Christmas Traditions

We are always at home on Christmas morning, and presents and Christmas Stockings are always on Christmas morning, not on Christmas Eve. Christmas Dinner might be at our house or somewhere else, but Christmas morning is always the same.

Christmas Breakfast includes:
Egg Casserole
Cinnamon Rolls
Fruit
Coffee
"Poinsettias"- champagne and cranberry juice (OJ when the girls were little)
Breakfast is served on china and in wine glasses.

Some time in the late afternoon we usually go to a movie together, and we always have Rum Slush at Christmas.

Our Rum Slush Recipe

Small can of frozen orange juice
Large can of frozen lemonade
2 cups of strong brewed tea
7 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of rum
Stir and freeze. After 12 hours, stir again. This makes a big batch and keeps in the freezer indefinitely. Scoop into glasses and eat with a spoon.

Mugs and Flutes of Me

To me, coffee is necessary to teaching. I guess survival is really how my habit began. I taught in a room with no heat, so I could either wear gloves or hold a warm coffee mug as a hand warmer. I sipped and 'Shakespearized' with my sophomores, attempting not to blow crystallized breath over their chilled desks. 

Soon I was addicted. My colleagues and I would gather at the coffee pot for caffeinated encouragement. Now teasing students warn me to "lay off the caffeine, Mrs. E." They tell me I am 'highly caffeinated.' My speech, even without caffeine, is rapid fire. With caffeine, my mouth goes warp speed. I'm energetic on a normal day; manic after my morning cup of coffee. And all of life seems to move less sluggishly along.

I like my coffee, but I live for champagne. While not appropriate at work (I can only dream), it is the drink of celebrating my leisure. I like the way the bubbles tickle my lips, the sweet taste of sheer liquid relaxation. You might associate champagne with the finer things in life: caviar, rich jewels and furs. Not me. Champagne is sitting on the patio, watching the clouds float by. It is enjoying a heart to heart with my husband, daughters, or kid sister. It is celebrating life's finer moments—holidays, weddings, and the christenings of both babies and ships. My daughters and I have been known to kill a bottle before 8:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, mixed with cranberry juice in a drink we like to call Poinsettias. 

I have to admit, I prefer the champagne celebrating to the daily cup of survival. So when I die, chill a couple of cases of Champagne, toast the life of the caffeinated teacher, and launch me into the afterlife in style.