The Holiday Doings

This is the scene at our house this evening.

Long days at the deli during the holiday season. Days are still filled with our great lunch business - lots of delicious soups and salads and sandwiches - and lots of evenings are spent catering holiday parties. Tonight we're catering a party where Mr. Beers's homemade lasagne is on the menu. Yummy stuff - I got to taste it. But our own dinner was considerably more simple: triple cream cheese, artisan crackers, and a little bit of fig preserves.

These are also the days when I feel like I have the opportunity to force my musical tastes (again) on my friends and family. I make Christmas "mix tape" CDs. I put them into people's hands when I see them at the deli, or at a party, or I might even mail them to friends and family who think they're safe because they live far enough away.

Usually my Christmas CDs are a mix of older, classic holiday songs and other, more current stuff, and maybe an obscure or forgotten holiday tune or two. This year I was happy to discover some great Christmas songs recorded by Christina Perri. I also found a new holiday CD by one of my favorite artists, Tracey Thorn from everything but the girl. And then there's older stuff, too, like Judy Garland's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."

I realized last week that I've been making these compilations for over ten years. I realized this because a dear friend told me that the 1999 Christmas CD is her all-time favorite. She said that it's not Christmas for her until she's heard Pearl Bailey's "Five Pound Box Of Money," or Beth Nielsen Chapman's "Years." And then another friend weighed in on the conversation and said that she agreed, that the 1999 CD was the best - that in fact, she had completely worn hers out and needed a new one - a "re-issue."

So this is the scene at our house this evening. Cheese and crackers for dinner. Mookie at my feet. And me burning CDs while our dear Mr. Beers checks to see what's on the DVR that we need to catch up on. Holiday madness, I know.