Thanks Edge, Merry Christmas.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> Two thumbs up for this piece. Nice.
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > So you take your fresh ground coffee (preferably dark roast Sumatran) and
> > you brew it however you do, (I use one of those Bailetti Italian numbers
> > you see on the stove in every Sofia Loren movie) and then the magic begins.
> > Having tasted versions of "Christmas" blends through the years, I always
> > thought I could do better, but until this morning never took the trouble.
> > I resisted the temptation to drop in a soft peppermint (tomorrow I'm gunna)
> > and went right for the high grade dark coco powder, a sprinkle of cinnamon,
> > sugar, and some ginger and milk. Christmas blend perfection. I'm sure any
> > version that includes cloves would be great too. But it is the overly
> > strong cloves that I object to in the commercial mixes, aside from the fact
> > that any pre-ground coffee is a non starter in my kitchen. (Coffee oils are
> > where God lives, and God evaporates really quickly.)
> >
> > Speaking of God in his various human imagined personas, I am sipping my
> > yuletide brew while gazing on a nativity baby as pump as the churro stuffed
> > Honduran neighbor's kids who stomp up and down the stairs in their princess
> > dresses, but sound more like the prince's horse. (Type 2 diabetes coming
> > right up.) It is the nativity set from my youth rescued from my Dad's
> > house's attic as we emptied it out. It has a tiny wind-up music box that
> > tinkles out Silent Night, but slowed down by decades of mouse droppings no
> > doubt. It plays the song absentmindedly now in stops and starts, like an
> > old man slumped over the piano in the Alzheimers unit who can only manage a
> > few notes of the melody at a time before his mental ship sails away for a
> > few moments.
> >
> > The song is doubly sentimental for me because as a ploy to get some
> > Maharishi darshon when he visited MIU my first Winter in '75, I put
> > together a group to sing him the song in German. (It is surprisingly not
> > at all Nazi sounding and is beautiful in that language, check it out:
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUb8ySdERKs ) It actually worked to flush
> > out the old guru, and it was the longest time I had spent standing next to
> > him at that time. He kept us waiting for hours till the early morning, but
> > he was really gracious about it all, despite the fact that he despised
> > Christianity and looked so tired I thought he was going to fall over.
> > After we were done he asked for Age of Enlightenment songs. Emily Levin
> > banged out one of her saccharine ditties. Before he went back upstairs
> > where he was saving the world and all (banging groupies) he took a moment
> > to look me in the eye. It was a nice steady benevolent look, not exactly
> > kind, a bit curious, non committal but prolonged. For a guy as besotted as
> > I was for the dhotied one at the time, (or my imagination of him) it was my
> > Christmas miracle. I thanked him, and he floated off in a shower of Jai
> > Guru Devs.
> >
> > Back to my nativity. The figures are some kind of plaster and my Dad
> > repainted them in garish Homer Simpson style, no doubt accompanied by more
> > than a bit of Dewar's Scotch, so that the wise men look like members of
> > George Clinton's Parliament- Funkadelic. There are oxen and sheep and an
> > adoring Mary, looking herself a bit sheepish, as Joseph beside her pretends
> > to believe her whopper of a tale of her divine pregnancy in a desperate bid
> > to keep his first century Courtney Stodden age-inappropriate hot wife with
> > him. "This better be the ONLY divinely conceived baby in this house Miss
> > Missy!"
> >
> > My eyes drift up to my walls with pictures of Santas from 1930's magazines
> > gaily puffing on cigarettes (damn I wish I was English and could say he was
> > sucking on a fag) while the copy makes claims of the throat soothing
> > virtues of Chesterfields. Throat soothing! I've got versions of them all
> > over thanks to Ebay, as if Santa had a walk-on part on Mad Men.
> >
> > I've got some hand carved camels made of olive wood led by a man on a
> > donkey who I can only assume is spending another Christmas in Guantanamo
> > and someone else is now leading these camels laden with the concentrated
> > sap of the poppy which I guess is the wink, wink, nudge, nudge, translation
> > for "frankincense and myrrh"
> >
> > I loves me some Christmas. It is an atheist version, but I don't let the
> > bastard child of a rapist ghost interfere with my nostalgia wallowing. If
> > you really listen to Christmas songs they are freak'n maudlin aren't they?
> > That hits my blues center just fine. I'm not even a hater of the
> > materialistic/commercial side of Christmas. I like being coerced into
> > buying presents with money I don't have, because otherwise I wouldn't do
> > it, and gift giving is a blast. (If you prime the pump with specific
> > requests, the receiving isn't so bad either.)
> >
> > The invention of the modern Christmas and many of its most iconic symbols
> > and traditions was pretty recently laid herky jerky on top of those
> > wonderful pagan contributions. (Let's get plastered and bring a tree into
> > the hut!) If some people want to believe that the arrival of one fat baby
> > will give their lives meaning, who really cares? (Oh yeah, I do when they
> > put crèches on the public courthouse lawn...)
> >
> > So to all my friends at FFL, I hope you play this version of All I Need for
> > Christmas is You (NOT the sappy Mariah Carey puke version, but the cool
> > Vince Vance and the Valiants version)
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1VkMBi9vvw
> >
> > Brew yourself a steaming cup of your own version of Christmas coffee, (I'm
> > pretty sure Santa would pour some brandy, bourbon or scotch in his) and
> > contemplate that even though the baby Jesus story is just a human
> > contrivance meant to cover up the indiscretions of an overly hot young Mid
> > Eastern woman married by the barbaric customs of her day to an old coot
> > with shriveled olives, take heart. By the time the first crocuses are
> > poking their noses out of the snow, he will be executed for being the
> > world's first Occupy Jerusalem hippie. Wait, that wasn't the landing I was
> > trying to stick
> >
> > Share that enhanced coffee with someone you love, turn the song up, and who
> > knows, you might get as lucky as the Holy Spirit). Love is my version of
> > Bethlehem's shining star that makes me get on my camel and ride into that
> > beautiful silent night.
> >
>
