Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. Christmas Day in Atlantic City

The weekend began on Wednesday with a visit next door to share egg nog with Evan and Gregg. Very thick and creamy.  The egg nog, not Evan and Gregg.  There were other treats as well, but mostly it was a pleasant evening getting to know our neighbors a little better.

On Thursday we returned to Hanafin’s Irish Pub in Glastonbury on the invitation of Gary Buttery. He thought we could do a little TubaChristmas program. Unfortunately, the baritone player didn’t make it, but a whole lot more traditional Irish musicians came than the week before. There were at least twenty-one in attendance, not including me. There were three fiddles, two banjos, two accordions/squeezebox, three flutes, two bass, two bodhrans, a guitar or so, three mandolins, two penny whistles, and a strange stringed instrument with lots of strings and was bowed. Plus singers. It was a wonderful evening of music, except the couple of times Gary got me to pull out my tuba to mess up a Christmas carol or two.  Marie shot some video, but we're having trouble retrieving it.

Gary Buttery & son

On Saturday we began our trip to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The first stop was Bethlehem, PA, to visit with Marie’s sister Terry, nephew Evan, and others. It had been a long time, so there was lots to catch up and new people to meet. Very nice.

Next stop was Chestnut Hill to see friend Fred, a tuba player/band leader who has been in the nursing home for too long. His wife, whom we had not previously met, was there, so that was a nice bonus. Fred’s a great guy and it breaks my heart to see him this way.

Then to Wayne to drop Marie off for a visit with friend and former coworker Esther, while I drove to Malvern to see Kyle at McKenzies Brew House. It had been ages since I’d seen Kyle and she had the great news that she was just offered a job working on a state legislator’s campaign. She’s very excited and I am too. She looked great and I was happy to see her. Upon my return to Wayne, I learned that we were invited to partake in the family’s Feast of Seven Fishes, a Christmas eve tradition among Italian families. Began with a fish stew with clams, octopus, scallops, shrimp, and pieces of fish. There was a salt cod dish and one of calamari stuffed with meatball. Of course, there were lots of desserts if we had room. Once again, we were sorry to say goodbye to Esther and her family.

We then drove three and a half hours over to Ocean City, NJ and the Port O Call Hotel. Although we had reserved a standard bayside room for that night and a superior ocean front room for the following, as the prices were greatly reduced after Christmas Eve, the staff put is in the ocean front room for both nights. Very nice, but attests to the fact that there was hardly anyone there. The hotel, staff, and room were all excellent.

After watching the beautiful sunrise, the next morning, we found the beach and boardwalk almost deserted. All businesses closed. Especially disappointed to see that I wouldn’t be having any Mack & Manco’s pizza. I counted nine miniature golf courses along the boardwalk. One was completely on the upper level. Lots of fun and interesting shops.

Christmas morning breakfast, at the hotel, was served by the chef and was a little more than continental with oatmeal and hard boiled eggs to go with bagels, Danish, juice and hot cocoa. We drove to Linwood, after breakfast, to see Marie’s Aunt Therese and Uncle Joe at the assisted living facility. Joe gave an impromptu performance of Pop Goes the Weasel on his old violin and gave us a couple of his paintings to take home.

We continued up the coast to Atlantic City. The boardwalk there was much busier, with an occasional person-pushed surrey, taking people up and down the venerable walkway. Of course, there were casinos, and while we walked through a couple, we didn’t play any of the games or eat at any of the restaurants. We had our Christmas luncheon at The Irish Pub, just a couple of steps off the boardwalk. It was loaded with charm, Irish-American artifacts, and holiday decorations. The history of the place dates to the nineteenth century, and its location on St. James Place is part of the game of Monopoly lore. It is said, that the building that houses the pub and the inn was the model for the hotels in the game.

After another lovely sunrise, we drove up to Point Pleasant Beach to visit friends Tom and Joey. Since they live so close to the beach, we took a walk on our third boardwalk of the weekend. It was nice catching up on what they have been up to and the comings and goings of their family.

 

It was just three and a half hours to home.