Christmases
AMERICAN CHRISTMAS
On Sunday, a Gates Scholar from Colorado, Chris Bohn, invited me to a Christmas Eve dinner with his family who was in town visiting. A Gates Scholar from Girton College (Kara) and I joined Chris, his two sisters, and his parents for what I would consider a traditional American Christmas dinner. It was basically a Thanksgiving meal with holiday cheer – salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, brussel sprouts, bread, wine, and some nice Belgian beer that I brought along.
We were able to pack nine people into Chris’ apartment at Christ’s College (which kind of makes me want to live there next year if I end up sticking around), and despite the tiny size of the kitchen, Chris’ mom was able to whip up quite a delicious meal including four different kinds of deserts – Christmas pudding, (which, as you might recall from a previous entry, looks like chocolate cake, but tastes like fruitcake), minced pies, pumpkin pie with whole wheat crust (of which it was noted after desert that I ate half), and one other dessert for which all I can picture in my head is another pumpkin pie.
After dinner, we sat in a circle and listened to Chris’ father read the Christmas story from the bible. The younger folks then wandered the deserted streets of Cambridge, which were quite nice with decorative holiday lights. Chris’ sisters had never been night punting, so we tried to find a punt – a boat for which one can use a pole to “punt” up and down the Cambridge River. We didn’t find one (at least not one that wasn’t chained up), but we did enjoy a nice brisk midnight walk through the city and some of the Cambridge’s many greenspaces.
ENGLISH CHRISTMAS
On Christmas Day, I joined my Girton friend, Laura, and her family in their town of Girton, which is just outside of Cambridge and which is where my college is located. Although Laura was born and lived most of her life in England, she, her stepmother, and her father spent many years in South Africa. Additionally, both Laura and her father are part of the English Department here, which made for some interesting conversations about British, South African, and American lexicons. In their quaint little home, we sat around a nice little Christmas tree, listened to Irish, South African, and Christmas Choral music, drank sherry and wine, and enjoyed an afternoon feast and a largely secular English Christmas.
The highlight of the afternoon, aside from all the incredibly delicious food (Laura’s a great cook) and drink, was going through a stack of cards of English idioms and their American translations. I learned that a “dog’s bullocks” is actually a good thing, and also learned the origin of a few obscure American idioms.
I spent the evening at my friend Justin Bang’s place at St. Catherine’s college. We ate a VERY modest Christmas dinner, but enjoyed some good laughs. The picture above is of Justin’s friend (our cook), me, and Justin.
On Sunday, a Gates Scholar from Colorado, Chris Bohn, invited me to a Christmas Eve dinner with his family who was in town visiting. A Gates Scholar from Girton College (Kara) and I joined Chris, his two sisters, and his parents for what I would consider a traditional American Christmas dinner. It was basically a Thanksgiving meal with holiday cheer – salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, brussel sprouts, bread, wine, and some nice Belgian beer that I brought along.
We were able to pack nine people into Chris’ apartment at Christ’s College (which kind of makes me want to live there next year if I end up sticking around), and despite the tiny size of the kitchen, Chris’ mom was able to whip up quite a delicious meal including four different kinds of deserts – Christmas pudding, (which, as you might recall from a previous entry, looks like chocolate cake, but tastes like fruitcake), minced pies, pumpkin pie with whole wheat crust (of which it was noted after desert that I ate half), and one other dessert for which all I can picture in my head is another pumpkin pie.
After dinner, we sat in a circle and listened to Chris’ father read the Christmas story from the bible. The younger folks then wandered the deserted streets of Cambridge, which were quite nice with decorative holiday lights. Chris’ sisters had never been night punting, so we tried to find a punt – a boat for which one can use a pole to “punt” up and down the Cambridge River. We didn’t find one (at least not one that wasn’t chained up), but we did enjoy a nice brisk midnight walk through the city and some of the Cambridge’s many greenspaces.
ENGLISH CHRISTMAS
On Christmas Day, I joined my Girton friend, Laura, and her family in their town of Girton, which is just outside of Cambridge and which is where my college is located. Although Laura was born and lived most of her life in England, she, her stepmother, and her father spent many years in South Africa. Additionally, both Laura and her father are part of the English Department here, which made for some interesting conversations about British, South African, and American lexicons. In their quaint little home, we sat around a nice little Christmas tree, listened to Irish, South African, and Christmas Choral music, drank sherry and wine, and enjoyed an afternoon feast and a largely secular English Christmas.
The highlight of the afternoon, aside from all the incredibly delicious food (Laura’s a great cook) and drink, was going through a stack of cards of English idioms and their American translations. I learned that a “dog’s bullocks” is actually a good thing, and also learned the origin of a few obscure American idioms.
I spent the evening at my friend Justin Bang’s place at St. Catherine’s college. We ate a VERY modest Christmas dinner, but enjoyed some good laughs. The picture above is of Justin’s friend (our cook), me, and Justin.
posted by Tristan Brown | 9:55 PM
1 Comments:
Was interested in your comment about Norwich Castle being "boxy". It is just that because the only part of the castle that was built was the Keep, which is what you see.
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