Christmas Drinks

People love to drink during the holidays, and there are lots of drinks unique to the Christmas season.

The most popular and well-known is eggnog. Although it is usually referred to as an alcoholic drink, I prefer it without the booze. I began drinking the stuff as a kid before I even put two and two together and realized that there were eggs in this drink. That seems to be the main thing that turns people off to it, but if you’ve never tried eggnog, you must. My favorite variety is Southern Comfort’s vanilla spice eggnog which tastes just like dessert. The kind that comes pre-mixed with the alcohol tastes awful; it’s like a disgusting, bubble-gummy concoction that doesn’t even taste like normal eggnog.

Mint is a staple of holiday treats, so it is no wonder that minty beverages are popular at this time of

year. My husband and I went to the Funny Bone comedy club this year and they had several holiday themed drinks, like something called a Rudolph and a trussed-up grasshopper called The Grinch, which was delicious.

I would love to try hot buttered rum. My grandparents made some years ago at Christmastime before I was old enough to drink and it smelled so good. Since looking up recipes and seeing how much butter is actually used in it, it is less desirable, but I still want to know how good it is.

RADIO: RADIO: Cinnamon Bear “Bad Dolls”, Jump Jump and the IceQueen “Lost in the Palace”, Jonathan Thomas and his Christmason the Moon “Dragon With Thirteen Tails Again”

MOVIE: Christmas in Connecticut is a movie that people often overlook when they talk about Christmas movies, but it is a solid film with a great cast that everyone should check out. Barbara Stanwyck is a Betty Crocker/Martha Stewart type with a popular column in a housekeeping magazine, but it is all a sham. She really isn’t married, never had children, and doesn’t know the first thing about cooking, but her publisher is a stickler for the truth. When a soldier contacts him about spending the holidays with the columnist, he invites everyone over to her fictional homestead for a big Christmas get-together, so she must scramble to get all of the pieces in place to save her job.

Barbara Stanwyck is always wonderful; she is a star through and through. She is less tough in this one than in many of her films too. I also love movies of this time that feature war elements; they make the sentiment seem all the more urgent and precious.

I think I also love this movie because of Stanwyck’s attempts to be the perfect housewife and to impress her guests. Although she’s doing it to save her job, I can relate because I always try to be the perfect housewife too. What better way is there to hold your man than through his stomach?

SONG: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo” by Billy May 

GIFT MEMORY: My first memory of Christmas at my grandparents’ house comes from when I was

about three or four years old. My cousin Kelley was my best friend and I always felt safe around her. I was pretty shy as a kid, but if Kelley was by my side, I was more confident. I remember meeting my cousin Travis and his sister Tessa for the first time (at least in my memory) and since Kelley already seemed to know them I wasn’t completely uncomfortable around them. I remember sitting on the plaid tweed couch together playing with our loot from opening gifts that night and thinking how much I really loved this whole Christmas thing. I got to play with other kids and I got new free toys. I also remember thinking Tessa was so beautiful and how I hoped that someday I would be that pretty too.

I remember getting a band set for my Barbies, which I only had a few of at that time. There was a plastic keyboard, a drum set, a microphone, and piano guitar with removable ruffles. That was the first addition to my Barbie obsession that ended reluctantly in 6^th grade when pressures to act my age took over.

Jo Dee Messina

When I was a junior in high school, I came to my first period class, which was show choir, and my teacher immediately posed an opportunity to us. Country singer Jo Dee Messina had a concert in Zanesville, which is about an hour away, and her choir cancelled on her. She talked about her predicament on a local radio station and a listener called in and recommended our choir to replace hers. My teacher was amped at the thought of us making our school proud by stepping up at the last minute.

After frantically getting parent permission and excuses to miss class, my friend Max drove me home

to change and we rushed back to the school to begin practicing. We learned choral arrangements for “Keep the Faith” and “A Joyful Noise” in a few hours at the school and on the bus. A lot of credit belongs to our choir director Dave Jarrell who not only is a great person but an amazing choir teacher who can sing every part including soprano. We had an incredible group that year and I was proud to be a part of it.

At the concert venue we ate pizza provided by Jo Dee Messina’s manager and goofed around with a video to show the school on the morning announcements the next day. Mr. Jarrell later took that video and other footage he shot to make us each a compilation video of the experience for Christmas.

RADIO: Cinnamon Bear “Santa Claus”, Jump Jump and the Ice Queen “Rescuing the Reindeer”, Jonathan Thomas and his Christmas on the Moon “Kirmit the Hermit”

MOVIE: I planned to go to Cleveland this year before Christmas to see the house where they filmed parts of A Christmas Story, but the weather and other plans have made that trip impossible. But sometime this year I will go, and I am very excited at the prospect. Why? Well, not only is A Christmas Story one of the best Christmas movies ever, but it is also heavy on nostalgia, and old stuff and Samantha go together like peas and carrots.

We saw this movie several times when we were kids, but it didn’t become a staple until I was a teenager. My mom doesn’t like this movie; she doesn’t think it is funny, so we only saw it if my dad wanted to watch it. His favorite part is the kid in line to see Santa: “I like the Wizard of Oz. I like the tin man.” One year, we had a birthday party for my dad (December 22^nd) and several of my extended family members sat down to watch A Christmas Story on TV. Everyone was laughing and quoting the movie. Suddenly, it came alive for me, and I enjoyed it so much more than I ever had.

There are so many wonderful things about this film and so many vignettes that are so brilliant and

memorable: the kid stuck to the pole, the Ovaltine commercial, Ralphie sticking a Red Ryder ad in his mom’s magazine, “A+++++++++++++”, “I can’t put my arms down,” “You’ll shoot your eye out,” “Show Mommy how the piggies eat,” “Fragile,” I could go on and on. If you haven’t read it, I recommend Jean Shepherd’s In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash which features many stories from this film. The language in the book is very similar to that in the movie; some lines are lifted exactly from the page. Here is the scene where Ralphie goes outside to try his new BB gun: “I trudged down the steps, barely discernible in the soft fluff, and now I stood in the clean air, ready to consummate my great, long, painful, ecstatic love affair.”

SONG: “A Joyful Noise”

GIFT MEMORY: Since I am a girl, over the years, I have gotten a lot of perfume and lotion. I am

not complaining. The only thing that kind of sucks about it is that so many of the great scents I associate with Christmas have been discontinued. I’m looking at you Bath and Body Works. In the name of staying fresh and current, the company constantly retires old scents in order to make room for new ones. It is a smart business model, but many of my favorite standbys have fallen by the wayside. RIP the scents of Christmas past. You are remembered. (Daffodil Fields, Tangerine Spice, Toasted Hazelnut, White Cherry Blossom, Cucumber and Green Tea, Fresh Waterfall Mist, Irresistible Apple, Lemongrass Sage, Limelight)

The Ice Storm

One of the most memorable and difficult Christmases I have ever experienced happened in 2004, or as I call it, the year of the ice storm.

I woke up on the weekend at about 10 a.m. which was about the usual time for me. It felt unusually cold in the house, which slightly annoyed me because I hate to be cold, but I put on some socks and went downstairs. My dad said the power had gone out again, which wasn't unusual in our apartment, and that was why the heat was off. I grumbled about it but figured it would come on sometime that day and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. As I slowly realized just how much we rely on electricity for everything--the microwave, the toaster oven, the refrigerator, the TV--my dad started freaking out about the after-effects of the snowstorm of the night before, and my mom joined him as my sister joined me in our quest for food. "It looks like we'll be without power for a while, guys," my dad said as my mom started exclaiming how beautiful it was outside and how wonderful the snow was, until she realized the ice made the tree branches heavy and one had fallen on her new 2003 Toyota, the only new car she had ever owned and therefore, her prized possession. As she trekked across the giant crunchy snow banks to assess the damage, my dad instructed my sister and I to empty the refrigerator into various coolers and to drag them outside. "The snow will keep them cooler than the 'fridge will."

Thus we lived, each hour colder than the last. We slept for a week straight huddled together in the living room, my parents on a mattress on the floor, my sister on the couch, and me, the shortest family member curled up on the love seat. My dad kept a kerosene heater running on a constant loop without any ventilation. I yelled at him, "At least open my bedroom window on the 3rd floor for some air. If you want to kill yourself in here with the fumes, that's fine, but if my cat dies because of your idiocy, I'll hurt you!" Sadly, one of my classmates died that week of carbon monoxide poisoning. My mom, sister and I all worked at The Hills Market grocery store, and we picked up as many extra hours as we could in hopes of spending 8 hours in a heated store, even if we were right next to the door which let cold drafts in.

On Christmas Eve we went to my aunt Debbie's apartment, the first time we hadn't spent Christmas

Eve at my grandma's in my life. She was the only one who had power. I took an insanely fast shower at our house before going, which I have to admit we hadn’t been doing a lot of. Showering in a giant solid ice cube isn’t my idea of comfortable, and being greasy was less painful. I knew my family would be taking pictures and my grandma would be filming and my vanity won out; I brought my hair dryer and straightening iron to my aunt’s so my hair wouldn’t be a frizzy mess. We had a good time, but it felt strange not being at my grandma’s house. 

That was my first Christmas with my husband. When the ice storm first hit, he spent a lot of time driving around because at least his car had heat. He called me hoping to take me out but my strict mother said, "Absolutely not!" She thought it was too dangerous and she wanted the family to be together. However, when the power was still out after days, she changed her tune. On Christmas day, I spent it with Joel. His parents had gotten fed up with not having power and they found a motel on the west side that was open. We spent our first Christmas exchanging gifts in the coziness of a heated room; the heat, and being together, were the best gift of the day.

RADIO: Cinnamon Bear “Snowman”, Jump Jump and the Ice Queen “Tricking the Ice Queen”, JonathanThomas and his Christmas on the Moon “Jonathan Grows Large and Small”

MOVIE: It Happened on 5^th Ave is a cute film set during Christmas. It features a well-meaning hobo who squats in a millionaire’s house and brings in other down-and-out people. They become a close-knit group that bands together to have a great holiday, and of course there is romance thrown in. This was the project that Frank Capra turned down in favor of doing It’s a Wonderful Life, which is an incredible film that is on a different level than this one, but if you’re looking for something less profound, this is an excellent choice.

SONG: “His Favorite Christmas Story” by Capital Lights

GIFT MEMORY: Our first Christmas together, Joel mentioned that he hoped his parents got him the

new Nirvana boxed set. Little did he know, I had bought it for him. I was still in high school so I didn’t have a lot of money, but I wanted to get him something really good, so I shopped around and splurged. He’s really hard to buy for and each year I get him lame small things because he doesn’t give me a lot of ideas, so my first Christmas was the most successful one I’ve had for him with gift giving.