite worries about money. We have not, however, done very much. We followed all our Chanukah and Christmas traditions and enjoyed all of our family rituals but we haven’t been inclined to do much else since but relax at home. Maura had a few play dates with her cousins and friends but I have hardly left the house since I did the holiday food shopping last week. I didn’t even drive Maura to her skating lesson on Monday. Her mother is on vacation this week and she took her.

Our one family excursion out of the house was to go to see a movie, one last Christmas tradition I didn’t mention last week. Sometimes we go on Christmas Day but this year we waited until Tuesday afternoon, two days after. We try to find a movie that the whole family can enjoy, but of course it must be a movie that is appropriate for Maura. We let her pick the movie but the adults in the family get a veto over anything that doesn’t appeal to us. Most often we see an animated movie because we all enjoy them. Most years we see a Disney feature but there wasn’t a new one this year.

This year the movie Maura chose  was Tin Tin which we saw at the Cameo Theatre in Columbian Square, Weymouth. It was a good choice; we all enjoyed it. It had plenty of action and humor. The plot was not a surprise to anyone familiar with the Tin Tin comics but nevertheless satisfying. Maura wants to read some of the comics now. I’m proud of her.

After the movie we went out to dinner. We had a little money set aside to have fun over the vacation, we were hungry and it was late. We went to one of our local favorite restaurants, Sweet Lemons, our local gem of a Thai restaurant. We weren’t disappointed. We’ve been going there for years and the food and service have been consistently good.

I’ve really enjoyed a few days of doing almost nothing but I am finally starting to get a little bit of cabin fever. It’s nice out today for almost January. I think it’s time to go out for a walk.

Holiday Traditions

In our interfaith family the holiday season is very busy. Chanukah has started and Christmas is coming soon. We celebrate both holidays with or own traditions—some drawn from our families and others unique to us. Our holidays would not be complete if we skipped any of them.

Chanukah comes first, of course. The first day of Chanukah is my deadline for holiday shopping—I always try to get all of it done before the first night of Chanukah, no matter how early it falls. I feel lucky when Chanukah is early. I might have my shopping done by Thanksgiving and not have to worry about it during December. There always has to be eight presents for everybody for Chanukah so everyone can open one each night after we light the candles on the menorah. Most of them are small and practical, especially in these financially stressful times, but appreciated nonetheless. Even practical things can be fun.

Our Chanukah food is potato latkes. At other times of the year we bake latkes and they come out of the oven crisp and tasty enough to satisfy everyone but the Chanukah latkes have to be fried and they are the best. We always have them for dinner one night during Chanukah. We make a big pile and eat nothing but latkes  accompanied by plenty of sour cream and applesauce. I look forward to it all year.

Our Christmas celebration is just as important for the family and it also goes on for days, though not for eight of them. Sometime before Christmas we decorate the house. We don’t have room for a big tree but we set up a small table tree that Maura decorates with enough ornaments that it’s hard to see the green beneath them. I string lights around the living room to give the house a festive air and our gifts are piled on the piano and on the floor under the piano bench.  Most of them come from my parents.

The Christmas celebration starts on Christmas Eve. It starts with supper, always soup or chili. For me the most significant part of it is the evening service at my church with Christmas carols and candles. It always fills me with peace and joy no matter what emotions the season has brought to me before then. Since I worked in retail through the last ten Christmases I have been in dire need of both most years. When I get home we read “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” and Maura gets to open one gift before she goes to bed, my family tradition from my childhood. We let her pick one, but we won’t let her open the best one. She also makes up the plate of cookies for Santa, complete with a carrot for the reindeer.

In the morning Maura wakes to find her stocking filled with small gifts and one more present added to the pile from Santa Clause. If she is up before her parents she gets to explore her stocking, also a tradition from my family. When we were young my sister and I would be up by 6:00 am on Christmas but my parents wanted to sleep in. We could wait to open our gifts because we had small surprises small surprises to keep us occupied. It works with Maura, too. Once we are all up we enjoy our Christmas breakfast of Christmas cookies, clementines and eggnog lattes while we open our presents. It’s always fun to watch Maura open hers while the cat's chase each other through the piles of discarded wrapping paper.

Later we get to the best part of the day, dinner. Our Christmas dinner is always duck. We don’t eat duck any other time of the year but we all look forward to the Christmas feast and won't eat anything else unless we are having guests in which case we cook a goose. We always have shrimp as an appetizer but the rest of our meal is different each year. It is always carefully planned and lovingly prepared. We always finish with a decadent desert. We’ve never made the same dinner twice but it’s always a feast to be anticipated and afterwards remembered, my favorite meal of the entire year.

Fairs and Strolls

Last weekend my parents came for their annual holiday visit. It was a short one this year. They arrived from Indiana on Thursday and left again on Monday morning. We thought about doing lots of things while they were here but in the end we spent most of our time at home. We dined in local restaurants and did a little shopping but never went far. Our big events for the weekend were on Saturday and early on Sunday. On Saturday morning Maura’s school had its annual holiday fair and in the evening we went to the Holiday Stroll and Tree Lighting in Columbian Square, South Weymouth. On Sunday we attended a craft fair.

Maura was excited about her school holiday fair. She volunteered, helping with games for the younger kids, but she wasn’t needed for long. There were plenty of volunteers. She was happy that her grandparents could come and see her school. I don’t recall that they had ever seen the inside of it before. I admit that I begged off spending much time the school fair. I got a badly needed haircut while Maura was volunteering and only showed up for a short while. Maura didn’t seem to mind very much that I wasn’t there the whole time.

I was along for the trip to the Columbian Square Holiday Stroll but I wouldn’t have been upset to be left behind. It was cold and crowded and there was not much happening to excite me. Maura had a great time, though. She took part in the scavenger hunt that encouraged us to visit many of the businesses in Columbian square. I did a little shopping along the way but unfortunately my current financial troubles (I’m still unemployed) take what little joy I might otherwise find in that away. By the time we had completed most of the circuit, and Maura had claimed her prize, I was entirely out of holiday spirit. I’ve been stressed lately and I only hope I didn’t ruin everyone else’s night. I did manage to cheer up at dinner. Two bottles of Dos Equis beer and an excellent Mexican meal at El Serape in the Braintree part of Weymouth Landing were very good for my mood.

On Sunday we went to a craft fair at Congregation Sha-aray Shalom in Hingham, where Jennifer and Maura attend services. It was quite a large craft fair with about two dozen exhibitors. Most of them had beautiful things. I would have done some holiday shopping but the things I would most like to have purchased were too expensive for this year’s budget. We did pick up a few small things for Maura. Her grandmother bought her a bracelet of beads that turn from white to bright colors in the sunlight. She’s worn it to school every day since.

Maura Skates Again—the Icicle Invitational

On Saturday, December 3^rd, Maura skated in the Icicle Invitational at Navin Arena in Marlboro, Massachusetts. It was her second competition and the first one she has skated in away from her home rink in Rockland. Maura did very well and had a great time.

We got up early and left the house before sunrise. We wanted to get the rink by 7:00 am because we were told that we should check in an hour before Maura was due on the ice and she was entered in the very first event of the day, Pre-Alpha Stroking, at 8:00. It’s about an hour’s drive from our house in Weymouth to Marlboro. We allowed extra time in case we got lost. We didn’t so we were at the rink by 6:30. We ended up waiting in the lobby for an hour before we could register.

Once we were registered everything seemed to go smoothly. Jennifer got Maura ready without any trouble despite having to share the locker rooms with the hockey players who were finishing up their games. Maura skated in two events, Pre-Alpha Stroking and the Pre-Alpha Individual competition she did in October. She skated very well in both her events, at least to my untrained eye. She even managed to do a good job keeping her arms up, which is one of her biggest problems. When she got off the ice after her individual program Maura had a big smile on her face. She knew she had done well.

Maura took first in both of her events. It was not a big surprise. She was the only skater in her age group at her level so she wasn’t competing against anyone. Nevertheless, Maura was pleased with her two gold medals and proudly wore them for a photograph on the podium. If she keeps skating Maura will likely get more of them, and not always because she is the only skater in her group.

This might have been Maura’s last Pre-Alpha competition. Maura’s coach, Jenny, was happy with her performance. On Monday, at Maura’s lesson, Jenny said that if she works hard over the next few weeks Maura can take her next test and move up to the Alpha level before she competes again in February. Now that the local public rink is open again for the season and Maura has more chances to get on the ice I expect Maura will improve more rapidly than she did in the fall because of the extra practice. Her mother and I will encourage her to keep working hard off the ice but she doesn’t need much encouragement when she has the chance to skate, just a ride to the rink.

Thanks Giving

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Ours here in the Ellett household was low key but enjoyable. Perhaps the fact that we didn’t go to extremes made the holiday better. It certainly gave all of us more time and space for reflection.

Our Thanksgiving celebration began on Wednesday night with attendance at the Hingham/Hull Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at the Old Ship Church. A unique 17^th century survival, Old Ship began as Hingham’s Puritan meeting house. It's wooden architecture is unique and beautiful in a simple and understated way. It is worth a visit though it is not always open to casual visitors. Maura and Jennifer have attended the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service before but I was happy to finally be able to join them this year. I needed the reminder of how much I have to be thankful for.

On the day itself we feasted at home. Jennifer made the traditional turkey with untraditional side dishes. Stuffed pumpkins have appeared on our Thanksgiving table two years in a row and are well on their way to becoming a family tradition. We had a small gathering. It was just the three of us and our friends the Tittlers, who are as close as family. Thanksgiving dinner at home without a crowd of near strangers was very relaxing. There was plenty of opportunity to talk and many chances to reflect on the meaning of the day, though we did not stop to do so formally.

When I do pause to reflect, whether on Thanksgiving or on any other day, I find that I have many things to be thankful for. I have the love and affection of my family and friends, and the encouragement and inspiration that they give me. I have the opportunity to love and encourage them in return. I have the freedom to think and believe for myself and the right to express my thoughts if I choose. I have material things to more than meet my needs—I have no fear of being hungry, naked or cold. When I think about the people who don’t have what I do—a loving family, a roof over my head, enough food to eat—I am thankful for one other thing, that I have the ability to help others.  When I do what I can to help other people it is an expression of gratitude, both to the God I sincerely believe in and to the people who have helped me.

This year the group of friends that we spend our Sunday evenings with has decided not to exchange holiday gifts. We’ll be gathering together to help others instead. We’ll take the money we would have spent on gifts to each other and make a group donation to the Greater Boston Food Bank. It may become a new tradition.

Veterans’ Day Trip to Boston

On Veterans’ Day Maura had the day off from school and Jennifer took a day off from work so we made a trip into Boston for the day. Our destination in the city was the West End Museum a small museum dedicated to documenting the old West End neighborhood of Boston and preserving its heritage. I had wanted to go for several months, ever since I had noticed the sign for it on a previous trip into the city. I thought it would be good for Maura to learn about the West End. We haven’t been able to determine for certain but it’s quite possible some of her ancestors might have lived there before moving to less central parts of Boston.

The West End Museum is small but fascinating. It gives a glance into memories lovingly preserved of a place where people were happy to live. It was once a multi-ethnic immigrant neighborhood where people from many places got their start in America. The museum also holds up an example of bad government—the urban renewal projects of the 1950s that destroyed the neighborhood and displaced its residents. The result might have been higher property values but not a more vibrant city. At least lessons have been learned. Redevelopment in Boston no longer includes the demolition of entire neighborhoods.

Our trip to the museum was enhanced by our host, an older gentleman who lived in the West End in its last days and shared his memories of it with us. He gave us a personal guided tour of the museum. It isn’t often that we get such a personal glimpse of the past, even when the past is still within living memory. We gave what we could to the museum when we left—the museum does not charge for admission but it does accept donations. I wish we could have given more.

After our visit to the museum we spent some time in today’s Boston. We walked from the West End to Chinatown where we planned to have lunch. On the way we passed Boston’s Veteran’s Day parade. It was good to see the city honoring those who have served. The highlight of the parade was the Boston Police Gaelic Column, a pipe and drum band that plays on ceremonial occasions. It is one of Boston’s traditions and the sound seemed to bring us into the life of the city as it passed.

After the parade we made our way into Chinatown where we had lunch at Pho Pasteur. We enjoyed our spring rolls and pho, the Vietnamese soup that is the restaurant’s specialty. It was perfect for a chilly November day.

Concert at Sanctuary Hall

Last Saturday the Ellett family attended the Jake Armerding Trio concert at the East Weymouth Congregational Church where the sanctuary had temporarily become a music hall. We were fortunate to get tickets at half price by purchasing them last week at the church fair but we saw a great show that would have been worth every penny of the full fifteen dollar ticket price.

The Jake Armerding Trio consists of Jake Armerding on guitar, fiddle and vocals; father Taylor Armerding on mandolin and vocals; and brother Jesse Armerding on drums. They played an eclectic mix of folk, bluegrass, gospel and rock-and-roll with a hint of jazz thrown in. Most of the songs were originals with the exception of the encores. The final encore was a fantastic cover of Paul Simon’s “Graceland” that raised the roof. All the songs were played with honesty and feeling. The up-tempo tunes had a great deal of energy. It was clear that the musicians enjoyed playing as much as I enjoyed hearing them.

I’m sorry to say that Maura didn’t seem to enjoy the music quite as much as I did. She seemed half asleep during most of the performance. She did wake up during Jesse Armerding’s drum solos which held her spellbound. Once or twice during the show she started whining. I admit that I wasn’t paying enough attention to her to get what she was whining about. In Maura’s defense the show was late for her and she was tired. I don’t think she got quite enough sleep the night before. Perhaps the homebaked goodies she had during the intermission improved her mood. She didn't whine during the second half of the show. When we asked her if she enjoyed the show afterwards she said she did.

Several times during the performance Jake Armerding commented on the great sound in the East Weymouth Congregational Church sanctuary. Musicians enjoy playing there because it has wonderful acoustics and makes them sound their best. The sanctuary can hold about 300 people in the pews and there are no bad seats. If you live on the South Shore, or not too far away in other parts of the Boston Metropolitan Area I recommend you come and hear it for yourself. Jake Armerding was the first event in the Music at Sanctuary Hall series at the church. Information on upcoming events can be found at http://www.eweyucc.org/specialevents.html.