Christmas is coming...
Dec. 5th, 2008 02:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rayjwinteravenChristmas is coming and the economy is shot and companies are sinking and Parliament is frozen and what oh what shall we do?
Let's have coffee and cake.
http://www.userfriendly.org/static/
Most of us can afford coffee and cake. Tea is even cheaper than coffee, and I like tea, so it'll do nicely. :) Somewhere in http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm had a recipe for cheap cake:
=============
Wartime cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together one and a half cups of all-purpose flour, one cup of sugar, one-third of a cup of cocoa, one teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt.
Then, add half a cup of vegetable oil, a cup of cold water, a tablespoon of vanilla and two tablespoons of white vinegar. Mix together until smooth, and then bake in a greased pan for about 30 minutes.
To prepare an optional sauce to serve with the cake, melt half a pound of bittersweet chocolate, three-quarters of a cup of water or milk and half a tablespoon of vanilla.
=============
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/11/30/a-long-december/ says it well. Many of us are worried, and scared, because Christmas is not going to look like it usually does, with the boatloads of gifts and travel and dinner parties. Trent has it right - the holidays are not meant to be about those material things. They're meant to be about time, time spent demonstrating how we care for those around us.
I know it's not easy. It's easier for me because I've lived with pennies to spare for gift-giving, and I don't have to worry about not sending out cards (I rarely do) or buying gifts for the secretary (not working helps with that) and sending fancy gifts to the teacher (they had fancy chocolate bars on sale, I already gifted the two teachers and the teacher's aide for under $10, beating the rush when they won't want to see another morsel of chocolate). It's easier for me, too, because I'm used to getting things on sale, and have accumulated a fair bit of stuff for this year.
But think of the things you really remember about the holidays. I remember the colour, the lights, the music (even if I get fed up with it so soon after Hallowe'en), I remember the hot chocolate, holding the mug after coming in from going out to see the city's display. I remember coming together as a family for our 12 days of Christmas gift bags, with a new gift for each kid and one for an adult along with some lonely toys and at least one book from the depths of the bookcases. I remember the feeling in my heart when I sing carols - having first studied the words, because I can't hear them when they're sung. Maybe, for you, it's sitting in pyjamas and fuzzy slippers on the couch to watch one of those holiday shows on TV.
Most of those things really don't cost much. If needed, I could have tea instead of hot chocolate, we could skip on the new gift for the Christmas days, and it could be listening to the radio instead of the TV. What's more important is to see what you have - friends, family, the ability to see the lights, the ability to walk to see more, freedom to listen to music, a society where we can be friends with Christians and Jews and Muslims without needing to exclude any of them, and freedom to honour the season.
Yes, I like the gifts that make me go *gasp* Wow!!! And yes, I'm a cheap date, usually that'll be a ball of yarn. :P But it's enough to have people I can make things for, to be able to see them sometimes, to have my cup of tea and enjoy the lights and music.
May your days be merry, and bright,
And may all your Christmases be _right_.
Let's have coffee and cake.
http://www.userfriendly.org/static/
Most of us can afford coffee and cake. Tea is even cheaper than coffee, and I like tea, so it'll do nicely. :) Somewhere in http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm had a recipe for cheap cake:
=============
Wartime cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together one and a half cups of all-purpose flour, one cup of sugar, one-third of a cup of cocoa, one teaspoon of baking soda and half a teaspoon of salt.
Then, add half a cup of vegetable oil, a cup of cold water, a tablespoon of vanilla and two tablespoons of white vinegar. Mix together until smooth, and then bake in a greased pan for about 30 minutes.
To prepare an optional sauce to serve with the cake, melt half a pound of bittersweet chocolate, three-quarters of a cup of water or milk and half a tablespoon of vanilla.
=============
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/11/30/a-long-december/ says it well. Many of us are worried, and scared, because Christmas is not going to look like it usually does, with the boatloads of gifts and travel and dinner parties. Trent has it right - the holidays are not meant to be about those material things. They're meant to be about time, time spent demonstrating how we care for those around us.
I know it's not easy. It's easier for me because I've lived with pennies to spare for gift-giving, and I don't have to worry about not sending out cards (I rarely do) or buying gifts for the secretary (not working helps with that) and sending fancy gifts to the teacher (they had fancy chocolate bars on sale, I already gifted the two teachers and the teacher's aide for under $10, beating the rush when they won't want to see another morsel of chocolate). It's easier for me, too, because I'm used to getting things on sale, and have accumulated a fair bit of stuff for this year.
But think of the things you really remember about the holidays. I remember the colour, the lights, the music (even if I get fed up with it so soon after Hallowe'en), I remember the hot chocolate, holding the mug after coming in from going out to see the city's display. I remember coming together as a family for our 12 days of Christmas gift bags, with a new gift for each kid and one for an adult along with some lonely toys and at least one book from the depths of the bookcases. I remember the feeling in my heart when I sing carols - having first studied the words, because I can't hear them when they're sung. Maybe, for you, it's sitting in pyjamas and fuzzy slippers on the couch to watch one of those holiday shows on TV.
Most of those things really don't cost much. If needed, I could have tea instead of hot chocolate, we could skip on the new gift for the Christmas days, and it could be listening to the radio instead of the TV. What's more important is to see what you have - friends, family, the ability to see the lights, the ability to walk to see more, freedom to listen to music, a society where we can be friends with Christians and Jews and Muslims without needing to exclude any of them, and freedom to honour the season.
Yes, I like the gifts that make me go *gasp* Wow!!! And yes, I'm a cheap date, usually that'll be a ball of yarn. :P But it's enough to have people I can make things for, to be able to see them sometimes, to have my cup of tea and enjoy the lights and music.
May your days be merry, and bright,
And may all your Christmases be _right_.
