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Christmas Urban Legends: the Music
of Christmas
By Paige Wessel
Frosted windowpanes, candles gleaming inside, painted candy
canes on the tree –it’s that time of year when the world falls
in love with the music of Christmas.
We sing the lyrics, no matter how ridiculous or
sentimental they might seem, but do we ever wonder where Rudolph
and the wassail came from?
After some research, I’ve discovered some interesting urban
legends and myths surrounding the origins of certain Christmas
songs.
“Jingle Bells”
We’ll
start the discussion with a shocking revelation: “Jingle Bells”
may not be a Christmas song at all. (I know, I’m feeling
feclemmed. Talk amongst yourselves)
The song
was written by James Pierpoint, a Boston native, in the late
1850s. One legend claims that Pierpoint wrote the song for
children to perform at a church Thanksgiving program. Due to its
popularity, the children were asked to repeat the performance at
Christmas, thus ensuring the song’s place in the Christmas
tradition.
Another
story, as told by Bob Bankard of PhillyBurbs, claims the
song is “the 19th Century equivalent of ‘Little Deuce Coupe.’”
According to Bankard, Pierpoint’s song pays tribute to the
practice of “cutter drag races in Boston,” where the sleigh
drivers would race between Medford and Malden Squares in an
attempt to pick up chicks. Though it may be hard to imagine an
1850’s Pierpoint channeling that pre-rock-n-roll persona, odder
tales are to come.
“Rudolph the Red
Nosed Reindeer”
What would the clayamation classic,
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1967), be without its title
song? It may be surprising to know that the Rudolph story
actually originated as a part of a store’s Christmas advertising
campaign.
In 1939,
Montgomery Ward asked then 34-year-old Robert L. May, one of
their copywriters, to create a Christmas story book that could
be distributed to shoppers as a promotional device. May took
Denver Gillen, an acquaintance from Montgomery Ward’s art
department, to the Lincoln Park Zoo to sketch some deer, where
Gillen added a red nose to the deer. The final product combined
these sketches with Ward’s words to great success. By 1946,
Montgomery Ward had distributed 6 million copies of the Rudolph
booklet.
Although
the Rudolph character grew in popularity and demand in the
post-war period, May did not originally receive any royalties
for the character since Montgomery Ward actually owned the
copyright. Finally, faced with piling medical bills from his
wife’s terminal illness, an extremely poor May convinced
Montgomery Ward’s corporate president Sewell Avery to sign over
the copyright to him in January 1947.
With the
copyright in hand, May persuaded his brother-in-law, songwriter
Johnny Marks, to compose a song about Rudolph, which would be
recorded by Gene Autry in 1949. That year, the song sold two
million copies and later became one of the “best-selling songs
of all-time,” fulfilling the song’s promise that Rudolph would
“go down in history.”
“White Christmas”
It’s hard to discuss Christmas music
without mentioning “White Christmas,” the best-selling Christmas
single of all time.
Irving
Berlin, a famous songwriter who wrote “God Bless America” among
other hits, composed “White Christmas” for the 1942 movie
Holiday Inn starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. The song
originated from a request that Berlin write a song about each
major holiday in the year for the film. Though he found writing
a song about Christmas to be the most challenging part of this
assignment, Crosby heard the song and assured Berlin that he had
a hit on his hands.
The song
debuted in the midst of World War II and struck a chord with the
war-torn public with its peaceful melody and lyrics about “the
ones we used to know.” Bing’s recording of the song topped the
charts for 11 straight weeks, and the song’s popularity inspired
the 1954 movie White Christmas.
Though
the film was to reunite Crosby and Astaire for another Berlin
song and dance story, Astaire declined working on the film after
reading the script. Though Donald O’Connor was to replace
Astaire, a back injury prevented him from filming. Ultimately,
Danny Kaye joined Crosby on the film, which became the top
box-office draw of the year, and I would argue a better film
than Holiday Inn.
Crosby’s version of “White Christmas” has maintained
its popularity to this day, selling more than 30 million copies
worldwide. It held the honor of being the best-selling single of
any music category for more than 50 years until 1998 when Elton
John’s Princess Diana tribute piece “Candle in the Wind”
surpassed it in sales.
“Silent Night”
Several
myths surround the origin of “Silent Night,” a song translated
from the early 19th century German carol “Stille Nacht.” The
song was first performed to the strains of a guitar at a
Midnight Mass in the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria
in 1818. Joseph Mohr, assistant pastor and author of the lyrics,
and Franz Gruber, choir director and composer of the song, led
the choir through the six verses of the carol, repeating the
last two lines of each verse in four-part harmony.
Myths
surrounding the carol claim that Mohr and Gruber were forced to
use the guitar when mice ate the bellows of the organ, rendering
it useless. Another story claims Mohr composed the song in haste
when an organ malfunction was brought to his attention. Still
another tale claims that Mohr simply wanted a new carol that
Christmas, and his love of guitar music prompted the switch in
accompaniment.
Regardless, the song began its journey around the world with the
help of Karl Mauracher, “master organ builder and repairman.”
Mauracher came to Oberndoff to work on the St. Nicholas organ
regularly, and he requested a copy of the tune to take home to
the Ziller Valley with him. It was here that traveling families
of folk singers, similar to the famous Trapp Family Singers of
“The Sound of Music,” took the song and adapted the melody into
the tune we are familiar with today.
By the
1840’s, “Stille Nacht” had reached audiences in Great Britain,
America, and Germany. It became a favorite of the royals,
including King Frederick William IV of Prussia who would have
the Cathedral Choir perform the song each Christmas.
As the song grew in popularity, Mohr was credited with the
words, but a large debate arose over who had composed the song.
Despite Gruber’s claims that he was the composer, people
believed the song was actually a work of more famous musicians
like Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven. These rumors continued into the
1900’s until an original manuscript of the carol was discovered
that credited Gruber in the upper right hand corner of the piece
with the words “Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber.”
More Urban
Legends
If these
stories have sparked your interest, you may enjoy reading Bob
Bankard’s article on Christmas music myths at
www.phillyburbs.com/christmascarols.
This Web site provides background on 23 Christmas tunes,
researching myths and legends that include:
-“O Holy Night”: a
song denounced by the church at the time for “lack of musical
taste and ‘total absence of the spirit of religion’?”
-“The Twelve Days of
Christmas”: Was the song used as a part of a drinking game or to
promote underground Catechism?
-“The Wassail Song”:
Did this song have its origins in Druidism and rituals offering
bread soaked in “wassail” to the trees?
So as you curl up in front of the fire and listen to your
favorite holiday tunes, be reminded of the long-standing
mystique surrounding these songs that’s all part of the magic of
Christmas.
Need something to watch while home
alone?
Here
are our top picks of must-see holiday films
By Paige Wessel
One of my favorite things about
the holiday season (besides the Christmas cookies) are all the
wonderful holiday films on television. Many have been made but
here are a few of my favorites:
Holiday Inn (1944)
This one is a big favorite in my
family. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire are two entertainers in
pursuit of the same woman. Unfortunately, love, like a mean
game of kickball, can only have one winner. But there is lots
of singing and dancing to some wonderful Irving Berlin numbers,
each connected to a different holiday.
It’s A Wonderful Life (1947)
I cannot get past the opening
scenes of this movie without tearing up. Frank Capra’s “It’s a
Wonderful Life” tells the story of George Bailey (played
wonderfully by Jimmy Stewart). Bailey spends an evening seeing
what life would look like without him.
Funnily enough, when it came out
this film was not all that popular. Due to a
copyrighting quirk, the film was shown
repeatedly on television and it found a whole new following. If
you have never seen this film (first of all, where have you
been?!) watch it, with a box of Kleenex, of course.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
The original “Miracle on 34th
Street” stars the lovely Maureen O’Hara and a young Natalie
Wood. It centers on the adventures of a certain Kris Kringle
who gets a job playing Santa Claus at Macy's department store in
New York City. Then, in the tradition of great American cinema,
there is a dramatic legal trial and some Christmas romance.
White Christmas (1954)
This film stars Bing Crosby,
Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney in a singing and dancing
extravaganza. Sure there is a plot, but who cares? When I
watch this holiday film, I am normally too busy singing along
and trying to recreate the “Sisters” number using a sofa cushion
as my fan to pay attention to such a trivial thing as plot. In
my mind, it is incredible that a film created entirely around
the song “White Christmas” is still wonderfully popular 50 years
after it was first released.
A Christmas Story (1983)
 Every
year without fail, a sweet little tale about a young man and his
official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200 shot range model air
rifle is shown over and over and over again on the television.
Christmas would not be the same without the little boy’s tongue
frozen to the flagpole, the infamous leg lamp, and the bunny
pajamas that are all part of “A Christmas Story”’s charm.
A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
I think if Charles Dickens was
going to make a film adaptation of his classic novel “A
Christmas Carol” he would pick the Muppets to interpret his
work. This film combines all the usual elements of “A Christmas
Carol”: Ebenezer Scrooge and his visits from the Christmas
ghosts, with Kermit, Miss Piggy and the whole Muppet gang. The
film is also full of wonderfully catchy musical numbers.
Love Actually (2003)
Not many would consider this
movie a “Christmas movie,” but I think it deserves to be
included in this list. Eight different stories of love are
happening simultaneously over a six-week period before
Christmas. The film shows us that there are all different types
of love and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but life
goes on and “love actually is all around.”
There are so many wonderful
holiday films. It would be a crime if I did not mention the
following films:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
 No
film better illustrates
the true meaning of the holiday season. Linus’ speech on the
meaning of Christmas makes me tear up every time I watch it.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
(1966) The original
film with narration by Boris Karloff is excellent in my mind.
Much better then the Jim Carrey remake.
National Lampoon’s Christmas
Vacation (1989)
Spending two hours with the Griswold family makes spending the
rest of the holidays with your own family not seem so bad.
 Home
Alone (1990)
Cute lil’ Macaulay
Culkin is left at home for the holidays. The first installment
of “Home Alone” is definitely better then the second but both
are some nice frivolous fun.
The Santa Clause (1994)
Tim Allen takes on the role
of Santa Claus after the real Santa Claus falls off his roof.
The Family Man (2000)
Not considered a great
holiday classic, “Family Man” is one of my favorites. Nicholas
Cage falls asleep Christmas Eve only to awaken the next morning
to see what his life would have been like if he had taken a
different path 13 years ago.
Hottest Holiday Gifts of 2004
By Heather Shaffer and Stephanie Orr
Stuck on
finding that perfect gift for the college-aged friend or
significant other? This list of the ten hottest holiday gifts
of 2004 is sure to give you some good ideas for everyone on your
gift-giving list.
Apple
iPod Mini
 The
ultimate tool for the music lover in your life! The current
leader in portable mp3 players, the Apple iPod comes with 20 or
40 gigabytes of memory and weighs between 5.6 and 6.2 ounces.
That means you can carry 5,000 – 10,000 of your favorite songs
everywhere you go! The iPod is compatible with both MAC and PC,
and comes with easy to use software to get your music library
started.
Where to
get it: www.bestbuy.com
Price:
$299.99 - $399.99
Halo 2
Limited Collectors Edition
By far the hottest-selling videogame of the
year, Halo 2 is close to being the biggest selling game of all
time. On its release date, Halo 2 made $100 million in sales.
In Halo 2, genetically enhanced super soldier Master Chief is
humankind’s final protector against the relentless alien
Covenant. This limited edition collectable box set of Halo 2
includes the game, a DVD of behind-the-scenes video its
production, galleries of art representing the game from its
first concept to finished work, commentaries from members of the
production team and cut-scenes and trailers from the two games.
Where to
get it:
www.bestbuy.com
Price: $54.99
Half-life
2
This
newly-released PC game is the sequel to the award-winning game
Half-life (1998). It is the story of the research scientist
Gordon Freeman who is thrust into the role of saving Earth from
aliens who are depleting Earth’s resources and destroying its
populace. This game is one of the first to be offered both in
the stores and on the website www.steampowered.com.
Where to
get it:
www.bestbuy.com
Price:
$54.99
Shrek 2 on DVD
 The
sequel to Dreamworks Studio’s smash hit, Shrek, Shrek 2 is a
comedy people of all ages can enjoy. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz,
Antonio Banderas and many other top Hollywood actors voice the
extensive, computer animated cast. The DVD comes with a ton of
features, including the interactive “Far Far Away Idol!”
Where to get it:
www.circuitcity.com
Price:
$17.99
The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A
Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
 The
writers of The Daily Show and its host, Jon Stewart, have
written a guide to American Government, offering insights with
their trademark humor. This hardcover, 240 page guide was
described by Publishers Weekly as “Cheeky, irreverent and
playfully ingenuous.”
Where to
get it: www.barnesandnoble.com
Price:
$14.97
Fun
Pens
Give that
someone special one of these decidedly different pens for the
holiday! One of the fun pens features a 20 second built-in laugh
track perfect for those funny moments. The other features a
massaging end that is activated by being held against a pressure
point and comes with instructions on how to reduce stress. Both
pens are refillable and come with batteries included.
Where to
get it: www.redenvelope.com
Price:
$20 each
Bosca
Red Heart Key Ring
Made from
red Italian leather, this key ring is a great way to show you
care. Polished steel accents set off the heart-shaped grip.
Where to
get it: www.ashford.com
Price:
$20.00
Rubik’s
Photo Cube
Remember
those impossible puzzle cubes we all used to love? Well, this
holiday season you can personalize one for the puzzle lover in
your life! Just choose six of your favorite photos and
Wal-Mart.com will do the rest.
Where to
get it: www.walmart.com
Price:
$19.97
Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
This third video in the story of young
wizard-in-training Harry Potter is a sure bet for any Harry
Potter fan on your list! In this movie, Harry Potter and his
friends Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry as teenagers in their third year of study. Sirius
Black is on the loose and potentially coming after Harry at
Hogwarts. The movie is based on the best-selling novel by J. K.
Rowling.
Where to
get it:
www.bestbuy.com
Price:
$19.99
Gift
Cards
Have
someone on your list that is impossible to shop for? Want to get
them something you know they’ll love? Get them a gift card!
Available from most stores, gift cards are a great way to give
friends and family the freedom to get what they want.
Where to
get it: Wherever you know they love to shop!
Price:
Varies because it’s up
to you!
Welcome to Delicious Dish
The
Journal Staff shares some of our favorite recipes
Green Stuff -
Submitted by Stephanie Orr
Ingredients
1 can
crushed pineapple
1 small box
pf pistachio pudding
1 cup if
mini-marshmallows
8 ounces of
cool whip
Directions
Put the
crushed pineapple, juice and all, into a medium bowl and add the
pistachio pudding mix, stirring well. Add the marshmallows and
cool whip to the bowl and mix until blended. Cover and place in
the refrigerator for about an hour. Serve.
Prep. Time:
about 5 minutes
Maman’s Rum Cake -
Submitted by Gabrielle Wiegand
1 package yellow cake mix
1 package instant vanilla
pudding
¾ Cup rum
½ Cup oil
3 eggs
½ Cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to the temperature
specified by the cake mix. Grease bundt pan (which is one of
those round pans with the hole in the middle… Think of “My Big
Fat Greek Wedding” where the in-laws brought a bundt cake
and then the Greek mother fills the hole in the middle with a
potted geranium. Mix cake mix, pudding, rum, oil, eggs and nuts
together. Bake for an hour. Cool, then glaze.
Glaze:
1 stick margarine
¼ Cup water
1 Cup sugar
2 ounces rum
Mix margarine, water and sugar.
Boil one minute then let cool. Once cool, add rum and pour over
cake (it is best to make the glaze a day ahead- or so my mother
says).
Serves 10-12
Banana Nut Bread - Submitted by Tom Cronin
Ingredients:
¾ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
(3 ounces)
1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose
flower
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup canola oil
3 medium overripe bananas,
mashed (1 ¼ cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat a
9-by-5-inch loaf pan
with cooking spray. Spread the walnuts in a
pie pan and
toast in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes, or until fragrant; let
cool.
In a medium
bowl,
whisk the flour
with the baking soda,
cinnamon and salt. In another
bowl, combine
the sugar, eggs and oil, and beat at high speed until
light-colored and creamy. Add the mashed bananas and
vanilla and
beat until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until thoroughly
blended. Fold in the nuts.
Pour the batter into the prepared
pan and
bake in the middle of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until
the top is springy and a
cake tester
inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the loaf cool in the
pan for
10 minutes before turning it out onto a
rack to cool
completely.
Snow Cream -
Submitted by Janee Mitchell
Ingredients: 1 pot of fresh clean
snow
½ can of canned
or evaporated milk
3 cups of
sugar- or to your taste
3 teaspoons of
vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of
cinnamon or nutmeg
Instructions: Mix the above
ingredients in a bowl and freeze for one hour or until stiff
like ice cream.
Egg Pie -
Submitted by Janee Mitchell
 Ingredients:
1 ready-made pie crust
4 large eggs
½ can of
condensed milk
1 teaspoon
of nutmeg
1 teaspoon
of cinnamon
2 cups of
sugar
Instructions: Mix contents and
pour into ready-made pie crust. Cook in preheated oven at 350º
for 20- 30 minutes.
Holiday Stories
 Gabrielle
Wiegand
This past Thanksgiving, I went
home to visit my parents, looking forward to a stress free and
relaxing Turkey Day. Around 10:30 a.m., I helped my mother put
the bird in the oven and we were busy preparing pies and side
dishes when the electricity went out in our subdivision. We
frantically called the power company, only to be informed by a
machine that they were working on the problem. Hours later, the
electricity was back and our dinner was only postponed by
several hours. Needless to say, I now have a new appreciation
for Benjamin Franklin.
Mallory
Medved
This holiday season, I’m most
thankful for being able to walk away from a Thanksgiving Eve car
accident on a snow-covered I-55. The driver in front of me spun
out and my tires couldn’t brake on the unplowed highway. Even
though my beloved Chevy Cavalier was totaled, I escaped with
only a split lip, bruises and a burn from the airbag. I’m also
thankful for the paramedics from the Lexington Fire Department,
who let me sit in their ambulance until my parents were able to
reach me. Though it ultimately took over 10 hours to get from
UIS to the Chicago suburbs, as I sat down to Thanksgiving dinner
with my family the next day, I knew I was lucky to have made it
home at all.
Janee
Mitchell
My best holiday moment was during
the Christmas season last year. My mom, cousins Etoya and
Destiny, my aunt Patricia and I went to my grandfather’s house
in Nashville, Tenn. I had never seen the house before and I
never knew it would be so big and beautiful. The house was on a
huge plot of land set aside from town and all the homes were
about a mile apart.
My mother and I had argued all
the way there. I didn’t let that damper my spirits though,
because my 10-year-old cousin Destiny made jokes about her the
whole trip. I should not have laughed at them but they were just
so funny.
My mother broke her stepmother’s
bed, my cousins and I taught my uncle Pumpkin a new dance step,
Etoya and I crept our way into Granddad’s closet to play with
his shotgun, we listened to old war stories about Grandfather
Petway’s unlikely journey for his country and ate huge meals in
which everything was country (country ham, country bacon, etc.).
This holiday experience may seem
weird to normal families, but not mine. This was my best holiday
moment because it was my last moment with my grandfather before
he died.
Paige
Wassel
Finding the proper Christmas tree
is a time-honored tradition at the Wassel household.
After the appropriate pine is
selected from a Christmas tree farm, it is cut down, taken home,
and sized to fit the Christmas tree stand, which is an elaborate
measuring process involving several rounds of “does this look
straight?”
Next, a strategy is developed to ensure minimum
needle loss on the way to the living room, and the tree is put
into place. After carefully fastening the string of large,
old-fashioned colored bulbs, the ornaments are hung with care
and the angel is carefully centered on top of the tree.
That particular Christmas, we had
just finished the yearly ritual and I sat on the sofa to admire
the holiday decor. Suddenly, I heard a strange noise and noticed
ornaments moving at the top of the tree. On closer inspection, I
discovered an unwelcome addition to our Christmas tree: a small
grey field mouse.
Unwilling to remove the Christmas
tree finery, we decided that one of the cats might dispose of
the creature in a less obtrusive manner. The grey tabby named
Edgar was volunteered for the job, but upon entering the living
room, he promptly sat down on the sofa and began to lick his
paws.
After receiving some
encouragement, Edgar eventually scared the mouse out of the
tree, but his poor reflexes and general disinterest prevented
him from catching the vermin. Following several minutes of cat
and mouse games, the mouse returned to the tree.
Dad decided put Edgar outside and
take matters into his own hands. He strapped on a thick pair of
gloves, approached the tree, and began probing the branches for
the mouse. On the fifth attempt, Dad captured the creature and
went outside to carefully release him. Two seconds later, Edgar
promptly jumped on the mouse and ate it.
Now, we have added, “inspecting the tree for
mice” to our Christmas tree tradition, and so far, we have been
successful in keeping out any more unwanted guests.
Tom
Cronin
It was around this time last
year when I decided that the readers of The Journal
needed something a little different from the campus news that I
was serving up every week. I thought that I would give the
readers something special: an exclusive interview with a
prominent man who had managed to evade the media for far too
many years. The man I’m referring to is Santa Claus.
After nearly a month of unreturned phone calls
from the North Pole, I reached the conclusion that if I ever
wanted to interview Mr. Claus, I would have to go to the North
Pole and track him down in person. So, I flew up to the North
Pole and found my way to Santa’s workshop. I walked in and found
myself in an office not much different from most of the
administrative offices at UIS. I explained to the secretary
sitting at the front desk that I really needed to talk to Mr.
Claus within the next few days. The secretary reminded me that
Christmas was less than four weeks away and that Mr. Claus would
not be available for any interviews until Dec. 29.
Now, I had been accustomed to sometimes having to
wait a week or two before having the opportunity to interview
someone face-to-face, and I still am. But this was ridiculous. I
might have been able to understand waiting so long to talk to a
UIS administrator or faculty member because their magical powers
are limited to the collegiate atmosphere, but such a wait for
someone capable of delivering presents to millions, if not
billions, of people in one night was inexcusable.
I went ahead and scheduled the interview for Dec.
29 and attempted to contact Mr. Claus via e-mail in the
meantime. I sent an e-mail every day, but did not receive a
reply – not even from that Grinch known as the Mailer-Daemon –
until Christmas Day. I was informed that Mr. Claus had gone into
his yearly hibernation immediately upon returning from his
sleigh and would be completely unreachable until this fall.
I’ve put a lot of time into trying to track down
Mr. Claus so far this semester – if you’re a professor who’s
received a late paper from me, now you know that this is the
reason – and I regret to inform the readers of this publication
that I was unable to land an interview with Mr. Claus before
this issue went to press. But I won’t give up. I know that the
truth is out there. I know that if I try hard enough, you will
find an article in The Journal next semester with the
details of my exclusive Santa Claus interview. If not, perhaps
what you’ll find will be even more surprising.
Heather Shaffer
Every holiday with my family
and friends is a special and memorable time. This Thanksgiving
was particularly memorable because it was my first attempt to
have a holiday away from home.
While shopping
at Wal-mart, my roommate, my boyfriend and I decided to buy a
turkey and all the trimmings to cook as a special
pre-Thanksgiving dinner before we left for Thanksgiving Break.
We bought our cute little three-pound Butterball turkey,
stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, ingredients to make pumpkin
pie—the works! We stored the ingredients with eager
anticipation of our big meal.
After several
attempts to schedule the big event, we ultimately decided on the
Sunday before we left for break. When the day rolled around, my
roommate was at work and my boyfriend and I decided to get a
head-start on the cooking. We hunted up the turkey and realized
that instead of storing it in the freezer for the two-week
period, the turkey was mistakenly put in the refrigerator.
After much deliberation, my boyfriend and I decided we did not
want to risk getting salmonella or something similar right
before the biggest tummy-stuffing holiday of the year. So in an
attempt to save the day, we traveled to Jewel-Osco and bought
another three-pound bird. This one, however, was frozen solid,
which added about another hour to our already delayed cooking
time.
We
started cooking the turkey and when my roommate returned from
work we worked on the trimmings and pie. Apparently it is some
universally-known fact that when you mix up pumpkin pie, the
batch makes two pies. Not knowing this, we ended up with two
whole pumpkin pies for three people.
The
meal was finally done around 10:30 p.m., after about fiv hours
of preparations, and we sat down to eat. The food was delicious
and with some wine and nice holiday music, it turned out to be
by far the best meal I’ve had all semester. I couldn’t have
asked for a better meal to get me into the Thanksgiving spirit.
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