The Importance of December 26

This will be a two-parter...

First: B's parents drove over about noon, then we drove across the Danube and through Vienna's 21st District, parts of which were formerly villages---one of those being Stammersdorf, which we walked through / outside of, along paths and vineyards.

The weather: PERFECT. Sunny skies, no wind, and almost warm, like an early Spring day. I don't know why the gods arranged it, and though there's been a bit of sadness (!) on the part of those who wanted a white Christmas, I was happy for the sunshine.

The village church

On the way to the fields, you pass many old wine cellars like this one, dug into the side of the hill

Posted on the side of a wine cellar:

"Without a horse in front of this cellar with lance and sword."

A cyclist enjoying the weather

Some of the vineyards of Stammersdorf

We walked a couple of miles in the fields, then back in the village stopped in at one of the many Heurige (wine tavern) for lunch and a bottle of the vintner's white wine.

Then back to B's place for the continuation of a family tradition: every year, B's dad takes a photo of B blowing out one of the candles on the Christmas tree. He's been doing this since she was a little girl.

 ------

While walking along the tranquil vineyards and fields, it came to me that this is the season of important birthdays----B's sister on the 24th, Jesus H. Christ on the 25th, and today, the 26th, one of the most important human beings ever born.

I refer, of course, to none other than Henry Miller.

The walk with B and her parents had been lovely, and a good beginning to my celebration of Henry's birthday. But after the sun went down, I decided to go into the center of town alone and commune with the spirit of Henry Valentine Miller in one of the funkiest haunts in Vienna, Cafe Alt Wien (Cafe Old Vienna.)

Cafe Alt Wien

The place was crowded, even at 6:30. No free tables, so I sat at the bar, ordered a small beer, and whipped my camera and notebook out. Started writing.

My notebook, my pen, my beer at the bar of Cafe Alt Wien. How very cliche.

 

 

 

Henry Miller could fill a blank page with a series of very interesting and entertaining black marks, which, when decoded and processed, make you really think about things. He filled many thousands of such blank pages. One might say he left his piss on a lot of trees before vanishing into the void in 1980, nearly 90 years after arriving on this strange planet.

I looked around at the people in Cafe Alt Wien with me. There were maybe 50 of us. All ages. All of us on our way to having our atoms unglued one way or another, one day or another, all of us on our way to becoming ghosts, just like Henry became a ghost, and just like those who preceded him became ghosts, and just like those who follow us will become ghosts.

However: before Henry became a ghost, he played the role of a human being and he played it really fucking well. It's our job, likewise, us sons and daughters of Henry, to do our best to do the same...to be really human.

It's A Wonderful Life

Christmas Eve, we brought the tree in from the balcony, took it into the bedroom, unwrapped it, and started decorating.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

It took a couple of hours to place the bulbs / decorations, the lights, then the candles, and finally the tinsel. Then we lit the candles and gazed at what we had wrought. The light of real candles is exquisite!

Unexpectedly but fortunately, B's cleaning woman turned up just when we were thinking of tidying up the place - since she is Serbian Orthodox, her Christmas Eve is only going to take place in 7 days, and Thursday is her normal cleaning day. Our good luck.

Then to B's sister's house. Traffic was extraordinarily light, and it was unseasonably warm out----maybe about 50 F, which for a Vienna winter evening is pretty warm. The streets were wet, condensation from the moisture-rich air mostly.

At R's place, the others had gathered: R, the girls' parents, two sisters who had grown up with B and R, their husbands (one of the couples lives in Nuremberg), and the sisters' 89-year-old mother. AND, last but not least, Sofie The Dog, a black Lab. Sofie was very sweet and well behaved, and mostly laid around---though we discovered later in the evening that she'd stolen two thirds of a box with home-made Christmas cookies someone left unattended.

 

BEFORE THE EATIN' & DRINKIN'

 

B'S SOUP

The food was prepared by the guests to avoid any stress for R (she has been battling cancer for many years). First, cream of parsley root (B), then the other girls's veal roulade stuffed with Bavarian veal sausage meat, Black Forest ham and chestnuts with slices of bread dumpling boiled in a napkin and a delicious gravy which contained a pint of port and onions. It was delicious.

 Besides being Christmas Eve, it was also R's birthday. A dual celebration. One of the guests was a pretty good singer / guitarist, so there were Christmas carols sung in German around the tree (also lit with real candles.) Most everyone there could sing pretty well. I can't, but I was spared having to because I don't know the words to the songs.

They didn't want me to feel left out, though, so they asked what carol I'd like to hear. Finally I said, "White Christmas." Just like the kind they have in Oklahoma this year.

Since my mom died, Christmas hasn't really meant very much. My dad and I didn't get together for it, neither of us being religious or much interested in standing on ceremony. But this year is special because it's my first Christmas with B and her family, and in the days leading up to it I got more and more into---I don't want to say "THE" spirit, but rather "A" spirit of it.

So there we were, in R's place, me the relative newcomer, but made to feel part of the family. I recorded some of the caroling and intend to put it with a little video I made, if I can figure out Windows Movie Maker.

After dinner everyone opened their gifts, then had the birthday cake in celebration of R's birthday as a dessert. We finally left about 10:30 or so, and noticed now that traffic on the streets had picked up quite a bit----a hell of a lot more taxis than usual. People wisely choosing to let the cabbies do the (sober) driving!

For whatever reason, B and I were wide awake despite the long day. So we cracked a bottle of wine and sat down to watch IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE----in German. Interestingly, there are a few points in the film where you see close-ups of written material---telegrams or the like. Instead of showing the original close-up in English, they inserted a German-language version of the thing, and the look and feel of the clip perfectly matched the rest of the film. I don't know if Frank Capra shot these close-ups in different languages at the time of production, or if they were cleverly added for foreign markets in later years.

In English or German, though, it's a great film.

We took a break in the middle of the film to call our friend Will B. Goode, who house- and cat-sits for me every time I come to Vienna. He told us of the big snowstorm that hit Oklahoma, and said he was just about to pull a turkey out of the oven when we called. Christmas dinner for him and the cat...

Had a good talk with Will, then back to the film, then, finally, to bed about 3 AM.

It's a wonderful life and it's been a wonderful FIRST CHRISTMAS TOGETHER for B and me.

O Tannenbaum

Here's a very short video of our Christmas tree.

The music in the video is the 3rd verse of "Silent Night," sung in German by B's family and friends on Christmas Eve here in Vienna.

The Christmas tree is in our bedroom.

Real tree, real candles!

O Tannenbaum from John X on Vimeo.