Mom, Dad, and Bà arrived late on the 24th, and of course, Dad wanted to go to sleep immediately. We opened a few presents and drove by two well-lit neighborhoods before picking up Thal. There was too much hustle and bustle for it to feel like much of a Christmas Eve, and the next morning was no better. George made a batch of Alton Brown's waffles, while I gave four haircuts. Thal and I prepared a big pot of mulled wine, a gelato base, and six large chocolate bars while Mom and Bà prepped the annual Christmas springrolls. Before too long, we picked up Lien (Tins) and Bill from the airport, fired up the grill, and had a feast. After the second annual Christmas committee presentations, the singers gathered around the piano and called Grandma Volkert, reliant on the hope that nobody can hear anything over a telephone line. To our horror, we later found out that Bill had made a video of the call. Then he posted it to the internet. As nighttime settled, Mom and Bà stayed home with Drakeson while everybody else saw "Into the Woods." Tins and I had to work extra hard to keep the folks up for wine and homemade brandy eggnog gelato.
Merry Christmas!
December 26th felt more like Christmas. It started with lavender scones infused with extra culinary lavender and lavender honey. George took Thal to Austin Homebrew, and Dad and Bill ran a million miles at Town Lake. Warren came into town with the pootees, and after much ado, everybody eventually ended up at Hopdoddy. The little ones ran around the Galindo playground, while the elders started a jigsaw puzzle and napped. George, Thal, and BLT went to the Hops & Grain Brewery Tour before Zach Theatre's "This Wonderful Life," and somewhere in the midst, they went out to dinner twice. The older crowd and I very sensibly enjoyed leftovers, made a little progress on the puzzle, and caught the light show at Mozart's on the water. To each, his own.
"You wish to have the curse reversed? I'll need a certain potion first."
"Go to the woods and bring me back
One: the gelato as white as milk,
Two: the wine as red as blood,
Three: the beer as yellow as corn,
Four: the rumcake as pure as gold!"
On the second day of puzzling, my true love gave to me, the picture sealed and hung so prettily.
George and Thal brewed an IPA in the morning, and then the boys and Mom went to the Jester King brewery tour. Bà, Tins, and I made four stuffed salmon lasagnes, which took just as long as one might guess. It was great to have some sister time, and we started the impossibly charming 1978 BBC production of "She Loves Me." After dinner, the youngsters went to Austin Beer Garden Brewing while I took the folks and Bà to Zach Theatre's "A Christmas Carol." If this sounds like a lot of drinking, I might take this opportunity to note that there was a second pot of bubbly mulled wine, and the fridge was stocked with plenty of beer, including two different home brews.
"Into the woods without regret,
The choice is made, the task is set."
The choice is made, the task is set."
"Into the woods to get my wish,
I don't care how, the time is now."
Thal had to leave early in the morning. A lot of things happened on Dec 28, but perhaps the most significant was the discovery that Bà had been consistently overdosing on Nyquil.
Nyquil
(28th, cont.) Both in-house physicians were seriously, and understandably, concerned. After a visit to the zoo, it was a comfortable afternoon filled with red wine chocolate cake and card games. Dinner was at the not-very-Hawaiian Hula Hut, and the evening ended with a cold but snuggly light show at Mozart's.
"Bring me these before the chime of midnight in three days' time.
And you shall have, I guarantee, a child as perfect as child can be."
And you shall have, I guarantee, a child as perfect as child can be."
In this moment, a great power cast a spell on Cô Tins;
She would cherish her nephew from this day forward.
See?
Dec 29th was my parents' anniversary and the grand finale of the entire trip. We spent the morning at the ever lovely Mollberg Piano Restoration and had a terrific lunch at the Redbud Cafe. It was our last day together, so Tins and I made rum cake pops and chocolate tofu silk pie. The evening started with another drive out of town to the Salt Lick and a walk around the Wimberley Holiday Trail of Lights. We couldn't have asked for better weather.
Bà
Mom
It's the last midnight, so goodbye all.
That brings us to today, which was more about packing and recovering than anything else. BLT left early in the morning. The rest of us piled into the front room and watched "The Muppet Christmas Carol," and then it was off the the airport with Bà and the parents. Even though there was so much to do, it went by quickly for me. Drakeson was pretty heartbroken, and I felt myself feeling that way too. 'Til next time.
Train Whistle
