Home for the HOLIDAYS

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Home for the Holidays Issue

GOOD NEWS

GOOD LIFE

Only the good stuff is printed here!

The Santa Fe Good News Magazine Phone: (409) 370-0030 Our mailing address is: P. O. Box 515 Santa Fe, TX 77510 Email us anytime at: lynn@santafegoodnews.com

This magazine is dedicated to the man who made the creation of it possible, our son, Donald Trahan, Jr.

Inside This Issue Lots of Good Stuff!

MOVIE REVIEW Page 19

Homemade Pizza Crust Page 7

P RODUCT R EVIEW Page 10

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How grateful are you feeling this year?

We can go from problem to problem or blessing to blessing in our minds. It’s a choice we all make every day of our lives and whichever habit you’ve gotten into... that is what determines how grateful you’ll feel.

We all have a sentimental longing to go home, well most of us do anyway.

We want to go to that place we remember that was cozy and warm and nice. It’s the place where all the people we loved and who loved us lived. We want to be able to gather together with our loved ones and do all the things we used to do. We want to eat all the things we used to eat and laugh and play like we used to. Going home is comforting and familiar to us.

The “old days and old ways” are important to us for so many reasons.

They provide us with a sense of who we are and where we came from. They stabilize us. We associate safety with our homes and when the world around us seems to be going crazy, we long for the security of the homes we remember. Nostalgia means a wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations... that is what HOME is all about.

Our year end HOLIDAYS have become month long celebrations lately.

November has become an entire month of gratefulness for many of us and rightfully so since we have so much to be grateful for. If we can think of just one blessing a day for 30 days we would be well on our way to creating the thankful heart most of us wish we had. Here’s our Top Ten...

Top Ten Blessings 1. Hot water.

6. America.

2. Clean water.

7. Amazing grace.

3. Plenty of water.

8. All of the beauty.

4. Our faith.

9. Our friends.

5. Our family.

10. Our salvation.

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for the rest of the story.

Nostalgic holidays are much like regular life – they are what you make them to be.

GOOD NEWS Dear Readers, We hope this issue finds you when you need it the most and that you get all of the love and encouragement we intended to give you in it. We believe all holidays are meant to be occassions for us to celebrate our lives together, because only “in unity” are we proppped up by one another. It is always easier to make any journey if you have someone to help you along the way.

We aim to be that help if we can by always providing a “safe” place for you to land on the internet. The lighthouse on the cover of this issue was chosen because we all need a light to guide us home safely. We aim to keep the light shining here at the Good News for all who need to find their way.

Thank you all for the many prayers, messages and help you have given us during our hiatus. We could not have found our way without all of you. May God richly bless you and yours through all of the coming holidays and thank you so much for joining us here so that we may all make the journey home together.

Our warmest regards,

The Trahan Family

Merry Christmas

Personal ADS Everyone needs to try a little harder to be a little nicer!

By the people for the people...

Have you got something GOOD you want to say?

Love your children every day for you never know when they may go away.

In memoriam Donald Louis Trahan Jr.

I wish every day could be Christmas because if it was, every day would be full of love. ~Lynn Trahan

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If you want an “old time Christmas” you have to make it yourself.

It’s pretty simple really, but we tend to complicate the holidays and our lives.

Take a few minutes to answer the questions in the “Cliff Notes” below and see if you can start planning your perfect holidays today. While you’re at it, go ahead and start that shopping list to make it happen for your family this year.

Most of the things that make the holidays so special are just simple things really and people. People, “our people” make all the difference in our world. Surround yourself with the people you love and the things you like and you will be well on your way to another great and memorable holiday. That’s how you create the holidays of the your past that we all yearn to relive. Nostalgia is the yearning …

Traditional holidays can come back, just like polyester did if we want them to.

There’s a famous Christmas song called “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” because when you are 6 and you don’t have them, they are pretty important to you. After that; pretty much all any of us wants is to be loved. We all want LOVE for Christmas. That’s what we want every year and we want as much as we can get of it. And we want to give ours away. That’s all Christmas is really about anyway, the gifts are just the icing on the cake for most of us. If we can find someone to love on and to share ourselves with at Christmas time, we are pretty happy.

Holiday Cliff Notes Activities

Music

What do you want to do for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s? What are the things that really matter to you and your family? What did you do as a child?

What type of music makes you feel nostalgic? Pandora, Prime and Iheart radio make it possible to listen to whatever moves you without having to buy anything.

Beverages

Miscellaneous Important Stuff

What drinks really signify the holidays to Each of us have different things that make you? Add all of them to your shopping list. our individual holidays special, what are your things? What do you look forward to every year? Make those things happen Food this year for yourself and your family.

It’s the same for HOLIDAY foods. There HOLIDAYS are such special days. are foods that mean something to each Follow us... family and it’s just not a HOLIDAY without them. Add these items to your list too.

Decorations What decorations do you need to make your home feel welcoming and warm to you?

for the rest of the story.

GOOD FOOD "Hi,

Homemade Pizza Crust

My name is Christy Jordan and I like to feed people."

What’s a holiday without special bread?

4. Cover dough ball with plastic wrap and let rise 15-30 minutes, while you gather your toppings.

Ingredients: •1 package Rapid Rise Yeast (I use Red Star brand.)

•1 cup warm water (the temp you’d use for a baby’s bath water) •1 Tablespoon sugar •3 cups All Purpose Flour •½ teaspoon salt •2 Tablespoons Olive Oil •⅛ cup corn meal

Instructions:

5. Sprinkle pizza pan with ⅛ cup corn meal. Press dough into pan, spreading as you press, until it reaches almost to the edges of pan. Allow to rest for five minutes. Return to dough and continue pressing until it overhangs the pan all around the edges slightly.

6. Fold over edges over and press down to seal and form an edge.

7. Top pizza with sauce and toppings and bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned and cheese is bubbly.

1. In large bowl stir together flour, sugar, salt, and yeast until well combined. * If making the stuffed crust pictured: Combine 1 cup shredded mozzarella 2. Pour in water and olive oil. Stir until with ½ teaspoon dried Oregano and ¼ dough sticks together. teaspoon dried Basil. Sprinkle around the edges before step #6, then complete 3. Turn dough out onto floured surface and step 6 as shown. knead for 3-5 minutes, or until it forms a smooth ball.

Make PIZZA anytime!

Please support Christy in any way you can, because she helps bring the GOOD NEWS to you!

CLICK here...

Follow us... over to Christy’s BREAD section for more GREAT Holiday baking recipes.

Instructions:

Biscuit Bombs

1. Cut shortening into flour using a long tined fork or pastry cutter, until well blended.

Ingredients:

•2 cups self rising flour •¼ cup vegetable shortening •¾ to 1 cup whole milk (or buttermilk) •1 pound mild pork sausage, browned and cooled •1 cup shredded cheddar cheese •4 ounces diced green chilies, drained

2. To flour mixture, add cooked sausage, cheese, and chilies. Stir until combined.

Add in ¾ cup milk and stir well. Add additional ¼ cup if needed to make a batter the consistency of muffin batter.

These are GREAT to take to Holiday parties or pot lucks!

3. Divide batter among 15 muffin cups that have been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

NEED dinner ideas? CLICK HERE...

IDEAS galore!

This dough is shown here as dinner rolls, but it is very versatile and can be used for almost anything. *Use it to make a fresh loaf of bread for sandwiches, make bread bowls with it on soup night, and make hot dog or hamburger buns with it on the weekend!

Preston Rolls Ingredients: •1 cup boiling water •1 cup shortening •3 pkgs Rapid Rise Yeast (I use Red Star) •1 cup lukewarm water •2 eggs •6 cups all purpose flour •½ cup sugar •1 teaspoon salt

4. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Add in yeast mixture and stir until a dough is formed. Cover this and place in the refrigerator. Before you go to bed, punch it down and punch it down again in the morning.

Two hours before you want rolls: 1. Remove the amount of dough you want to use and place on a floured surface.

Knead it just a few times (by pressing it into a ball and then flattening with the heel of your hand, then repeating two more times) and then pat it out to about ½ inch thick.

Instructions:

2. Cut out rolls with a small biscuit cutter or a drinking glass. Place on greased At least a day before you want the rolls: baking sheet and cover, allowing to rise for two hours.

1. In a bowl or 2-3 cup measuring cup, place shortening and pour boiling water 3. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes. over. Stir until shortening is melted. Allow to cool slightly while you do the rest.

If you’d like your rolls to appear more brown on top, brush them with melted 2. In a separate medium sized bowl, stir butter or a mixture of 1 whole egg and the yeast and lukewarm water together 1 tablespoon of water. This is purely until yeast is dissolved. Set aside. optional.

3. Mix eggs into yeast mixture. Once the *This dough will keep in the refrigerator shortening has cooled a bit, pour that into for up to a week, making it a perfect the yeast mixture as well and stir well. choice to use for the holidays!

Mac & Cheese in just ONE pot!

GOOD STUFF

P RODUCT R EVIEW Not every NEW thing that comes along is an improvement on what we had before... but this is a crazy GOOD new thing!

We feel this product really lives up to all the hype. If you never make yogurt, bake bread or pop your popcorn in it, it’s still worth the money in our opinion. (Check out the video of the woman who lost over 100 pounds using it HERE.) I’m not sure its a real weight loss product, but it is for sure a time and effort saver. And the 6 quart is the perfect size for 2 people because it means you have to cook fewer times every week. Here’s just 3 GREAT things we like so far...

1. You can boil your eggs, pasta, potatoes, rice or whatever your family eats a whole lot of, all at one time if your family is small. Example: You can brown enough hamburger for several meals, scoop out most of it and make dinner with the rest.

2. You can make any meal in it, put the silicone lid on it, (ordered separately) refrigerate it and begin it again later as something else or just warm up the leftovers.

3. Unlike the Crockpot - you can speed up your dinner in an Instant Pot anytime if you need to just by cancelling the slow cooking function and switching to whatever you need.

It’s a GREAT time saver for changing leftovers into whole NEW meals too!

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Instant Pot Makes NEW Meals Almost Instantly Too! 1. Pot Roast Starts out Sunday as Pot Roast, then it becomes open-faced Roast Beef sandwiches and all of the leftovers can become Beef stew.

2. Hamburger Meat Starts out as Taco meat, then it can become Chili and ends up as a great Taco soup.

3. Chicken Starts out as just a pressure cooked chicken, but the possibilities are endless! Add BBQ sauce or just season it with your favorite spices and crisp up the skin by putting it in the over for just a few minutes. Or just pull the meat off for dumplings, soup, pot pie or some chicken salad.

4. Pork Roast Starts out as Roast and vegetables, then it becomes BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and winds up on top of a loaded baked potato if you’re lucky!

Editor’s Note: Instant Pot® is not paying us in any way for this review, we just love their product! We think it is an amazing NEW tool that will help you cook healthy food in a quick manner. *It is not instant, but it sure is a very, very handy tool to have. And with all the you tube videos available, the learning curve is pretty fast!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Smart Multi-Use, Programmable Pressure Cooker designed by Canadians with the objective of being Convenient, Dependable & Safe.

SPIRIT & SOUL

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CORNER

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THE

*No matter what you lose in life you will never lose the Lord’s constant companionship.

You Have To Decide What You Believe...

You have to believe that I am who I said I was.

I said I would take care of you and I will. I said I would forgive all your sins and I did. I said I would always be with you and I am. I said I would protect you and I’m doing that.

I said I had everything under control and I do. I said not to worry and you shouldn’t.

You have to stand firm against the questions in your head and your doubts. Don’t let the voice of the devil sit on your shoulder and drive you crazy by badgering you for answers you don’t have. You can’t live by faith and have all the answers.

I have the answers. You have to believe that I do and that I’ll give them to you when you need them, but not always when you want them.

This is where the rubber meets the road, do you believe what I’ve said or not?

Don’t play with doubt. You either believe me or you don’t. You’ve doubted you’d make it a thousand times and yet you’re still here. You’ve let the devil run you ragged with fear and doubt.

Make a decision today and then hang onto it. Who are you going to believe, his lies or my promises? I said you have one thing to do, believe what I’ve said.

That’s all I ask. Believe that I am who I said I was and that I’ll do for you all that I’ve said I’d do. That’s all you need to decide. You don’t need to worry or try to figure everything out.

I said I have a good plan for your life and I do. I said I’d take care of you and never let you fall. I said I’d show you the way to go and I will. I never said it would be easy.

God Pray... Prayer is our only hope.

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TIME has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters in life.

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My Prayer...

Lord I want to open the door that stands between us and invite you to be my constant companion.

Welcome home Lord.

I have opened the door – stay here with me for all of my days. No need to knock anymore – you live here, please make yourself at home.

Amen

Grace

I've spent my whole life searching for God and trying to figure out life and how to live it.

At almost 60 I guess I'm as close to the answers as I'm going to get - love God and follow him.

That's it, that's all I've gotten just like Solomon.

Love God and follow him.

Fifty years of searching, thinking, praying, reading, studying and listening to sermons.

SPIRIT & SOUL

THE

* CORNER

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Need help?

SPIRIT & SOUL

Look no further you’ve found it.

I will help you.

Seek out a local church, I’ll be there.

Love, GOD

Church can be a home too.

“Love never fails — never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.” 1Cor 13:8 AMP

Letters to My Children This Much I Know... Some days are much harder than others.

It’s true, I have witnessed it many times.

Yesterday was fine and now today is all of the sudden more than you can bear. I can’t explain why, but I do know that it’s true, it happens and you need to be kind to yourself when it happens to you. That’s the best way to cope with those days and if you aren’t kind to yourself you may (have or cause yourself to have) two of them back to back, and that really sucks!

I’ve often wondered if we stay in messes longer than necessary just because we are such stubborn people. It seems like surrender always makes things so much easier in life, but back to the point…

The good book says we are never given more than we can handle, but hard days – times do seem to call for greater kindness I think. The harder the day, the kinder we need to be to ourselves. I’m not promoting drinking to my children, but I am saying that we should do whatever we can to be as nice to ourselves as we would be to others.

It’s the Golden Rule used backwards and it works wonders!

Kindness is something that we intentionally do for other people, why shouldn’t we do it for ourselves too? Isn’t that what wine is promoted for these days? Our society pretty much claims wine is a cure for hard days. Is that anything more than being kind to yourself at the end of a hard day?

Lynn Dale

You Can W O N n e t Lis ! e d i W World

What Does Christmas Mean To You? It’s the best definition of love that there is to us...

It means playing with the babies, laughing with our children and loving our peeps! It’s not just giving and receiving gifts… it’s so, so much more.

It’s sharing GOOD food, while seeing and spending time with our friends and family. It’s sharing memories of all of the past holidays we’ve spent together.

Nostalgia is nothing more than yearning for the warmth and love of family. It’s the longing to see those who matter the most to us.

The scent of a fir tree with pretty presents stacked around it, covered in twinkling lights makes no sense really, but the memories it invokes we remember our whole lives. Christmas carols playing in the background always make Christmas such a special time of year. Now fill the home with family and friends and you’ll have a Christmas to remember – again this year.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined. ~Henry David Thoreau

This is another year the Lord has made... what are you planning to do with it?

Every year we set goals and make New Year’s resolutions because we want to “improve ourselves”.

1. Exercise/Lose Weight 2. Quit Smoking 3. Increase/Start Saving 4. Go Back to School 5. Whatever Will any of these goals or the ones on your list REALLY make us better people?

No. Skinny people are not better people, they are just skinny. Exercise will make you feel better, but it won’t make you a better person. If it did, we wouldn’t have

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We are responsible for who we become. so many athletes get in trouble would we? If you drink, smoke, or are overweight, it doesn’t make you a bad person. However if you set a goal to fix it any of these things and you don’t, I can guarantee you’ll feel like a bad person, because failure is not a good feeling.

No one ever measured whether or not someone was a good person by the size of their savings account or how much education they got. Success at being a good person is measured by things we have never even thought of putting on a New Year’s resolution list. We have a fresh new year to start over and be the best person we can be, perhaps we should all revamp our lists.

How many people are we going to help this year? How much time are we going to spend with our families? How much money are we going to set aside to help others with? Good people are measured by how much time, effort and money they spend with and on others.

Weight, lack of exercise nor cigarettes block us from loving each other, but trying to succeed at meaningless goals may slow our progress. It’s not too late to make yourself a NEW list and start of this year with some real grandiose goals!

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. ~Author Unknown

“Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.” Hebrews 13:16 GNB

Always focus on the GOOD...

it’s never a challenge to find fault.

GOOD ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIE REVIEW

Rating: A+ *Our NEW Rating System: A is excellent, B is good and anything less than that doesn’t get talked about here, because there’s nothing good to say.

Audience: 13 + Showing: On Amazon Prime.

When was the last time you waited in line to see a blockbuster movie? With each tick of the clock, the tension rises and your apprehension increases exponentially. When it finally comes out you are riveted to your seat, iPhone in hand, waiting for the action to start. That was my feeling for Tom Clancy’s NEW Jack Ryan.

Click the photo to watch the trailer.

The lead is played by hunky actor John Krasinski (Jack Ryan) and he gets into all kinds of international mischief. Jack is a marine veteran with a storied past who is currently working as a financial analysis for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Evil exists in the world and Jack spends his time looking at computer screens determining how these terrorists move dirty money around through shell companies to clean it. Jack located a 9.3 million dollar money transfer money with unknown origins and a nefarious destination (suspected terrorists) in the Middle East. This sets off a chain of horrific terrorist events that brings Jack face to face with a vile terrorist that has thus far escaped the intense scrutiny of the CIA intelligence community.

Various seemingly unrelated events occur that lead Jack and his team around the world looking for clues as to the purpose for the money and the intent of the terrorists. In the midst of terrorist hunting Jack finds a love interest and has to deal with her curiosity about what he actually does for a living. The attraction is strong between these two and it’s a quandary whether or not they can work it out. If I told you any more than this there would be no reason to watch the mini-series, so I’ll stop here.

I’m a Tom Clancy fan, so I really liked this mini-series and watched all ten episodes back to back. The twists and turns made it interesting and there was just enough sex, explosions, violence, intrigue, and downright good acting to make it interesting. It never lags and I feel like my readers will enjoy it as much as I did. Till next time remember I’ll be out here watching shows for you and the reviews of only the good ones will continue.

Junior’s Boy

Good Life Tip Don’t dwell on tragedy...

To see all of my Movie Reviews

CLICK HERE.

Bad things do happen, but if you want any sort of good life at all you can't stay focused on the bad things.

“In conclusion, my brothers and sisters, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honourable.” Philippians 4:8 GNB

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

Happy New Year!