This post was originally written on Quora on December 25, 2017.
This Christmas, my family traveled to Chappaqua, New York, to spend some time with my godmother and her family. Chappaqua is a small hamlet in the town of New Castle, New York, about 30 miles north of New York City. The people of this small community of 1,500 are so nice to each other that even the puppies have learned from them: an encounter between two dogs is nothing more than a cordial butt-sniff with no barks exchanged. Chappaqua is also the childhood home of Ben Stiller, Jeff Van Gundy, and the current home of the Clintons.
The name Chappaqua evolved from the Algonquian word shah-pah-ka, which meant “the rustling land,” because all you could hear was the rustle of the leaves in the wind, and that is just as true today as it was in 1730 when the Quakers first settled in the area.
My mom and I left our home in Rockville, MD at 9:30 on Saturday morning, the 23rd of December, en route to Chelsea, NYC, to pick up my brother Charles and his girlfriend Shannon. We arrived in NYC at around 3:30pm, loaded them and their presents into our already packed Acura SUV, and set off towards the rustling land. 40 minutes and 30 miles later, we drove up the long, snaking driveway to my godmother’s house and ended our voyage.
Minutes later, we were all exchanging our holiday greetings, trying to fit two years of catching up into 15 seconds while the trunk was still open. I was most excited to see their sheepdog-corgi mix named Charlie.
Charlie is the sweetest dog — he’s incredibly well behaved and super outgoing. He loves the attention he gets when guests come over, and it’s tough to stop giving him scratches once you’ve started, because if you ever stop, he’ll roll on his back, put his front paws together, and move them as though he were running with his front paws glued together, begging for more.
For our Christmas Eve dinner, we had a huge hotpot dinner. We had two pots going: one spicy, one normal. Since I’ve been training myself to eat more spicy foods, I sat in the middle so I could try both pots. I tried the spicy pot but I couldn’t handle it. When I go back to school, I must train more. (Here is my 10 week training schedule for any readers who would also like to undertake this challenge):
- Week 1 – 1 jalapeño a day
- Week 2 – 2 jalapeños a day
- Week 3 – 3 jalapeños a day
- Week 4 – 1 habanero a day
- Week 5 – 2 habaneros a day
- Week 6 – Spicy ramen challenge + 1 habanero a day
- Week 7 – Spicy ramen challenge + 2 habaneros a day
- Week 8 – 1 ghost pepper a day
- Week 9 – 2 ghost peppers a day
- Week 10 – Pure capsaicin capsules
For dessert, Shannon baked a beautiful rosewater pistachio semolina cake.
It tasted how it looks: really yummy. I’m convinced that if this cake competed in the Great British Baking Show, it would have made it past that round. At night we played Cutthroat (which I handily won due to my recent obsession), we sat by the fireplace and entertained ourselves with our technology of choice, and played Exploding Kittens.
I moved my bed closer to the fireplace so it’d be warmer. This was a great idea because it was indeed warmer, but Charlie also found it more comfortable, and he plopped his fat tummy, still dirty from running through a muddy river in chase of a squirrel on our hike earlier that day, right on my bed. He was so tired and cute I had to cede half of my bed to the furry rascal.
Christmas Day! I woke up to Charlie whimpering right next to my head. I thought he simply wanted scratches, so I gave him some love but he ducked away and nudged my hand upwards with his snout. He wanted me to get up! And that’s when I noticed that it was a white Christmas!
What a beautiful Christmas Day! I brought Charlie out to relieve himself (he also “tracked” a deer by sniffing an individual hoofmark, which led him to the next hoofmark just 3 inches away), and by the time I returned, everyone was up, and we were ready to open presents.
My godbrother got some amazing gifts: a Google Home, Bose Bluetooth earbuds, a Hydroflask (from yours truly), and $200 in cash or something. I also got some amazing gifts: a Kindle Paperwhite, $100 in cash, and the most interesting gift of all: acne treatment. I don’t even have acne anymore. That gift would have been good 4 years ago. But it’s not all that bad, because now, if I even see a hint of a breakout, I will destroy that single pimple with the force of 8 LED lights (it’s called Blue Light LED acne therapy).
After lunch, it was time for us to begin the trek back. Charlie was whimpering as we packed and dressed, but I’m not sure if he was sad that we were leaving or excited because we were going outside. I’m going to say that he was excited for my sake.
My mom and I first dropped off Charles and Shannon back to their swanky apartment in Chelsea, where I received a few more Christmas gifts: 5 or 6 books, 3 pans, a few mixing bowls, a huge blender, and a large pot. Needless to say, I was really spoiled this Christmas.
Happy holidays to you and your family, and happy new year!
Peter's Life 