Ice Cream Diaries  18   (A Christmas Card Insert Letter)                    December 19, 2005
A hearty ho, ho, ho, and a happy holidays to you and yours.   I hope this letter finds you healthy and warm, spoon in hand and a big tub of chocolate chip cookie dough in your lap.   The weather outside has started to get frightful (or delightful if you're a hearty, ice fishing, SUV-driving New Englander), the first batch of eggnog ice cream is in the dipper, Greatest American Hero Matt is minding the scoop shop, so what better time than the Christmas present to pen my own little holiday letter.   In keeping with the traditional form of the holiday (being careful not to say Christmas) card letter, this is where I get to wax unabashedly about my beautiful children, the wonderful cruise me and the missus took thru the Panama Canal this year, and share with you a few highs and woes from the year soon to be referred to as 'last year'.  I guess the challenge for me will be keeping it to one page.  Ok, maybe three pages.
What a year it's been!   With the passing of Thanksgiving, my baby turned two.   Wow, how they grow up so fast.  Seems like only yesterday when Dad and I were working feverishly  to get the new Mt.Tom's ice cream kitchen ready in time to offer my new hometown 'homemade ice cream' for their Turkey day tables.   We were dangerously close, but no bubble gum cigar.   We drew the first batch out of the batch freezer the day after Thanksgiving or November 28th, 2003 to be exact.   Vanilla.   So much has happened since then, a fair amount of which I've shared via the Diaries.   Starting a new business has truly been nothing less than an adventure.   I've met many great people, learned a ton about what it takes to own and operate a business, worked long hot summer days and short quiet wintery ones, even figured out how to leave my baby alone during a peak summer weekend.   I must confess I never hated 'working for the man', and there is the lingering moment when the thought of paid benefits, weekends off, and a steady paycheck sneak into my squash, but I still feel being your own boss is pretty darn cool and satisfying.   I wake up with a thought in my head, 'Mt.Tom-wich' Chocolate chip cookie with ice cream in the middle', and later that day I just do it.  No proposal, no eight meetings with accompanying action registers for the ice cream cookie steering committee, no 'that doesn't fit under the intent of our strategic ice cream mission statement', and no 'Jim, now you're just talking crazy talk, and I know Crazy Talk.  I met him once at a truck stop in South Carolina.'   Like life, it's all about trying things.  If it works and feels good, keep doing it.  If it doesn't, chalk it up to experience and reward yourself with a nap for trying.    Or a brownie sundae.
Well as you can read, another year has made me no less philosophical.   Speaking of trying, I've had a few interesting tries in the ice cream kitchen this Fall. Count down the hits Casey...  Pumpkin Pie (accounted for almost 20% of my entire ice cream business in November, even kicked Vanilla's butt), Cinnamon Apple Pie, Coffee Fudge Swirl, Hazelnut Praline, and Cappuccino Chunk.   Speaking of cappuccino, check this out.   Scored a sweet new (to me) espresso machine for the shop.  One of my customers owns a pub in South Hadley, had tried the swanky coffee drink thing, but it never caught on.   (I asked how her nap was, and after she looked at me like I had ten heads,  proceeded to order a brownie sundae.)  Made her an offer and ended up with a sweet deal on a sweet machine for my sweet shop.   Too many sweets?   My apologies to all you dentists and nutritionists out there.   One tune up, a water softener and a couple hours labor from a local coffee repair guy later, and the espresso bar is now open!   The espresso machine tech guy was well worth the fifty something bucks an hour.   Besides getting it all put together and saving me from blowing myself up, he allowed me to pepper him with Barista 101 questions while he whistled and worked.   Now I can make cool, er hot, coffee drinks, have instant hot water for teas, and can make a truly wicked good steamed hot chocolate, as any chocolate shop worth its cocoa should.   This month's special...  the Christmas cappuccino, frothed with eggnog instead of milk and topped with whipped cream and nutmeg.   Like I said, it's all about trying things.
Speaking of trying and failing, a couple ice cream flavors just didn't make the cut.    Cranberry, in a desperate move later renamed Cranberry Sauce, didn't fly.   Nor did the Apple Cider Sorbet.   And I still have a bag of Cracker Jacks for the 'Ballpark Medley' I never made on account of the Sox (at least the red ones) got knocked out in the first round this year.   Luckily, the rum raisin, maple candy, and eggnog flavors have pulled up the holiday slack.   And going in the batch freezer today, last year's holiday favorite, Festivus.    Also working on a 'Reindeer Droppings' flavor in my head right now.   Not sure exactly what will be going into that.   Perhaps I'll leave that as a cliffhanger for the next installment.
Speaking of next installment, I'm not sure when that'll be on account of I'm closing up shop for my winter break in a week or so.  Toasting in the new year with 26 days off.  Hoping to get out of dodge for part of the downtime.  Find a beach, hammock, and a Pina Colada with my name on them.   Hit the slopes a few times.   Relax.  Read a book or two.   And definitely make some trips 'East' to the old hoods.   Maybe I'll even write something non-ice cream oriented.   Planning to reopen on Friday the 27th of January, in plenty of time for the next big choco-holiday, Valentine's Day.    One of the perks of being your own boss,gotta take advantage of that.
I'm starting to get the feeling my employees think I'm too old to be cool.   Lauren was talking about Christmas gifts she got for friends.    She premises her description of a pair of sweatpants by asking, 'Are you hip, Jim?'   Does she really need to ask?   She went on to describe that these were 'Hollister' sweats, insinuating that if I really was 'hip', I'd be immediately impressed with this gift to her 'best, best friend'.   Of course, I pretended to act the way any hip person would, all the while wondering to myself, 'Isn't Hollister a town near Worcester, and how long have I  been wondering how so many kids can go to one high school?'
Matt had been messing around with his Ipod the other day when he came back to the kitchen and says, 'Hey Jim, this song reminds me of you.'   I start to think, 'Hmm, wonder what song this could be... probably something about being the best boss ever or David Lee Roth belting out 'Ice Cream Man' or 'Cool for Cats' or some such.'  Before I had time to think any further, he starts to play the song 'Even the geek gets the girl', and laughs really hard.   Ego kept in check, no problem there.   And to add insult to ego injury, Lauren, the next night, plays the same game with me.  This time, however, my chest is already deflated as I prepare to be humbled for the second time in as many days.   Sure enough, her song, 'Everybody loves a loser.'   Well, I may not be so hip, but I am sporting a new 30Gig Ipod myself and a pair of Doc Martens from zappos.com.  No raise for you!
Speaking of Red Ryder BB guns and new saxophones for Clarence, how's that shopping coming along?  Do you have all my sizes?  My Christmas spirit(s) cup is overflowing this year.    'I'm dreaming of a White Trash Christmas' is playing in the shop right now, the Christmas cactus is in full bloom, the shop is full of stocking stuffer booty, the cake decorating wall is full of peppermint stick and eggnog ice cream pie orders, and I think I hear the townsfolk quietly singing 'Let there be Peace on Earth' off in the distance.   It truly does feel like Whoville here.   The annual holiday stroll strolled by the shop last Friday night.   No costumes this time, just one jolly Santa on a fire truck, followed pied-piper style, by a couple hundred kids of all ages singing holiday carols.   The group stopped at the end of the street, in front of the pond.   After a cold Silent Night verse or two and a quick count down from 10, the crowd cheered the lighting of the town Christmas tree that sits Norman Rockwell-ey on a small dock in the middle of the pond.   The chorus of 'awes' was quickly hushed, however, by shrieks of horror and disbelief that filtered through the crowd like gossip in a small town.   From the back parking lot of the shop, it was hard to discern exactly what had changed the crowd's mood so quickly and dramatically.   Then I saw it.    Running across the frozen pond were what to the naked eye looked like eight tiny reindeer pulling a makeshift sleigh   Upon closer look and aided by the glow created by the newly illuminated tree, it was clear that although they appeared to have antlers, these were no ordinary reindeer.   The eight forms galloping across the tundra were bipeds I was certain.  It was wasn't until they reached the tree and were heading toward my shoreline did I realize the true horror of the situation.   Sprinting toward me as I stood alone in the back parking lot were 8 young men sporting boots and reindeer antler hats, with nothing between save their devious, blue-lipped grins.    Each gripped a piece of a thick rope ultimately attached via duct tape to a mock sleigh loaded up with what I later found out to be one of the giant hot chocolate canteens from the party spot at the end of the stroll route.     As I moved toward the edge of the pond to get what I least needed at that moment, a better view, I spotted another young lad standing at the bank.    Next to him was an enormous duffle which I had to guess contained the missing clothes from our eight nature boys moonlighting as reindeer in the moonlight.    The guy driving the getaway duffle had a camcorder pressed against his face and was laughing so hard, I'd be surprised if the footage didn't look like a scene from Earthquake.    Albeit the deleted scene that included everyone who was showering when the big one hit.   In what seemed like seconds, the bare naked reindeer had reached their destination and quickly grabbed the duffle.   Clothes and jackets flew and within a few more seconds, clothes were on and antlers were bagged.    You could barely hear the laughter and rumble of the crowd over the howling, high-fiving, and wheezing coming from the streaking reindeer pranksters.   As they regained their composure and began to nonchalantly wander out of the parking lot before men in blue parkas and badges came to haul them in, I saw one kid turn back to me and smile.   'Jackass has nothing on us!'  The voice was unmistakable.  It was none other than our very own Reej, proving once again that, 'Nobody puts baby in a corner.', a young man determined never to be overshadowed by his shadowy older brother Rudy.   I couldn't have been prouder if he called me Dad.   God bless us everyone...
	Well, on that note, that ought to do it for me from here.   I' m sure you have presents to wrap, eggnog to consume, and stockings to hang by the chimney with care, not to mention a bunch of paperwork to get done before you punch out for the holiday.   Since I didn't have time to buy you anything nice, I thought the least I could do to is put together a little top ten list for you.   I hope it fits.  If not, I'm sure you can return it for a couple turtle doves or some maids a milking or a tuuk.   In any event, I hope your holidays are wicked good.   Eat (ice cream), drink, and be merry.   And try not to shoot your eye out.
As always, thanks for listening, Have a happy New Year, and hope to see you soon.
Your bud,
			Jim