But Christmas Eve always brings back a lot of memories for me. I'll break them down by sense.
1. Sound For some reason, Christmas Eve reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel. When I am listening to them, I do not think of Christmas, but around Christmas time, I must listen to them. So, if you can, listen to "Sound of Silence" or "The Boxer" or "Bookends" (even though it is short) while you are reading this.
As far as "Christmas Music" goes, you cannot beat the Trans-Siberian Orchestra revamp of Carol of the Bells: they call it Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo 12/24. Interestingly, the song was written as a portrait of a cellist playing after the Seige of Sarajevo.
George Winston also plays a beautiful arrangement of Carol of the Bells and myriad other tunes; his album December is a masterpiece.
2. Sight Unfortunately, my camera is broken, so I can only post these stock photos, but later, I will show you real ones. A lot of my neighborhood puts out luminaries (this year, one of ours caught fire, and it spread to the leaves on the street before someone discovered it!). We have Scandinavian roots and German family friends, so we have a lot of straw ornaments. And pinecones.
3. Touch The feeling of chapped lips and raw hands always reminds me of winter.
4. Smell The smell of evergreen always permeates our house; no matter how many times I've asked my parents to use the artificial tree my grandparents gave us, they refuse. So, once a year, a tree is chopped down for our sake and I thank it for blanketing the living room in Christmas-scent.
Also, the smell of cooking food reminds me of Christmas. As a vegetarian, I despise waking up to the aroma of a baking ham, but my family members adore it. More fondly, I remember the batches and batches of Christmas cookies we bake yearly for teachers, friends, ourselves, and "Santa." One particularly stressful year, my mom said that Santa wanted a glass of wine instead of milk, but he still got our cookies.
5. Taste We see my relatives from Philadelphia once a year around Christmas, and we always bake the same, delicious cookies. They're melt-in-your-mouth, chocolate-y, cookie-cuttered goodness. I'll give you all the recipe.
Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cookies
1 cup sifted whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sifted unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (scant)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-Process)
8 oz unsalted butter (that's 2 sticks)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp water
Additional sugar (I like using raw sugar) for sprinkling on top of cookies
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil.
2. Sift together both flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cocoa; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter (ouch!) until soft. Beat in the vanilla and 2 cups of sugar. Then, beat in egg and water. On a low speed, gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, beating until thoroughly mixed. You can also do this with a wooden spoon, it gets quite thick.
4. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and knead until smooth (don't worry too much about this). Divide the dough into two balls.
5. Place one ball onto a lightly floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin. Roll the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick (not thinner!)
6. Cut out cookies. Use a spatula to transfer them to cooking sheets. (One of my favorite things is making abstract cookies out of the negative spaces between the cookie cutter shapes.)
7. Repeat rolling and cutting with other half of dough and any scraps.
8. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sugar!
9. Bake for 7-10 minutes, depending on cookie size. They will still feel soft when they are done, but they will firm up as they cool. (You probably won't think they're done; they are.)
10. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool.
11. Eat. They are especially good with milk.
To those of you who celebrate, Merry Christmas. To those who don't, a peaceful December 25th.
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