Friday, December 24, 2010. Caroling By Radio. Prime Rib Night. My personal traditions are too numerous. Most of them are whimsical, some laughably so. But they come in handy on the radio show. For example, I have a tradition of singing carols with listeners on my last show before Christmas. It started about a dozen years ago. Any doubts as to whether people like that were banished when, a few years ago, we tried doing it from my studio at home. The few milliseconds of audio delay made me sound like an echo, not half of a duet. Lots of people complained about that.
So I now go into town on Christmas Eve to keep this singalong tradition alive. There's hardly another soul at the studios. Most of the stations are on auto-pilot. But there I am, live, just like in the old days, when every station was live all the time.
Mary Ann does not like this tradition. She doesn't want to come in for Christmas Eve, and certainly doesn't like the idea of going to a restaurant. She's shot down many of my traditions over the years, and I think the Christmas-caroling show might be next.
She mainly wanted me home to cook a two-bone prime rib roast that she found in the freezer a few days ago. We have no idea how long it's been in there. What we do know is that if she and the kids wait until I get home to start cooking, we will not eat until nine, by which time everybody but me will have stuffed himself or herself with snacks.
So I told her how to do it in an on-air call. It's easy enough, especially if most of the eaters like well-done beef. As they do at my house. All but me.
When I arrived home at seven-fifteen, the roast still had a few minutes to go. I made some mashed potatoes and Mary Ann steamed broccoli. A simple and traditional pre-Christmas dinner was enjoyed by all. We sat together in the living room afterwards, watching old Christmas movies, talking about the vacation that allegedly will begin on Sunday, even though nobody has any idea where we're going or how.
