Winter has truly arrived and part of the fun of this time of year is baking cookies. My family’s must-have cookie is my Grandmother’s Almond-flavored Spritz. My brother is our master spritz maker. His personal touch is to double the almond extract in the recipe and then add a little more. We pass around the bottle of almond extract, so each of us can get a whiff of that sublime elixir. While the cookies are baking the whole house smells divine.
Creative Whimsy by Christoph Niemann, The BEST Brownie Recipe – Ever, and Feng Shui Tips to Light Your Holiday Table
Making cookies and other treats is fun.
While I can’t send each of you a batch of homemade spritz cookies, I can send you Holiday Whimsy by New York Times’ Christoph Niemann. With dough, cookie cutter and sprinkles he creates a delightful take on the world around us: Let It Dough.
For those of you who spell delicious c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e, here is a recipe for the simplest and best chocolate brownies ever.
To make your holiday table and the faces around it glow, check out this Feng Shui design tip.
Walking past a coffee shop two days after Halloween I shuddered as I heard Christmas music on their sound system. You know, the really cheesy pop-rock Christmas music. The kind of music that is an insult to both the holiday and music. Like it or not the holiday shopping season is upon us. Time for Feng Shui Holidays
Feng Shui is about harmony and balance – how can you stay in balance during the most frenetic six weeks of the year?
In the spirit of the harmony and balance of Feng Shui holidays, here is a brief animated video “Can Money Buy Happiness” with the fascinating information from scientific studies about how human think of, related to and handle money.
Key Points
Money can buy you happiness – up to a point.
Buying experiences brings more happiness than buying things
Giving to others brings more happiness than buying things for yourself.
If you are saving for a big experience – a trip for example – don’t forget the everyday little treats that make life fun.
Money and Feng Shui Holiday Shopping
If you know what family and friends want, then the hard part is done. If you have family who don’t know what they want, or friends “who have everything,” then your work is cut-out for you.
How to Give Experiences and Interactive (non-electric) Toys
Think local, and I don’t mean the local mall. If your town is lucky enough to have a Main Street shopping district check it out. Find a local toy or craft store. Look in your newspaper for plays, concerts or museum exhibits that your giftee would enjoy and order tickets. A local sporting event – even on the college or minor league level can be great fun. Go together to a movie starring someone’s latest swoon.
One way is to step back from the commercial machine that the holidays has become.
Not the holiday meals, the decoration of your home, or the perfection of the gifts you give. Martha Stewart will NOT be making a personal inspection of your home and holiday preparations. It’s the mishaps that make the best memories. My family still laughs about the sweet little Christmas tree we got one year. Only to discover, once we got it home, its trunk was bent like a dog’s back leg. My mother simply tied the tree to the stair bannister and everything was fine.
Add A Little Feng Shui To Your Holidays
Help everyone handle the stress of the holidays in their own way. And make this time of year more enjoyable and meaningful. Think of Yin and Yang: Active and Quiet. They balance each other and are the guide to harmony. Balance out the activities of the holiday season with quiet time, either with your family or by yourself. After some active snowman building (the weather gods willing) gather together for hot chocolate, cookies and a quieter holiday video (Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol), time for quiet play with new toys, or curl up with the book you received. Recognize that some family members may have more need to be active, while others have more need for quiet time (a little Five Element insight) and plan your activities accordingly.
Wishing you the Happiest of Holidays!
Holiday season or not, contact Linda for Feng Shui help and sanity.
The holiday season gets more busy and stressful every year. Marketers want you to believe money can buy happiness, if not your own happiness then the happiness of your loved ones.
“…luxury is not a requirement for well-being… I am convinced that healthy relationships are the real ‘stuff’ of human happiness.”– James A Roberts, author of “Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don’t Have in Search of Happiness We Can’t Buy”
I came across this quote in a book review. It couldn’t be more timely. Healthy relationships are the stuff of human happiness.
Make the time and create the space to connect with the friends and family you love most
Carve out time for a quiet cup of hot cocoa and real connection.
Steal time from the big festivities and share an enjoyable afternoon or at-home evening with your immediate family or “family of friends.”
In the spirit of the holidays and to help you strengthen your bonds of affection with the people you love, here are links to 3 articles to help you de-stress and have more fun:
There are two ways you can use Feng Shui to maximize your chances for wealth: make the most of the Chi in your space and enhance the Wealth area of the Ba-gua.
The Chi that enters your home or workspace brings life energy to you. Chi flow brings luck, opportunity and prosperity. Chi flow can equal money flow. To help with this be sure that the area around your front door – where Chi enters – is clear of clutter. Clutter can literally slow down or block the flow of Chi to your home. Clutter also depletes Chi energy, which is one reason why you feel so tired in a cluttered space. Then enhance the Chi-attracting qualities of your front door with color, plantings or appropriate decoration.
Is your chi flowing down the drain?
The Wealth area of your space is in the back left hand third of your home or office. Take a look at what is there. If there is any clutter – clear it out and organize it. If there are any sinks, toilets or drains in that area – like a bathroom or kitchen – then cover the drains when not in use – this includes keeping the toilet cover down. Place a potted plant on your vanity or toilet tank or on your kitchen counter near the sink. Plants have Chi energy and like attracts like. Therefore plants will attract Chi and less of it will go down the drains.
Once the Wealth area is cleared and prepared then you can add the cure of your choice: an aquarium or re-circulating water fountain, a picture of your dream vacation or dream house; or a photo to the people you love most – your non- material treasures. You can also use plants, flowers, a lamp, crystal, a stained glass suncatcher, wind chime or music.
Start with one simple cure for Wealth – less is truly more.
Horoscope: 2009 Year of the Ox
Chinese New Year is January 26, 2009, ushering in the year of the Ox. The Ox signifies new beginnings and slow but sure action while building things that last. That which is begun now is likely to have long term consequences.
Like last year (2008), this is an Earth year, but it is likely to be less tumultuous. On a personal level, better results are more likely to be achieved by going with the flow rather than aggressively charging forward and initiating a lot of action.
The combination of Earth and Ox is primarily characteristic of durability. It suggests an environment dominated by cautious pragmatism rather than quixotic dreaming. Things will get done. You will have the greatest success if you focus on just a few, long term projects. It also suggests proceeding in a cautious yet determined manner. Avoid taking unnecessary risks and yielding to the temptation to seek short term gains.
The year 2009 will be a period of lasting accomplishments. The big challenge everyone faces is to generate the enthusiasm and desire to act. Those individuals and organizations that do will create enduring benefits for themselves and the world.
“ You don’t have a merry Christmas, you make a merry Christmas.”– Nikki Giovanni, Poet
I read this 30-plus years ago and it popped into my head last week. Happiness cannot be bought, but it can be shared.
This holiday season, slow down and simplify. Focus on people instead of things. Let your “gifts” be the remembering and recognition of your blessings. It’s all in the right attitude. Make yourself a Thankful Christmas and you will have a Merry Christmas – and Hanukah and Kwanza.
(I hope this red nose was PhotoShopped-in.)
Happiness May be Contagious
A recent medical study published in the British Journal of Medicine demonstrates that happiness is contagious. Happiness has a ripple effect and can affect people of up to three degrees of separation – that is one’s friends’ friends’ friends. Other’s happiness positively affects you, but unhappy friends do not diminish the effect of happy friends. This effect is seen across all types of social ties. The effect diminishes over time, it needs to be replenished. The actual cause of this effect is not known. We can leave it to neuroscience and metaphysics to work this out. Perhaps there is Happiness Chi? The bottom line: Share your happiness and it will come back to you.
Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies
My Holiday gift to you is a recipe for my all time favorite and easiest brownie recipe – “Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies” – yes, THE Katharine Hepburn. She was a self-confessed chocoholic. Every time I make these, people ask for the recipe. Mix everything in a sauce pan and dump it into a square pan, bake and you are done – just a few dishes to wash. Didn’t I say simplify?
“Hepburn’s Brownies”
2 squares of unsweetened chocolate (If you have Guittard or Giradelli chocolate, it will be even better.)
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
1/4 c flour
¼ tsp salt
1 c chopped walnuts [can be omitted with no decrease in deliciousness]
“First melt two squares of unsweetened chocolate and 1 stick of unsalted butter in a heavy saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of sugar. Add 2 eggs along with ½ tsp vanilla and beat like mad. Stir in ¼ cup of flour, ¼ teaspoon salt and a cup of chopped walnuts – not smashed up, you know, but just chopped into fairly good sized pieces.”
“Now mix all that up. Then you butter a square tin (8×8 inches) and dump the whole thing quickly into the pan. Stuff this pan into a preheated 325 degree oven for 30-40 minutes [test with a toothpick for doneness] After that take out the pan and let it cool for awhile, then cut into 1 ½ inch squares and dive right in.”
I can hear Katharine Hepburn’s voice in my ear whenever I am making this. Personally I let my ½ tsp measuring spoon of vanilla overflow a bit. And I cut the brownies into nine good size squares of chocolate fudgy delight. Let the endorphins in the chocolate do their work.
I just saw an ad for Hallmark Thanksgiving cards. At first I thought it was a typo, so I Googled it and according to Hallmark, Inc. 17 million Thanksgiving cards are sent each year: 63% are given to family and 23% go to friends. This years’ selection includes audio cards with “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, and the NFL “Heavy Action” theme.
Do you want to add Thanksgiving greeting cards to your holiday frenzy?
What happened to getting together with family and friends for a wonderful meal, connection with each other, and a chance to count our blessings? The media and the marketplace are saying that is not enough. You must serve a gargantuan meal, preceded by plenty of snacks to eat while the turkey is in the oven. All so we can eat ourselves to the point of feeling ill. But wait, there is more!
Not only do you have to cook a gourmet meal, you have to clean the house to spotlessness and then decorate it. Your dining table and coffee table and mantelpiece must be festooned with seasonal garlands and candles and figurines.
Now Hallmark, Inc is just one of thousands of companies that want you to do more and spend more for this once quiet holiday. You have a choice. You do not have to get caught up in this madness.
You want to make connection with family and friends the focus of the day/weekend. Make the meal and the day simpler for you. Take the pressure off yourself and Keep it Simple.
Clean your house, yes, but it does not have to be perfect. Martha Stewart will not be making a personal inspection of your home.
Make Thanksgiving a pot-luck meal. Simplify your menu and ask people to bring side dishes and desserts. If Uncle Stanley absolutely must have a particular dish, then he, or his wife Aunt Millie, can bring it. Just let everyone know in advance your kitchen is only available for pot luck warm up, not for food preparation. Share the culinary glory and the work.
Simplify your decorations. If you have grandchildren or nieces and nephews – ask them to bring the decorations. A hand-print turkey or drawing of the Pilgrims and the Indians is the best decoration. A few well placed candles – on your dining table and/or mantel – can add to the coziness of the occasion. If you have little ones running around, then forget the candles. Simply pull out the kitschy turkey salt and pepper shakers you got years ago and leave it at that. Remember, décor is to support a feeling of warmth and fond memories, not to create a “Wow reaction.”
Whether you have a family you truly enjoy or one that you can only tolerate, give yourself some time away from all the people and activity. Go for a walk before or after the meal; or the day after. Find a quiet corner to read, or take a nap – you deserve it.
The focus is connection with those you love. This is not a competition. The perfect food and the perfect décor will not make this a perfect holiday. You are not responsible for the happiness of others. We all make our own happiness. Take care of yourself: “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” (I say this because most of my readers are women. But this applies to men too.)
And remember – after Thanksgiving you have only 29 days until the next blow-out holiday extravaganza: Christmas! And, only six days until the first day of Chanukah. More on that in next month’s news letter.
This week Nordstrom announced they would not decorate their stores for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Every other retail entity is already pushing shopping for Christmas. Buy, buy, buy. But what are you buying? What are you giving?
The pressure is on. But as you hand over your credit card, you know in the pit of your stomach it is not something your family member or friend really wants or needs. It is just something to give; someone to check off your list.
A handknit sweater. Too tiny for me to wear, but too cute not to share.
The chi or energy of the maker is in everything, including the gifts you give. People who are seriously into Macrobiotics believe the energy and emotions of the person preparing a meal is in the food. Maybe that is why the meals prepared by a much loved grandmother, aunt or father tasted soooo good. They were made with love.
I have a handmade sweater that always makes me feel special whenever I put it on. Something I don’t experience with a machine knit sweater. I have a hand-thrown cereal bowl. I love the way it feels in my hand when it is filled with hot oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins. I get the whole sensory experience of texture, smell and appearance; something that is diminished with a factory made bowl.
I would like to think the person who knitted my sweater chatted and laughed with friends while her needles clicked back and forth. I would like to think the potter who sold the cereal bowls to me at an open studio event enjoyed the process of molding the clay in her hands while it spun on the wheel.
A suggestion: if giving and receiving a tangible gift is important for you and your giftee, then consider taking advantage of local craft fairs and open studio events to buy something that is not only handmade, but is made locally.
How to add the Feng Shui Spirit to Your Holiday Gifts
Maybe you could make something and imprint your love and intention into it. That way the gift is a vehicle for your love and care. Instead of spending hours buffeted by crowds at the mall, you could relax in your kitchen and make batches of biscotti, spiced nuts or chutney. Then creatively wrap them. Or you could make holiday ornaments. Consider making this a family project. If you are not talented with cooking or crafting skills, then take advantage of the craft and art events in your area.
Let friends and family know ahead of time you will be gifting in a simpler way this year and giving gifts from your heart.
If this handmade/homemade idea doesn’t fit you or your family and bought gifts are the only way to go, then please, take a minute before you wrap each gift to attach your love and best wishes for the receiver into the gift, whatever it is. Your best gift is your love.
How are you sharing the Feng Shui spirit this holiday season? Share your ideas in the comments below.
Stuck in Back Bay traffic last week, (it was the Speedo Santa 5K Run – don’t ask) I saw a sign on a church “Live the Gift”, which I misread as “Give Life.” This is what I have been thinking during this hyped holiday shopping season. This time of year all the joy of the season gets trampled by the frenzy of shopping, holiday performances and obligatory social events. Instead of fighting the crowds at the mall give experiences that can be renewed during the doldrums of January and February. “Give Life” Experiences, they make the best memories. Sometimes it is good to have mild dyslexia.
“We do not remember days, we remember moments.” – Cesare Pavese
Hot cocoa makes the best memories
The most powerful moments are the shared simple ones, not the big bang of going to Disney World or on a cruise. Instead of “stuff” that too quickly becomes clutter or big events that become endurance trials, give those you love the gift of you, your time and attention.
Write out a “gift certificate” or coupon with your gift written out. You can include a copy of the cookie or pizza recipe, a mini candy cane, a list of videos, a copy of the book to be read together, or a map of the hike path (even hand drawn is great). Include a date for the shared time together or at least an expiration date and follow-up to make time together, soon.
Here are some ideas for memorable shared moments:
Making cookies or pizza together in the kitchen
Bird watching or a hike together in the woods
Spend an afternoon at your local museum or historical site.
Snow is for more than shoveling – build a snowman or have a snowball fight.
Have REAL hot cocoa (not from a mix) with peppermint sticks or mini-marshmallows to warm up with afterward.
Find a hill and sled down – if you don’t have a snow sled or saucer improvise with a plastic trash can lid or a big piece of corrugated cardboard. Improvising adds to the fun and memories.
Read aloud from a favorite book – Harry Potter or Little Women can fill many a cold and dreary afternoon or evening.
Purchase admission to a class or lecture on a topic of interest that you share with a friend or family member. Go together, learn and have great fun.
Rent or borrow from the library some great classic videos and enjoy with homemade popcorn. Add grated parmesan cheese and/or cayenne pepper to your hot popcorn.
Have tea/coffee and chat with a good friend at a pastry shop or at your place. (It is OK to buy your delicacies rather than make from scratch.) The main thing is relaxed time together with your friend to catch-up.
What do you do to create shared moments with family and friends? The goal is connection with the people who are important to you, not a perfect event.
The best part of the holidays is reconnecting with those you love most.
Enhance people-to-people connection by lighting your dining table
Think of the glowing faces of family and friends around your table. Fine-tuning your lighting can create this powerful bonding environment.
Lighting the holiday table is more than mere illumination. Feng Shui tells us light is a form of energy. Interior Psychology points out that human beings are drawn to light and avoid the dark. Lighting is a powerful tool for bringing people together – if you know how to use it.
Lighting the holiday table brightens the faces of family and friends, literally.
Think of the archetypal camp fire and how it invites everyone to gather ‘round. It’s in that circle we make eye contact and strengthen our deepest connections. Gathering at the holiday table (no matter its shape) is the place for such connections.
Enhance connections with the people you love most by bringing light to the center of your dining table: pendant light, chandelier or cluster of candles.
– Dim light around the edges of the room will enhance this feeling and gather people together.
– Recessed ceiling lights alone give a room all the warmth of a hotel lobby.
– Not only does this work for the holidays, it works for any time your family gathers for a meal.
Want help creating a home that helps friends and family connect with each other? Contact me
What part of your holiday table (besides the food ;-D ) makes you the happiest? Share your ideas in the comments below.
