This Chinese food and a movie tradition was unknown to me growing up. I think we were protected from the barrenness of Christmas for Jews by living in a neighborhood that was almost completely devoid of Christmas lights. Plus eventually we were spending Christmas week in our little vacation house in the country an hour and a half outside the city. (The City. Do I have to explain which city I'm taking about? Oh yes, I guess I have to, for my non-American readers. There is only one City. It used to be Constantinople. Now, of course, and forever, it is New York.)
Mostly, I think, my parents never knew of that tradition.
Now, though, as a member of a synagogue, I have a community with which to spend what used to be a very dreary day, no matter how much sun there was lighting up the sky. And today there was no sun at all.
It's a gay synagogue.
Well, not just gay.
LGBTQ etc etc...
I'm one of the very few in the B category.
So we do this Chinese food and movie thing on Christmas Day, although in reverse order. And since the lesbians are prone to nesting, and lots of them are in mixed relationships anyway so may be doing that other Christmas thing, I am often the only woman escorted by a dozen or so gay Jewish men.
I could do worse.
This year there was one other woman, but she was someone's sister, and didn't really count. And when our ravenous horde finally sat down to the three round tables they needed to accommodate us, I could honestly describe it as what in jest I have cited for years.
Oatmeal Girl and the 7 Gay Dwarfs
The meal was delicious.
And the movie?
True Grit.
It's really, really good.
Spare, in a way, but rich, too.
And marvelous acting.
Plus there's this spanking . . .
The crotch of my plain, white cotton panties provides mute testimony to my reaction.
Merry Christmas to all of you, however you chose to pass the day.
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7 comments:
OG, I was with family all day yesterday.
I hope that the New Year is even better then your Jewish Christmas.
Love and warm hugs,
Paul.
Laughing at The City. In between Constantinople and New York it was London.
There's a theory that in times of cultural stress, Jews need Chinese food. I think Christmas proves this theory.
:)
The Collins clan are a mixed lot, so the surly teens get gifts galore all through the holidays. But we spent Christmas night at a bar with our Jewish friends here out west, listening to music and drinking tequilla.
"True Grit" is definitely on our list though.
Mick
We too saw True Grit in the last few days -- it really is a visual and linguistic treat.
Glad for your depiction of your Chinese meal with the 7 gay "dwarfs." Sounds like a lovely evening.
hugs, Sue
Thank you, all, for your reports.
Paul - as I wrote in today's post, I have decided that the secular new year will definitely be better than the last one.
sin - Right. The City. Doesn't that refer to a certain area of London? To New Yorkers, "going into the city" means going to Manhattan from one of the other boroughs. Now, living in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, I never refer to DC as the city. Instead, I always say I'm going into town.
Mick and Molly - your clan sounds like a fun lot! And I'm gad you enjoyed your own version of midnight mass.
swan - "a visual and linguistic treat." A lovely description. I can't get it out of my mind. Plus I should mention that we emerged with nary a contraction among the 20 of us! They say that one reason that young actress was hired to play Mattie was because she handled the language so well.
Did you watch the new True Grit or the old one?
doubleknot - the new one by the Coen Brothers. I cannot say enough good things about it. The version with John Wayne was on TV a day or so before. I had never seen it and deliberately didn't watch it, wanting to take this new film on its own merits. It is brilliant in its own right and, in fact, is said to be much closer to the original book. Do see it - as long as you are forewarned about the violence. But if you are familiar with other Coen brothers films, you shouldn't need that warning.
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