A colleague was telling me that she had decided years ago not to be like the old people who let technology get so far beyond them that they gave up. And that it had already happened to her.

I feel the same way. #2 daughter did not get to the entire list of technical things I had saved up for her, but she was able to help me with some of them, especially the shopping parts. This is where I tend to feel especially helpless.

Five years ago, my entire telecommunications investment consisted of my phone bill. Now I have cable TV, internet access on two computers and a Playstation, phone, cell phone (not for me, but for my husband, and all the kids also want them), and sometimes even gaming subscriptions. And the kids want cable internet and, as already mentioned, cell phones. And their Christmas lists are largely electronic.

When shopping for electronic things, I am at a grave disadvantage. I can’t go look at the quality of the materials and workmanship, read the table of contents, or indeed use any information from my senses at all. Often (as with phone plans or internet options) there is nothing to look at, just lists of numbers, none of which means much to me. Even electronic objects such as MP3 players cannot be evaluated in the normal ways one evaluates an object. The salespeople tell you freely that the $50 model and the $500 model use exactly the same parts. And again there are all those numbers, and codes which mean that it is possible to end up with something that only works in a car, or which requires more things before it will work.

If you are lucky enough to find a helpful salesperson, you still need to be able to figure out what questions to ask. I tend to pick a bored-looking young bloke, hope I remind him of his own mother and that he is fond of her, and say, “Tell me about MP3 players.” I probably will not be able to recognize an MP3 player when I see one, I know. I may not be able to distinguish it from a camera or a speaker or a port or something. I certainly can’t tell which one will be a good choice. I am at the mercy of the guy I buy it from. I can overcome any feelings of intimidation by reminding myself that he probably couldn’t buy needles and yarn successfully by himself, but that doesn’t help with the knowledge that I could easily put something under my Christmas tree that will turn out not even to be the object I thought it was, let alone the one the kid wanted.

Here is “Watchman, Tell us of the Night,” another great Advent hymn:

http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/w/w024.html

It is the story of a traveller getting news from a watchman. Nowadays, of course, the traveller would have gone online for the information ahead of time and used his cell phone if he felt he needed more information.

This might not have helped much. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, my family used Mapquest twice, and on both occasions found ourselves lost. On the first occasion, we followed each other around getting more and more lost, with people in the backseats of both cars shouting out unwanted advice and instruction till the drivers nearly lost their minds. On the second occasion, I was the driver, so I stopped as soon as we felt uncertain, and asked a human being for directions. Had I been the traveller in the song, I would have asked that watchman what was up.

As indeed the traveller does, thus allowing us to enjoy the mysterious-sounding tune, Aberystwyth. The name will give you a hint that this is a Welsh tune, another of the great and highly singable contributions of that nation. You could definitely stomp your feet to this tune, it is excellent for group singing, and somehow I can also hear it on a violin.

Sir John Bowring wrote the words in 1825, and it has been sung to many tunes. In American churches, it is usually sung to Aberystwyth, the tune you will hear if you click on the link. However, there are plenty of other tunes if you like the words and not the tune. In fact, it used to be common practice in hymn singing to pick out some words and sing them to whichever tune they fitted, that the congregation knew. That’s why there are little numbers on the hymns (Aberystwyth is 7.7.7.7D). That way, you know that you can sing those words to any other 7.7.7.7D tune in the book. (Do I mention this in order to prove that there are some numerical codes I can use? Possibly).

There are also art song settings. I was not able to find any recordings. Of course, if you have an MP3 player, you can download one and carry it around with you. Otherwise, you will just have to sing or play it for yourself.

Following yesterday’s five-hour drive (and grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc.) I sat down with the DNA scarf and worked another repeat — with the chart upside down! At that point I realized my error, and tore it all out. So the DNA scarf is only three repeats long. Will I finish in time? Suspense mounts, at least for me. I am a little overwhelmed by the size of my to-do list for this week…

So for today, “The Angel Gabriel.” This is a Basque hymn with a haunting tune, telling about Mary’s famous conversation with the angel. As you may recall, the angel was telling her that she would be the mother of God’s son. She took it very well. Different settings of the story give different impressions of Mary, but this one, with words by an eminent Victorian, shows her meek and submissive. Here it is with words and midi file:  http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/t/t071.html

The words were translated by Sabine Baring-Gould, a fellow widely known at the time as an expert on werewolves, among other things. He wrote the words to “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” a hymn which has been removed from the hymnals of most mainstream churches. He also wrote about 200 books, his favorite being a collection of folksongs. His private life suggests a bit of eccentricity. He picked out a mill girl from his parish and sent her off to be educated, an undertaking which some say inspired Shaw to write Pygmalion. He then married her — in both senses of the word. That is, he conducted the service as well as being the bridegroom.

Sting recorded this song under the name of the tune, “Gabriel’s Message.” Charlotte Church has also recorded it, but you don’t really hear it much. It is a cool song, though, good for group singing and instrumental solos.

Advent begins today. It is the beginning of the liturgical year, and has all the typical new-beginning themes of examining your life and considering what changes you need to make. But it is mostly about preparing for Christmas. This is spiritual preparation we are talking about here. We need to be ready to celebrate Christmas joyfully. So consider what is getting in the way of that for you. Are there things you need to resolve with your family so you can enjoy them? Are there griefs you need to deal with, or behaviors you know you need to change? Are you hindered by materialism, pride, or covetousness from entering whole-heartedly into holiday preparations? Do you have mixed feelings about religious or philosophical issues that make Christmas a time of doubt and uncertainty? This is what Advent is for.

Advent is also a time to live a little more simply in order to free up time and money for charity. It is a time to enjoy simple, wholesome foods so you can enjoy the feast days of Christmas all the more. It is an echo of Lent. It is an opportunity to increase the amount of time you spend in contemplation and meditation.

Because of this, there are two schools of thought about what to do with holiday preparations. Some say not to do them at all until Christmas Eve. Focus on Advent now, and come December 24th, begin the preparations. If it seems that there will be too little time, then you are making your preparations too elaborate.

Some say you should have them finished already. With the gifts bought and wrapped and the house decorated and a freezer full of holiday cookies, you can observe Advent now and know that everything is prepared.

What most of us really do is race around doing Christmas stuff steadily from now till December 25th, rarely finding time to observe Advent properly at all, and then collapse in exhaustion on December 26th.

While you consider how you might like to approach Advent this year, begin with the quintessential Advent carol, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Here is a page with midi and sheet music for a contemporary setting: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mlehr/reflec/ocome/ocome.htm

and in the more usual plainsong mode: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mlehr/reflec/ocome/ocome.htm

and with harmony and history:http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/c/ocomocom.htm

This song was probably written in the 12th century and was translated into English by John M. Neale in 1851. The tune is 15th century French. Many churches sing it on all the four Sundays of Advent, and many people contemplate its words throughout the Advent season.

There are lots of recordings of this piece as choral music. The Robert Shaw arrangement is particularly lovely, and the “Robert Shaw Christmas” album is a nice one if you like your music big. There are many other options, from Manheim Steamroller to Willie Nelson. Linda Ronstadt recorded an unusual version of it on her Christmas album, and did us the favor of altering the words. The standard English words go “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel/ Shall come to thee, O Israel!” To many people, it sounds as though the song says “Rejoice, Emmanuel,” giving the directive to Emmanuel, rather than Emmanuel’s being the subject of the next line. Ronstadt changed it to “Rejoice! Rejoice, O Israel!/ To thee shall come Emmanuel!” This makes it clear. You’re not going to sing it that way in church, but you could adopt the change for singing it around the fireside in the evenings.

Here is #2 daughter’s latest scarf. I might have two knitting projects going at once — a complex one and a simple one to do while reading — but she has numerous WIPs. This one was inspired by our trip to the mall, where we stood pretending we might buy the thing but actually figuring out the pattern. The needles, while not circular, are flexy and curly and wouldn’t lie flat, but the scarf is an ordinary rectangle. The yarn is Portrait, from Artful Yarns, in color 161 — really a wonderful mohair.

And here is her crochet tweed scarf, hanging out with the third DNA scarf, which is now two repeats long. I am trying to make quick progress on said scarf, but work interfered yesterday and today I must drive #2 daughter to Tulsa, to the home of the Emo King, who will then kindly take her with him back to their school.

I wish she could just stay here — but it would definitely be too much of a commute. And I understand from other parents of college students that it is really better to have them at a distance where you do not always know exactly what they are doing.

Upon my return from Tulsa, I will finish shifting the house from Thanksgiving to Christmas decorations and tidy up from the weekend.

Here it is: the dangerous rice pot.

If you read Chathaboune’s site and mine, you might have noticed the occasional mention of the rice pot. And now the Water Jar has weighed in with the suggestion of the automatic rice pot. (Go out and get one of those right away, by the way). The Emo King has bought one for himself, doubtless to show how reckless and devil-may-care a guy he is. And I had an email suggesting that “The Perilous Rice Pot” would make a good name for a band. So I figure some of you need a picture.

My husband will not allow either of our daughters to have one of these rice pot-and-basket things. They are necessary for cooking “sticky” rice, which is not sticky at all. It is dry, but the grains of rice stay together so you can eat it sort of like bread. We usually make both kinds of rice at our house, sticky and “sweet” or Jasmine rice, which is the kind of rice you usually see in the U.S.

My husband says that the girls will burn themselves if they try to use this very ordinary object, which they have had in their home for literally their entire lives.

I do not say that this makes sense. I think it is his way of continuing to be their father who protects them even though they are big grown-up women who live elsewhere now.

Of course we laugh at him about this. However, it is also the case that any one of us could just go buy a rice pot. We don’t have to show the shop owner that we have Daddy’s permission. But we are accustomed to obeying Daddy, so we are all waiting for him to decide that the girls are mature enough to be trusted with a rice pot. What can I say? Most families have something irrational in their interactions. Ours is fairly mild.

In honor of parental protectiveness, tonight’s song is “All Through the Night.”

http://www.contemplator.com/wales/allnight2.html

This lovely Welsh tune has been given all sorts of English translations, including some specifically for Christmas. It is often sung at Christmastime, in all of its versions. The Welsh have a glorious tradition of vocal music, and have contributed some of the most beautiful and singable tunes in the hymnals. You could, I suppose, add some instruments to this, but it also makes an excellent lullaby. If you sing it beautifully and with expression in the evening, while people are recuperating from one last meal of Thanksgiving leftovers, they will all join in, except the ones who are weeping with the sheer beauty of the thing.

In spite of my feelings about shopping on Black Friday and about the mall, I went shopping with #2 daughter yesterday. I deserve all kinds of Good Mother points for this.

We were able to succeed at some high-tech holiday shopping that I could not have done by myself, and came up with some ideas for #2 daughter’s friends. We found a pattern for a dress she has been wanting, and some cream-colored wool (hurrah!). I immediately frogged the variegated-yarn beginning of the cardigan. I’ll try again in January. In the meantime, I am hoping to knit the third DNA scarf very fast. Or at least fast for me.

At Express, we saw a sweater that had the same cable as the Viking sweater I was wearing. I was amazed. However, the yarn of the store-bought sweater was so bulky that there were only two knots on the entire sweater, while mine has eleven. So it was like running into a giant ant, as people used to do in horror movies on TV. Less frightening, of course.

Inspired by this giant-cable sweater, #2 daughter bought some New Zealand wool at the LYS and began a new sweater. She is using the Yarn Girls Weekend Warrior pattern, with an assymetrical cable from the Harmony stitch pattern collection. It ought to make a nice sweater. The ladies in the shop rallied round her and gave her lots of good advice and encouragement.

I noticed that most of the sweaters at the mall were in pink and raspberry shades. And enormous yarn. We also saw hats and scarves in the same kinds of enormous yarns and bright colors, with high prices. We did not see any great bargains at all. I suppose people are lured into shopping by the hope of amazing bargains, and then once they arrive, they figure, “I’ve come out shopping, I’ve got money, I might as well buy some stuff.”

For today, the last day before Advent, I offer you another good secular holiday tune, “The Christmas Song.”http://www.geocities.com/skinnerja_mn/chris.html You know this song already, of course, so it hardly does the job of offering you a new holiday tune, but you might have forgotten about it. “Chestnuts roasting on a open fire/ Jack Frost nipping at your nose” is the beginning, although at our house we sometimes sing it the other way round: “Jack Frost roasting on an open fire…” Mel Torme and Robert Wells wrote this song in 1946 (another representative of that Christmas song renaissance, you notice) and it has been recorded about 100 times. Nat King Cole did one of the best.

Thanksgiving day was quite fun.We had turkey and all the trimmings, talked a lot, sang (#2 daughter played the piano, something which she does much better nowadays than she used to, in spite of my inept page-turning), went for a walk on the square and narrowly missed the turning on of the Christmas lights, looked at family photos, reminisced, played Malarkey, washed up all the dishes together, and had one last piece of pie before bed.

For the day after Thanksgiving, I have chosen a Christmas song which is a paean to materialism: “Santa Baby.” Here is a site with the words and a Midi file:

http://www.personalizedletter.com/Holidays/Christmas/index.html

Joan Javits and Phil Springer wrote this song. Eartha Kitt recorded it in 1953, and Madonna did it a few years back. It is a woman singing about what a good girl she’s been (“Think of all the fellas I haven’t kissed”) and all the things she wants Santa to give her (a car, diamonds, sables, the deed to a platinum mine… just a few little trinkets). I like this song a lot, although I prefer to interpret it as social commentary. It has a catchy tune and is a lot of fun to sing or play.

The day after Thanksgiving brings out the worst in holiday shoppers. They camp out in parking lots, push, shove, rip things out of each other’s hands, and come to blows — all in the pursuit of largely illusory bargains on things they mostly don’t need in the first place. They come home exhausted, bitter about the increasing materialism surrounding the holidays, and overwhelmed not only by all the things they bought, but also by all the things they saw, coveted, and left behind. An alternative is Buy Nothing Day, an international festival of simplicity. You can learn more about it here: http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/

Okay, I know that this is a sport for some people. And for others it is a cherished tradition they engage in with friends and family, however unappealing I may find it.  If you are determined to spend “Black Friday” on safari for waffle irons and video games,  at least sing “Santa Baby” in the car on the way there. Sultry voice, boop-boop-be-doop lips, and shimmying are optional, but keep the car on the road.

Needing a non-secret knitting project to work on while enjoying Thanksgiving with my family, I cast on the 338 stitches for the Fair Isle cardigan I have been thinking about for a long time. It is a January project, but I don’t think it’ll do any harm to work on the ribbing a bit. I am using a variegated yarn, something I have never done before, and so far I don’t care for the effect much. However, the first few rows of a knitting project are always the least comfortable, and of course with that many stitches, the first few rows last a long time. So I will carry on.

I woke at 3:00 am from a dream that Ghengis Khan and the Golden Horde were encamped nearby and heading our way — not to overrun us, but to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, in which case there would definitely not be enough side dishes. I nearly got up right then to do the vegetables, but was able to get back to sleep for a couple of hours instead.

For Thanksgiving Day, the only possible Christmas song is “Over the River and Through the Woods.” Most of us don’t even know that the song used to be sung as a Christmas carol. It was written in 1844 by Lydia Maria Child, a feminist and abolitionist best known for her book The American Frugal Housewife. She was one of the first American women to make a living as a writer.

Here is a MIDI file, in case you can’t sing it from memory:

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/over_the_river_grandma.htm

When my children were small, we really did go over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. We lived in the woods ourselves, and so did my parents, and we crossed the Kings River on our way (also the War Eagle and Pigeon Fork, but the song says nothing about creeks).

My husband liked to get out of bed 15 minutes before time to leave. By then, I had already spent three hours dressing up the children in their handmade matching outfits, arranging our elaborate additions to the menu on fancy plates which then had to be watched closely through the 40-mile drive (mostly on dirt roads), and otherwise driving everyone mad. I always felt that, if my husband had gotten up earlier and helped, everything would have been simpler. However, the entire holiday frantic-ness was my own, since no one else cared one bit, so he was probably right to skip it. We do have some really lovely holiday pictures from those days, though.

I am a lot calmer now than I used to be. I still enjoy doing all the fussy stuff, even though my children will no longer allow me to dress them up as though they were dolls. And, at the moment, I have a whole lot of vegetables calling my name.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, with exactly the amount of fuss you personally want.

Today’s song is “People Look East.” Here are both the words and a midi file:

(http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/people_look_east.htm )This is a good song for today because it tells us to “make your house fair as you are able, trim the hearth and set the table.” And since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, that is what we will have to do today.

A final cleaning of the house, ironing the table linens, polishing the silver, baking, changing the beds for the visitors — these are the tasks for today. Enjoy them!

And while you do, you can enjoy this very pretty song, written in 1928 by Eleanor Farjeon, who also wrote “Morning Has Broken.” The tune is “Besancon,” an old French carol, usually in a setting by Craig Phillips. (The “c” of “Besancon” should have a little tail, but I am not that technologically savvy.) The tune, as is the case with all old French carols, is reminiscent of the days when a carol was something you danced. It will therefore provide a perfect rhythm for sweeping and scrubbing. The words are a sort of Fransiscan calling out to the people, the furrows, the birds, the stars, and at last the angels. All are exhorted to work and to rejoice, both excellent things to do today. It is an excellent Advent carol, so if you learn it now you will have it all ready. On the other hand, although the Penguin Book of Carols describes it as having “exciting theology,” it has not one single unambiguously Christian word in it. Those of us who sing it from our hymnals assume that “Love” in each verse refers to Christ, but it could certainly be sung in religously mixed gatherings. Farjeon was a mystic and spiritualist in her youth, and it shows in her poetry.

At our house, Grandpa brings the turkey and dressing. When our married daughter asked for his special dressing recipe, we discovered that it was a packaged mix gussied up with nuts and vegetables. Grandma is bringing homemade bread. Auntie is bringing #2 daughter, and a broccoli casserole. We are making the other stuff: potatoes, rice, corn, carrots, salad, whole-grain breads, desserts, and appetizers. We have settled on the desserts: apple pie, Possum Pie, and Apple-Plum Crisp. I will be making all of these today. The apple pie will be a classic Granny Smith apple pie. Possum Pie (recommended by The Empress and the Poster Queen) has a nut crust, a layer of cream cheese-and-Cool Whip, a layer of chocolate pudding, and then another layer of Cool Whip. Obviously, I will not be eating it, but the kids should love it. The Apple and Plum Crisp is a matter of fruit, almonds, egg whites, and a little sugar. That’s the one I am going to eat.

The other thing to be prepared today is Sweet Potato Casserole. When I was a child, we had Thanksgiving at my stepfather’s house. His mother made things that involved a sweet potato with a pineapple ring on top, a marshmallow on that, and a pecan half on the top. My side of the family never ate these, although we always admired them. A few years ago I tried making them, and found that a) they take a long time, and b) my side of the family still won’t eat them. For the past couple of years I have tried sweet potato casseroles in an effort to find something that is reminiscent of those sweet potato things without their disadvantages. This year, Grandmother Marie’s descendants will be in the majority at our Thanksgiving Day feast, and I have found what I hope will be the ideal recipe. A mashed can of sweet potatoes, a can of crushed pineapple, a couple of eggs, a bit of butter and cream, all mixed together in a baking dish. A layer of marshmallows on top, and then the whole thing is baked. I will not be eating this either, of course, but I hope the rest of the family will like it.

I intend to press my boys into service today. If they are very helpful, I will have time to finish quilting the table runner, and perhaps to finish my current Mystery Object knitting as well. I had hoped to get a good start on the third DNA scarf while hanging out with the family over the holiday, but I have yet to find any cream-colored wool. I have hopes that #2 daughter will be able to bring me some from the metropolis. But if not, I will have to find a non-secret knitting project to begin.

I mentioned defrosting the turkey, but I forgot to share with you the best pre-feast preparation tip. Put into each dish a slip of paper with the name of the food that belongs in it. Into this dish “cranberry sauce,” onto that platter “turkey,” and so on.

This way, you will not forget to polish an essential tray. You will not forget to put out the special casserole that you made ahead and set in your freezer. You will not get to the sideboard with a pot full of hot potatoes and discover that you have no serving dish for them.

At this point, I invariably feel stirrings of sympathy for the dishes that get passed over. Can we really leave the punchbowl in the cabinet? Since my mother gave me a devilled egg plate last Christmas, shouldn’t I use it? And if so, what will I put in the center space? I expect there is some official thing that is supposed to go in there, but I don’t know what it is. And what of the matching vegetable dish? I’ve made gingersnaps and cheese wafers to go with the pumpkin dip (and will cut up fruit for the third section of the epergne), but perhaps some cranberry bread would look nice on that vegetable dish. But it also has three sections — at this point, you have to get hold of yourself and quit.

#1 daughter is intending to go to a restaurant for her turkey dinner, way up there in the Frozen North where she now lives with her husband. I don’t blame her. But I may have to send her a devilled egg dish for Christmas.

Last night we had a rehearsal of the Vivaldi Gloria, some Britten carols, and assorted other lovely music. At work, we have just begun to play a little Christmas music, in deference to our Christmas shoppers. And the day after Thanksgiving, I will begin playing Christmas music here at home.

Many people complain about Christmas music in November. For some, it is a matter of religious scruples. For others, it is a matter of not wanting to rush the seasons. How can we fully celebrate Thanksgiving, they reason, when we are already singing Christmas songs? There are others, though, who just get sick of Christmas music.They complain a lot in November, but they will still be complaining in December, too.

Some of them may be Scrooges, but most, I think, have a simple problem: they don’t know enough Christmas music. They have only one Christmas album (maybe N Sync, or the Chipmunks), and they only know five carols. No wonder they get sick of them. Personally, I don’t want to hear Brittany Spears singing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” even one more time. And “Little Drummer Boy” had better watch its step.

Are you thinking, at this point, that this does not apply to you because you do not celebrate Christmas? Think again. People who complain about Christmas music are complaining about what we might call the involuntary stuff. You hear it everywhere you go. In a store recently, the workers begged me to fill out a comment card saying the music was too loud in hopes that the management would allow them to turn it down. If you live in the U.S., you are subjected to Christmas music whether you like it or not.

 In order to help with this problem, I want to offer you a new Christmas song every day between now and Christmas. This will serve as an antidote. When you have “Little Drummer Boy” stuck in your head, you will have an alternative. When someone wants to rope you into a sing-along of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” you can propose something else.  I will begin with one that is so secular that even the strictest observer of Advent can’t be offended. (Advent hasn’t begun yet, anyway.) It talks about frosted windowpanes, candles gleaming, candy canes, and falling in love.

The song in question is “The Christmas Waltz” by Cahn and Styne ( here it is with guitar chords: http://www.theguitarguy.com/christm2.htm ). It has been recorded by a number of famous people, but was written in 1954 for Frank Sinatra. I had never heard of it till last year, when #2 daughter decided that we should sing it for a variety show type of do that we help out with each year. It is easy to find the words on the internet (in fact, you can find it with references to Santa’s “slay” which adds an unusual element), but I have not been able to find a Midi file. You will therefore need to find sheet music or a recording in order to add it to your repertoire. Don’t worry; you have plenty of time.

 It took several days for me to track down the sheet music and a recording of the thing, but it was worth it. You can find it in Hal Leonard’s The Best Christmas Songs Ever. Rosemary Clooney has recorded it, as have Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, and Nat King Cole, as well as Nathalie Cole. There is even an Afro-Cuban jazz rendition available. It is a late representative of the songs written during a sort of renaissance of Christmas music that took place in the 1930s through 1950s and brought us most of the modern Christmas classics such as “White Christmas” and “I Wonder as I Wander,” (collected and arranged in 1933).

Once you learn it, you will be humming it and possibly also dancing to it. It is a really nice song, a sweet and jazzy little piece with a catchy tune. There are  lifts after the first notes of most of the lines, giving it a dreamy sort of sound, very romantic. You will find it suitable for your guitar, piano, and saxophone, and of course for singing. Tuba players should restrain themselves, but I think an oboe, clarinet, or even a trumpet would be fine.

In addition to finding and learning the “Christmas Waltz,” you should be defrosting your Thanksgiving turkey. If you aren’t already doing this, you probably aren’t going to cook the turkey anyway, but rather just to eat it. In that case, you need make no preparations. You will thus have more time to devote to the “Christmas Waltz.”