What makes you happy?

This is the time of year for celebration of friends and family and food, no matter what your faith (or lack thereof). Yet in this time of celebration we often find ourselves stressed and anxious and feeling depressed. Now, in this year of what has been unlike anything any of us have experienced, those feelings are not new. We’ve likely been feeling them for the last nine months. This year we won’t be celebrating like in years past. We won’t have large family gatherings and the stress of cooking or the nightmare of traveling across country. So why not make this holiday about joy?

I love great food. That might seem surprising coming from a guy who eats chicken breast and broccoli slaw all day but I’ve always been very good centric. Ive traveled to foreign countries for a dinner reservation. I’ve driven 4 hours to check a legendary pizzeria off my list and I’ve risked my gut health for a dirty water dog. Great food can be pig brain tacos from a basement diner in Oaxaca or the Prix Fixe at Per Se.

So this Christmas, we will honor our new home of Charleston, SC while paying homage to one of our favorite food regions in the world. Tuscany. We will make an Italian style “Shrimp & Grits” with local shrimp in a beurre blanc and served over polenta. That will be brunch. For dinner I’ll be smoking some baby back ribs.

We have traditionally spent the week before Christmas in Europe. London last year, Paris the two years prior. We were hoping to spend this year in Amsterdam. But the reality is that we will be in our new home having some delicious food made of amazing local ingredients and cooked with love and time. I’ll take that.

So while we may not be having the holiday we want, we are having the holiday we get. So I’m choosing to make it the best I can. How about you?