When Christmas Explodes....and....Chocolates & Cigarettes

Dear Julie,

Remember how I was lamenting about my lack of Christmas cheer earlier in the week? I was assaulted by it this morning when I walked into our office on the Chicago campus. Someone apparently hijacked the floor and turned it into some kind of Christmas extravaganza. There are Christmasy things everywhere you look. And by Christmasy things, of course I mean crap. The only thing missing is the partridge and the pear tree (okay, two things). Here's the ironic bit: we have several Jewish employees and not a single dreidel or menorah in sight. I think we should all be representin' on this one.

I had a scathingly brilliant idea today. I was walking from my hotel to the office and I passed a woman who was shivering in the cold as she smoked a cigarette. So here's a thought for you: what if we had to go outside to eat chocolate??? We could eat as much and as often as we wanted, but we would have to go outside (regardless of the weather) and stand there while we consumed our chocolately vice. In the summer, we would stand there for all the world to see. And in the winter, we would stand there struggling to unwrap the foil-covered Kisses with our shaking, gloved fingers. Do you think this would change our chocolate consumption???

I'll leave you with that thought.

Love,
Karen