Grandma’s Stroufeli & DAMON’s MOM’s Pumpkin Bread

On this Sixth Day of Christmas…
New Year’s Eve

It baffles me to see people walking down the street this past week,
Moseying with a kind of laissez-faire attitude,
As if there is nothing much going on.
Awfully Silly.
It’s Christmas!
It is a Twelve-Day Celebration,
If you want it!
Don’t Miss Out!

It is easy to get all absorbed in the hustle and bustle of Holiday Preparations — and then, suddenly it is Christmas Day!
Family in Town,
Lots of Cooking,
Entertaining and appointments and Festivus…
At least for me, this is often the experience of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the week that ensues.
Those who follow these flurries of activity with immediately taking down the Tree and putting everything away — Well, No Wonder they hate the Season So Much!
No Wonder it feels like such a hassle!
‘Cause it is!

Christmas with MOM

And with the Little One…

Today is the Sixth Day of Christmas.
Only halfway through.
Perhaps relatives have begun to leave town and the noise of the Season starts to dwindle a bit…
Time to Pause.
Pause and Enjoy!

Rather than rushing it away,
Instead of focusing on packing it all up and getting the Tree to the curbside
And getting back to “Normal…” —
Honestly, what’s so Great about “Normal!?” —
How about just Pausing to Enjoy it all a bit?
Slow Down for just a moment.
Look around.
Isn’t it Beautiful?
The disciples of VICTOR LEBOW would have you believe that the only point of the Season is Consumerism,
And now that the day is past, get on to buying Valentine’s Day Items!
But actually, I find that the entire point of the Season
Is to be found in these days as things begin to quiet down…
New Year’s Eve — the Sixth Day of Christmas!
New Year’s Day — the Seventh Day of Christmas!
And by the Eighth Day of Christmas, it can seem that everyone is back to work,
And likes to have all the mess put away and done with…
Well, there is no putting the Mess away!
Our Lives and this World and the Way of Things are all quite Messy, by Nature!
And tidying up early, denying ourselves one-third of the Season’s Magic, offers us Nothing!
So, I Beg You, not just this Year, but always at Christmas,
Gift yourself with the Full Twelve Days of Celebration!
Those smart folks in Europe and the Philippines are most excitedly awaiting the Big Festivus of January Sixth…
There is still much to look forward to and Enjoy!
And honestly,
What is happening that is So Important that it cannot wait for a bit?

Stroufeli: That was a Day!

Stuffed Shells on Christmas Day!

Enjoy the Tree and the Decorations!
Continue Small Get-Togethers with Friends and Savoring the Holidays and Celebration of Kindness and Delight all the way through New Year’s Day,
Then, while back at work Wednesday through Friday during the day, we have our evenings — we can make some time — to continue Delightful Celebrations and Get-Togethers and BODACIOUS ACTS OF KINDNESS all the way through Sunday January 6th…
Then, the week of January 7th thru 14th, use that evening time, or whenever we get home from work, to take down the Tree and pack everything away — in small increments, if you like, so that it doesn’t become such an overwhelming undertaking.

Before the task of getting it all away, Enjoy the Week Ahead!

Pause.
Reflect.
What does Christmas mean to you?
We talk so often about keeping the Spirit of Christmas the whole year through,
And yet, our current culture pressures us into feeling that we are slacking off somehow if we don’t get the Tree Down by the Weekend after Christmas.
Yeah…No!

This is Our Time!
This is as much a part of Christmas as the Magic of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning!
This is the part when the noise begins to subside
And we may Pause and Reflect in an atmosphere of Joy and Twinkle Lights
And Magic
And Mystery
And Miracles…

Pause.
And Reflect.
And Enjoy!
Happy Sixth Day of Christmas!

Always Time to make French Toast for the Kids

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