Christmas giving

Seasons Greetings to All

Well we are four days away from the big day and excitement is rising. Christmas trees are up and full of lights and beautiful decorations. Some have presents under the tree and some don’t. I know for myself, I am scaling way down this year and buying very little for my adult children. As for my nine year old granddaughter, Jasmine, she is not getting a lot. She doesn’t need much and her mother has told me that anything I buy for her stays at my house. So we are doing minimal this year.

She is a very creative child and I like to encourage that. My addiction to pens and papers and crafts goes a long way to entertain her when she visits.

I’m not sure I’m happy about the notes on my windows when the cat went missing for a couple of days. She wanted him to know we loved him and for him to come back. At least the notes were in glass scribblers. The felt ornaments she did made a lot less mess.

But I wanted to say thank you to the wonderful givers in this world.

I work at a facility for children with behavioural and mental problems. We have a school and a residence where children come and stay for varying lengths of time and we try to teach them better coping skills and how to make better choices in their actions. The children are not our only focus. We also help their families learn better methods to deal with the child and their behaviour.

The last couple of years have been hard for families, and this year was looking particularly bleak for some of them. Remember that tree  with the presents under it? Well some families don’t have any and have no chance of Santa coming to their house.

That is where the givers of this world came up to the plate. I am so thrilled to say that the staff and the community rallied up to our plate and now 85 of our families will have some presents under their tree.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and may the new year be a year of peace, love, health and may all your dreams come true.

Kendra James

This is my children’s favorite cookie recipe.

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

4 ounces (115 grams) semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3 large (90 grams)eggwhites

1/4 cup (25 grams) cocoa powder(regular or Dutch-processed)

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated whitesugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon purevanillaextract

2 1/2 cups (220 grams) sweetenedcoconut(shredded or flaked)