Heart Book Series

Mattel Toys – Donating to Needy Children

For charitable giving only– getting toys to donate to needy kids for the holidays.

Mattel runs seven retail toy stores in Southern California, Wisconsin and Texas, as well as two seasonal stores. For store locations and information, please log onto www.matteltoystore.com.

Additionally, for any interested groups who do not live near one of these stores, Mattel has a list available with special charity pricing. Customers can review the list and photos and for a nominal shipping fee, Mattel can mail the toy order to any destination of your choice in the US. This list is not published on Mattel’s website, but staff is happy to provide it should anyone like to see it. Contact Trish Procectto directly.

Trish Procetto, Charity Sales Manager, Mattel Toy Store
333 Continental Boulevard M1-0604
El Segundo, CA 90245
Phone 310.252.4236
Fax 310.252.2174
www.matteltoystore. com

EASY CHRISTMAS LINKS

Aristotle’s Christmas on the Web
www.wassail.com

Carol Garretson’s Christmas Stories
www.geocities.com/Heartland/1510

Christmas Traditions around the world.
www.santas.net/ aroundtheworld.htm

Christmas ’round the World (Wide Web)
http://eclecticesoterica.com/christmas.html

Hundreds of Christmas cookie recipes
www.christmas-cookies.com

WorldView! Christmas.com around the world!
Cultures and Customs

NORAD’s tracking of Santa
www.noradsanta.org

CLAUS.COM is the oldest and most popular Christmas website on the Internet
www.claus.com/village.php

Lots of neat Christmas information from the people at HowStuffWorks.com
www.howstuffworks.com/christmas

Holiday stories, recipes, traditions, games, etc.
www.merry-christmas.com

Reader’s Digest Christmas
www.rdchristmas.com

Games, a letter from Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph, and you can write to Santa
www.northpole.net

Heart of the Holidays: Yuletide Treasures and Traditions, book by Sheryl Roush
Heart of the Holidays book
Heart of the Holidays book with Music CD

www.northpole.net

www.christmas-tree-care.com

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, send this out to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and a ton of credit is due to our U.S.service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

Contributors Autographed Dec. 6 at Borders San Diego/Gaslamp Quarter

UNIQUE MULTI-AUTHOR EVENT!

Sheryl Roush and contributors to the Heart of a Woman, Heart of a Mother and Heart of the Holidays books  autographed copies of the book series on Thursday, December 6 from 7:00-10:00pm at BORDERS bookstore  in the heart of San Diego, on 6th Avenue, downtown in the historical Gaslamp Quarter.

Creating quite a BUZZ in the store, contributors read THEIR original STORIES and POEMS non-stop for 2 1/2 hours to the holiday shoppers, and those enjoying Peppermint Mochas at Seattle’s Best Coffee!

Contributors were: Carolle Jean-Murat, MD, (Holidays), Darlene Fahl-Brittian (Mother, Holidays), Linda Ferber (Mother, Holidays), Shenay Kloss (Mother, Holidays), Adria Manary (Mother), Selena Parker (Mother, Holidays), Deb Simpson (Mother, Woman), James Tucker (Mother, Holidays), and series originator Sheryl Roush (Holidays, Woman, Mother). Deb Simpson, Magic in Words, video podcast the authors reading the contributions which will be available on YouTube.com.

He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree.

-Author Unknown

For the Man Who Hated Christmas
by Nancy W. Gavin

Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This story is indeed a true story and inspired four siblings from Atlanta, GA to start The White Envelope Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting this tradition and charitable giving. The White Envelope Project founders are regularly in touch with the family in the article and are thrilled to have their support. Sadly, Nancy Gavin (the author) died less than two years after her husband – also of "the dreaded cancer." Her legacy lives on as the Gavin family and now thousands of others continue to celebrate the "white envelope" tradition each year.  For more information about The White Envelope Project or to honor a loved one through a "white envelope" gift this year, please visit their website www.WhiteEnvelopeProject.org

Holiday Do’s in the Workplace

This time of year, the decisions that plague many a manager, leader and employee are filled with "what do I do for Christmas for my peers, boss, and direct reports?" Well, as the whole nation comes to a screeching halt and prepares for end of year numbers, final sales crunches, and multiple weeks of long over due vacation, there are a few tips to keep in mind. Make sure you handle this holiday season in a way that inspires, uplifts, shows gratitude and values who they are as people. Here are a few options…

Holiday Cards
Sometimes just a note will be enough to say Happy Holidays and Thank You for all that you Do! This works best when they are handwritten cards and when they address the specific holiday that the recipient is celebrating. Not everyone in the US celebrates Christmas. Keep in mind that if you have a multicultural work environment that your holiday options may not b merely limited to Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. There may be other and for that reason and non-denominational or non-specific Happy Holiday greeting and card picture might be best. If your budget or time frame only allows for a card greeting this year then it will certainly express your thought and even step it up a notch with more than signature –" add a personal note. (*Do be careful what you say in way of performance in your cards, as these can later be used to prove that you thought they were doing a good job if you have to coach them at a later date. I know, I know, but it had to be said.)

Holiday Lunch or Party
A gathering of friends and family is often what makes the holidays so magical. If the team you have the privilege of working with considers each other friends, then take them to lunch all together, or have a party at someone’s house or consider having each person bring in a pot luck dish. Watch out for third shifters or late shifters who may not get to take part in the festivities. You want to uplift, not leave out those that matter. Also, watch the alcohol intake as the party of this year may turn into the grapevine of next year. Consider conducting a white elephant holiday party in which each person brings a gift valued at a small dollar amount ($10-$20) and through a series of number draws each person gets to take a gift or steal one from someone who has already gone. The funnier the gifts, the livelier the party.

Christmas Bonus
This one is a touchy one. If you have paid Christmas bonuses in the past, you want to keep doing that unless you are prepared to give ample warning. (i.e In July!) Money is not a long term motivator, but it will quickly de-motivate folks if you take it away and that may be the last thing your company needs in an effort to cut the budget. Christmas or holiday bonuses are a generous thing and employees may choose this over a trip, but one might be better off asking them what they want. Once it is spent, money is gone and often doesn’t have the same value that you think it does. Think of the last time you gave someone a raise. Did anyone hug your neck for a 3% yearly increase?

– Monica Wofford, Speaker, Author, Trainer, Business Consultant

Becky Palmer, Purchasing Coordinator at Creative Touch interiors in Temecula, California writes:, "We decorated a cubicle for the holidays in our office and guess who the star was? Yep, the Heart of the Holidays book."

She did a great job with the space and theme!

The Best Christmas Cubicle award was presented by Dollie Grant, Sales Support Coordinator – Countertops.

Thanks for sharing YOUR Holiday Spirit!

Toasts for Good Cheer

No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy today,
mix good cheer with friends today enjoy it and bless God for it.
~Henry Ward Beecher

At Christmas play and make good cheer,
for Christmas comes but once a year.
~Thomas Tusser

Christmas is different once you grow up, move away from home, and find that as the wife of a man in the United States Air Force home is wherever you at at that moment in time.  Moving first to Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan, Christmas there was much like any other with the cold weather and snow that I was used to in Wisconsin. What was different was not having family nearby. Sure there were the phone calls from Mom, Dad, Grandparents, presents that came through the mail in brown paper outer wrappings often weeks before the big day and cards from those friends back home that now seemed far away. Having to make sure that any cards and packages were sent out in time to arrive before the Christmas day. You learn to share these holidays with other military families living on base with you who are in the same situation. 
 
After two years in South Carolina, Bob, my husband, was in Vietnam where Christmas was a time alone, living in Hanahan, a small community outside Charleston Air Force Base, with now a family of four children we had added to our lives and waiting for his tour overseas to end. Shopping at the base for gifts for the family in the warmth of a Southern day just didn’t seem right and hard to get used to. Spanish Moss is nothing like the sight of snow sparkling and glistening as you peer out the window watching it fall. 
 
Winter in Minot, North Dakota, at the base was memorable, one I could have done without. Cold, and blowing wind, all part of winter along with snow that swirled constantly creating a haze because of the intensity where reaching zero degrees would have felt like a heat wave. The great parts were the Northern lights with their every changing rainbows of pinks, blues, yellows that would intensify and diminish like great bands of ribbons across the sky. Spectacular! Glancing out the window at night and looking twice to make sure that really was two white snowshoe rabbits in the yard, standing four feet tall, that you never saw in the light of day. Where did they go then? Not so good winter didn’t end then. Easter baskets in snowdrifts, eggs hidden in the basement, little league opening day canceled due to too much snow on the field. The worry all winter long, the hope that the car would start. 
 
On to California, where arriving at the end of August, thought we would die from the heat. How could anyone function in this hundred plus heat? The first winter here was great, the boys out riding their new bikes on Christmas, racing remote control cars up and down the driveway in shorts on a seventy- two degree day. March Air Force Base nearby to shop at for Christmas wearing sunglasses and in shorts. Quite a contrast from what we had just left behind. 
 
It is now thirty-seven years that have come and gone since I arrived here, and I have gotten used to Christmas without snow to shovel, having to layer clothes, put on snow boots, gloves, and sometimes, I look up at the mountains covered like huge ice cream cones with snow and think how beautiful it is, but most of all knowing the car will start. 
 
-Ruth Koepp

ETIQUETTE:
Workplace Holiday Gift-Giving Etiquette
with Bosses and Co-Workers

Company policies on gift giving among employees tend to vague or non-existent.  What has become increasingly prevalent, though, is a corporate attitude that actions that create or imply a hostile workplace environment will not be tolerated.  If there is a question of political correctness, people at all levels are encouraged to "play it safe."  Many companies also (formally and informally) put dollar limits, often $25, on gift values, mirroring traditional IRS guidelines for limits on undocumented gift giving. 

-John Reddish

BE THANKFUL

– Author Unknown

The Last Piece of Pie

~Lillian Berman~

Family Holidays: Built Upon the Past
November 21, 2007

Being in situations that we might not choose for ourselves allows us to see ourselves in a new light. The contrast helps us to see our own strengths and weaknesses, and to learn to accept others for theirs. Part of the magic of family is the way in which it bonds diverse people together, allowing them to function as a complete unit. Who we are today has been built upon our past. If nothing else, rejoining with the family and friends who knew us in our earlier days allows us to recall where we came from so that we can appreciate all that we’ve been given.

www.DailyOm.com

NON-DAIRY, LOW-FAT PUMPKIN PIE

Servings: 8

Nutrition Facts are for filling only.

Ingredients 1-1/2 packages Mori-Nu Silken Lite Firm Tofu* 2 cups canned or cooked pumpkin 2/3 cup honey 1 tsp. vanilla 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice or next 4 ingredients 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 3/4 tsp. ground ginger 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1 unbaked 9" pastry crust * For firmer texture, use Mori-Nu Silken Extra Firm Tofu

Method Drain tofu and blend in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add remaining ingredients; blend well. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for about 1 hour. Filling will be soft, but will firm as it chills. Chill and serve.

Nutritional Notes Provides 2g of fiber per serving

Nutritional Facts Calories: 122 Fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 26g Sodium: 49mg Cholesterol:: 0mg Protein: 4g

Menus to check out.

Giving

Every Christmas season when the Salvation Army bells start to toll, Christmas trees light up, people’s hearts either open or close, I think about it.

In my little, cold, seaside Massachusetts hometown, suffering from some of the varied, inexplicable sadness that can plague the human mind . . . my mother often wandered along Main Street. In the process, she occasionally befriended the homeless. Perhaps she saw in them kindred free spirits. Or, perhaps the lack of societal demands inside such a friendship comforted her.

There is one memory of a transaction between her and a homeless woman that never left me. I was five, all bundled up. She was old, and huddled in a shoddy blanket. Her usual camp was across the sidewalk from my mother’s favorite bookstore, the one filled with endless shelves of the rare and used.

It was a Cape Cod December night, a snowflake-less, cheerless December night, a not-even-another-car-on-the-winter-road December night. I trudged along the sidewalk ahead of my mother’s meandering path. Not a single streetlight seemed bright enough to cut the fog.

My mother’s steps halted behind me, so I turned. I watched in a mixture of awe and horror, as my mother, on food stamps, welfare, and housing assistance, pulled out the last five dollar bill she had in a purse stuffed full of coupons . . .and handed it to the homeless woman.

But then I saw a light bright enough to cut through the relentless gray. It was this woman’s glowing smile, as she muttered her “Thank you.”  My mother nodded, intermittently happy. We trudged forward.

 “But give it to your daughter.”

I turned again, but this time because the homeless woman had leaned forward, reached out to me, taken my little mittened hand, and stuck that five dollar bill right in it.

She had nothing left to give. Yet she held nothing back.

It was many, many Christmases later when I finally got it. That smile on the homeless woman’s face had actually come from the realization that she, too, was about to be able to give.

~Danica Oliver, Junior League of San Diego

Heart of the Holidays – Music

THIS IS MAGNIFICENT HOLIDAY MUSIC—-PIANO with HEART!!!

Butternut Squash Soup (serves 8)

Add heavy cream (optional).