HomeSpunHealers

“How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply
important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves
each day to be and to do what really matters most.”

Stephen Covey
(American Speaker, Trainer, Author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”)

I love Christmas!  I love the decorations and the songs and the baking and even the Christmas present wrapping.  I love that Pillsbury sells its gingerbread cookie dough at Christmas.  And the only time you can find egg nog in cartons beside the milk is at Christmas.  My sons are both with me on Christmas Day, which is a rare treat.  My husband and I go to visit his brother and sister and their families.  I get to see how much prettier and how much more grown up my little niece, who was adopted from a Chinese orphanage, has become.   We get to have Jim’s daughter with us for a whole week after Christmas.  And I get to spend a lot of time with JIm and my pugs just hanging out and relaxing.  And Jim loves Christmas as much as I do, so we really get into all the Christmas festivities with joy.  And the best part of all:  I get two whole weeks off from school!  What’s not to love about Christmas? 

Some people hate Christmas.  They see it as a time when they have to spend more money than they have and have to go to parties that they don’t want to attend and have to get all caught up in the hustle and bustle of too much traffic, too many grumpy shoppers, and too much junk food.  Bah! Humbug! 

The way I see it is this:  Christmas is what you make it.  I choose to make it as little of a hassel as I can, so I can enjoy the things I love most about Christmas.  And this Christmas, I’ve downsized a lot, and I think I’m enjoying the season even more.  We usually put up three Christmas trees, but this year we just put up the two main ones, our 9 foot Santa tree for the den and our angel tree for the living room.  I bought a whole lot fewer Christmas presents this year.  I usually overdo it anyway, and so I decided to it wasn’t worth it.  Also, I paid cash for all my Christmas presents this year instead of charging anything.  That made me feel so much “lighter” in spirit.  And most of my shopping was done on the Internet way in advance.  I’ve wrapped presents as they’ve arrived on my doorstep.  I’ve been collecting stocking stuffers for a few months.  I’ll stuff the stockings on Christmas Eve before we go to church.  And this year, I’m going to church with my husband, who is the music director of his church, and he has one of his hardest work days on Christmas Eve.  The last two years I stayed home alone to wrap presents and cook.  It’s going to be so great to go to church and hear the beautiful Christmas music and light the candles and welcome the birth of Christ, the essence of the Christmas spirit.  We’ve planned a simple, but elegant Christmas dinner for Christmas Day, without a lot of time in the kitchen, we’ll be enjoying a prime rib roast, hashbrown casserole, hot fruit casserole, broccoli casserole, 7 layer salad, and dinner rolls.  Everything can be made in advance and cooked in the oven on Christmas morning while I enjoy my family.  The roast is going into my Ron Popeil “Set it and Forget It” rotisserie oven.  I’ll have plenty of Christmas cookies and fudge and pies and cakes to share with everyone who eats dinner with us and everyone who just stops by.  We’ll leave the next morning for our trip to pick up our daughter and make an overnight visit to Jim’s family, and then we’ll be home with the pugs to relax and enjoy the seasonal music and movies and fun.  I won’t even think about going back to work.  But when I do have to start thinking about it, I will be joyous because I love my job, and I look forward to beginning a new semester.

I really feel bad for people who hate Christmas.  But as Stephen Covey says, when we truly know what matters most to us, and we manage ourselves so we can be and do what really matters most, we can end up with a joyful Christmas spent doing and being what matters most to us.  We can create the Christmas we want to have.  It’s in our hands.  And mine is delightful!

Merry Christmas and may you have the most prosperous and blessed New Year!

Deb

Deb’s Keylime Pie Christmas Fudge

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 cups white chocolate chips (one and a half 12 oz. bag of chips)

2 tsp. lime zest

3 Tbsp. fresh or bottled lime juice

Green food coloring

12 ready made graham cracker tart crusts

Candy jellied lime slices

Cake and cookie snowflake decorating sprinkles

In a heavy sauce pot, heat the milk and chips until the chips are almost melted.  Remove from heat and stir until the chips are completely melted and the mixture is smooth.  Stir in the lime zest and lime juice.  If you want some extra color, add a few drops of green food coloring.  Take it easy with the amount of food coloring if you want a softer green color.  Pour fudge into graham cracker tart shells.  Allow to set up about 15 minutes.  Cut the candy lime slices into four triangular wedges.  Place one wedge of candy on top of each fudge tart.  Press slightly into the fudge.  Top the “Christmas tree” with a yellow (or any color you want) candy star or snowflake from a bottle of snowflake cookie and cake decorating sprinkles. 

This recipe makes 2 ½ pounds of candy, which will fill 12 tarts.  The candy will keep at room temperature for a week or in the freezer for 2 months. 

Makes 3 cups dip.

(My mother:Mary)

My mother celebrated her 75th birthday this past Saturday.  I took her out for lunch and then treated her to one of her favorite past time activities: Bingo.  I don’t care for the game, but it was her birthday and I was going to spend time doing whatever made her happiest.

I arrived at her house at 11 am Saturday morning as promised.  She was all dressed up in a pink and maroon pants outfit and already had her make up on. She was looking sharp. She commented as we sat in her living room that she didn’t feel like she was 75 years old and she just couldn’t wrap her mind around that number. She told me she felt as young as she ever did.  I think that’s testimony enough that we are not our bodies, but spiritual beings having a physical experience. The spirit is forever young. Forever youthful. 

My mother has certainly seen a lot during her 75 years on this planet. She has suffered with rhuematoid arthritis since she was 35 years old.  She lost her husband (my father) due to a freak accident when she was only 38 years old.  Her own father died from cancer a couple of weeks later.  Her mother died from bone cancer 7 years ago.  She lost her youngest son to cancer when he was only 39 years old, and her youngest daughter was killed in a head on collison in 2006.  I feel she has known more grief than any mother should have to experience in a life time.  Yet, she has managed to carry on.  She is strong.  I feel she has extra angels that have helped carry her through all the rough places.

My mother is also smart.  She has always loved to read.  It’s not unusual to find her somewhere sitting quietly with a book or a word puzzle most anytime.  And now at 75 years old, she has enrolled in computer classes because she wants to learn how to use a computer and to stay in touch with her family through email. She is even learning how to use yahoo messenger, so that she can “chat” with us online. :) 

I had a great time celebrating her 75th birthday with her.  I watched her as she sat with bingo sheets all spread out in front of her and she never missed a digit as the bingo announcer rolled off those numbers.  I couldn’t keep up with her. *laughs*  In fact, toward the end of the game, I just handed her my bingo sheets and let her have at it.  Fortunately, they now have what I call “Bingo for Dummies.”  It’s a hand held electronic device that keeps up with how close you are to having “bingo” and also tells you what pattern you are supposed to get, etc.  You just type in the numbers as they are being called. If you have that number it marks it on the computer. If you don’t have the number you entered, then nothing happens.  When you are one number away from having “bingo” that number you need starts blinking.  Never again will I use bingo paper sheets. It’s “Bingo for Dummies” for me from now on out. :)   Incidentally, I did get to hear my mother yell “BINGO” on her birthday.  She kicked one leg up, threw one hand up, and hollered proud and loud. *laughs* 

Another thing about my mother that I admire is her generous nature.  She has never had an abundance of money. She has always lived on a tiny budget.  Yet, she always has something to give.  I showed up at her house on Saturday to take her out and to show her a good time, but she would not be out done.  Before I left, she had loaded me up with 3 dress jackets, a pair of slippers, and 2 books! She amazes me.

I hope when I am 75 years old that I still have the same passion for learning that she does.  I hope I will remain just as strong in spirit as she is.  I hope I carry her generous nature with me all the days of my life.  She is a good soul.

Happy 75th year, Mama!  I love, admire and respect you.

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small
stones.”

Chinese Proverb

Sometime between last Friday’s posting and today’s writing, I stored this quotation, so that I could use it this week.  I knew I had done that, but I couldn’t remember what it was.  And I didn’t know how appropriate it would be until today!  I have been steadily, over the past few days, carrying away small stones as I remove a whole mountain of final compositions, so my students can end up with grades at the end of the semester.  And all the while I’m carrying these small stones away, the students are hauling more in and piling more on!  It seems at moments as though they will never end, but then I remember that the final deadline for getting the grades done is 9 a.m. next Thursday morning.  So, this reading and more reading and marking and making comments on compositions will eventually end.  It will be done.  I love that about my job.  Every semester begins anew.  Ah!

I’ve gotten through a lot of things that I thought I couldn’t by taking it one stone at a time, one day at a time, until the mountain is finally conquered.  Never has anything conquered me, and truly, though some mountains are tougher than others, I don’t expect that any mountain will ever really conquer me.  I will always be the victor, and knowing that makes me very serene.  And thank goodness that I don’t have to look back or go back and handle any of those stones that I’ve previously moved anymore.  It’s over.  It’s finished.  Things begin anew.  But I know some people who move old rocks every time they get a chance.  I have no idea how they even get up in the morning.  Sometimes they choose not to get up, and I can see why! 

I remember an old spiritual that is appropriate here:

“Gonna lay down my burdens, down by the riverside, down by the riverside, down by the riverside.  Gonna lay down my burdens, down by the riverside.  I ain’t gonna study war no more.”

Thank the good Lord that we don’t have to keep carrying burdens forever.  Thank goodness we don’t have to wake up “fighting” life every morning.  Thank goodness we can go to sleep knowing that “although weeping may last for the evening, joy cometh in the morning!”

Beginning anew is a blessing.  Everyone should claim it!