2015-12-25

【Aiden in English】

        It’s another Christmas. I’m not all that excited because of this year. Once again, I didn’t get anything new. There were no presents under the Christmas tree, no stockings up full of stuff. It was just a trip to Maryland from my home in PA for four days.

        Leaving at eleven-thirty in the morning, it would take around three hours to arrive at my mom’s friends’ house. We were staying at their house over the Christmas season since the hostess Qiuping became mom’s closest girlfriend from more than thirty years ago. The adventure began far before we even arrived, though. On the road to Maryland, many scenic pictures appeared to us, and they evoked mom yelling at me for a camera. On one specific picture, we were crossing the bridge, and I was tempted to leave the camera in the back of my car seat if we didn’t catch up with the traffic. Both sides of the bridge had fogged up to a point where it seemed as if we were above the clouds. Knowing mom amazing, professional driving skills, I gave her the camera, and hoped that we would find ourselves plummeting to our deaths as she took one of her hands off the wheel to grab the camera.

        Since I’m writing this, you can infer that I’m still alive. We got to our destination fairly early, at only around one-thirty. Mom was ecstatic about meeting her old friends, and I was the main topic for a little on how I was so skinny. I guess getting a fever had its good side. Not that it’s worth getting one, but you know, the weight loss is nice. At their new house, which was extremely spotless, Qiuping and her husband Li were quite happy and made us an enormous dinner. It looked really good with poached chicken, roasted lamb chops, sautéed shrimps, baked salmon, boiled duck, and etc. The chicken was peeled into strips the size and thickness of noodles. That infused it with flavor, but it wasn’t as good as the shrimp which tasted phenomenal. Salmon, which I usually despised, tasted surprisingly clean. It usually sensed like someone rubs salmon in the dirt, but the flavor of soil was not there today. Their son Ning came home as well to help us with the feast, and he brought his girlfriend Jessica. Together, the seven of us, we finished around a third of the food. Talk about the leftovers we would have. There was even more than Thanksgiving.

        Christmas, which usually isn’t that big in our home, was welcomed in mom’s friends’ household. It was full of fun and giving, as I got my first Christmas presents in three years. As to all of you, merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

【红霞译文】

        另一个圣诞节来了，今年我没啥好激动的，仍旧两手空空，既非指望圣诞树下摆放礼物，又不奢求圣诞袜里装满惊喜，除了计划从宾州寒舍驱车前往马里兰州度假四天外，别无其它可言。

        上午11：30我们出发，前后大约需要三个小时才能抵达妈妈的朋友家，女主人秋萍阿姨早在卅多年前就是妈妈的闺蜜，正因如此，我们老少三代打算与他们一家相聚共度圣诞节日。冒险之路始于轮下。在通往马里兰的途中，许多优胜美景疾速朝我们扑来，乐得妈妈大呼小叫，赶忙招呼我递上相机，当时我们恰逢穿越大桥，要不是遇上塞车，我真想把相机留在车座后面。此刻大桥两旁水气蒸腾云雾飘渺，叫我们这些匆匆过客顿生飘飘欲仙游身世外之感。我深知妈妈车技二百五堪称撼世奇葩，但愿她手握相机之时胸怀全局，否则一旦不慎滑落，她一手扶方向盘，一手奋力抢救相机，到头来恐怕难保身家性命。

        根据上述我所描述的场景，你足以推断本人毫毛未损安然无恙。下午1：30我们终于抵达目的地，从时间上来说还算较快。一见到老朋友，妈妈欣喜若狂，彼此简短聊了一会我如何瘦身神速，让我领悟到发烧的益处，当然谁都犯不上靠这种方式减肥，但归根结底瘦比胖好。主人家新房一尘不染，秋萍阿姨及其夫婿力儿叔叔十分开心，并为我们准备了丰盛晚餐，白切鸡、烤羊排、红烧虾、烘鲑鱼、卤全鸭等应有尽有。烧好的鸡肉再被撕成条状，其粗细大小跟面条差不多，表面浇上调料，虽然看上去不及大虾诱人，但吃起来口感叫绝。我平日极少沾鲑鱼的边，总觉得有一股土腥味，但今天尝过之后方知何谓纯正，绝对没有丁点怪味。主人家崟公子偕同女朋友杰西卡回家赴宴，七位亲朋好友济济一堂，海吃山喝勉强干掉三分之一珍馔佳肴，可以想象我们到底剩下了多少饭菜食物，准保叫感恩节自叹弗如。

        一般情况下，我家难得烹饪如此精美的圣诞大餐，妈妈的朋友不遗余力盛情款待了我们，使整个节日充满欢悦与向往，三年来我头一次重新收到圣诞厚礼，至此顺便问候天下所有同胞，圣诞快乐新年幸福！