Stasia's Place Of Grace

Friday, December 06, 2002

 

Grateful For...

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Those things on my feet are my Orvis ram slippers...

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Walking Chester around the path in our yard, stopping to wait for him, closing my eyes, feeling the crisp winter wind on my face, not feeling the wind on my cheeks and neck because of my ultra-warm "dogsledding" hat from Wintergreen (worth every penny!)

Listening with eyes closed and hearing only a Blue Jay, a tractor moving hay at the farm behind our yard, the wind rustling in the leaves, and the tree branches squeaking as they rub against each other. There is movement, but so much peace, even during the afternoon hours of this sunny day. It is amazing what you can hear when you just stop and shut your eyes...

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A Christmas CD of solo guitar music that our realtor sent us as a "Happy Holidays, please keep me in mind" gift. He does it every year. It is a great marketing tool (having worked in Marketing, I can appreciate that!) and it actually gets used. I love it!

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Having a new knitting magazine sitting here waiting for me. The anticipation of sitting down with it and a cup of tea is so intoxicating that I have kept it up for 24 hours now, just waiting for the perfect time, when I know I won't be interrupted by husband or dogs... perhaps tonight, when Jeff is playing hockey and the dogs are settled for the evening, I'll plug in the fireplace, make a pot of orange spice tea, grab a couple of my fresh-baked cookies, and have some time just to myself. Though I might not want to make anything from the issue, it'll inspire me to get moving on my works in progress.

I wrapped garland and white Christmas lights around the firescreen on the (fake) fireplace and it looks very Dickens-ian! Sill wish I had a woodstove like Linda or Kary, though!

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Cut-out Christmas cookies that turned out really good. (Take heart, Nan, they're easy peasy!) Here's the recipe:

NORWEGIAN SPICE COOKIES
from Family Circle's Holiday Cookie Cookbook supplement, 11/1/96
by Maureen Luchejko

Makes: 32
Prep: 10 min
Refrigerate: 1 hour
Bake: 350 for 10-12 minutes.

3 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp.
1.5 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg white mixed with 1 T. water

1. Combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, nutmeg and cardamom in bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in flour mixture. Divide dough in half, flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour. (I just stuck it in Tupperware containers.)

2. Heat oven to 350. Coat 3.5 to 4.5 cookie molds with nonstick cooking spray. (I didn't use molds, I used cutters, and they worked great. I just put them in flour in-between cutting cookies - no spray.)

3. On lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll out half of dough 1/4 inch thick. Press cutters/molds gently into dough. Gently pull cookies out of cutters/molds. Place on ungreased (mine were non-stick, insulated) baking sheets. Brush with egg white (I didn't use - mine are plain or use water/confectioner's sugar/vanilla frosting). Reroll scraps. Repeat with remaining dough.

4. Bake in 350 oven 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. Remove to racks to cool. Store at room temperature or freeze.

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The close of Hanukkah. Click here to see Jeff lighting all the candles.

It has been a fun celebration this year. I love how the menorah grows brighter and brighter with the passing nights and addition of candles. It's practically blinding by this time! I gave Jeff several books on Judaism and even Yiddish, so that we can learn more about his new-found family history (his father found out last year that an ancestor was Jewish - something we had not known before, and a fact which sparked our interest in starting to celebrate Hanukkah each year.)

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I had a phone conversation with my father - we haven't spoken in a couple of years now - and it went very, very well.

His newly-adopted step-daughter is now dating his grandson (by the son of his first wife, my elder half-brother) which, if they get married, would make my dad Dad-Grandpa and make my nephew's father Uncle-Dad, but that is a whole 'nother thing...

The kids seem happy and are dealing with their long-distance relationship (Las Vegas/Maui to Baltimore) maturely, in any case. But doesn't it just sound strange?

One nice thing is that when I don't get along with my own mom, at least I now have a step-mom... even if she is only about eight years older than I! (She's very sweet, though.)

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I was able to catch a sick bird and take it to the Wildlife In Need Center for treatment. It had conjunctivitis - one eye was swollen shut - and it is a very contagious condition, so the woman at the Center said it was good I brought it in.

I knew it was ill when it let me approach it as it sat in the feeder, and didn't go anywhere despite my reaching out to touch it.

I caught it by tossing a light towel over it as it fluttered around on the ground, then putting it into a paper grocery bag in the garage, and then putting it into the car (and not running the heater, so I wouldn't shock it).

I'm grateful the WINC is around to help wildlife, and that I was able to get the bird without injuring it further.

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To be back on the Spindlers list, which I have missed. There is a lot of mail to keep up with, true. But I have found that it also provides a welcome respite from the rest of my day to sit quietly and catch up with everyone. I have to learn to balance online/e-mail-reading time with offline, real-life productive time. I need to make time for both - for the social aspects and sense of community both have to offer, without the stressors of too much involvement in either. I must learn to be more consistent in setting boundaries, not getting caught up in the moment, and sticking to my daily plan of the things I need to do in order to gain/maintain good emotional and physical health.

I am getting better at it. I am doing well with setting limitations with family members, with not getting caught up in "icky" situations (others' manufactured problems), and with knowing how much time is enough to spend on any one thing (baking, reading, fiberarts, e-mail, housework, self-care).

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Things are going well. There are Christmas lights and Hanukkah candles twinkling in my house tonight. There is warmth and a sense of balance in my heart. There is hope despite the darkness of the night outside. I have comfort food to eat, I have relaxing guitar music playing, I have a fire (albeit a fake one!) lit, I have four well-behaved puppy dogs snoozing, and I have a good husband on his way home from work. I have wonderful friends who stop by to read this silly journal.

I wish you these same feelings tonight! Happy last night of Hanukkah!

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