Santa is getting ready to sail across the night sky. People are figuring out how to gather in safe numbers and in masks to celebrate their faith. Champagne is chilling as we anticipate a new year.But many are looking at an empty chair. Many are enduring mind-numbing isolation. Many are wondering how the rent will be paid.
Holidays have always been a challenge to mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health.
This year? Well, you get the point.
My dear grandmother, long departed, used to share a story from her youth from the late 1800s. After enduring and surviving a house fire, her family of nine faced a Christmas with few possessions and no money for gifts. On Christmas morning, however, her father produced several packages to everyone’s wonder.
As her mother carefully unwrapped the first present, it was discovered that he had wrapped up the surviving pieces of silverware taken from the ashes of the fire.
Hard times. Desperate times. Times of survival and gratitude. Times of making do.
We are in such times. Times that require digging into the ashes to discover a blessing and to find gratitude.
May you find special moments with what’s left.
A walk or drive around town to see the holiday lights can bring back feelings of effervescent, child-like joy. Dropping off what you can spare to the local food bank can warm your heart like nothing else. Calling an old friend to check in, grows love and appreciation in everyone’s heart. Decorating a batch of holiday cookies to share can get creative ideas flowing again.
We at foodtalk4you.com encourage each and every one to check in with themselves.
How are you doing? Really? Is what you are facing this holiday season pressing in on you? Do you feel like you are in a deep hole of darkness with no apparent way out?
If you are having such troubles, please know 1) you are not alone, and 2) there IS a way out.
If you are on a precipice, please call 1-800-273-8255 right now. That’s the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. These folks are there for you 24/7 to give you an ear and will assist you in finding resources for getting on a steady path out of the darkness.
If you know that what you are feeling is stronger than your current ability to deal with it, your doctor is a phone call away from helping you, either medically or through a referral to counseling, where you can discover coping techniques.
May you discover the beauty, joy, and hope that is still there for each of us.
We look forward to offering our readers an improved format for recipes next year, and I will be releasing my free class about Caregiver Emotions online.
There’s much to anticipate in the coming year!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Happy New Year to all! Be safe in all you do.
Click the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss a single post in 2021.
Somebody you know needs the help provided in my Toolkit for Caregivers HERE. This is a gift they will read and reread!
In health –
Deidre and Sheree
tempting. A great gift idea, too. Haven’t taken that swab plunge yet, but sometimes a very Nordic, “Yah,” periodically comes out of my mouth that I wonder, “where did that come from?”
what I mean: some ‘random’ thing that leads to something else that leads to something else? The dominoes keep tipping over in a beautiful opening of blessings?
One evening, we dined with an Amish family who served traditional Amish fare supplied by a local restaurant and who opened up for an honest and frank question and answer period. As a personal thank you gift, I gave her a signed copy of my book, Toolkit for Wellness, as a gesture of sharing, in kind, a bit of myself.
when her husband had died in 2010, but that she waited two years to read it. She said that reading the book, When God Winks at You, changed her life.
accident that you just picked up When God Winks. In fact, you may have suspected all along that there is more to coincidence than meets the eye. These seemingly random events are actually sign posts that can help you successfully navigate your career, relationships, and interests. By recognizing the God winks our Creator sometimes places in our paths, we can understand—and embrace—the journey God has laid out for us.
Speaking of book-giving at Christmas – where did that tradition come from? I have always loved giving and getting books for Christmas. Yah?
items readily available to give as gifts at Christmas. Hence, a strong tradition of book ownership, reading, and Christmas gift preferences.
While change is one of the few constants in this world, it’s the one we tend to like the least. The older we get, the tighter we cling to the old ways and resist anything new.
I have to say that the simple wisdom found in this quick read of Out of the Maze has helped me in my own transitions of late. It’s a great book to pull off the shelf at the start of each New Year as we all move forward with our lives and pause to reflect on our progress or to consider if we are ‘stuck’ in a maze.
targeted to be ‘food’ for your mind, body, and spirit.
– in my humble opinion – rests with the cranberry sauce. Not the golden, moist turkey or the succulent ham.
It’s that good.
“bad ones”
1 cinnamon stick
sweetness later on during cooking)
Place a sieve over a bowl. Pour raspberries and their juices into sieve. Using a spoon or rubber spatula, press the berries through the sieve until only seeds remain.
Dice up the peeled pear. I usually make a small dice by slicing through the thick part of each pear quarter, make lengthwise slices of both layers, then cut horizontally to make small pieces. Add pear to the cooking berries.
When you deem the sauce is finished cooking by noting the consistency and the popped state of the berries, turn off the heat and allow to cool a bit. Remove the cinnamon stick.
