Preparing

I have not forgotten about blogging, but I’ve been preoccupied with the many, many tasks involved in even my simplified Christmas preparations! I spent much of Wednesday and Thursday mixing, forming, and baking “Do Not Opens” for gifts for the neighbors and for Rick to take to work. Do Not Opens are intense little cheese “cookies” that my mom used to make. I started making them for gifts a couple of years ago and they were an instant hit—and an instant tradition. Now the neighbors ask about them.

Why the name? Well family lore has it that Mom sent some to someone via my sister’s family, who were taking a road trip, and sealed the tin with tape and a warning label that said “DO NOT OPEN,” in hopes that the little treats would actually make it to their intended recipient. (My sister’s kids are notorious “Do Not” scarfers, so Mom figured there would be a better chance of there being some left at the end of the trip if they were never even opened!). Henceforth and forevermore, they were dubbed “Do Not Opens” by the family. They are quite addictive. They are made from butter, flour (I make them with chickpea flour but the original recipe calls for regular flour), extra sharp Tillamook cheese, and ground pecans with cayenne and salt—very simple. I miscalculated and accidentally added a significant amount of extra cheese to the last batch I made and found that they are even better (which would have seemed an impossibility) with additional cheese, heaven help us! Making the Do Nots helped me feel especially close to Mom this first Christmas since she made her transition.

We’re having Rick’s mom and sister over for Christmas dinner. It’s the last major holiday effort I’m planning to make. The cooking will be fine, but the house is filthy and Rick and I will need to work on that tomorrow. I don’t seem to be able to keep up with housekeeping as I go—it takes having people over to really light a fire under me to get stuff done, so it’s helpful that they’re coming, even though right now, I kind of dread the cleaning. It’s always so nice when it’s all over with though and the house looks great!

Last night, I set up my January free teleseminar and it’s going to be on spiritual emergencies…emergences…emergenc(i)es! Check out the details here. (As always, be on my mailing list to receive the access details.) I am planning to write an article on that topic, too. I am really getting fired up to do more writing. I had an astrological reading a couple of weeks ago, and was told that right now and for the next 2 years is perhaps the best writing time of my life. And I feel that. I just need to get focused. I’ll be glad when the holidays are behind us so that I can totally devote myself to writing. The holidays always seem like a big speed bump on the road of life. I’m ready to pick up speed and roll on!

Meantime, I need to remember that Christmas is not just about busyness, and not necessarily just a celebration of the birth of an amazing man named Jesus. For me it is a celebration of the emergence of Christ Consciousness, which is truly the Light of the world. Here’s affirming that you’ll find sacredness and meaning in these special days as well as every day, and that you’ll continue to let your Light shine to light up the darkness for others.

As a gift to the Recreating Eden mailing list, I did not send out a holiday greeting (one less piece of email to deal with!), so for my "official" holiday message, click here: http://www.recreating-eden.com/holiday_message.html .Have a joy-filled, magical Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever you’re celebrating!