Christmas Made me Homesick

Believe it or not Christmas is a huge and much loved holiday in Taipei which is currently in full swing. There are lights and decorations everywhere. It's still being celebrated right now as a companion to the Chinese New Year which is coming up around mid February. I went to eat at one restaurant that had a strange Christmas display. It was a purple manger with no baby inside surrounded by reindeer. A combination of the Christ birth story and Santa Claus.

In the courtyard in front of the enormous capital building of New Taipei I sat down to watch the show provided by a giant Christmas tree made of pure light. Holiday music poured out of a very nice sound system. Good bass tones. Good mids. Rich and crisp. Images of Christmas joy wound around the tree up to the top in time with the music. It paused on an image of Santa Claus giving the "rock and roll" hand sign. I started thinking about home. That's about when it happened. I suddenly craved a hamburger that tasted like a hamburger. I craved the salty, vaguely cardboard-like flavor of fast food French fries. I needed a coke. And it was all Santa's fault. Christmas made me homesick. McDonald's filled the void.

Best Mickey D's Meal Ever!