<p>Chinese dinner with the congregation at Temple Saturday night. On Sunday, hosting a smaller kosher-vegetarian pot-luck dinner here for all the area rabbis and cantors’ families - whose calendars are very available on this day. No services, no Sunday School…and if the next days are kind, no funerals.</p>
<p>Not our holiday, but that’s no reason not to eat!</p>
<p>Since tonight is Shabbat, we’ll be going to services. Don’t know what DH has planned for dinner, but he’s just done some baking which smells phenomenal! We went to the movies yesterday (Harry Potter - yes, I know, I’m the last person on the planet to see it!). We also just got our Tivo Premier hooked up, so we’ll stream some Netflix movies - maybe “Men Who Stare at Goats.” And quite possibly Chinese food tomorrow. Although, we live in a Jewish area, so the Chinese restaurants are really crowded!</p>
<p>
A friend sent us a card with the traditional “For Santa” picture, but the tray was herring and Slivovitz. Inside, it said, “Just because he came to the wrong house doesn’t mean he should go hungry!”</p>
<p>We’ll be going to a movie in the afternoon - yet to be determined. In our small Southern city the Chinese restaurants are closed on Christmas day so we opt for its cousin, Japanese!</p>
<p>We also are in a good size Jewish area so the Chinese restaurants are packed. I also find the food is not as good at Christmas and the service is awful. My take on this is that the restaurant is not use to the crowds so the kitchen can not keep up. The nice thing is running into people you haven’t seen in a while; maybe the wait for a table seem not so long!</p>
<p>As usual, my son and I will be having dinner tomorrow afternoon, at a restaurant in the East 60’s, with my father and his wife, as well as my uncle and aunt on that side. Not a Chinese restaurant; nobody in my family except me seems to like Chinese food. As usual, I will have to remind my father not to wish me and J. a Merry Christmas. (My father and his brother grew up in a non-observant household in Yonkers in the 1920’s, in a neighborhood with very few Jewish families, and “celebrating” Christmas in a non-religious way was considered by many Jewish people in similar circumstances to be a standard part of being an assimilated American.) As usual, my father’s wife – I’ll never call her my stepmother; she’s 30 years younger than he is and only 5 years older than I am – will “accidentally” use the wrong pronouns in referring to me to my father (she is the only person in the world who still makes that mistake, after 5 1/2 years). As usual, both J. and I will be very annoyed with her. </p>
<p>When dinner is over, J. and I will, as we have every single year since my ex and I separated when he was 10, go to a movie. Or maybe two if we’re in the mood. We’re thinking of “The King’s Speech,” although my son is also interested in seeing that new Jim Carrey movie (the name of which escapes me) – the one that supposedly was withheld from release for two years because (horrors) it actually shows two gay men displaying physical affection towards each other more ardent than a friendly hug. </p>
<p>Then we’ll go home and hang out. And I’ll feel sad that he’s going back to school in another week. It seems like he just got home.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove-yes, hand-grated potato latkes in this day and age. 
My family will tell you that they are the best latkes they have ever eaten. I have also hosted a latke party where I make four or five different kinds, other than potato. Yes, all by hand. It’s my onw little quality control measure. 
It’s the 24th day of Chanukah! Enjoy, everyone!</p>
<p>DonnaL-I also have two who are flying back to the same city where your S is headed next weekend! The time flew by! Enjoy his company while you can, and don’t let the ignorant relatives ruin your day!</p>
<p>mythmom, haven’t seen or read about Fair Game, which I’ll investigate. The Tourist got a wonderfully decimating review from Joe Morgenstern, who seems to have excellent judgment.</p>
<p>"'Sometimes it can be grisly fun to watch a movie that’s been kept from view until the last moment because the studio knows it’s a stinker. But watching “The Tourist,” with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, is just plain grisly. This woefully botched mystery-adventure-thriller-caper-romance-comedy, or whatever it was meant to be, is no fun at all.</p>
<p>In fact, the film, set in Venice, is grisly plus saddening, since it was directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the German filmmaker whose Oscar-winning debut feature, “The Lives of Others,” remains a recent treasure of the movie medium. Who knows how his pursuit of a Hollywood career landed him in such a rancid stew? The only clue is provided by surveillance. “The Lives of Others” was about East Germany’s secret surveillance of its citizens, whereas “The Tourist” involves the obsessive, and sometimes electronic, surveillance of Ms. Jolie as a sex object. She plays Elise, a mysteriousor at least frozen-facedsophisticate opposite Mr. Depp’s Frank, who describes himself as a math teacher from Wisconsin. (The idiotic plot, which never adds up, has to do with money, gangsters and mistaken identity.)</p>
<p>Mr. Depp, possibly expressing displeasure at the production as a whole, plays his character with dead eyes and steadfast torpor. Ms. Jolie’s eyes aren’t dead, exactly, but they’re weirdly glazed, and they work in concert with her pursed lips and exclamation-mark posture to create a kind of sex robot who swans around Venice as if on an invisible runway. Maybe that was her intention, but no one could have intended what “The Tourist” came to be."</p>
<p>Love the clarity.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Deal. But first, I have to head over to momof3sons’ for latkes. 
Let’s see who else I can schnorr for food here… </p>
<p>Topical: [Coming</a> to terms with Christmas - latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-1224-lenney-christmas-20101224,0,5454351.story]Coming”>Coming to terms with Christmas)</p>
<p>Last year we tried to go to the movies and the theaters were packed! My daughter is recovering from mono, so we’ll probably watch movies at home and eat carry out Chinese food.</p>
<p>I saw “How do you Know?” yesterday. It was cute and enjoyable, but not great.</p>
<p>Come on over SlityT ove! We aren’t kosher but boy do we have food: Honeybaked ham and turkey, lasagnes (veg and not…homemade), caesar salad, rolls and garlic bread…five different appitizers including a cheese platter from the Cheese Store (truffle cheese included)…a bit light on the desserts. Bring a dessert or a bottle of wine and you’re in.</p>
<p>WAIT A SECOND…you could come. I read the same article in the LA Times this morning! We might be neighbors! I can easily handle an extra…ten people. So bring the family.</p>
<p>(sorry, no entertainment the inlaws aren’t coming.)</p>
<p>yup.Tomorrow it is Chinese and movies here.</p>
<p>My traditional Jewish Christmas is to spend it with the non-Jewish side of the family, of course!</p>
<p>True Girt (all males in this house but me so I have no say and the kids already saw Harry Potter) and Chinese. The boys may go to the movies/Chinese with their friends as they have their own traditions going. </p>
<p>Movies and Chinese are crowded here on Christmas day.</p>
<p>Our local Chinese restaurant was so busy last year that we went to the nearby Thai restaurant, and it was very good. The kids are going to Vodka and Latkes afterward (our local Young Jewish Professionals Christmas party), so we’ll have to be finished early. My daughter wants to see The Kings Speech, so we’ll try to convince everyone to go. Typical, typical Christmas day for us. We do like driving around and looking at the decorations! My husband and I met at our local JCC “it’s Christmas so there’s really nothing else for us to do” party in Buffalo in 1978. I just realized it’s our anniversary tomorrow! Sort of.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>DIBS!!! That’s the Beverly Hills Cheese Store, right? Cheesy heaven on Earth. I cherish the memory of taking our children in there when they were young, the adults breathing in the cheesy funk and giving big contented sighs, and the kids taking one whiff and gagging. </p>
<p>OK, so far I have latkes, buche noel, a cheese platter (and I’ll take some of that veggie lasagna). I’ll be back for seconds after I see what else comes out onto the buffet table. There is one slice of chocolate tart in pretzel crust left in the fridge if anyone wants that, and I made a pan of baked ziti for dinner tonight (provolone, ricotta, and goat cheese). Go help yourself from the fridge. :)</p>
<p>shawbridge–thanks for the review of The Tourist! LOL</p>
<p>Just noticed the “similar threads” links below…“It’s Christmas Eve, and stores are packed. They need a Jewish express aisle.” Boy have I ever wished for that. All I want is milk and bread, people! Out of my way!</p>
<p>On our way to celebrate the quiet week between Xmas & New Years with the other half of the family. Looking forward to more food & visits…too bad we have to drive 600 miles to get there. :(</p>
<p>we couldn’t agree on a movie to see, so ended up with take out Chinese and a Dexter marathon!</p>
<p>Check out the flick Nothing But the Truth for erie similarities to Valerie Plame.</p>
<p>The Fighter was very well done. The top-rated Chinese restaurant in the Boston area was full – 40% Chinese and 60% Caucasians, with the vast majority, but I’d guess not all, of the 60% was Jewish. According to the reviews, t was supposed to be a super-spicy restaurant so we ordered down – no more than one pepper. And, nothing was spicy. A couple of the dishes were much better than usual Chinese restaurant fare, but no fire alarms and a little bland. I wonder if they tone it down for the Jewish contingent?</p>
<p>We wound up seeing Harry Potter again because we couldn’t decide on a movie we all wanted to see. We did go to a Kosher Deli which was very exciting as opposed to Chinese.</p>