Sleigh Bells Ring

In the discussion below, I linked to an article on how the lyrics of Jingle Bells have a kind of dark sarcasm about the joys of horseback riding and sleighing. I found this performance of the original version, which also has a markedly different chorus than the one we know so well. 

The lyrics aren't all that dark, really; rather, they make light of a real danger facing the people of the era. In that way it reminds me of this song, which likewise allows itself to make fun of a very serious peril that faces us today. It ends up being a fun song, even though the dangers of driving while intoxicated are very real and can be much more terrible than portrayed.

That seems to me to be something like the spirit of the original Jingle Bells. We all know we could end up 'upshot' or flat on our backs when we get out on horseback, just like we all know we could encounter one of these 'merry fellows' on the highway -- and that it might not be a laughing matter if we really do. Like M*A*S*H or similar military-themed humor, sometimes it is allowable to make fun of even the truest perils we face. 

St. Stephen's Day

 

Christmas Feasting

 

More Christmas Music

Dad29 has a collection; AVI has a nice piece sung in a stone cathedral. 

Christmas Day in the Morning

The giant laughter of Christian men 

That roars through a thousand tales, 

Where greed is an ape and pride is an ass, 

And Jack's away with his master's lass, 

And the miser is banged with all his brass,

The farmer with all his flails; 

Tales that tumble and tales that trick, 

Yet end not all in scorning— 

Of kings and clowns in a merry plight, 

And the clock gone wrong and the world gone right,

That the mummers sing upon Christmas night 

And Christmas Day in the morning.

-Chesterton, "Ballad of the White Horse"

Christmas dawn

My oldest friend's weaving studio at first light this morning. She likes to weave in the pre-dawn hours before all the craziness starts.

The High Feast of Christmas

 

O Holy Night

 

More Christmas Eve Baking

I’m not the artist Tex is, but I did bake a bit today. Not all of it survived to be photographed. 

Clockwise from top, Snickerdoodle cookies, a spice cake, an Asiago cheese ball (not technically baked), chocolate cheesecake tarts, and a full regular cheesecake, shortbread, and fresh baked herb bread. 

Tomorrow, roast turkey and ham. 

Christmas eve baking

It Would Be Poor Form To Laugh About This

...but how could you not?

Breakfast Sliders for Dinner

We've reached the stage of Advent where I am actively trying to do non-Christmas stuff so as to preserve the really good stuff for the 12 day feast to come. Two of the last three nights we've just had sandwiches for dinner. Last night I made pork burritos. Tonight I made sausage and cheese sliders, with eggs on the side. 

Almost there. 

A friend of mine hit upon the idea of reading a chapter of Luke every night in December; there are 24 chapters, so she'll finish the book tomorrow. Last night was Chapter 22, which includes my favorite divine instruction in verse 36 (roughly, "Buy a sword even if you have to sell your coat"). It's a worthy project, although it seems better for Lent because you end with the Easter story instead of the Christmas one. 

Holiday baking continues in preparation. I have now distributed that entire giant loaf of Julekage. Today I made shortbread. Tomorrow I will finish the baking for Christmas dinner, so that the ham and turkey breast can go into the oven first thing in the morning. 

A pond visitor

And a Christmas gator, one of my new batch of ornaments:

Scary Soccer Moms

The worst thing about them is that they're so likeable. It makes it hard to remain devoted to the necessary purges.

Some highlights; you can read the whole thing if you want to see how far into the motte-and-bailey, our-position-is-the-only-rational-one stuff she is. Her position is the only rationally possible one, which makes their positions unintelligible even though she claims to have met with them and joined their Facebook groups.

"What exactly that last phrase ["without coercion"] means is ominously vague...."

"Before 2016, I always thought of Nazis as mainly historical villains that belonged in Indiana Jones movies or old news reels or the sad stories my grandfather told me. Now, however... I am aware that fascism is creeping back into the world at large in terrifying ways..."

Nazis, you say?

"No, I don’t understand that argument either." [It is indeed plain she did not understand their argument, because the one she ascribes to them is absurd.]

"I found the members were all stripes of Republican and I was pleasantly surprised to see opinion was not monolithic in the group...."

So, Nazis, right? 

"I caught a gleam in the woman’s eye I didn’t like. Was there some flirtation with insurrection being suggested here? What, exactly, was she saying?"

"Despite my uneasiness, I couldn’t help but find myself liking the women in the room. They were charismatic. They were energetic. They had no problem letting my low-functioning autistic son play with their children, which is unfortunately rare among a lot of the other mothers I’ve encountered. But this made me even more uneasy. I realized these women were dangerous precisely because they were so friendly."

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that none of these women are dangerous by any standard I would normally recognize. While I'm out there, I'll lay down a wager that none of them are Nazis, either. Not remotely, in fact. I'll bet they're not even fascists in any reasonable sense of the word. Maybe just that one with the gleam in her eye. You can't tell about people like that, with gleams and stuff. 

Boxes

I'm nuts about clever boxes, but lack any affinity whatever for carpentry. It would be great if I had an acquaintance who would make a sorting box like this one, a one-off that apparently he didn't put into production.

Julekage

 

This year made with dehydrated blueberries reconstituted in honey, and a compound butter swirl. 

UPDATE: This turned into a discussion of military ethics and the law of war. Joel, if you happen to see this your opinion would be welcome. 

Yuletide

It has been the solar new year for an hour or so. Thus begins the Yuletide, which refers to the wheel (‘Jul’ or ‘Yule’) of the sun. 

Hot Buttered Rum

Come Christmas, I may try this. The compound butter sounds great. 

I'm sure he's quaking in his boots

Sen. Schumer vows to hold a record vote on Build Back Bonanzalooza in January so certain people will have to vote in the Senate and "not just on television." Somehow I doubt that Sen. Manchin fears blowback from the West Virginia voters who supported Trump, and now oppose BBB, by about 70%. Manchin and his voters apepar not to be impressed by the repeated claims that the Election Fraud Enabling Act is necessary to combat voter suppression, either. I'll still be on tenterhooks about both of these pieces of garbage legislation until the November 2022 midterms are over, but three months ago I wouldn't have dared to predict that things would be going this well.

Smoked Beer

Tonight I had a Rauchbier, which is a smoked lager from Germany. The argument is that until the Middle Ages all beer was like this. 

This stuff is amazing. I’ve never tasted anything like it. Medievalists and beer lovers alike should seek one out.