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This morning, I headed out with my dad to the Fresh Market, to pick up the big hunk of meat that my family will be enjoying for Christmas dinner. Dad wanted to go early since the Fresh Market is not the kinda place you want to be at the last minute on Christmas eve. So in return for getting up so early, I wanted Dad to get me some breakfast. We decided to go to the downtown location of the popular franchise Jersey Mike’s, because they started serving breakfast and we figured we’d see what they offered.

I had sausage, egg and cheese that was served in wrap form, and it was delicious. Dad had an everything pork roll, which the guy working at Jersey Mike’s said was unique to Jersey Mike’s located below the Mason-Dixon line. It was basically summer sausage with egg and cheese on an everything bagel. Dad said it was good. The guy who waited on us also said that the veggie omelet was good, but it sounded like that was the only thing he’d tried there because he was vegetarian. It must be hard to work at a sub shop if you’re vegetarian. Though maybe it eliminates temptation.

Anyways, while we were waiting for the food to be prepared, I noticed a box that had a sign over it that said “Free—take one—happy holidays.” I got up to see what they had, and when I returned I said, “Oh, it’s just apples.” I want to clarify here that it’s not that I dislike apples. I think I just had my hopes set too high, because I was hoping the box had cookies or something. But when I got back, and when I exhibited derision regarding the apples, my dad told me the saddest story ever.

Here is the sad story: Apparently when my dad’s dad was little, the family didn’t have any money for Christmas. And this was before the Great Depression, so I can only imagine what the Depression-era Christmases were like. So for Christmas that year, all they got was an apple or an orange in the stocking, and my grandfather’s dad painted a red wagon that they already had green so it would seem like new. An apple and a painted wagon, and that was Christmas. Boy oh boy did I feel bad about mocking the apples then. I felt like the worst person in the world. So I went up and took an apple and got one for my dad, and it is today’s Picture of the Day:



This story and picture will hopefully remind us all that even if we don’t get everything we want for Christmas, we’re probably getting a whole lot more than an apple/orange and a repainted wagon.