The Beauty of the Holidays... it’s GOOD stuff!
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To Give Thanks
It means to be grateful...
And we are, we just don’t say so all the time. Holidays give us the opportunity not only to say so, but to really appreciate all that we are blessed with by spending time with those we love. Just like sharing a pew in church, sharing the table at big dinners is almost as sacred because HE is who we thank for all our blessings. This year we are striving to bring you some GREAT NEW IDEAS, as well as remembering some of the traditions of our elders. We believe mixing the old with the new can’t help but steer us in the right direction for this holiday season. Praying for God’s very best for you and yours,
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Lynn Trahan, Editor/Owner
Merry Christmas!
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Do you have a few dollars a month you can spare to help some kids? 2 Santa Fe Goodtell you where your heart is." "Where you spend your dollar will always News
GOOD STUFF
TEXAS State Railroad... it’s a GOOD Thing! Everyone from newborn babies to great grandparents ride these trains.
We took the Pineywoods excursion to review it and were amazed by it. The Polar Express is now running until December 23rd. The prices range from $20 to $109. If you’re still looking for a GREAT unique Christmas gift for someone... consider this. Watch the videos, book your tickets & see the rest of our review HERE.
NEED dinner ideas? CLICK the link above... IDEAS galore! "Hi, my name is Christy Jordan and I like to feed people."
The Twelve Myths Of Christmas -
How to put more jolly in your holly!
This time of year brings out the absolute best in folks. Unfortunately, the stress and crazed spending also tend to bring out a bit of the worst from time to time as well.
1. Just because it says “heirloom” on the box, doesn’t mean it will be. Most of us are looking to make more memories each year that will be cherished for a lifetime. Of course, marketing companies realize this and use words like “heirloom” to tug at our heartstrings, often to the extent that we are able to overlook higher priced tags.
With our goal being to enjoy the season and cherish the true spirit of the holidays, I thought I’d bring you the top twelve myths of Christmas and then fully debunk them, so we can get past the hangups and get on with the joy! Last week I looked at a line of ornaments, trying to find just the right one for our tree this year. I almost bought a few different ones, but in the end left GOOD FOOD the store having not spent the twenty
Slow Cooker Black Eyed Peas
Ingredients:
These beans cook perfectly and all you have to do is toss 'em in and go about your business! With a new year upon us, Southerners start thinking about that special first big dinner, with all of it's symbolic dishes that tradition tells us will bring wealth and good fortune in the coming year.
• Ham for seasoning (a ham bone or ham hocks from grocery store), optional but great
• 12-24 ounces dried beans of your choice
• 1 tablespoon salt • 6 quart slow cooker
Instructions: 1. Place ham in slow cooker. Sort beans and pour on top of ham. 2. Add salt. 3. Completely cover with water and fill slow cooker to within one inch of the top. 4. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
plus dollars that any one of the ornaments would have cost me. Yesterday, we were in Cracker Barrel and I found this birdhouse ornament. Birds are the symbol of Bountiful and this particular birdhouse caught my eye. What better tradition to start the first year at Bountiful than to have a different birdhouse ornament each year? Now, I just wanted to make it more special and came up with the perfect idea. I gave the kids a gold metallic pen and had them sign their names on the back of it. I then put the date and “Bountiful” on the front. Voila, an ornament I will always cherish that cost me less than five dollars. 2. It has to be a store bought gift. With all of the commercials, billboards, and signs in merchants windows its easier than ever to get caught up in the thinking that everyone on your list must receive a store bought gift, but this movement actually works in the favor of those of us who prefer to give gifts of our heart and hands rather than our wallets because they prove to be “better than the norm” and a refreshing change for the person who has it all (and doesn’t want more to clutter things!).
Christy’s brand NEW COOKBOOK is out & we love it!
All 3 of her cookbooks are so much more than recipes. You can Google a recipe or even search Southern Plate for one, but you can’t GET INSPIRED to show your family how much you love them that way. That’s what cookbooks do for us these days, they inspire us. “Sweetness” is full of great SOUTHERN recipes...
It’s about all kinds of sweet delicious food, but it’s also sprinkled with a lot of common sense, sweet family traditions and all the southern charm that Christy is known for. (Take a look at our decadent pie photo on page 11, it is fabulous!) We believe it’s worth every penny - it’s a GOOD READ! To see it, order it and/or get a LOOK INSIDE it, just CLICK the link on the photo on page 10. do what TV moms do this time of year. If anyone leads you to believe they can do and have it all they are either: 1. lying or 2. hiring folks to help behind the scenes.
Rather than exchanging gifts, bake a loaf of sweet bread or a cake, even casseroles are welcome this time of year where sweets abound. Invite a family over to dinner and exchange handmade ornaments rather than buying gifts. Chances are your gesture will not only be appreciated, but will reduce a great deal of stress on both your family and theirs.
My friend Heather put it perfectly. She said every time her house is immaculate, that means she hasn’t spent much time with her kids that day. It’s all a give and take and something is always giving so the other area can take. Based on this observation, I don’t really feel all that bad about the days my house goes completely neglected, because that means I’m focusing more on the important things 3. I have to be the perfect mother/wife/ in my life: my children. parent, I must do it all! This year is a perfect example for This is the myth that causes us the me. I’m working on a book, keeping up most stress, in my opinion. Ever see those with Southern Plate, trying to make sure women who seem to have it all together? we have clean laundry and food to eat and Their house is immaculate, their children to top it off - this is the busiest season for dressed to perfection, gifts are wrapped myself, the kids, and my blog. Normally, with designer bows and a perfectly set table I’m a whirlwind of baking from scratch awaits her guests. We all inevitably wonder around Christmas, but this year I just don’t how she does it all and berate ourselves have the time I usually do. for not being every bit as organized and on the ball as she is. Well, I’m going to let Rather than be heartsick that I you in on a little secret as to how she does can’t bake a dozen varieties of cookies it all: She doesn’t. from scratch with my kids this year, I just picked up a few rolls of refrigerated cookie No one does it all, and no one can. dough at the grocery store. I plan on making We’re only human and no one person can a different type of cookie with them each
Continued on page 10.
Traditions MATTER Some NEW! secret!
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Make LOVE the top priority... that’s the
sin es Dr ie & P ey in e rk pk Pi Tu m n
Some OLD
Leave your own...
ORGANIZE your calendar early...
Have you ever... done these?
Tic Dic kets on kens Stra the nd
Buy tickets to a play or a concert. Go on a Christmas trip! LOOK at lights in a different city.
GOALS this year...
Spend the weekend...
Enjoy the season. Love your family. Relax. Be grateful.
Christmas is on the weekend this year go home & STAY with your parents.
Help out at one of the shelters, ministries or food banks this year.
Dreading that HOLIDAY weight gain? Abort it by deciding to BE ACTIVE this winter...
Do Something NEW!
1. Make a decision to workout harder and more and if you don’t normally workout step up your game. Find fun active stuff to do, sports to play or physical work to do. 2. Get busy blessing people this year. If you can’t bring yourself to do more around your house - bless someone else. It’s always easier and more fun to do other people’s work than it is to do your own. 3. Start a New Year’s resolution early... start today creating a more active lifestyle for yourself. Become active to FEEL BETTER, not to lose weight.
Now go ahead... eat that GREAT FOOD - guilt free - because you can!
Schedule BLANK blocks of time...
Time for you to enjoy your holiday. NO ONE can do it all.
Choose what’s important to you & do that!
There are so many beautiful reasons to LOVE the holidays... Pick one and enjoy it!
UNPLUG
Turn everything off & recharge yourself! Even people who don’t believe in Jesus seem to like CHRISTMAS and here’s why ... • Who would get upset about more days off? • How could being around more happy and more loving people upset anyone? • And the gifts… who doesn’t like gifts? The Christmas holidays don’t seem to offend anyone, isn’t that nice?
GOOD STUFF
we wish would return. Visiting... really talking & really listening. Looking after your neighbors. Eating REAL food... together. Mentorship... people still need mentors. Unhurried-ness. Porch sitting... alone & together. Manners, civility & common decency. Facetime... with & without a phone. Respecting the elders. Traditions... old ones & new ones.
CALL (409) 945-9782
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GREAT PLACE GOOD STUFF
3 Stores in the Houston area... 2 GREAT Shopping Experiences... 1 Super GIRLS Day Out! A grocery shopping trip? Oh but it’s SO MUCH MORE... We’ve been to the one on Alabama & Shepherd twice now and both times were an awesome experience. Believe it or not, one of the reasons is the limited choices. Rather than having to choose different brands, the Trader Joe’s consumer just has to pick which products they want. It’s canned beans and there are only 3 to choose from. Most store brands tend to be about “no frills” cheapness, but that’s not the case here. “Every store brand I’ve tried so far has not only been good, most of them have been great!” according to my shopping companion, Anita Moore.
They strive to create an experience that’s beyond grocery shopping. “They really push this whole, ‘we don’t want you to feel like you’re just grocery shopping’ thing. They want it to be an experience — something that pulls you out of the monotony of your everyday life.” Editor’s Note: If you’ve still got Christmas presents to buy, consider a trip to Trader Joe’s... we found all kinds of GOOD stuff!
night this week and all I have to do to prep for it is pull out the dough and mix up some decorations. My kids and I will have the same experience of being in the kitchen together, making treats and gifts for others, but I won’t have the added stress of trying to squeeze in baking and clean up time that I simply don’t have to offer. Remember, it’s about the time together, not which recipe you use to get that time.
vacuuming. This is where the guest list is important :). I knew we had all been pretty busy, but still wanted to have people over for the holidays, I knew I didn’t have the time, energy, or inclination to make my house “perfect” and so I invited friends that I knew were in the same boat as me: overworked and just grateful to be able to get together! No one took a second glance at my dirty dishes and we had a great time.
4. I can’t have a party unless my house is dressed to the nines. 5. Every meal has to be a traditional feast. Keep it together, keep it in focus. Just as we have the kids turn away from the TV to avoid commercial bombardment of useless toys, we need to also look at magazines and decorating shows with realistic intentions as well. Sure, that designer tree and heavily decked mantle might be gorgeous on the big screen, but in real life, it can’t hold a candle to your custom created garland of paper dolls decorated with crayons by your budding artist. Which do you think your kids will cherish more? Your house looking like the cover of Martha Stewart Living or the fact that you were so proud of their Rudolph coloring page that you hung it right on the front door for everyone to see? Keep it lighthearted. When I am in the midst of a flurry of stress, I often stop everything and take a moment to laugh at myself and how silly I must looking running around like the sky is falling. Having a sense of humor not only makes your own life more enjoyable, but it helps those around you to be less stressed as well. One of our friends sets the perfect example of this by keeping out plenty of candles in her living room and when unexpected guests come by in the evening she lights the candles and turns the lights off. She says it creates an ambiance and helps hide the dust. “The dust has a pretty glow to it…” she jokes. This past weekend we had a get together. We invited a few of our friends and their families over to decorate cupcakes and to watch whatever football game was on (I’m gratefully clueless). I had a lot of fun baking cupcakes, making icing, and making different trays and dishes to serve to them. However, when they arrived there were still dirty dishes in the sink and the den could have used a
This is one myth that my family bursts wide open each year when we gather at Mama’s house for our Christmas gathering. By this time we’re plum done in on turkey, ham, and dressing, and ready for a little non traditional food. While we still have the usual holiday desserts, our main meal usually consists of Tex-Mex. This is the only time of the year we eat Mexican at Mama’s and it is a real treat! 6. If I’m going to give homemade gifts, its going to take more time than I have. While crocheting a scarf would be a lovely thought, not many of us have the kind of time that would need to be invested to accomplish that for everyone on our list. Gift mixes to the rescue! Gift mixes may be put together assembly line style by the entire family and make beautiful gifts that can be enjoyed after the sweets of Christmas have faded away. You’re also giving the receiver
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the gift of time in the kitchen with their family – just with the added convenience of your ready made mix! I have several gift mix ideas complete with labels on SouthernPlate.com. 7. It all has to be perfectly wrapped. With Christmas budgets already tight, gift wrapping can be a considerable expense, especially if you add in designer bows and the fancier paper. As with gifts, the thought behind the wrapping carries even more weight than whether or not it is reversible designed gold foil.
Pfft. No one says professional portraits have to be taken to include in cards and I can’t imagine someone being disappointed by you sending out cards that cost $5.00 a box versus $50.00. Christmas cards are a traditional way to reach out to friends and loved ones with well wishes and are still very much appreciated today. It is a lovely thought on your part and a treat on the receiver. All that is needed is a card from your heart, signed with love and well wishes by your hand.
11. The most expensive toys will be the Smaller gifts can easily be wrapped best received. in brown paper lunch sacks and trimmed with a pretty bow or curling ribbon. Larger Did you know there is a Toy Hall gifts can be wrapped in kraft paper (that Of Fame? There sure is, and guess what brown paper like you would wrap packages toy got inducted this year? The stick. I with) and then allow the kids to decorate it kid you not. The stick just got inducted especially for the receiver with markers and into the National Toy Hall Of Fame. Past crayons. Gift tags are great if you let your inductees have been Legos, the baby doll, kids make them themselves. Santa usually the ball, and tinker toys. All classics, even leaves a few gifts unwrapped beneath our if a bit obvious. tree on Christmas morning as well. This just goes to show that the 8. Nothing I bake will be good enough majority of today’s newfangled toys will unless I make it from scratch. not become classics and a sad number of them won’t even be remembered past a Pfft. Cake and cookie mixes are few days into the new year, so don’t berate here to make our life easier. Use ‘em. (See yourself if folks aren’t unwrapping big #3). dollar items from you. As with everything Christmas, make sure you put love and 9. You have to visit your entire family. thought into your gifts and they will be received with love and gratitude. This is something my parents had to do as children and we did for the first If you have anyone on your list who feels part of our childhood. But, after a while otherwise, just be glad the Grinches are of getting up on Christmas morning and few and far between! opening our new toys, then having to be dragged away and spend the rest of the day 12. You can never have too many going from house to house when we really Christmas lights. wanted to be home, my parents decided that enough was enough. Alright, this one myth is gonna have to be debunked by someone else Personally, I feel if you have because in my mind, there is no such small children and family members who thing as *enough* Christmas lights! So if don’t have small children and are able you’re like me, GRISWOLD AWAY!!!! to travel, they should come to you. How much more meaningful will it be for your Have yourself a Merry little Christmas! children to get to share Christmas morning Gratefully, Christy Jordan with their grandparents, playing together Christy's and talking, rather than in holiday traffic? Fabulous Christmas is about home and family. If Recipe in your kids are young, see if you can arrange “Sweetness” a family gathering before the big day or invite family members to your house. 10. You have to take professional photos and send them out in fancy cards.
Pecan Pie Cheesecake!
RECOMMENDS GOOD FOOD Greetings, fellow foodie’s! We’ve finally located some great affordable seafood… Just down the road a piece from us is Manvel Seafood & Grill and it’s worth the drive. They have wonderful lunch specials and as a result it’s packed at lunchtime. The specials vary, but you can always get great seafood. We haven’t tried the chinese food they offer yet, but it’s a great go - to seafood meal. Take a look at our photos on the next page and see what you think. Even the fries are awesome!
Galloping Foodie Manvel Seafood & Grill
And this is what we want to try next!
Always move from struggle to grace. Wisdom of —Arianna Huffington
19015 Hwy 6, Manvel, TX 77578 Phone: (281) 692-1556 Ratings out of 5 's Presentation Taste Service Atmosphere Quantity Price
Hours: Sun. - Thurs. 11AM - 9PM Fri. & Sat. 11AM - 10PM
A man who does not advertise is like a man winking in the dark... He knows what he is doing... but no one else does!
Catfish Plate
Shrimp and Fish Plate
Boudin Royal
PAYDAY Memories...
GOOD LAGNIAPPE
Bring back the PAYDAY treats! When I was a little girl, my mother would drive to her job and pick up her paycheck every two weeks. During the summer and on holidays when we were out of school she had no choice but to take all four of us with her to run her payday errands. We loved it! We went to the bank, paid the water bill, etc. and then the fun began. We always went to the grocery store first. With a family of 6, we bought an awful lot of groceries, so we got to drool over what the coming weeks would bring. Then we got the treat everyone was waiting for...the huge box of Church’s fried chicken! I guess she was too exhausted after dragging all of us around all day to fix anything to eat, so she always ended the trip this way. We could eat all the chicken, biscuits and mashed potatoes we wanted, after we put the groceries away. It was a big deal for us, partly because in a big family you didn’t eat out often, but also because it only happened a few times a year and only on payday. Back then we lived paycheck to paycheck too, but it wasn’t all spent before it arrived. They didn’t charge things. On payday my family celebrated the fact that they had some money that at least a little while, wasn’t promised to anyone else. And they treated themselves and us with it, because they could. Good memories.
LOVE is sometimes a whole lot of undeserved kindness... It ’s a choice we make to honor people, children and animals with our affection.
May you hear God's voice in your heart, know His touch in your life and feel His love for you each day.
SPIRIT & SOUL
Love is whats in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
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OurChristmasPrayer for all Good News readers;
Lord love them into wholeness. Heal them into perfect health. And fill them with overflowing hope that they might share it and help many others along their way. Amen
Our Christmas GIFT to You...
NEW
CLICK HERE to use our karaoke Christmas Carol page.
Just 1 click and you have all you need to brighten the day for yourself and others. Enjoy your Christmas holidays by being of GOOD CHEER! *We plan to add more to this every year as our way of thanking you for reading/ sharing and supporting the Good News.
Why is it so hard to love? Because we all want our own way... Spending time together and loving each other requires that we get along. It’s pretty hard to do because we want everything to go our way.
“To talk with God, no breath is lost. Talk on! To walk with God, no strength is lost. Walk on! To wait on God, no time is lost. Wait on!” —E. Stanley Jones GOOD STUFF
We don’t want to do it, (whatever IT is) your way. And control freaks really want their way - after all their way is the only right way. This is why families and marriages break up and holidays are difficult for so many people. No one wants to bend anymore. Pulling together used to be required in order to survive in this world. Now that we don’t need each other, we must pull together by choice, just as we choose to love by choice.
We wish you a Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year!
Love requires you to get along. Getting along requires you tolerating some things not
Why read the Good News?
Because it leaves you feeling better about yourself, your life and the world around you.
You Can W O N n Liste ! e d i W World 16 Santa Fe Good News
going your way. Sometimes you will have to put others wants and needs ahead of your own. If you want a house full of love and someone’s hand to hold on cold winter nights... you have to be willing to bend... a lot. You’ve loved me too much said no one ever. God wants all of his children to get along. When you have created all of the children in the room... you want them to love one another and get along. Tis the season to love as much as you can.
John the Baptist once said... “I am not the light. I came to tell about the light.” Christians need the light too... they are not perfect by any stretch.
Do you have 2 hours a week that you can give to help somebody? We'd LOVE to have you help us help others. CLICK HERE to find out more about us! P.O. Box 1426 Santa Fe, Tx 77510
Your level of joy is an accurate measurement of your level of success at living the life you’re been given. Live, love, smile & succeed. ~Unknown
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This magazine is about love, family values & all the GOOD we can find in the world because we need things that inspire us to hope.
The LAST WORD
Choose to think of only the good things and don’t worry. I’ve told you these things and you just ignore Me. Don’t you think I had them written down for a reason? They are My commands to you. They will bring about the abundant life I designed for you. But if you shrug them off and won’t do them, then I cannot help you. God