A very special This Is How We Roll - Christmas rollin'

went to a very american style cantanese place with the family, which is, apperently, what jews in america are supposed to do for christmas.

As the holidays are also the end of my semester, I have gotten to roll a little in the last few days.

On Thursday, I finished my last exam at 5:30PM and then met up with a friend at around 7PM. We went for dinner and a beer in a touristy restaurant. The meal was awful but they had good beer on draft. Then we walked to a little bistro/bar, very tiny place with jazz playing. We had two pints and left. Then we went by one of our friend's place and went to another bar with him. Had two more pints at that place, where, when leaving, we ran into an inebriated senator. Then we were off to the law school's party, which was not too boring. I finally got home at around 5AM after a very long cab ride.

On Friday, I went back to the Eastern Townships as its where I am spending my holidays. I met up with a good buddy, we shared a few beers and watched Emir Kusturica's Black Cat, White Cat. At 2AM I had the idea of going to a nearby bar, which we did and closed the place after having really weird discussions with idiotic strangers.

Saturday was rather exhausting as a buddy was throwing a Christmas party at his place in some other town. It was nice as I saw about 15 friends that I hadn't seen in months. I was so tired at that point that I fell asleep on the couch for a few minutes. We finally went to sleep at 6:30AM.

Yesterday, I woke up at 10:30AM and then helped my friend clean the mess. Got back home by 2:00PM. Then some family Christmas dinner, as usual. The difference being that I now have a little cousin which I had seen only once. Food was good, wine too. It was neat but nothing exciting.

Tonight I have another Christmas dinner party in my family, this time on my mother's side. I don't feel like going at all as I know that it'll be boring. Oh well!

So that's about it for my Christmas rolling..

Chinese? Really?

The (oft-accurate) stereotype is that since Jews don't celebrate Christmas, they're not going to go to all the trouble of cooking up a extravagant Christmas feast, and would prefer to go about dinner as they would on a usual day and dine out somewhere. With the vast majority of U.S. restaurants being closed on Christmas Day, options are usually very limited, but a fair share of Asian restaurants will stay open (either because the proprietors don't celebrate Christmas or fit another stereotype of Asians being too industrious/business-minded to take advantage of a holiday off) and thus see a disproportionate amount of business by virtue of being one of the few places open.

I'm not Jewish myself, but the same circumstances have applied to me since I don't celebrate Christmas and don't cook. One thing I did notice is that the ratio of Chinese restaurants : other restaurants open on Christmas seems to be much higher on the east coast; here in Texas there actually seem to be more Indian and Middle Eastern places and bars (I'm actually bartending tonight) open today for dining out purposes than there do Chinese restaurants.

Thanks for the explanation, aybojs - I had no idea that eating Chinese on Christmas is a stereotypically Jewish thing to do - your explanation makes some sort of sense, though. Did some literal rolling around the Norwegian countryside earlier this week, and accidentally acquired some Christmas spirit during the day:

Alfie was so right about the holidays :P

I'm all alone in my apartment today. I've got family coming over later but I'd rather be alone since family always wears-thin on my patience. We're not exactly close.

A girl I'm seeing gets back later in the week so things should improve.

MAy be heading to a birthday bbq downtown but last I checked it was raining so it may be canceled. Otherwise a very quiet xmas which i am very happy about.

i had to be at work at 8am yesterday -_- but i got to leave early cause it was my birthday, stopped by the mall for a few last minute things, went home and layed around. a few friends stopped by with birthday gifts, had dinner and an amazing black forest cake at home, and played wow all night.

today i woke up at like 1130 opened some gifts and had breakfast. ^_^
i went outside and its warm, ugh.

what he said.....

Christmas was a regular day at the office.

I envy you. I got an unexpected overnight guest... my mother. And my father is in a pissy mood, although over what I can only imagine. Everyone in my family needs therapy. I can't wait till xmas is over so i can go back to ignoring them all. Next year I'm gonna take my own advice and spend xmas with a couple escorts ;p

I just heard this tradition from a Jewish friend last night---he says it's a bit of an inside joke, but he did in fact eat Chinese on Christmas last year. Christmas will be an early afternoon meal at Mom's with a menu I basically planned: lobster bisque, homemade Caesar salad, a 32 oz. beef tenderloin with a horseradish cream sauce, Lyonnaise potatoes, and a trio of deserts from Greenwise---triple-chocolate mouse, chocolate cheesecake, and a vanilla Italian-style cheesecake. Dad's will be a recent Christmas tradition, making a homemade pizza. Last night I went out with a friend who was briefly in town---it's interesting to see the crowd that develops at 1 AM at the only bar open on Christmas Eve.

Got up and laid around for a bit.
Mom came over to my house. (She is visiting me in NY)
We opened presents.
She cooked a ham, potatoes, salad, vegetables, rolls and a pumpkin pie (from Fairway, very good).
Going to walk around Central Park for a bit, I'm assuming Wollman Rink is open.
Going to see Charlie Wilson's War later tonight.