The Domain and Christmas Cards

Last night, RB finally convinced me to go to his current favorite restaurant at the Domain shopping center that Livingdeb has blogged about before. I had the sashimi, which was very good, and from the "mini" dessert menu, the "seasonal fruit buckle," which was a real disappointment (though it was appropriately small - a circular cylinder about 2.5" in diameter and less than 2" tall). It was pear and apple - I am not a big fan of pear - in a dense, heavy, dry cake with a sickeningly oversweetened pear syrup on it and no streusel topping, which is just wrong. The vanilla ice cream was quite bland; I am a huge fan of vanilla ice cream in general, but this tasted like somebody ran to a low-end grocery store and bought the store brand Xtra Kreamy vanilla ice cream in a box (which is to say, not up to the standards of Supr-Cheep-n-Flayvrfull brand). I admit that I have been spoiled by the wonders of Amy's Mexican vanilla ice cream, but this stuff was just not good. Next time, I will try the "butterfinger creme brulee" made with "homemade" butterfinger. The iced tea had a faint lavender flavor, which was delicious, and was quite caffeinated.

The Domain is indeed quite a nice place for walking around, if one is prepared to withstand the merciless onslaught of yuppie conspicuous consumption. I mean, next time I'm in the market for an ostentatious handbag or $300 pair of jeans, this will be an excellent place to shop. It was like a little piece of Dallas right here in Austin. (I admit, I did get to enjoy that feeling of superiority that comes with reverse snobbishness.) It was, as you might expect, whiter than the First Lutheran Church of Duluth, Minnesota's lutefisk dinner; of all the many shoppers I saw as we took a long postprandial stroll, I did eventually see two black women. This bears no resemblance whatsoever to the east or south Austin experience. (Perhaps Amy's Mexican vanilla ice cream would not feel comfortable in such an environment of white privilege or would strike customers as ethnic-in-a-bad-way.)

RB surprised me by saying that he had trouble finding Christmas cards recently that did not feature obvious markers of Christianity such as mangers, angels, Santa Clauses, and so forth. Although cards like that are very popular, almost every card I have purchased or received in recent years has been animal themed - birds on a snowy tree, a white bunny covered with snow on the snowy ground (my favorite that I have sent), a cat's profile visible in the window of a country house surrounded by snow, penguins sliding down a snowy hill, polar bears curled up on each other, and such. Snow + Animals = Christmas Card. It's really that simple.

The best RB could do was a card with a Christmas tree on it, which prompted me to remark that I thought the Christmas tree was one of Martin Luther's doings, though I admitted that having been raised as a Protestant, I kind of assume Martin Luther did everything. RB said, but the Christmas tree was originally pagan. I said, OK, yes, let me restate that I think the Christmas tree was popularized as an actual element of Christmas by Martin Luther. Online, I found various sources that say the Christmas tree was a European pagan thing made popular in Germany around the time of Luther, and that Luther has a famous Christmas tree (which is what I have heard before), while others say that it's not European in origin, but Middle Eastern, and the Luther legend is a myth.

But if you look around online, you can find purveyors of Winter Solstice cards (I liked some of these, for instance) to celebrate the season with zero Jesus element.

E.g. Happy Winter Solstice from the Moose:

Speaking of old-school, traditional holidays, I enjoyed the vintage Festivus cards available here.

Happy Festivus from a Sly and Stylish Cat:

I admit that I'm having trouble getting into the Christmas/Winter Solstice/Festivus spirit today in part because it is currently 77 degrees in my apartment. Even though a white Christmas is quite unnecessary, I hope that Oklahoma can at least offer me an opportunity to wear a jacket this coming week.