This has definitely been the oddest Christmas Eve and Day in recent memory for me. With S out of town until Saturday and everyone else gone, I went to the beach for Eve, a completely new one to me, and then Christmas itself with another family.
Ocean City, Maryland is intended for vacationing families, and people who are offended by people who want to ruin Christmas for us all. Just about every hotel sign in town said "Keep Christ in Christmas." Perhaps because there were no people staying in those hotels and thus no need to advertise how awesome each hotel is. The family friendly environment is buttressed by candy and T-shirt shops (one explicitly Christian) every 50 feet on the boardwalk, and belied by the official Playboy and Hustler merchandise shop on the north end of the boardwalk. Not that anything was open - shuttered garage door fronts for about 2 miles. The "OC," as every sign with limited space called it, was a ghost town.
Not that anyone cared, since no one was there. I came across probably 50 people in 3 hours on the beach, including about 20 soccer playing kids and 3 surfers. But it was a gorgeous sunny day and about 50 degrees. One lone pizza joint was open and had a respectable crowd, and I dropped in an off-boardwalk cafe run by Rue McLanahan. Much of her menu was in-season only, she said, but her hot chocolate was bitchin'. So much so that I found a hard lump of dry cocoa mix in the bottom that still hadn't absorbed. Seriously, it was tasty, especially with the vanilla and chocolate whipped cream on top, which cover a multitude of beverage sins. But you can't visit the Eastern Shore without a trip to the original Dogfish Head brewpub in Rehoboth, 30 minutes north in Delaware, so I dropped in for an Indian Brown Ale and crab and corn chowder, which definitely makes me happy.
Because of scheduling conflicts with the sort-of-in-town Jeremiah, I didn't have anywhere to go for Christmas. My small group leader stepped in with an offer to host anyone in our group who wanted to hang with her folks, who live in DC. So me, her, college brother and parents. They were most gracious hosts and very inquisitive about me, S, work, and things you can ferment. Her folks make their own root beer every year and bottle it, which apparently requires yeast just like beer. They opened a bottle and it was very good - a bit of a medicine-y smell but a stronger flavor in general. Less carbonation than in commercial root beer. They sent me home with a bottle. And they were polite in having sips of the Bell's Sparkling Ale that I brought. We talked about lots of stuff, like how there's nothing good to watch on Netflix's streaming site. And Jimmy Carter's embarrassing brother. It was one of those days.
Post-dinner we headed to the Kennedy Center for a free jazz concert. The Center has a free performance on the Millennium Stage every day, and their Christmas show for the past 10 years apparently has been led by Chuck Redd, a well-known vibraphone player in DC that I saw before in a supporting role with funnyman pianist John Eaton. We thought we'd be able to get seats if we were there 15 minutes early, but it wasn't to be - all seats and the first standing area were already full.
We stepped out for a walk around the balcony, and came back in to be yelled at by a short-tempered guard who said we were cutting in line by coming in that side door. I briefly yelled back at him but decided, remembering a friend's story of her day in DC jail, that I didn't want to get arrested for talking sass to a dwarf in a red jacket. So we stood in the second standing area, about 150 feet from the stage. Oh well. It was a predictably "safe" show but Chuck still has some nice chops. A guy we referred to as "The Cougher" kept coughing heavily and getting closer to the crowd the more he coughed. He looked like a diminutive Vladimir Putin so I assumed heavy coughing among the masses was his form of dictating. My hosts left early to catch a movie and I headed home.
So not the most exciting Christmas season, but memorable enough to blog. Let's hope more of my exciting adventures make it into pixels next year.
