To Doron -- The Gift

Merry Christmas! Here's a yummy green smoothie recipe amounts are approx.:

1 cup of almonds (soaked at least 6 hrs is preferable, but not necessary)
10 dates
2 1/2 Tablespoons of carob
4 ripe bananas
5 frozen strawberries
4-8 large green leaves such as kale, collards or chard or other green leaves you have
10 ice cubes
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
a capful of vanilla (homemade is best)
about 6 cups of water or to fill the blender

Blend it all in your high powered blender if you are lucky enough to have one til it is smooth, creamy, yummy and healthy. You can also leave out the cinnamon for just chocolate banana flavor or leave it out and add peanut butter for peanut butter chocolate. Endless possibilities here!!

I often also add high calcium dried herbs such as nettles, oatstraw, horsetail, comfrey and others without a strong flavor. It makes it a super green smoothie!!

I made this pecan maple pull apart bread today, and it was awesome. Just wanted to share!!

Merry Christmas to you all!! I have printed my cards, I did that a week ago, but just can't seem to get them in mail, so be patient with me friends and you will get one soon!! I should have put Happy New Year on them instead of Merry Christmas.

Anyway, it has been a great break so far. We are going to eat our Christmas Eve dinner in about 45 min. and then sing songs, read stories and go to bed soon after. There's no snow though. My husband took the kids for a hike. Fun , fun and I got to do a new aerobics video while they were gone and I got the kitchen clean and dinner started. Yay!! Very excited for tomorrow!! What a wonderful contrast from last year when I was very pregnant in a remodel mess and hardly able to move or do anything!! YAY!!

Printing whatever I want is so nice. I have refilled the cartridges twice and everything is running smoothly. My favorite scrapbook program is called canon photo record. It does everything I want it too and it makes scrapbooking so fast and much nicer than anything I would do with paper. I can crop, size and place my photos on whatever background I choose and I can add text in different fonts and put different frames around the photos and the text. I wouldn't scrapbook at all but the kids love looking at the pictures. I'm excited to be able to print more for them now that I have figured out the printer. It is so nice and very fun. Just wanted to share.

"Crossing" is the saddest movie I have ever watched. It is about a family in North Korea. The mother gets sick and the only possibility of obtaining medicine is to cross over to China. So the father tries to do it leaving his son and wife behind, and one sad thing after another happens-- I don't want to spoil it for you-- you can watch it here.

I think the saddest part of it is that there are real people who have and do experience some of the things portrayed in the movie as part of their life. It is so sad to see, but it also helps me see the world differently. It gave me a better understanding of North Korea and what it is like there. Even though it is sad, it is worth watching.