Christmas Eve 2019 With a Guardian Angel
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
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| Christmas Eve in Kitsilano 2019 |
Before I
had a digital camera de idea of taking a Christmas Eve group photograph was
instantly solved by using the then old-fashioned Polaroids. The idea was to
post on the same night the picture and the blog.
This year
it got more complicated. To begin with there is less room in our duplex living
room. We have to scrunch into the corner with the Mexican hanging chair. Then
there is the idea that most don’t want to pose and want me to hurry. I believe
that the result (3 exposures) is the worse one yet.
Last year’sphotograph I took in my youngest daughter’s home in Burnaby. We kept a
tradition that had lapsed when our friend Abraham Rogatnick died 7 years ago.
This is the idea of having someone not from the family at dinner. We had our
friend, Portland baroque bassist Curtis Daily with us. And somehow I was able
to convince both my granddaughters to pose together. That was impossible this
year. Had I insisted we would have had a scene.
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| Lauren & Rebecca Christmas Eve - Burnaby - 2018 |
On the
other hand this 2019 Christmas was most unusual as we had with us as a guest, a
guardian angel.
Local,
British-born actor Bernard Cuffling has reprised many times in the stage
version of It’s a Wonderful Life, Clarence the Guardian Angel.
He came
with a very special gift which we instantly put on our tree. At the end of his
first run of It’s a Wonderful Life he was given as a memento a ceramic angel’s
wings with a little bell (the significance is that when a bell rings an angel
gets his wings).
Cuffling
with his marvelous baritone entertained us at the table with many a tale of his
meeting up and acting with actors that we all know. What we did not know is
that he was a personal friend of Ginger Rogers.
The menu
was roast beef (I cooked it), Yorkshire Pudding (Rosemary is famous for it), my
gravy for the pudding, my homemade cranberry sauce, Keen’s mustard, barbecued
vegetables, cucumber salad (Hungarian style) and Argentine Malbec. For dessert
we had flan, and merengues with fresh fruit. We finished with Yorkshire Gold
Tea.
Cuffling
remarked that he had not had Yorkshire Pudding for 25 years. Thanks to Cuffling we learned something else that for me was the high point of the evening.
For the first production of That's a Wonderful Life at the Arts Club Theatre, Cuffling enquired if he was going to get his wings. He was told there was no budget. Arts Club Theatre Artistic Director (he has a good memory) Bill Millerd said, "We have a pair of wings in storage that were used by Dennis Simpson in Angels in America." With some adjusting using a coat hanger, Cuffling got his wings.
This was special for me and for Cuffling as we both had met (and Cuffling worked with him) Dennis Simpson who died some years ago. To remember those who are not with us is what makes Christmas a melancholic delight.
For the first production of That's a Wonderful Life at the Arts Club Theatre, Cuffling enquired if he was going to get his wings. He was told there was no budget. Arts Club Theatre Artistic Director (he has a good memory) Bill Millerd said, "We have a pair of wings in storage that were used by Dennis Simpson in Angels in America." With some adjusting using a coat hanger, Cuffling got his wings.
This was special for me and for Cuffling as we both had met (and Cuffling worked with him) Dennis Simpson who died some years ago. To remember those who are not with us is what makes Christmas a melancholic delight.
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| Anne Macauley & Dennis Simpson |
