We made 5 of 9 5:30 a.m. Masses this year, including the big Christmas Eve finale today.
Then we had breakfast in the gym. There was a band:
In real life, they are in better focus. To answer the burning question in the minds of all musicians who have ever performed in public: yes, they were pretty much in tune, and, no, the ratio of time spent tuning to time spent performing wasn’t 30:1. How you tune 6-8 instruments with what looks like about 20 strings each so as to 1) get into the in-tune ballpark; and 2) stay that way for more than about 3 minutes in a drafty gym is yet another Christmas miracle beyond human ken.
There was food, including chicken soup:
The little brown stuff in the nearly empty bowl on the left is roasted garlic to sprinkle on the soup.
And desserts which, like the band, are in reality quite in focus:
Here’s what it looks like all put together as an artsy still-life:
This bowl of soup was 50% chicken chunks – luck of the draw, I suppose. The brown noodles are semi-regulars at simbang gabi breakfasts. The desserts consisted of 3 different gelatinous goodies. The purple stuff is quite elastic – the guess is that it’s some sort of taro root thing. One little degenerate square-oid is the right amount, pictured here. The cream and caramel colored ones were quite yummy. In fact, the breakfast as a whole was quite delicious.
Filipinos are happy fun people. The priest mentioned in today’s homily about joy how Filipinos just love to be happy, and said his favorite picture from the late typhoon disaster was of a young mom carrying a baby daughter against a backdrop of destruction – smiling and flashing a victory sign.
Wow. But not surprising.
A happy, holy and blessed Christmas to all of you and yours!
Yard Sale of the Mind 