Fighting the Scrooge spirit

I will not be home for Christmas, there will be no snow (it will even be hot), I barely have holiday to speak of, so I am tempted, for maybe the first time of my life, to feel like Scrooge at Christmas. The one before the three ghosts show up. I guess job wise I am a bit more like Bob Cratchit, but I still feel bitter like Scrooge these days, and this bitterness can easily overcome me and make me grumpy. I am not liking this Christmas season as much as others. So I try to fight the foul mood. I listen to Christmas music, try to sing some a bit too, I made cranberry sauce,I eat clementines,  I try to do those simple things. I didn't risking making a yule log, but I bought one from a local bakery. Not to force the season on me, but to keep it alive.

Simple things make me happy. I had my sandwich treat today instead of tomorrow... because tomorrow I might go home early. So instead of a Friday treat, it was a Thursday treat. I played safe this time (unlike last week): a smoked salmon baguette. And I had an unexpected treat for dessert: a colleague, half Italian, had made biscotti. I cannot remember the exact Italian name, but it had nuts (hazelnuts) and some spices, I think ginger and a hint of cinnamon. It tasted like Christmas I thought, albeit I don't know much about Italian Christmases. Maybe the spice, very much like the one I taste in mulled wine and Christmas pudding, made me think that. In any case, it got me in a better mood.