I love this time of year. Now that I live in the tropics I do miss the snow and a white Christmas, however, Christmas is Christmas for me and I have always loved it. As a child Christmas holidays meant time spent in a caravan (holiday trailer pulled by a car) at a caravan park called Siesta in the Wildnerness of South Africa. It's where I met my darling husband. We have spent every Christmas of the 39 together since then, except for one when Ian was in the South African air force and it was war time. It's a time of holidays, family, fun and food and for Christians, the meaning of Christmas is even more poignant than that. I became a Christian when I was 30 (prior to that in my childhood I was a regular church attendee, but didn't get it - didn't understand what "born again" of the spirit meant - in fact, when I first heard those words describing a girl at school, I thought it was something weird with mystery surrounding it, and unattainable, and perhaps something to be fearful of and thus to avoid - that born again girl was so happy and bubbling over with her story though that other students were curiously hanging around her. I steered clear.). I was pregnant with my 2nd son when I received Jesus into my heart and life, but I only really began to grow closer to God when I was 35, ironically at the time my first cookbook was published and my life was falling apart around my ears. It always seemed that whenever I was on a train of success or accomplishment (I counted this in my world as having finished a book), there was a parallel train of my life filled with grief, sorrow and depression running next to that train of success. Nowadays life is much more serene - no pinnacles of success/accomplishment and no overt sorrow, just the normal worries of everyday life of being a parent and wife and simply being alive in a now decidedly middle-aged body (sometimes feeling like a teenager again with similar challenges of the changes in life). I'm still very busy and sometimes overwhelmed by it all, but mostly I try to take things in my stride. I try to eat right (don't always) and try to take time out to relax and smell the flowers and enjoy my now grown-up family.
Back on topic - breakfast during the holidays - make it a treat!
Crepes with Strawberry Sauce:
Cream Cheese Scrambled Eggs:
Roast Beef or Pastrami Roll-ups:
Drop Scones:
Coconut Cheese Scones:
Wholegrain Rye Bread:
Real Banana Loaf:
Back on topic - breakfast during the holidays - make it a treat!
Crepes with Strawberry Sauce:
