Christine May's 2008 Christmas
NEWS FLASH - December 2008
Christine refuses to let the Grinch (i.e. Economy) steal 2008 Christmas!
I woke up with an inspiration a few days after Christmas, compelling me to write about my December & Christmas Day experiences.
For the majority of the past year or so, I was in denial about the economy. It bothered me that all the news was about gloom and doom. For 6-9 months I listened to the news, people talking, and watched large mortgage companies going out of business and businesses closing down I never imagined could fail. I saw small local business owners just like me worry about how long they could dip into personal savings to keep their doors open, having to cut hours and laying off employees. It started to get just a little scary, even for me. Just like many business owners, we too had suffered substantial financial losses.
Anyone who knows me knows that I work pretty much every waking hour (and sometimes even while I am asleep (lol). I hardly take a day off, nor do I have much time to spend with my family and my pups.
This December, I finally, after two years of non-stop work, just returned from a badly needed vacation and was able to disconnect from business. While away, I was able to actually stop and read a short but powerful book. The two weeks away did make it more difficult to achieve the usual December routines and activities.
We did not set up a Christmas tree up at our house in 2008. It sort of felt so overwhelming just to get the tree out and to decorate the house ... I felt bad ... but not bad enough to get myself to take the tree out. I always had a tree in the past... I have lovely decorations... Christmas used to be my favorite time of the year ...
I talked to quite a few people the few days before Christmas ... and to my amazement they too did not have a tree for the first time in their lives.
Another thing was that even though I usually buy some last minute Christmas gifts - my entire Christmas shopping spree was done in the couple of days leading up to Christmas. Talk about stress! Again I spoke to people and they too had hardly done any Christmas shopping.
According to Webcredible ..."Over half of consumers leave 2008 Christmas shopping late in the hunt for bargains"
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/about-us/pr/xmas-shopping.shtml
The findings show that last minute Christmas shopping is all the rage in 2008 with more than half (53 per cent) of the consumers polled revealing that the majority of their Christmas shopping would be done in December. In the current economic climate, consumers are putting off spending until the last minute and looking for late in-store price reductions. ...."
When our 4 girls were little, it was a family tradition to go to Big Lots discount store to spend $5 per person. Each of them got to buy 5 gifts @ $5 each - (1 for the 3 sisters and mom and dad). It was lots of fun as everyone in our family LOVES to unwrap presents!
A few years ago we stopped that tradition ... and it felt like a little loss although they had outgrown Big Lots.
In the past years we had many presents and unwrapping. Another family tradition was to open one gift on Christmas Eve (a German tradition) and the rest on Christmas Day.
Christmas Eve 2008 we had a full house; my 24 year old daughter, son in law and my 3 grandsons came in to town, our other 3 girls, and some dear friends of ours who may as well be part of our family. We had Honey Baked Ham, Cajun turkey and all the trimmings. The grandkids did get to open their presents but this year we skipped the Christmas Eve present opening for the rest of the family.
We planned to make up for it with an after Christmas shopping spree for the best savings... hey - got lemons - make lemonade. We would celebrate twice after all.
We had a few little things to open on Christmas Day. But just like not having a tree, discontinuing the pre-Christmas shopping spree, having less money to spend on friends and loved ones felt like a little VOID in my heart L
Christmas Day we had the 3 girls. As usual I was working in the morning and getting caught up on my e-mails and paperwork. It started like a typical day of my life ... work / work / work .... And something inside of me shouted that this has to end ... I don't want another VOID this Christmas. I wanted this day to be special ... I had an idea .... On Christmas Day - 2:00 pm - I decided that my husband, Drew (a gourmet cook) and I (who never cooks) should have a "Christmas Cookie Bake Off" with our 3 girls assisting us with cutting out and decorating the cookies.
I couldn't believe that in my 12 years of marriage we had never had a family cookie baking experience ... It took us having a lower budget to wake up and enjoy the simpler things in life. It was time to wake up and smell the cookies J
The decision was made. We would bake German Butter cookies - my grandma's recipe and sugar cookies - Drew's mom's recipe.
The series of hurdles started ...
Drew could not reach his mom; I could not find my grandmas ancient cook book.
Problem Solved - we searched the internet for recipes.
We pulled out all the ingredients we needed:
Flour ... we had 3 bags - one expired in 2003, one in 2004 and one in 2007 - so we decided for the 2007 one and threw the other 2 in the garbage.
Baking powder - only had one - expiration date 2006
Vanilla - expiration date 2007 - plus I REALLY needed the German Vanillen Zucker (vanilla sugar)
Sugar - was fine ... I did not see an expiration date.
Eggs - fine
Milk - fine
Cookie Cutters ... could not find our cookie cutters - they were boxed up somewhere.
Since it was Christmas Day - ALL the stores were closed so we decided to proceed and do the best with what we had.
I opened the bag of flour (remember the other older 2 bags were in the trash now) and it was full of little black bugs ... YUCK!
We could have stopped there and just given up, we could have gotten frustrated, started blaming everything and everyone around us, gotten whiny on how this would be the worst Christmas ever - since nothing is working out... instead we decided to brainstorm and make this a fun event.
"The girls" (Christina, Samantha and Brittany) put their heads together to brain storm ... they called the different stores to find out if anyone was open on Christmas Day ... the gas stations were open, but would they have flour... then they had the best idea ... they called their friends to see if they had any flour - and YES they did - they even delivered it to the house in exchange for getting cookie samples when we were done.
Samantha remembered that she had bought some cookie cutters so the last problem was solved and the cook off began.
We had so much fun - bringing back childhood memories - despite the fact that the cookies did not come out the way grandma used to make them.
After all - it was not just about the cookies - it was about creating new family traditions, filling a void, spending family time, being creative in overcoming obstacles and hopefully have this new experience clear our path to the future.
For those of you who are ready to change your lives - who want to think positive - who want to have a prosperous, happy, healthy future - I recommend reading this book The Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don't By Michael J. Losier (Author) This book has step by step - easy to follow instructions. It takes about 2 hours to read - and you will be on the way to a new, improved future!
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