Giving

We just set sail on a road trip to the Midwest. I prepared lots of snacks, possibly too many. I’m afraid some will go to waste. But I also know I’ll eat more than I need because of car boredom. I’ve already done this with the Furikake Chex Mix I made at 12am on Sunday morning in preparation for this trip.

Here I am in Long Island at Ceriello Fine Foods with two of my Goldman Sachs classmates—Tina (far left) and Marchelle (middle). I came to Tina’s family’s Italian deli to purchase bottles of her Salt Magic to give to my neighbors. Tina gave all of us bottles of salt and marinara sauces while in the program and now I’m hooked on her salt magic; it goes great on everything. At the end of my shopping, Marchelle just happened to walk in! Giving this gift to my neighbors is somewhat spontaneous and supports my classmate’s business. This kind of gift giving is a win-win and I’m happy to do it.

We don’t normally travel at the end of the year. Instead, we usually host a dinner at the Sugar Hill Creamery on Lenox Ave. Since we’re closed that day, the store offers more entertaining space than our six-seat dining room table in our apartment. That dinner has become one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Having friends over who are not leaving town to eat in this place that Nick and I built brings me so much joy. We serve everyone ice cream after, which makes the tradition extra special. There’s something about having an ice cream shop to yourself and being able to order what you want without paying that feels especially novel.

Part of the reason we took this road trip is so Nico could spend time with one of his best friend’s from daycare who recently left Harlem for a new city.

Nick was saying a couple of weeks ago that it doesn’t feel like Christmas. I agreed. Coming out of the Goldman program a couple of weeks ago and rolling into the season of obligatory giving has me scrambling. I’m terrible at gift giving when it’s required. I’m better at spontaneous gifts and giving gifts of time, attention, and effort instead of material objects by a deadline.

I also like this time to be more about family traditions rather than the pressure of giving. Four years ago, I wrote about how Christmas should be about traditions and togetherness instead of giving material objects, but I find myself in the same last-minute gift-giving hole every year.