Am I a Scrooge?

This specific time of year, the first week in December, I am a wicked scrooge. For me, Christmas doesn't typically feel like Christmas until a day or two before Christmas Eve.

This is the weekend where I bring the Christmas decorations up from the basement. By my mood you'd think that Christmas was a time of beatings and hate mongering.

"Why do we need so many decorations?" I'd murmur alone.

"Only 20 more trips before I'm done!" I'd say sarcastically.

Now, I know that I act like a baby when I have to do these things. I really do. But God do I hate the endless boxes and the amount of work that Christmas causes.

My job, beyond bringing the decorations up from the basement, is to decorate the outside of the house. Kim decorates the inside of the house which I think we would both agree is much more work.

Until this year, we bought wreaths for each of the upstairs and downstairs front facing windows, on which I put a red bow before hanging. This year I declined that part of my job. I also would put garland on the porch railing with accompanying bows on each post. Lastly, I'd put lights on the porch, bushes in front of the porch, and decorate a blue spruce like a Christmas tree (Wes really looks forward to decorating this tree with me each year).

However, I wonder if my focus on the "work" is obfuscating the reason why we do this each year. My kids love it. Kim and I love how the house looks when we're done. For some reason, Kim can stay focused on the previously itemized reasons why we do it; I can only focus on "why the hell do we do this?"

Christmas is meant to be special for everyone. Kids look forward to it as much as their birthday (if not more). There are dozens and dozens of originally composed and arranged Christmas music and many more variations of those pieces. People wear Christmas clothes and jewelry. There is a virtual cornucopia of TV specials during December. My company is giving us 12 days off to be with our families (which is unprecedented in my career thus far).

However, because of Christmas, many people go into debt from which it will take them months to rise (if at all). It's often described as a highly stressful time of year.

With so much emphasis on a single holiday, is Christmas over-emphasized or am I just a scrooge?

Christmas would be so much easier if we cared less it; if it we less emphasized. But would it then be less special? Must we accept the work, stress, and debt to have the emphasis on celebrating with family and friends?

Comments welcome.

L'Espalier

Kim's 50th Birthday
Kim and I went to the restaurant L'Espalier on Boylston St in Boston for her 50th birthday last night. The food and service was exceptional. Kim and I have been to many of the supposedly best restaurants in Boston and I have to say that with both service and food L'Espalier was the best.

Beginning our Night
Once we had our car valet parked we went inside. I provided my name to the woman immediately inside and she opened the elevator for us and pushed the button to the 3rd floor for us. Once the elevator door was opened we were greeted by three people; one of which was the maître d'. He immediately looked at me and said "Welcome Mr. Notarangelo" then looked at Kim and wished her a happy birthday. We were early so after checking our coats we were escorted to the Salon, which is their lounge, by our "butler".

The Salon
In the Salon we had two glasses of wine and an appetizer. Our first glasses of wine were sparkling whites. I had a sparkling white from Westport, Mass. Kim had a Champagne. The appetizer, as expected at a French restaurant, was miniscule but absolutely delicious. It was Nantucket scallops in a wonderful New England style sauce that was based with squash. For our second glasses of wine Kim got a Barolo and I got a Marguax. All of the wines thus far were good though I wouldn't' say great.

Dinner in the Corner Room
At 6:30 we were escorted to our table by our head waiter. I'm sure there was a name for him but I didn't catch it. He too wished Kim a happy birthday. Our table was beside a window in the Corner Room overlooking Boylston St.

We selected the seven course degustation, which is seven courses of tasting size portions with pre-selected wine pairings. The serving of every dish was a choreographed event. The servers, one for each of us, would stand on either side of the head waiter and together they would walk to our table. The would, in a synchronized fashion, lower the dish in front of us and remove the stainless steel cover to display the food. All the while the head waiter is describing the dish. When finished with a course our fourth server would come by and replace our used silverware and prepare our place settings for the next course with the appropriate siliverware and wine glasses.

First Course
To start us off we were served a single marble size mashed potato thing that sort of looked deep fried but wasn't. It was sitting on a delicious sauce. That bite sized thing that I had low expectations for was packed with flavor.

Second Course
Our second course was butter poached Maine lobster with risotto cake and butternut squash nage that was paired with a Sancerre. The crispness of the Sancerre with the lobster was perfect.

Third Course
The third course was torchon of foie gras with pickled chanterelles and Concord grape foam paired with a muscat. The wine and food was a surprising combination but it paired perfectly.

Fourth Course
The fourth course was a seared Hawaiian fish that I can't remember the name of with artichokes barigoule, pearl barley and candied lemon. This course was paired with

Fifth Course
The sixth course was port poached beef tenderloin with braised short ribs; bone marrow ravioli and beef shin consommé . The meat was so tender that I thought I was cutting into a mushroom. This dish was paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon from Alexander Valley. This was by far my personal favorite dish and wine combination.

Palette Cleanser
To cleanse our palette we were were served cranberry sorbet with a cranberry foam.

Sixth Course
The sixth course was a set of cheeses from mild to robust - a brie style cheese, a crumbly sharp cheddar, goat cheese, a candied cheese, and a blue cheese. This was served with a Tawny Port. The name of which escapes me. I wasn't very interested in the Port but that's because in general I'm not a big fan of Port. Kim liked it however so I took the rest of her Cab and I gave her my Port.

Seventh Course
The seventh course was a dessert of what I remember to be many different types of sweet fare such as a long thin strip of chocolate that snaked down the middle of the plate with various bite sized candied type of things on either side. None of which I remember now.

Cappuccino
I ended my night with a cappuccino. Even the cappuccino was perfect. The foam was incredibly thick and the espresso was piping hot. Kim was so full she couldn't have another mouthful of anything.

End of our Night
When we paid for the dinner, which was $500 including the tip ($600 total when adding in the wine and appetizer from the Salon), our head waiter thanked us and said to Kim that he hopes she enjoyed her birthday.

Conclusion
This was an exception night in both experience and expense. However, if affordable it is special and both Kim and I would recommend it to anyone who wants their dinner to be entertaining, pampering, delicious, and an intellectual wine/food experience.

The 48 Laws of Power

This is a must read for everybody. I went through the brief descriptions of all 48 laws and have read the first 3 historical case studies. Already, I have noticed, and reflected on, my tendency to use some and break others. I've witnessed events where people had broken and/or abided by some of them. I can also see characteristics in people I know to various degrees who consistently abide and/or break some of these rules.

Warning: Read this book with the belief that there is a Heaven and Hell and that eventually you'll be subject to one or the other. Without keeping an eye towards doing good things this book can lead you down the wrong path.

First Blog .... HERE

I've started blogs before and, well, they've never really gone very far. I can't guarantee staying-power this time either. So welcome to my iterative attempts at blogging and we'll see where it goes.