December to Remember.
I haven’t cared for the holidays for quite a while now. I try to sprint through November and December without much thought, just trying to get to January as fast as I can. As a kid, Christmas was something I looked forward to with absolute elation. I couldn’t wait to see the tree at Rockefeller Center or look past the store window displays. Everything seemed magical and hopeful as a kid during those times. The last time I went to Rockefeller Center I just thought to myself, “This is a nightmare. Why did I think this was something I needed to do?”. I literally started to hyperventilate and had to leave from the throngs of people squishing by on the sidewalk.
I have no idea when I started to lose that precocious feeling of utter magic + hopefulness, but I think it may have started once I became a teenager - it kind of went downhill from there. Don’t get me wrong, I am a cheerful eternal optimist who tries to always see the positive in things even when it’s too hard, but for some reason I am kind of a Grinch when it comes to the holidays. My poor dear husband is the opposite and has the proverbial Christmas Spirit- actually, his whole family does (his sister’s birthday is Christmas Eve which I think was planned on purpose).
This year I gave in and we got a Christmas tree (I got one that we’ll be reusing for the rest of our lives because cut trees make me sad). We currently have two ornaments on the tree and of course, they’re food-related. I have a stick of butter and a cheeseburger. The butter is my favorite because obviously butter makes everything better and I once bought a suitcase home filled with nearly 10 pounds of frozen butter blocks from France- I’ll have to tell you that story another day.
I can’t deny that a small spark lit up in me as I put up my two ornaments. I’m kind of excited to deck out the tree with cute food-centric adornments. I can’t promise that I’ll be making cookie tins for friends because that’s not something that is out of the ordinary for me. If you know me well you will 100% be fed homemade cookies anytime you’re in my house or if I’m visiting you. What can I say?! Food is my favorite love language and I speak it the most. What I will do this season is to be open to any “magic” that passes me by like the kindness of a stranger, getting a recipe down on the first try, or even catching the subway on time.
What I’ve Been Eating
Friday’s Paid Newsletter: We visit Barbados for Eating A-Z in NYC. You DO NOT want to miss out on this one. Find out where I ate great Bajan food! Let me not have eaten gluttonously in vain. Please subscribe :-P
Cook. Eat. Repeat.
Natalie
I loved Christmas, the music, decorating, fun Xmas events etc. until I worked for a novelty food vendor at a Christmas market type event from Thanksgiving through New Year’s (4-5 evenings a week). Now I dread this time of the year. I hate the shopping, the throngs of people, and the hurriedness of the entire season. Even having grandkids doesn’t make it much fun for me. :(
A cheeseburger was also our first Christmas ornament!