Along with the hustle & bustle and the traditional festivities, Christmas is truly a time of memories, of giving, and of reflection. This can happen at the most unassuming time and place. Just today, a customer asked me about Mimolette (a classic cheese from the north of France). It is cannon-ball looking and bright orange. But even more interesting, and surprising to many, it houses tiny microscopic cheese mites during the aging process. While I was sharing the details of this incredible symbiosis to this customer, a short poem popped into my head:

A Parable

The cheese-mites asked how the cheese got there,

And warmly debated the matter;

The Orthodox said it came from the air,

And the Heretics said from the platter.

They argued it long and they argued it strong,

And I hear they are arguing now;

But of all the choice spirits who lived in the cheese,

Not one of them thought of a cow.

-Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle

I smiled as I imagined the heated debate among the mites. They did not look beyond, nor did they believe in, that which was intangible to them. Along with good health and happiness, I wish everyone renewed faith in that which lies beyond our understanding.

Merry Christmas!