Holidays!

So our Halloween came and went. I had a memorable home made costume as a giant "bug" as a response to a recent visit by an Inspector from Hell from Health Department. This ill-intentioned inspector falsely and unfairly reported and I contested but the judge didn't believe me. So I'm charged with upward of $1000 in fines and almost deciding to quit. Their every visit is so discouraging, but this time I really wanted to quit. What they ask you is to keep everything protected, keep everything at right temperature, and basically not to touch any food. So you can't think about cooking. All day you're supposed to poke your thermometer around in various foods and make sure everything is at the right temperature. This is what they would like us to do as a food operator. Does that sound fun? Reasonable? By the way she didn't find any vermin, so I put on this costume. "What do you think of this, Health Department!"

Then Thanksgiving came and went. My little turkey was beautifully roasted with bacon on top as usual. And super crispy bacon strips always go fast! As tiring as it is, this is the most important holiday for me- after Taiyo's birthday.

Taiyo has been so obsessed with his Christmas wish list this year. And I've been trying not to give too much ideas about Santa Clause since I don't celebrate Christmas, but of course he already knows all about it. Every year, I ask bunch of people if they think Santa should come. They all say he should. But I still ask. And how long this is supposed to go on? My fellow veteran parent the other day told me, you can't fight it. You have to go with the flow. So I did. We went to Macy's to see Santa. When I told him that we're going to see Santa at Macy's, he said, "There's Santa at Macy's? Is it a real Santa, or Mall Santa?" I said I don't know. We'll find out. I feel I'm too honest sometimes. To my surprise, he decided to leave the lengthy list at home and decided to just ask for periscope and microscope. Decoration at the store was so pretty- as soon as we walked into Macy's Taiyo whispered into my ear, "I think I'm going to faint." Upstairs, Taiyo sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted. This was kind of a little Santa, so Taiyo looked too big to be sitting on his lap. But afterwards, Taiyo told me he was real. I guess it's all right to believe in something- even if it's not real- especially at his age. And you have to let go of a bit of your credit and let someone else take it. So I'll be the ghost gifter.

Then we went up to Empire State Building. First time for Taiyo, and I haven't been there more than 10 years. No. It was Black Friday, and stores were crazy, but this major tourist attraction was nice and empty. After so many years in the city, I realized I was able to tell Taiyo much more about places. I can tell which patch is what park, and which building we've been to. Taiyo was already recognizing some of the landmarks, too, like Flatiron Building. The city was curiously beautiful from above.