Superbowl Sunday

The Superbowl in early February has become a new National US holiday.  You don’t have to buy presents, its all about food, and generally free if you are watching on a television (unless attending the actual event), but its the perfect opportunity to have people over to enjoy food, family friends and a common sport that unites most Americans: Football.  If you have no interested in football, certainly you have interest in friends, food and some pretty funny commercials?   I personally am not a football fan myself, but when you sit down and watch, there is excitement and you truly do not know who is going to win.  As was with this year… The New Orleans Saints were certainly not due to win over the Colts, but they did, and God Bless them since after Katrina they needed the attention fame and money to rebuild their city after it was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2006.    It is said that $50 million dollars in food is spent in the days leading up to Superbowl Sunday.  This is good.  Money for food is never a waste, as long as that food never goes to waste. So, how did you entertain?  What did you buy to dine on?  What was at the party you went to?  Its fun to know, so please share!

Battling an Image and Reality, Berlusconi Takes on the Mafia (Real and Fictional)

Battling an Image and Reality, Berlusconi Takes on the Mafia (Real and Fictional)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/world/europe/29italy.html?emc=eta1

Is Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa a Self-Portrait?

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/leonardo-da-vincis-mona-lisa-portrait/story?id=9662394&hpid=moreheadlines

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is arguably the most famous portrait in the world, but now some are speculating that the woman with the inscrutable smile may not be a woman after all. They are suggesting that the Mona Lisa may be a self-portrait, da Vinci in drag.

Paintings come alive in South Korean gallery.

Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage, a leading association of scientists and art historians, is undertaking the investigation. They thinkthe artist who died in 1519 is buried at a French castle and plan to dig up his skull. Using CSI-style technology, they want to rebuild da Vinci’s face. Will he resemble the mysterious Mona Lisa?

Jason Rosenfeld, associate professor of Art History at Marymount Manhattan College, says, “This sounds like a 1970s caper movie. Bring me the head of Lenny from Vinci!”

“It puts on the level of the reason why we preserved Einstein’s brain, or Ted Williams’ head is frozen somewhere in Florida, or King Tut’s mummy is an obsession of people to understand how he died,” he says.

“Now we want to get the body of Leonardo. We want to see what he died of, we want to see his DNA, we want to see the size of his head, what his facial features were like so we can see whether this was a self-portrait and it seems on the whole ridiculous.”

Mona Lisa was painted around 500 years ago. Beyond that, weknow almost nothing about the painting that is now on display at the Louvre in Paris.

A new documentary, “Mona Lisa Revealed,” suggests there’s a hidden love note on the canvas.

But the real mystery is and always has been: who is she? A merchant’s wife? Da Vinci’s mother?

As Rosenfeld puts it, “The questions about who this woman is range from: she is related to Medici family, or she is the wife of a wealthy merchant in Florence … no one really knows.”

“Or most outlandishly that she is actually a hidden self portrait of Leonardo himself [...] that’s a kind of theory that seems most outrageous but is still of interest,” he says.

Is the painting a joke then? A riddle conjured up by the mischievous artist?

Holiday Entertaining Gone Bad

Holiday Entertaining Gone Bad

People have good intentions.  They want to welcome people into their homes and prepare a memorable party filled with fun, good food, drinks, laughs and some good memories.    More times than often, Holiday Entertaining in the home goes bad.  The host usually decides to “save money” by doing all the cooking, whether it be him or his wife.  The problem is, you never know how many are going to show up, how much they will eat, or the timing.  This is why catering is probably a better option.  You get 5 trays of food, one pasta, one chicken, one beef, one seafood, one of vegetable sides.  A loaf of bread, a bag of chips, nuts and pretzels, and you are done.

More than once I have seen the host fighting with the spouse, then one exits the kitchen to join the party and starts drinking to excess to relieve the stress.  That drinking turns into something amusing until it gets uncomfortable for the rest of us.

If you are really that restricted on money but feel obligated to entertain at any time of year, its really very simple: 1 Tray of grilled vegetables; 1 Tray of mixed salad; 1 Tray of pasta with simple marinara sauce; 1 Tray of fruit, cheese and crackers; and finally any dessert, this can be pastry, doughnuts, ice cream, cake, muffins, brownies, and of course any bag of pretzels, nuts, chips or breadsticks always will be more than enough to satisfy any crowd large or small.

The important thing is not to stress out or spend all the time in the kitchen when your guests are having fun.  Cook all food earlier that day or even the day before.  Keep in warming trays with sterno, and you can join the party while the food is re-heating slowly.  Honestly, no one expects a gourmet meal, but they do hope to eat something.  So while you will be plenty stocked with beer and wine, also remember snacks before the main course, as well as rum, vodka and soda for mixers:  Coke; Sprite; ginger ale; tonic.

So, to recap:

1) Buy plenty of fresh ice from your liquor store and plan on buying at least one 6-pack for each guest.  Domestic Light, Imported Lager, Some other darker ales.  Buy at least  1 bottle of wine per person of White, Red, Blush wines.  Buy one bottle of Rum, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 of gin, 1 of whiskey plus mixers of Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale & Tonic.
2) Buy bags of potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, nuts and olives, raw vegetables, cheese and dips
3) Hot food can easily (and more inexpensively be) catered trays of hot pasta and foods from your local supermarket and/or local pizzeria).  While you are at it, order 1 pizza for every 2-3 people, including plain, vegetable, meat, and cut them in 16 pieces instead of 8 as most people will eat 2.5 slices and not always 3.
4)  A pound of pasta should serve 4 people.  One box of penne with ANY sauce, if from a jar (if you have to, ok) if not, just use a can, add to olive oil, garlic, onions, sautee, reserve the water you boil pasta in to compliment the sauce if you are short.
5)  Desserts are easy, they can be cake, icecream, pastry, but why not have 2-3 of your guests bring a dessert?

Its all simple if YOU MUST entertain at home.  Otherwise, choose a local restaurant, make a deal with them based on the number of people in your party and I am almost sure, even with 1-2 drinks they will come up with a better price for your gathering and alleviate you from the cleanup, stress, and so many other things.

This is NOT to discourage people from cooking and entertaining at home.  Many can pull this off, many cannot, if you are on the fence, try catering the food.  When you see what they do and what your guests eat, the next year you can pull it off.

Good luck!

Earthquake in Haiti

We need to re-focus our attention on the world.  Not just as Americans, Catholics, Jews or Muslims, but as those who are far more fortunate than those in the country of Haiti.   I don’t know why Haiti is literally the poorest countries on the planet.  Some may argue it is Zimbabwe, Somalia, Afghanistan, but it does not matter, it is hard to measure the level of suffering.  If you are in the top 10, the other top 100 much give some attention to this matter.  You have to consider this:

Haiti suffered a devastating hurricane season in 2008.  Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike delivered heavy rains on the country which was already stripped bare from 98% of their forest due to deforestation.  This allowed flood waters to rampage into large areas of the country’s largest cities.  These hurricanes destroyed over 23,000 homes and damaged another 85,ooo. Nearly 1 million people were affected along with  70% of Haiti’s crops to the tune of $1 billion.  Today, we have an earthquake with deaths expected to total over 100,000 people.

What do we owe Haiti?  Nothing.  It is for that very reason we need to all lend our support.  They are not a threat to us, they are not an enemy, they are too poor to even have medics, police or an army to help aid them, and all the more reason we need to support them in spite of this difficult economic time.  Any American or other citizen of the world who does not have $1 or $10 to donate, is exempt.  That means you are homeless.  I just spent $25 in postage today on client projects.  I can certainly afford $10-2o donation even if I put it on a credit card.

For those of you who don’t know.  Haiti is located in the Caribbean just southeast of Cuba and near Jamaica to the west.  While Haiti is the western half of the island of Hispaniol, its neighboring country of the Dominican Republic in the east has the great advantage of tourism and other resources.  There are many arguments from the absurd to the logical reasons why Haiti is so poor.  Some religious fanatics believe they made a pact involving voodoo to expel the French possession from their nation, others say its simply the wrong side of the island which is more vulnerable to natural disasters.  Let’s not forget they are a French-speaking nation with no resources in a hemisphere which is predominately Spanish-speaking.

Regardless of circumstances, the greatest affected are women and children.  Its reported that unemployment is over 50% (and we thought 15% was high).  Women buy dirt (literally dirt) on credit for $5/bag to make “mud pies”.  This is literally dirt mixed with salt, rarely sugar, shortening, water and left out in the sun on a roof to dry.  The cost is about .05 cents per “cake” and while some may claim the dirt has essential minerals, there is no doubt that there is next to no nutritional value, and there is damage to teeth, digestive system and many other health hazards.  Those selling the cakes claim that its not only income, but it helps satisfy starvation which affects 70% of the population of women and children.  Its the lesser of 2 evils.  Remember, there are no large tourist locations here where people can dig leftover food out of a dumpster, nor are there any soup kitchens or shelters like you might find anywhere else.

I admire all the countries around the planet who have pledged and/or are sending aid to this country which is clearly a country of no threat or ideals but obviously unfortunate in ways we could never possibly imagine.  Still, we need to do more.  If your lights are on and there is food in the refrigerator tonight, do the very least and donate $10 to www.unicef.org or redcross.org and/or any other reputable charity.  You can even text Haiti to have $10 donated:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2587557/text_haiti_to_90999_designed_to_help.html

Sometimes our lives are not nearly as significant as others in dire suffering and we need to respond in spite of our own circumstances.

Thank you.

WARNING: La Carne Grill in NYC

So the week before Christmas my cousin Massimo, his wife and her parents decide to visit NYC.  Much colder weather than they are used to in Sicily, but they are troopers.  They tour and parade the town and I have the opportunity to introduce them to some of the better restaurants which still can’t compare to the restaurants of Italy.  This time I choose a French/American Steak House since they wanted “meat”.  What better than Les Halles, Anthony Bourdain’s old stomping gound?   It was a good thing and I was looking forward to it, until I found  my cousins up  by Bryant Park. They were tired from walking and the cold did not make it easier, so to spare them the 10 block walk, we settled on a place on Lexington called “La Carne Grill”  – Well, several red flags went up.  No prices listed on their website or menu in the window.  No windows… and even if now you visit, their website has since gone inactive.  Having read previous reviews, people boasted the best steak sandwich in town.  Well, I hope so.  The baguette it was served on was not especially fresh.  The french fries were ok, but what I found were my cousins from Sicily discarding the bread, onions, dressing and only eating the meat.  It was a Kosher steakhouse, so that explained all the Hassidic Jews dining there, we were the only “tourists” and sadly, treated as such.  Glares from the management were cold, service unfriendly and the we actually had to wear our coats it was so cold.  The wait staff were hispanic.  I wonder if Argentine.  Argentina has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.  I know and have done business with the Argentine Jews and they are some of the best people I have ever met.

In this case, there were 5 of us.  We ordered the cheapest item on the menu, the steak sandwich.  I don’t eat breakfast and only a light lunch. MY cousins on the other hand, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, so for lunch they were not so hungry.  So, 5 steak sandwiches which included fries.  No wine, I offered, they did not want.  We only had water (which is what Italians drink with meals believe it or not, sure there is wine, but water is always present, there is a glass for wine and a glass for water or soda).

Ok, no problem, the bill comes to $75 for 5 steak sandwiches and in spite of being over charged, I don’t want to cheat the waiter, so I am generous for Christmas and leave a $25 tip.  $100 is a fair price by NYC prices to buy my cousins a nice lunch since they have not been here in the US in 3 years.

About 2 weeks later I get my American Express bill and it is $1100.  I am shocked.  What did I spend money on?  Well, turns out that “La Carne Grill” charged me for $210 for the first and only visit, then $210 the very next day when I was no where near NYC and then a 3rd day for $584.43.   As much as I might love a restaurant, I promise you, I would not dine there 3 days in a row, nor would I have the exact same thing amounting to the same exact price and giving the same exact tip.  This should have been a red flag for AMEX, but it wasn’t.  Amazing how I am 1 day late with a payment and they call me early on a Saturday morning, yet, when they see $1000 on a dining bill within 3 days they don’t even bother to call and ask me.

Ok, so I finally call them and explain its fraud, however, to claim fraud, police have to get involved and investigation must take place.  Good luck over the holiday season — so yes, I opted for a civil dispute to remove these charges.  Additionally I asked AMEX to de-activate the card and allow NO MORE charges to the account.  So, one week later when I got a bill for an additional $500 on top of the $1100, my blood pressure skyrocketed.  I called them again and while the operator was apologetic, she still could not explain that the card was not cut off as I requested.  While I am happy I used American Express and not a debit card which would have cleared out my bank account and caused checks to bounce, I am also very disappointed that AMEX did not have the common sense to see that in my 20-year history A) I have not had $2k in dining expenses and B) to de-activate the card when this criminal restaurant organization had placed numerous fraudulent charges.

I am not worried about these charges, in fact, I know that the last day they charged me, I was actually videotaping a live event, a wedding and had more than 200 witnesses which placed me in NJ rather than at that restaurant in NYC.  Its more the arrogance and absurdity that I can consume $2000 worth of steak 4 times in one week at the same restaurant.   I am only 150lbs and I could not eat that much caviar let alone steak in a 1-week period.

I know I will not be responsible for these charges, and on the off-chance I am, I will refuse to pay it and provide evidence I was no where near this place, but its frustrating when you are a victim of fraud.  One thing I learned… NEVER use debit cards when traveling.  USE CASH ONLY IF you know the exchange rate, and while American Express may charge you a small fee, ultimately they will (or should) protect you against fraudulent charges.

On the brighter side, I can say I had burger & fries for only $1500 during the worst recession in our lives… but of course, we know its not true…. some waiter or owner kept swiping my card to bring in money, and as far as I know they no longer have a website and I doubt a restaurant, if they do, BEWARE!  DO NOT ENTER!

Culture Shock

I know in a previous post I would tell you of the credit card scam/fraud I was victim to, but its late and I wanted to just touch on one other subject.  In the late 1970s my father was friends with a Polish family.  They were nice, and we loved eating kielbasa (Polish sausage with sauerkraut and mustard).  It was a nice interruption of the familiar Italian tradition.  They were nice, food was different and very good.  But me, as a young inquisitive boy of about 8 was full of questions.  I knew I was in a different household so while the teenager watched a soccer game I drilled him with questions such as “Do you have phones in Poland?” and all sorts of stupid questions a child my age would not know, but a teenager from Poland would find annoying while trying to watch a soccer game.   Of course it was a stupid question, but I was 7 or 8 and only sincerely interested in his culture since I knew I was not in an Italian household that particular holiday.  I love all culture.  Today I would ask other stupid questions but maybe with more substance like “how do you feel about your president, your economy, the USA?”  I still love knowing people from other cultures and countries.  I don’t mean to be intrusive and ask questions that might  annoy someone, but its only because I truly am sincere and wish to know more intimately the culture of a different land!

Worst Day of the Year

Technically, today is the worst day of the year.  Its been proven that the first or 2nd monday of the New Year is always the worst.  Why?  Because the holidays are over, you return to work after 2+ weeks of basically partying, eating, drinking, relaxing and hopefully enjoying in spite of any family tensions you might have with the in-laws.  On top of that, its cold in most regions, and if you don’t get a huge heating or electric bill, you get the *credit card bills and/or bank statements*.  Guess what?  You wound up spending more than you planned for.  You didn’t keep track of money, only the number of people you needed to buy for.  You thought going to a clothing outlet and buying 10 red sweaters would cover it, but then you realized you forgot your neighbor, the postal carrier, someone from work, someone from your mate’s family who bought you something, etc. etc.  A case of wine later, a dozen gift cards after, you are basically looking at the better part of a month’s salary unless you are wealthy.   I almost forgot, even a modest Christmas Card list (excuse me, typo, ‘holiday card mailing’) will be $44 alone in postage, plus the $1 each for card and envelope.  Another $100 gone.

Don’t get me wrong, I am the most notorious of the Christmas Card mailers (oops, sorry, Holiday Card Mailers).  I make my own in a computer program not just to save money, but to include a personal message most do not care for.  Half the people hate my “Year in Review” Holiday message of my life, my travels, my highs and lows, a quarter praise me and appreciate it, and the other 25% don’t even send me a card.  So, more reason to keep it green for the environment, send me an email, I will return it.  Send me a card, I will send you an email thanking you.  Plus, life is not as exciting at 40 as it was when I was 25.

In spite of everything, you have to remember, that if this is the worst day of the year, the best is yet to come no matter how bad it gets.  In lieu of tragedy, loss of a family member, and/or something else, today is the most uneventful, painful and “bad monday” you will ever have this year.  It’s going to get better, and keep your eye on the ball, and life will follow suit.

*read my next post on credit card bills: warning, rant to follow, its of highest importance even if you are a billionaire*

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year 2010 to Everyone!

I know people all over the world and/or of different faiths/traditions celebrate the new year at different times.  But I think most recognize January 1st as the New Year even if they celebrate their own at another point during the year (such as the Jewish people celebrating it in September and the Chinese in late January), either way, its all good.

As proud of a New Yorker as I can be, I find Times Square to be the least eventful festivity of all the other countries.  Most celebrate with fireworks, Manhattan, you just see some motorized illuminated decorated with Swarovski crystals fall a few feet.  I’d much rather see fireworks, a huge clock and/or a video screen with other cities in the same time zone, or even different time zones around the globe ringing in the new year simultaneously (of course, if in their time zone it was already celebrated, you can just re-run it and make it look live).  But really, a ball dropping?    And just so you know, I’ve always felt this way.  I will never forget the first time I saw the “ball drop”.  I know I had to be maybe 7 years old, my father woke me, got me out of bed, brought me down to a cold living room (they always turned the heat down at night to the point where it got to be like a refrigerator), and there I saw this white thing moving.  Then my father said “Did you see it? Did you see it!?”  And I looked at him and said “Saw what?  All I saw as some white object moving”.  He was obviously more excited than me and said “Yes, that is the ball dropping, now you can say you saw it!”   As much as I would have loved to shared in my father’s enthusiasm (as I did most things), this one totally left me unimpressed, as it still does to this day.

That being said, EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE who lives in this area must go and do the Times Square thing at least once.  Its like nothing else.  Its the only time in the history of the world I can remember people walking around at midnight hugging complete strangers and wishing them the best for the New Year. Then again, the weather was incredibly mild that year, not freezing cold as it normally would be at that time of year.   When I did it, it was just after college, perhaps it was the mid 1990s.  And while there was a “lock down” on public transportation, closing of bridges and tunnels into Manhattan, it was only planning and extra 2-3 hours to get into New York from the Jersey suburbs rather than the 5-7 hours it takes now.  Some even camp out.  I am sure everyone remembers the popular Y2K Seinfeld episode of who will have the best party with the best view.

My best view was with all my friends from about 10 blocks away, but no where near the crowded eye of the storm where everyone was pushing and shoving to see a ball drop.  The only unpleasant thing I can remember about that night was about 15 of us huddled into one large hotel room to sleep for the night.  I don’t remember if it was an issue of money, or an issue of available rooms, or both, but somehow, 5 people were in kingsize bed, 4 on the couch, 3 in the love seat,  and I was lucky enough to get a comfortable chair, the rest were on the floor or still out partying until the sun came  up.

While these days, I normally prefer a quiet night at home by the fire with some champagne and good food, This year I had to work as videographer at a wedding.  I’ve done weddings in the past on New Year’s Eve, its normally fun. But somehow technology sometimes can spoil the fun.  We were able to get a live feed in from Times Square of Dick Clark counting down the last 15-20 seconds or so up on a plasma screen in the middle of the grand ballroom.  While many associate Dick Clark with New Years, he is known for so many other things like American Bandstand and being a broadcaster of TV & Radio for over a half century, across 2 centuries.  We all know he had a stroke and now it impairs his speech.  While some praise him for continuing to be a living legend, I believe I want to remember him at his best and it would be more dignified for him to step aside.   When you can’t count backwards from 15 and miss numbers, its not just sad, its even heartbreaking.  I don’t know if he wants to do it or he is encouraged to do it, but I really hope next year he has a prepared or pre-recorded message and allows someone else take over.

Naturally I can’t post this without mentioning food.  In the Italian culture (as it may be with others), eating lentils are a sign of good health and prosperity for the coming year because they are like little coins.  My mother used to make it like a thick soup.  Lentils have a very long shelf life of over a year or more, so that is why they were also associated with money… because any food you can store for a year or more is like money in the back since food costs are always rising.  More and more I am understanding that while fresh is best, having a pantry of food that can last a year or more is better than money in the bank.  Especially when that bank fails, is taken over, and you are only getting 1% interest.    The price of food certainly rises more than 1% per year.

2009 Was not just the end of one of the worst years for everyone on the planet, it was also the end of a decade.  I think this is why we especially welcome 2010 with so much more enthusiasm.  The decade started with a recession, then with the the terrorist attack and destruction of the World Trade Center Towers, parts of the Pentagon and soon after brought us to 2 major wars.  The decade ended with some of the largest and oldest companies in the world failing not just in the USA, but all over the world.  Let’s not forget Hungary, Iceland or even the former Yugoslavia which is now no longer a country.  The similar time in history I can recall such great change was 1990, when at Midnight, the USSR and Iron Curtain Countries all became independent again and Russia was reborn.

Its time for a new beginning for everyone, especially the USA.  We have countries with strong emerging markets and economies like China, India and Brazil.   I personally want to see Brazil in the lead, for many reasons.  Not the least of which is that they are so strongly independent from foreign resources, but also because they have such a large population of Italians.  Is that reason enough?  Sure!  While India may not be our enemy, let’s not fool ourselves, China is Communist, has many many human rights issues still plaguing it, and with all its problems, Brazil is our friendly neighbor in the south, and we have far more in common with them than we do China. But more on that later.

Happy New Year!!!  :-)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I have to say, I just returned from one of the finest in-home meals and Christmas Eve Feasts ever!

Lobster Tail

Feast of 7 Fish?  It was more like 9+ have a look:  Crab spread; jumbo shrimp cocktail; lobster ravioli; linguine with calamari; stuffed calamari; shrimp in garlic/wine/butter sauce (better known (incorrectly) as shrimp scampi (FYI scampi is a type of shrimp); scungilli salad; baccala salad; lobster; and I am sure I am forgetting something, but the 6+ hour eating marathon obviously led me wonder if on Monday I should go to an AA Meeting or Jenny Craig.   But this is probably my most favorite holiday of all.  Sure, I love Thanksgiving and Turkey, and Christmas is great with its ham, but I love my seafood more than I love everything, and to have every kind all in one sitting is really great.

Now, I have to address a few things for those who are not Italian, Christian and/or who are Jewish and feel this is a day when it “sucks” (as they put it) to be them.    Listen.  Christmas does NOT exclude anyone, it only excludes those who wish to be excluded from it.  Its an international holiday, so if you choose NOT to cook or celebrate it, whose fault is that?   Do people who are not Christian think celebrating Christmas denounces their faith?  I understand most observant Jews do not eat shellfish.  But there are so many types of fish to enjoy ?  Ok, so you don’t like fish and you are not Christian and you just got done celebrating Channukah, this should stop you from making a turkey, baking lasagna or making pasta or having a simple dinner at your home EVEN IF its takeout from a Chinese restaurant?  I welcome a holiday meal filled with half a dozen different Chinese dishes to enjoy with beer, champagne, cocktails, maybe even wine, but I think beer would be the best match.

I never understood why some people feel like they are “caged” on Christmas because it is not their holiday.  Its still a day off, its still a day of celebration, and if you don’t like Chinese or Italian food, there are dozens of other places ranging from fast food to food you can buy and cook to restaurants that are open.  EVEN THE SHOPPING MALLS are open… and the movie theatres.   Domino’s is open, order a bunch of pizzas and watch your favorite movie(s) or television marathons.  Refusing to celebrate this holiday regardless of your ethnic or religious backgrounds is insane.  Its a day off, enjoy it as you would any other day off, whether its the beach, skiing, sitting at home by the fire and watching a favorite movie, or spending it with family, it should be regarded as a day of thanks, relaxation and enjoyment.

Be thankful you have this time off to spend alone in peace, alone with a significant other, alone with your family and children, a day with your friends, or even a day with friends who love to party on this day and invited you out because they know you typically do not embrace it.  For those of you who wish to be “oh woe is me on Christmas day” is lame.  Unless you live in Amish Pennsylvania and you are shunned from any holiday celebration, you should have no complaints, and if you are in an Amish town, rent a car or take a train to your local city where there are plenty of people who are out celebrating in spite of their ethnic/religious backgrounds.

CHRISTMAS IS A NO-VICTIM ZONE…
EMBRACE IT & ENJOY IT OR DENY IT & ENJOY IT, either way…

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL & TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT!