Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice

Chuck didn't like Christmas. It was always the time where everyone was very thoughtful and it made him feel like a pile of garbage. Everyone else was happy, buying gifts for each other and he just never wanted to participate in any of the festivities. He never was at a store and thought, "Oh, Karen would love this." He knew it was him and he could probably fix it if he just tried harder but he was in his thirties and if it didn't just happen by now, it never was going to.

This Christmas was no different. He went out on Christmas Eve and just bought everyone gift cards. He knew it's what people could use but not necessarily what they wanted, which also made him feel bad.

He went to his girlfriend's parent's house for Christmas and felt like he was just going through the motions. Everyone was open presents around him, smiling, and just shredding paper like it was suffocating the presents it was encasing. He just sat there and opened his, respectfully and to himself. Socks, ill-fitting sweater, videos in a format he can't use...same thing every year. All of a suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was his girlfriend's dad with a cup of tea. He was a cynical man himself and just gave Chuck a nod like he understood. He smelled it and it was rich with cinnamon. He took a sip and it was a very strong cup of tea but it was good. It was almost like a spicy, candy cinnamon but it wasn't sweet. There were some other spices in there that made it a pretty bold tea. It defiantly perked him up and allowed him to at least fake a smile as people opened their awful gifts from him.

A couple minutes later when the wrapping paper was all picked up and everyone was catching their breath, Chuck was sitting with a half full cup of tea thinking to himself that he couldn't finish it. It was good but it was just too much for him to choke down the rest of. It was too strong and sure he could have steeped it less but it really wasn't in there that long. He wished everyone happy holidays but was happy to just go home and go to sleep like the Grinch he knew he was and the old man that he knew he was becoming.