Amidst expressions of incredulity the American media is discharging its ritual execration of the retail advertising habit of transitioning immediately from Hallowe’en to Christmas. I have always wondered why the Americans seemingly skip over and disregard the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday in November. This is particularly so because I have been led to believe that in America Thanksgiving is more popular than Christmas – except perhaps among certain Republicans who as routinely skew the social nicety of not assuming everyone is either Christian or cares.
This year, Thanksgiving will fall on Nov. 25, which is the fourth Thursday of the month. This has been the way that the date for the holiday has been determined since 1941. Before this, the holiday was traditionally held on the last Thursday of November.
For me – and I expect for an increasing number of people – the seasonal change of winter is less about tradition and constitutional entitlement and more about securing one’s habitat and altering one’s wardrobe. As for the out-of-doors scene I especially like the switch of Nature’s colours to the soft hues before the entirety is smothered in white. Concerning the celebration of Christmas – or what is more faultlessly described as the week long holiday surrounding December 25th and New Year’s Day – I no longer have the ambition to “glitterate” or “sparkalize“. Our last surviving echo of Christmas decorations was a tiny plastic green wreath which had blown upon the lawn and which I mischievously stored each year on top of the wood pile in the garage before hanging it annually upon an abandoned nail I found hammered into the plaster between two bricks by the front door.
Inspired as we were this morning by the dazzling sunshine and the percolating government of winter – the skiff of frost, the dry air, the low orbit of the sun upon the horizon – we recognized that a splendid day such as this would be ill-spent if we didn’t do something unique. Naturally I use the word with loose abandon. Within my tread worn daily performance there is little that excites eccentricity. So instead we relied upon an old favourite – a drive along Hwy#416 from Ottawa to Prescott for breakfast at Katarina’s Coffee Shop.
At the coffee shop we sat upon the stoic chairs by a small table awaiting the arrival of our food. I shared with my partner that I don’t mind proclaiming distinction when it is warranted and well-deserved. This transcendental insight had been provoked by a mere glance at the baked goods within the glass covered display case by the cash where we had placed our breakfast order. Oh, and I already had with me at table a double-baked almond chocolate croissant judiciously and invitingly placed to the side upon a clean paper napkin. I was saving it for dessert after the eggs Benedict and home fries. And then my affogato arrived!
affogato | afəˈɡɑːtəʊ | noun (plural affogatos) an Italian dessert consisting of vanilla ice cream topped with a shot of espresso coffee: the affogato was to die for, with the bitter espresso perfectly complementing the sweet ice cream. ORIGIN Italian, literally ‘drowned’, past participle of affogare ‘to drown’.
The conversation at table lapsed upon the arrival of the eggs Benedict. In an instant we were happily lost in indulgence and superfluity. But, oh my, how delicious an ordeal it was! The Sacrament of Heaven! It isn’t often I feel so roguish. I couldn’t stop announcing the sumptuousness of each bite. Over and over in my mind I kept propounding, “It’s a poison!” What is the adage about design and default, the allure of the road to temptation, the siren song of impending peril!
Temptation – Middle English: from Old French temptacion, from Latin temptatio(n-), from temptare ‘handle, test, try’.
I succeeded to expiate any further guilt by resolving to ignore my erstwhile dietary devotion – fidelity that is since yesterday – and instead privately reconsidered the suitability of sweat pants for the average man over the age of 65 years. Surely there is a case for the Grizzly bear’s timely investment for hibernation.
