In lieu of presents this year, I decided to give to charity. There really isn't anything I felt I needed, and I get tired of shopping for things I feel other people don't need. In the past, I've given to InterVarsity. I've also underwritten the digital conversion of some Firing Line episodes dedicated to J.S. Bach. This year, I'm going to underwrite another Bach-themed Firing Line episode at the Hoover Institute archives as well as give to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Santa Night, InterVarsity, and a yet-to-be-determined international charity (perhaps the Global Viral Forcasting Initiative, if they take donations).
I hope you listen to this olde-timey Vera Lynn song while reading the rest of the post and consider giving to a local toy charity (like Santa Night) next year...
Other traditions stayed the same. We got together with family friends and made Gingerbread Kings on Little Christmas Eve (Dec 23). My father's is always the best:
Gingerbread isn't Paleo, but it's only once a year, like General Tso's chicken.
For Christmas Eve dinner we had our tradition meal of Swedish meatballs (pork, beef, nutmeg), Lingonberry cabbagge, and new potatoes steamed in butter. Yes: steamed in butter. They're delicious. The meal was accompanied by an extra dry apple cidar.
Christmas Day saw a new meal. Beef tenderloin, with sweet potatoes, garlic potatoes, green beans, and mushroom-bacon-onion-cream topping for the tenderloin. I bought a $50 bottle of Pinot Noir from Oregon, which was something of a disappointment, but you can't win 'em all, right? The tenderloin was outstanding.
Back to eggs, seaweed, and (no sugar added) peanut butter this week...