Holiday Joy

I'm still feeling warm & toasty from our 1st AX holiday party! This afternoon, as I visited with Heidi, Maria, and Karina at their holiday sale (the very best holiday shopping experience), we noted that amidst our wine-buzzed happy chatter we had neglected to gather the group together to acknowledge our year together, thank our amazing hostess, and discuss our holiday giving project.

And so, belatedly, thank you Annie and your whole family for hosting a beautiful party! And thank you to everyone for making this an inspiring year together. The holiday project fizzled, but social needs and causes do not end with the holidays, so perhaps we can come up with something to kick-off our New Year.

A few of you asked about the Swedish Creme I brought. It is a recipe from my uncle, a proud Swede. In our house, it is served with raspberry sauce and a platter of sugar cookies. As I dug out this recipe, I also found the recipe for my Grandma Midge's sugar cookies (as well as about a dozen of her old recipes in her hand writing). She passed away yesterday morning and it is with joy that I share her recipe with you all.

Swedish Creme
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 c. sugar
2 1/2 cups cream (*I use 1/2 & 1/2)
1 16 oz. carton sour cream (regular or light)
1 t. vanilla
Combine cream, sugar & gelatin in a 2 quart saucepan. Let stand 5 min. Stir over low heat until gelatin dissolves (varies, but good estimate is 5-7 minutes). Cool to luke warm. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla until smooth. Pour into a glass dish and chill, covered.

Raspberry Sauce
Thaw 10 oz. package frozen raspberries. Drain, reserving juice. If necessary, add enough water to juice to make 1 cup liquid. Soften 1 T. cornstarch in raspberry juice. Heat juice in microwave 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until clear red. Add raspberries back to juice and heat for 20 seconds. Stir and cool (sauce should thicken). Optional: strain in fine sieve to remove seeds. *Note: this is a very tart sauce, so you can add sugar if desired.

Sugar Cookies
(from Grandma Midge)
3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cream of tartar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup shortening
3 T. milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 t. vanilla
In large bowl, mix ingredients 1-5 (flour to cream of tartar). Cut in butter and shortening. Mix eggs, milk and vanilla. Add to previous mixture. Chill dough. When ready to bake, roll dough thin and cut out your shapes. You will need lots of flour on the board - dough is sticky. (Note: If you wish to decorate w/ colored sugar, you can shake it on now). Bake at 375 for 5-6 minutes.

I believe in the magic of ...

Last Christmas Beck asked Santa for a watermelon. Not, "I'd like to eat watermelon for breakfast" but I want Santa to bring me a watermelon. In December. So Santa did. When he found his watermelon, wrapped in a bright red bow, he cradled and kissed it like a newborn baby. In the midst of preparing for this year's celebration I was reminded of this magical moment.

There are so few years of one's life that are truly full of such wonder, hope, and imagination.  This is one of the only times I wish I had multiple children, at different ages, so that this time could be s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out. Thankfully, this year, we are still planning for Santa's arrival and hope that the excitement of this generous man in a red suit will not overshadow the heartfelt holiday we celebrate. At this age it's much easier to believe in jolly St. Nick than baby Jesus. Come to think of it, it's still easier for me to believe in the magic of Father Christmas than the Son of God. Whatever. Right now, I believe in the magic of youth.

P.S. I loved this post on the Motherlode, by Johanna Stein, which feeds right into our November topic...

The Art of Living, is through Giving

Just as soon as the Thanksgiving dinner is digested, it’s time to prepare for the Season of Giving. All-too-familiar holiday music plays everywhere you go, reminding you of how much you have to give, give, give. Buy, buy, buy. People need presents. Must buy stuff. Must find parking space. Must endure the pushing and shoving and standing-in-line to pay for everything that has to be bought to create the magic of Christmas.

Deep breath. Quiet the mind.

No matter what your religious beliefs, the holiday season should embody unconditional giving, love, compassion and peace. And yet the world we live in isn’t entirely conducive to helping us create that. Or is it?

Everything around us can be viewed as an opportunity to learn. Perhaps the mayhem around us is there for that very reason. To challenge us to embody the spirit of Christmas in the face of it all.

Examine “giving” for a moment. In life, we all have a metaphorical cup. We can fill our own cups through fulfillment and enjoyment, and so the way they become full is personal to each. Through daily life, our cups get drained. Overwork, stress, lack of sleep, etc., etc., ad infinitum. Our cups start to empty. In relationships, it is common to pour from our cup into another’s, because we want them to be full. But when we are depleting our own resources, and giving to others, we need to be very vigilant to keep enough in our own cups.

In other words, when we give, we draw on our own resources. How can we give if our metaphorical cup is empty? We need to find ways to give to ourselves, so that we are able to remain full, and allow our giving to simply be an overflow of all that we have within.

Finding ways to give to ourselves can be challenging. We have to be careful that giving to ourselves does not involve distraction from issues we wish to avoid. The difference can be illustrated by a walk in the park observing nature, versus two glasses of wine in front of the TV every night. One allows us to drink in the qualities of the world around us, the other (yes, sorry, it is the latter) is merely a switch-off button.

This month, we are gathering to give. Giving to others less fortunate is a wonderful thing, especially when you have plenty to share. This holiday season, I would like to offer an additional challenge. Find one way, per day, to fill your own cup. Give to yourself, just once per day. It could be a few moments of meditation. A yoga class (without a trace of judgment of yourself!). 10 minutes of quiet, looking out at the ocean. A hot bath. A cup of chamomile tea, drunk in your favorite chair, listening to your favorite music. You will know what you need to replenish.

And while you are in the act of giving to yourself, just observe. Observe how you feel. Accept reality as it is now, without trying to change it.

If anyone feels like sharing the ways in which they give to themselves, here on our blog, it would be wonderful to read, so that we may draw inspiration from each other.

Through the act of giving to ourselves, we create more to give to others.

May you all be happy and peaceful this season, and may your cups be overflowing!