Bah Humbug!

Another excerpt from the much-wise Fatted Calf Newsletter:

Take Back The Holidays

I used to love the holidays and then I grew up, moved to the Bay Area and took a third job working retail during the holiday season. If you.ve ever stood on the other side of the counter, with the same twenty five festive songs playing in an endless loop watching what looks like a relatively normal person burst into tears because the (insert popular trendy item here) has been backordered until January you start wondering where humanity has gone wrong. How did you wind up on the stage of this ancient tragedy where each of the players has been touched by a strange form of madness?

But it doesn't have to be like that and I was thinking of starting a new campaign called Take Back The Holidays. I began rethinking my relationship to the month of December a few years ago while chatting with a friend in Germany. She told me that the Christmas celebration with her new family consisted mainly of relaxing, talking and playing board games and later eating a big platter of sausage and potatoes. "A special sausage?" I asked. "No" she replied "the same kind of wursts we always eat."

While I would love to flee to a foreign country I find myself standing once again on the other side of the counter this holiday season. For my own sanity I avoid the mall and the grocery store and try to limit my gifting to books and things I find at the Farmers Market (which makes me no child's favorite auntie). I try to plan my celebrations well in advance and keep the cooking fairly simple. I still have nightmares about losing a client's goose or running out of rillettes but once I don my apron I feel fairly confident I can deal with almost any holiday dilemma. And the next time I hear the pitch of a client's voice start to climb and the see the mist start to cloud their eyes I now have the ability to pour them a glass of wine, give them a bite to eat and let them know it's not the end of the world, just the end of the year. Take a deep breath and enjoy the holidays.

A-freaking-men!!!