Christmas 2014: Waffles and Eggnog

One Christmas, when I was on the street, I received a gift bag full of assorted goodies from a charitable group of people. It included toiletries, candy, and a bag of microwave popcorn.

For be it for me to be ungrateful, but who gives microwave popcorn to homeless people?


Some years ago, I wrote a winter haiku:

Cold wind and gray sky
Snow that falls and turns to slush
Tri-Cities' half-ass winter

For those of you who live in the Tri-Cites (Washington) area, you understand this.

Carol of the Dogs

On the night of the 21st, around 6:30 or so. There was a knock on my door, and when I opened it, I discovered my dogs.

They were waffling, which has become a tradition in our household.

Regular readers of this blog are aware from a previous blog entry (The Bureau of Holiday Affairs) that that waffling is actually wassailing (or caroling). Macky Rae couldn't pronounce wassailing when he was younger.

This year instead of tinsel, wrapping paper, and lights, the dogs wore there Gay Pride shirts, gifts from our neighbors Alice and Gertrude last June for going to the Gay Pride parade.

Your dogs were at a Gay Pride day?

Now we don our gay apparel
fa-la-la fa-la-la la-la-la

Yes. They are very social conscious, and they went in support of their friend, Max (yes, a dog friend), who came out this spring.

So what does Gay Pride shirts have to do with waffling?

I had the same questions, and like I fool I asked.

SARAH: It's the only "gay apparel" that we own. 

The dogs serenaded me (and the neighbors) with there repertoire of holiday favorites. This year's selection was:

• Bark, the Herald Angels Sing
• Joy to the Squirrels (the dogs have come)
• God Rest Ye Merry, Gentledogs
• Good King Whats-His-Name (my dogs can't pronounce Wenceslaus, but neither can I)
• Oh, Christmas Tree  (being dogs, they like trees)
• Santa Paws is Coming to Town
• We Three Dogs (from West Richland are)
• and the always popular We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We Wish You a Merry Christmas is popular with my dogs, as it entails a treat ("now bring us some figgy pudding"). You may recall from last year - The Bureau of Holiday Affairs (Part 1) - we were unable to procure figgy pudding so we substitutes beef jerky.

This, also, has become a tradition.

This year, the "figgy pudding" verse was substituted with the following:

Now bring us some beefy jerky
Now bring us some beefy jerky
Now bring us some beefy jerky
And a cup of good cheer.

So after the singing, I invited the dogs in for "beefy jerky" and a "cup of good cheer".

The cup of good cheer was my homemade eggnog.

They consumed the Jerky, and several cups of good cheer eggnog, and promptly passed out.

And that's when Joi (the girlfriend) showed up.

I gave her a "Cup of Good Cheer" to warm her up.

JOI: Why are the dogs asleep?

ME: They're passed out from too much eggnog.

JOI: You gave the dogs eggnog???

It wasn't the eggnog that worried her, it was the liberal amount of rum I traditionally put into my homemade eggnog. 

ME: Relax. They didn't get any rum in theirs.

JOI: Then why are they passed out?

ME: They think they got rum in their eggnog.

The power of suggestion.

Wassail, Wassail, all over the town.

  

Instead of sharing my recipe for Eggnog, let me share the recipe of our first president:

Party on, George! George Washington's Christmas Eggnog Here is a recipe from our first President, in the exact words they were written by George Washington himself. "One quart cream, one quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one pint brandy, 1/2 pint rye whiskey, 1/2 pint Jamaica rum, 1/4 pint sherry—mix liquor first, then separate yolks and whites of eggs, add sugar to beaten yolks, mix well. Add milk and cream, slowly beating. Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture. Let set in cool place for several days. Taste frequently."

Wassail (Old Norse "ves heil", Old English "was hál", literally 'be you healthy') refers both to the salute 'Waes Hail' and to the drink of wassail, a hot mulled cider traditionally drunk as an integral part of wassailing, a medieval southern English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year. The phrase found first use as a simple greeting, but the Danish-speaking inhabitants of England seem to have turned "was hail", and the reply "drink hail", into a drinking formula adopted widely by the indigenous population of England. How far the tradition of wassailing dates back is unknown, but it has connections with Anglo-Saxon and Danish traditions - thus wassailing likely predates the Norman conquest in 1066.

In recent times, the toast has come to be synonymous with Christmas, but since Christianity gradually replaced the indigenous Anglo-Saxon religion around the 7th and 8th centuries, there is no evidence that the traditional ceremony of wassailing is Christian in origin.

A Traditional Wassail Recipe Recipe makes 12 servings 2 quarts apple cider 2 cups orange juice 1/2 cup lemon juice 12 whole cloves 4 cinnamon sticks 1 pinch ground ginger 1 pinch ground nutmeg In a slow-cooker or a large pot over low heat, combine apple cider, orange juice and lemon juice. Season with cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer. If using a slow cooker, allow to simmer all day. Serve hot.

We had a wonder Christmas time. Everyone (including dogs) met at Amy and Brian's for Christmas dinner (and the traditional pumpkin pie).

There was actually more canines at this dinner than humans.

We all had a good time.

And with that thought, I sign off.

To family, friends, and loyal readers of the Dancing with Dogs blog:

Yule and Noel, and a Happy New Year!

from my dogs: Freedom, Sarah, Macky Rae, and (our newest addition to the crew) Reba.