“Everything that could possibly be said about Christmas, I’m sure has already been said,” I replied.
“Nobody does Christmas like you, dear,” he said. I can never tell if he is just being droll.
Anyway, I’m not sure I have anything original or relevant to add to the subject. I could say, “And to all a good night!” at this point and let you get on with your baking, wrapping, newsletter writing — or Menorah lighting for that matter — but two things come to mind that I thought I would share with you, dear friends, which you might find enjoyable, regardless of your ethnicity, belief system or disposition toward the season.
I was in the car yesterday when the radio station I was listening to played that classic holiday favorite, “Christmas, Don’t Delay” by Alvin and the Chipmunks. I thought, “Ugh!” and turned it off. But then, I thought, “Oh, heck,” and turned it back on. It was curiously satisfying to hear it.
What is it about the Chipmunks that they have endured all these years? The first Alvin and the Chipmunks song came out in 1958 (by the same songwriter, Ross Bagdasarian, who gave us “The Witch Doctor” with those unforgettable lyrics, “Oo, Eee, Oo, Ah, Ah, Bing-bang, Walla-walla, Bing-bang.” Those were simpler times, weren’t they?)
I loved the Chipmunks when I was a kid. I was five when they arrived on the scene— not too young to appreciate, with my attention deficit disordered brain, that Alvin was a great role model. I loved that Alvin was always goofing off, totally distracted, until the guy screams, “Alvin. ALVIN! ALLLL-VIN!!!!” I thought that was hilarious when I was a kid. And at five, you are totally in on the joke that if chipmunks could sing, they’d sound just like a speeded up record.
Not sure how that part plays for kids today who have never heard a speeded up record, but apparently whole new generations of five year olds who go to the Chipmunks movies appreciate the humor. There is now on a third iteration of “new” chipmunks updated with hoodies and bling who sing popular rap and rock songs. A girl trio, the “Chipettes,” have been added to represent the female population in a spirit of equality, presumably, or as seems to be demonstrated in the trailers shown on TV, they’re there to shake their little chipmunk booties to inject a little sex into the formula so that Hollywood once again can inculcate kids with adult themes.
Still, although I haven’t actually seen a chipmunk movie, I like to imagine that kids think it’s hilarious that the human screams, “ALLLL-VIN!!!!” to get the little guy’s attention.
“O-KAY!”
This nostalgic bent lingered until dinner time when I was cutting up celery for a salad. I walked into the living room with a celery stick for Ken, and said, “Hors d’oeuvre?”
“Thanks, sweetie,” he said. “Hey, remember when we used to have Cheez-Whiz on these?”
“Oh, yeah, Cheez-Whiz was good!” I replied. “Or we had Velveeta at our house when I was a kid.”
Those made me think that I’d love to do a dinner party sometime for friends who have similar nostalgia for childhood foods. If I followed the prescription for entertaining that my mother set out, we’d start with celery sticks with Velveeta cheese on top, a jar of pimento-stuffed Manzanita olives, and smoked oysters, from a can, served on crackers. Dad drank Scotch and my mother had Rye and 7-Up, so we’d have to go with hard liquor instead of wine.
First course: shrimp cocktail served over shredded lettuce in a fancy cocktail glass with red, horseradishy sauce on the side.
Main course: a roast of beef accompanied by the ultimate potato – roasted around the meat (the rest of the week we ate mashed.) Maybe a jellied salad – a shimmering hill of lime green with bits of cucumber, carrot, celery and green onion floating within its transparent glow. Likely some cauliflower with Velveeta sauce.
Wine: Mateus. In that flat, green lantern of a bottle. Or maybe some nice Canadian Baby Duck. (Seriously. Andre’s Baby Duck, a rather sweet, sparkling white wine, was the most popular wine in Canada right up to 1973.)
Dessert? Ambrosia. A recipe that I think must have come straight out of one of those Kraft Foods commercials: red Jell-O mashed up and mixed with whipped cream, canned fruit cocktail, marshmallows and coconut. Who could have imagined this? It was such an improbable concoction.
At Christmas there was always turkey with mashed potatoes and all the veggies you can imagine. Dessert was an extravaganza of traditional plum pudding with rum sauce along with my mother’s Christmas cake and shortbread, mincemeat pie, Icelandic vinarterta and peppermint stick ice cream served at the kid’s table. The folks had a bit of a sweet tooth!
Well, I’m back to living in the present today. But this time of year conjures childhood memories no matter how much you might wish to suppress them. Once you start, many more flood in. Maybe I’ll have some more to share next week!
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