Today, I thought I’d begin sharing some of the charming “Last Christmas” anecdotes we’ve been receiving. From Brian L:

Here are some truths:
1. I am enjoying your Last Christmas project at an unexplainable level. I am actually not studying for exams as we speak to get the “full-feel.”

2. Several days ago, far too few to be a week, and quite too many to be “yesterday,” I was having difficulty deciding what I wanted for lunch. We had no bread at home and I had already decided I wanted either a sandwich, a sub, a gyro, a hoagie, or possibly a grinder. So there were several places to choose.

The Friendly Greek: A lovely family-owned Greek resturant. I simply adore their more-than-generous helpings of tzatziki sauce, and their French fries are made on-the-spot, per order. Unfortunately, Greek food usually gives me stomach trouble that is not appropiate to talk about, or even to think about. Out of the question.

Subway: Healthy, Doctors-of-America-owned fast-food hyphenated mess. I dig their use of yellow in the dining area, but wasn’t in the mood to explain how to properly make a sandwich. Nope.

La Spada’s: My sweet lord… if I was about to die, I might request an order from La Spada’s (but only as a runner-up to fajitas made at a family-run Mexican restaurant). Unfortunately, I just didn’t want to go there. (Too long of a wait.)

Quiznos: Wow. Not quite La Spada’s, but not quite Subway, and just an ounce of snobbishness. I was feeling a bit pretentious with my nice shirt on, so I went to Quizno’s.

But I was a little worried! I’m not a big fast-food eater, and it always concerns me when I see motley high schoolers constructing my lickity-split delicacies. Moments after ordering, I had doubt in my heart: Am I making the right choice? Will this sandwich be edible? Are you there God? It’s me, Brian.

But then, I heard something. I thought to myself Is that George Michael singing “Last Christmas?” Is that the Wham! radio edit? And did I miss the first verse? Well the answers to all of my questions were: Yes.

Damn! The exact amount of time it took for me to hear “Last Christmas,” without the first verse, at that specific instant, was just long enough for those high-school hooligans to finish making my snackery! Well I have to say, I’ve never had a tastier sandwich, and I thank George Michael—and those teenage chefs—for not ruining Christmas. -BL.