"the" casserole

{It's been quite awhile since I have written on here, but I thought that perhaps I should give this recipe a share on this blog since this one is public :) Everyone needs access to this recipe!}

Ever since I've become a vegetarian I have really loved trying out new recipes - which I have sort of been forced to do since most of the recipes I grew up with were non-vegetarian (yet they were quite amazing because my mother is an excellent cook!). In the course of trying new recipes, I've discovered that it really doesn't take much to tweak a meat-ified recipe to be a vegetarian-friendly recipe!

I recently stumbled upon a chicken and wild rice casserole recipe that looked intriguing and decided it would be pretty easy to veggify - boy am I glad I took the time to try it out because it is AWESOME. In our home this casserole is now known as THE casserole. (As in: Mike: What's for dinner, honey? Me: I'm making that casserole again. Mike: THE casserole?! Me: Yep! That's the one! Mike: Yessssss!!!) So here is the first recipe I've shared on this blog! It is adapted from this recipe at Picky Palate.

Tofu Wild Rice Casserole

oil for browning tofu, sautéing veggies

1/2 onion, diced

4 stalks of celery, diced

2 cups "shredded" carrots (i think the bag might refer to them as matchstick carrots?)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 container extra firm tofu, cubed (don't buy pre-cubed tofu! it's a ripoff. cube it yourself :)

2 - 3 cups prepared brown rice

8 - 16 oz. prepared wild rice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

sauce:

4 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup shredded cheese

additional 3/4 cup shredded cheese to sprinkle on top

Prepare the rice ahead of time. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cube the tofu and cook in a frying pan until the sides of the tofu cubes begin to brown. Set aside. Sauté the onion, celery and carrots on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until they are soft. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for another minute or so, then add the tofu, both rices, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Stir all these ingredients together in the pan and reduce heat to low.

For the sauce begin by mixing the flour, salt and pepper together in a small bowl so it is ready to mix in once the butter melts. Melt the butter on medium heat in a medium saucepan. Whisk in flour mixture first (it will be very thick and clumpy) followed by the veggie broth - whisk continually so the flour mixture gets incorporated into the liquid and does not burn. Continue to whisk until sauce is thick and about to boil - add 1 cup shredded cheese and stir until cheese is melted. 

Pour sauce over rice mixture, stir and pour into 13 x 9 dish. Sprinkle additional cheese on top and bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

Eat the yummy casserole!!!!! And then go back for seconds because you didn't realize how amazing it would be! ;)

A couple notes: 

- If you haven't ever tried tofu and you are tempted to just go with the original recipe's use of chicken, I would really encourage you to give tofu a shot!! it provides an excellent amount of plant-based protein and it's cheaper than chicken also ;) Plus it is tasty!

- Feel free to increase or decrease the veggie amounts to your liking. I don't always measure those exactly when I'm cooking - I just add until it seems like there is enough or substitute something else if I don't have enough of one ingredient :)

- Most recently I used coconut oil for cooking the tofu. It was my first time using it in a savory dish and it worked beautifully! And it did not leave the dish tasting like coconut as it tends to in baked goods :) I have also cooked the tofu and the veggies using no oil and simply relied on the juices/liquids that each have. That works great too. 

- I love brown rice and used that because it is healthier than white rice. Last time I added some quinoa as well to up the protein-count and it was sublime! 

- If you compare to the original recipe you will see that for the sauce I subbed veggie broth and cut down on the amount of cheese from the original recipe - I personally could not imagine using as much cheese as is called for in the original. yikes! It had plenty of cheese flavor this way and was better for us too. I've made it with even less cheese than what I have listed here, but this amount works well.

- I also decreased the salt in the rice mixture from the original. The finished product was plenty salty/peppery and I like to cut back on sodium too wherever I can.

Hope you get a chance to try this tasty dish and that you enjoy it as much as we did! :)

look what i made!!!!

you may be aware that i took a ceramics class this spring. and if not...i did!!! it was so much fun to have a weekly outlet for my creativity!! it brought back lots of memories from the ceramics class i took at BYU, but there were plenty of things i forgot too. one of the best things i learned in the class though was from the first day. we were going around introducing ourselves and telling what made us want to take the class. i mentioned that i took a class in college, but hadn't mastered the wheel so i was back to try again at conquering it. the last lady was introducing herself and she said "i'm here to do hand-building because i already know that my skills do not lie in using the pottery wheel!" i thought that was funny, but i also thought it was kind of profound! it's great to try new things and develop talents, but it's also good to recognize that you don't have to be great at everything! and when you realize that it leaves you to focus on where your strengths do lie and increase those skills :) so i did take a go or two at the wheel, but i did mostly do slab (hand) building for most of my projects. here are some pictures of my works of art!

here are a couple of bowl things i made!! they both have three little legs on the bottom to help them stand :) the bottom one here is so cool because it has pine bough texture because i pressed that into it when the clay was soft! it's amazing what the texture does to the color and everything once you put a glaze on it! 

next up is a leaf platter that i made! it's more green than the picture shows and has a cool upward swoop on the darker side :) lots of people in my class said they wanted to borrow my idea to make one of these for themselves for cheese and cracker serving :)

ha - well this was meant to be a cylinder that i was making on the wheel, but i accidentally gouged it with my thumb creating that inversion you see. but it actually looks pretty cool! not sure what to use it for, but hey. maybe it just needs to be used for display art!

this is the biggest thing i successfully created on the wheel haha. now mike has a new little ice cream dish! he says he likes the manly colors ;)

here are a couple shots of the vase i made!! i like the way the weaving turned out! and this vase was glazed to match...

this big plate!!! i love this one! and we dipped most of our pieces to glaze them, so this one ended up with such a cool pattern because it was too big to dip it like normal ha! my teacher told me that this piece could sell for a couple hundred dollars. any takers??? ;) i'm so glad i made this plate! it's definitely one of the best pieces!!! and it really only started out being created as an afterthought :) look how great an afterthought can turn out to be!

and last but not least, my leaf piece!!! i used the leaves that mike and i bought for decoration for our wedding reception! i pressed them into the clay and cut them out and pieced this together. i was pretty nervous that it wouldn't make it through all the firing and glazing because of how many corners and things it has and how fragile clay is at different stages, but it made it!!!! look how cool it looks with the veins of the leaves and everything!!!

so that's it folks! well...okay there was one more thing that didn't deserve to be put on here because it looks so weird haha - you guessed it. it was a piece i threw on the wheel...or tried to anyway! i think maybe we will plant a flower in it! 

ceramics is such a fun hobby - i love how you can keep changing the clay until you get it just how you want it, but then you never know what's going to happen to it after that as it goes through the initial fire (distortions can happen, explosions...all kinds of stuff), then you glaze it and hope that the elements in the glazes react well together when you fire it, then it goes through the last fire (where distortions can again happen - and did for me ha - again even if they didn't the first time around!) and then it's done! a long process, but so exciting to see the end product...and at times a little nerve-wracking but worth it!! i'm so glad i got to take this class!! and i have left-over clay so hopefully i can take the class again next year :)

Crystallize

Mike keeps pretty busy with school these days so he doesn't get to author many blog posts - in fact you'll notice that he has never authored one ;) but the credit for this post does go to him as I do not know that I would've discovered this awesome musician without him!

Mike happened to be on youtube today taking a brief break from homework (he is so studious you know ;) and noticed that this new video of lindsey stirling's is showcased as a featured video with over a million hits on the website. he figured it must be pretty good and decided to check it out...good move!! he loved it and told me to check it out and then i loved it too! she has really put together a very cool, unique sound as well as mixing it up from what you typically expect to see in a violin performance. so here's your chance to check it out so you can love it as much as we do! :)

like lindsey mentions at the end of the video, this is kind of an experiment for her with a new fusion of sound bringing together the classical and the electronic. we've already downloaded this new single that she put out a few days ago and hope she'll put out tons more like this in the future!

upon hearing this incredible artist, i decided to research her a little bit and i found out some pretty cool things - she's a mormon!! she goes to BYU and served a mission in NY! i already loved her music and thought she seemed like a really cool person, but i have to say that upon learning these things i am even more excited to have discovered her :) from glancing at her blog and watching a few more of her videos on youtube she seems like a really happy, upbeat girl with a fun personality :) she also seems like a really good example in the way she dresses and acts. it really impresses me when i come across someone who has been blessed with great talent that they can share on a public scale who also is a great example and who carries light with them in the sharing of that talent. i have to say that even before i discovered that lindsey is LDS, i had a feeling she might be :)

another thing that struck me as i read more about her is that for all the positivity and talent she is sharing with the world, there is of course the occasional negative response to it. i don't mean people who hear her music and just feel like it isn't their thing, what i mean is that as i perused some of the comments on her video, some of them were great and super supportive, yet there were also some that disgusted me or just made me sad. i also noticed there were several parodies of her videos on youtube that looked less than complimentary to her work. i suppose it's not surprising - there is always bad to push against the good. we all experience it in our own lives - anytime something exciting or great or joyful happens, there is bound to be some sort of downside or bad thing that could pull you down if you let it. and from observing lindsey and people's reaction to the good she is sharing, it seems that the grander the scale of goodness, the grander the scale of negativity in return to combat that goodness. satan sure can be a bummer if we let him! but as lindsey points out in her blog, we get to choose which voice we listen to and which side we align ourselves with. this choice makes a huge impact on everything in our lives! 

so the two things to take from this blog :) 1 - check out lindsey's latest work for yourself! and 2 - choose to fight against the negativity that exists in the world whether it be from situations, from people, or even from yourself on occasion when you are feeling down. remember who you are and where you came from :) remember that those negative thoughts that come aren't definitive of who you are. remember that the greater influence you have for good, the more opposition there will be, but most importantly remember that you are not alone to get through it all! Heavenly Father is always there as well as loving, caring people He will put in your life to be angels to support and strengthen you :) He has done this on countless occasions for me and i know He will do the same for you :)

valentines comes but once a year

valentines comes but once a year

once a year

once a year

bringing lots of joy and cheer

valentines is here!

haha! that is what mike greeted me with last night as i got into bed. i think that song is supposed to be about Christmas, but what a nice adaptation ;) mike had school and work yesterday and i had work so we did our big valentine's day celebration over the weekend! similar to last year we found a good deal at a marriott down at the south end of the cities and went and stayed the weekend there - it's amazing what just getting away, even if it's not that far away, can do for you! we had a blast eating crepes, shopping at the mall of america, reminiscing about our first date by going to eat at the cheesecake factory where we had enjoyed our first meal ever together! hehe, goofing around and making new inside jokes, watching netflix together and seeing a movie, and basically just leaving all our other cares behind :) for one weekend it was great to leave work and homework aside and just enjoy being together. so that was a wonderful valentine's celebration!

in addition to that, mike gave me an awesome present yesterday evening once he got home from work. i think he got home around 9 pm or so, and i convinced him that we should watch a show together on netflix. then i said we should watch another episode which we did. another please? i was waiting for him to say that he needed to get going on his homework, but he told me that he had done a bunch of homework after classes earlier that day and planned to do more at school the next day so that we could just spend time together that evening and not have to worry about anything else :) aww! he gave me time!!! that really is one of the absolute best gifts :) so we stayed up later than we should have watching a show and laughing and being happy together :) it was a wonderful valentine's day!!

thinking about what mike gave me and how much it meant to me made me think about how as society in general we might've lost focus on what valentine's day is supposed to be about. it's to celebrate love!!! and that is a cause worth celebrating!! :) people get so caught up in the stress of getting just the perfect gift or going out to purchase what may seem the obligatory flowers, card, and chocolates without really considering the meaning behind they are giving. (i am not saying that giving gifts is a bad thing at all! even the traditional valentine's gifts! mike and i plan to exchange late valentine's day gifts because i haven't finished making his yet...still a work in progress :) it's not about the money that is spent, but about the love that is given and the thought that is invested. my dad posted on his blog a link to some interesting statistics about valentine's day that furthered my thinking about this. take a minute to check it out!

the other thing that i was thinking about is that since valentine's day is about love, it should be about sharing love of whatever kind with everyone not necessarily just your significant other. if you click on the link above, one of the things that site does is give some info about valentine's day in other countries. i thought it was really cool that in finland valentine's day is actually friend's day! you can celebrate loving your friends too! in my mind, i think of valentine's day like that already. my youngest sister who is single mentioned that she was afraid she might feel lonely because she didn't have a "valentine". i told her that valentine's day is not just for boyfriends and girlfriends, or husbands and wives, or so-called "valentines". valentine's day is for love!!! and i reminded her that there are a lot of people who love her! i actually reminded my lone single co-worker about that too at work yesterday and it seemed to help :) plus i took in valentine's cards and treats i made for everyone there at work! maybe it's cheesy, but i missed giving valentines to everyone in class like back in elementary school days so this was a nice substitute :) it's easy to get caught up in all the busy-ness of life so it's nice to have a day to celebrate love and to be extra nice to others! :)

i hope you had a nice valentine's day!!! and i especially hope that you felt loved :)

also don't forget that even though valentines comes but once a year, that doesn't mean it's the only time to celebrate love and friendship ;)

a warm towel part 2

you may remember a previous blog i wrote about a year ago about how awesome it is to have a warm towel. well, i would just like to reiterate how truly enjoyable it is especially when you have an actual towel warmer that was created for that very purpose and is not located in the other room, nay, but in the very bathroom in which you are taking your shower :)

Mike and I are the proud owners of just such a towel warmer which was given to us as a Christmas gift from my parents!! we loooooove it!!!! what a luxury it is to step out of the shower and not have to wrap yourself in a room temperature towel. pshhh! that's old school!! ;) we are really enjoying this gift though and i think it's really really neat that my parents took the time to find something fun like this for us that they knew we'd enjoy and probably also knew that we'd never buy for ourselves ha. how very thoughtful! thanks mom and dad!!! :) maybe i should write a blog on how much i would like to have an Audi... ;) just kidding!!

these times

every once in awhile Mike and i check out the free song of the week that iTunes is offering (probably Mike more than myself) to see if it's worth downloading. i'm pretty sure that prior to this month i had only ever found one that i thought i would ever want to listen to again because all the other ones i'd heard were eww....i mean i couldn't properly appreciate them ;) anyhow that has since changed because we stumbled upon one last week that really turned out to be AMAZING!

i had first heard of the group SafetySuit through my dad - he has a song that they released a few years ago called "Annie" which i once heard playing on his computer and thought it was awesome (and i would suggest looking it up to listen to sometime if you haven't heard it before). i got that song and have been listening to it for a couple years. i played it for Mike at some point and he liked it too, so when he saw that the free song for the week was from SafetySuit we were both interested to hear it. and boy is it a winner!!! here, why don't you give it a listen:

wow!! when i listened to this song for the first time i remember thinking that it was so awesome to hear a pop/rock band that was giving a positive message through their music! (although since "Annie" was their first song that i heard i wasn't surprised that their music in particular would be positive) not that there aren't other bands who do the same, it just seems to me that the prevalent messages of the popular music industry tend to lean more towards either blatantly negative things, or just dumb things that don't really matter. as i've listened to this song more and more since then i have picked up on some gospel truths or thoughts that have popped into my mind when i'm listening to it. i think it is insightful how the singer mentions wanting to know why he is going through the trial, but realizes that, even though he knows there is a purpose for it, he might not get that answer right now. i also think that the message about hard times trying to define him is right on - satan would love for us to define ourselves by what is hard for us or the negative feelings we feel in life instead of focusing on our talents and skills, and the joy that love, service, and the gospel bring into our hearts and lives. going through a tough situation IS hard, but if you do start giving into despair and letting go of hope it is very difficult to change your way of thinking because despair really does have a one-track mind. and of course we know that there are always out there who are having a worse time than ourselves. 

i had a particularly tough time sunday evening and monday morning because i was feeling really stressed out about work and some changes in expectations and things that have come down from the bigwigs of the company. that resulted in my not sleeping very well in addition to having lots of worries and doubts about my abilities running through my mind. i woke Mike up before i went to work and asked him to give me a blessing which he gallantly did :) it helped me a lot by bringing the Spirit into my heart to pierce through the negative feelings. on the way to work i rocked out to this song on repeat to help me remember that it would be okay and things would get better. it also helped me to think of all the people who don't even have a job right now and how much worse they might feel not being able to provide for their families or take care of themselves among other things. the power of the Priesthood, and this song coupled with my power song ("Life in Technicolor" by Coldplay) got me ready to go and make it a great day by the time i got to work that day. things have been going great with work since as i've been doing my best and just focusing on that :) isn't it amazing the power that music can have?

one more experience i'd like to share with this song comes from watching the video. i wanted you to be able to hear the song first before watching the official video because i know that when Mike showed me they video last night, i had a hard time focusing on the lyrics and the music because i was so focused on the people in the video.

i hope you felt as touched as i did when i watched it. i admit that i cried through pretty much the whole thing and the first time through as i watched it i felt so sad to see that there are so many people going through a hard time. but the second time i was touched more by the fact that all of these people know that it will pass. i also was really touched by the how the lyrics mention holding your head up high despite what's going on around or inside of you. i think the gospel and the light of Christ that every person has within them are things that help us to have hope and to have the ability to still try to hold our head up high when times are hard. this video makes me want to always have hope with me so that i can try to give some to others whenever i come upon someone who is having a hard time - which we know that pretty much everyone is experiencing some sort of a trial at any given time whether of a lesser degree or a greater. i hope this song did something similar for you or at the very least helped you to know that whatever trial you're experiencing right now will pass and you'll make it okay :)

i am so grateful for the gospel which helps me to know that there is purpose in our trials and that even though these times are hard, they will pass and the future that we have to look forward to is more glorious than we could ever imagine :) 

Christmas!!! and taking it with me into the new year

HOLY COW!!!!!!!! Christmas finally came!!!!!! i don't know that i typically start thinking a whole lot about Christmas until the fall arrives and, though i usually start pulling the Christmas music out in September or so, it doesn't occupy a good chunk of my brain space until around Halloween-time. but this year was different. i bought the plane tickets for Mike and i to fly out to VA for Christmas in June or July so i started telling people about our planned trip way back then which got me pretty excited about it right from the beginning :) it had been about 4 years since my family had a Christmas where everyone was home together to enjoy it - i was on my mission in Seattle one Christmas, Megan serving her mission in Long Beach the next, and then Mike and i here in MN for the following Christmas because we had just gotten married and couldn't afford to fly out to VA. so there are the past few Christmases to set the scene. and looking towards the future on top of that, with Megan and Josh's getting married and being poor and in school, and the likelihood of Hilary following suit (with the married part anyway) in the next year or two who knows when we'll all be together for Christmas again. (p.s. i suppose we are poor and in school also so that is not to single them out or anything ;) so i feel justified in using the word EPIC to describe this event! from talking to my manager at work i found that even others were looking forward to this trip FOR us because of the excitement i'd been projecting about it:

Me: Sharon! I can't WAIT to be in VA for Christmas!!!!!!!!!
Sharon: Jaime, I am excited FOR you because of how much I know you've been looking forward to it!!

haha :) well in my mind Christmas is worth being excited about and so i'm glad i could project that Christmas excitement to other people and hopefully get them filled with happiness and anticipation too!

basically everything about our trip was wonderful!!! here are just a few of the highlights in no particular order. to write them all would take...well about 9 1/2 days since that's how long we were there ;)

vacation! - i can't deny that having a chunk of time designated such that the pressure/stresses of work, normal schedule, school, and all that external stuff were very minimal if not present at all for most of the people involved in this trip was GLORIOUS!!!! never underestimate the power of taking a break from all that keeps you busy in everyday life :)

people i love! - obviously seeing my family was a BIG part of what i was excited about!! i get to talk to my mom and dad every sunday but getting to SEE them and in particular on vacation as i mentioned was something i was REALLY looking forward to. i feel like my mom specifically was much more relaxed and carefree than i've ever seen her so that made me really happy to see :) i text with haleigh periodically throughout the week, but being able to receive a big haleigh hug and hear her boisterous laugh were two things i couldn't wait for :) hilary is so busy at school with all the things she is involved in and i don't get to talk to her much so i was excited to reconnect with her and to make her laugh and/or roll her eyes at me as much as possible ;) [which btw i feel like i got way more laughs this time than normal! score!! her sense of humor must be developing much more into what it should be for that to happen ;)] megan and josh have been out of the country since the latter part of august so the communication with them has been less than what i am used to with megan although we did exchange some delightful emails towards the end of their trip :) but face-to-face is always better!! also i hadn't had much of a chance to hang out with josh when i met him for the first time at their wedding (for obvious reasons) so i was really looking forward to getting to know my new brother better! he's the only one i have here and i've never had a Christmas morning with a brother there so what a new experience! :) also it was so nice to see Grandma Dolly!! she is such an awesome lady :) so nice and pretty funny too! we went over to her house as a group for several of the holiday festivities, but Mike and i were able to go out to lunch with her one day too while we were there which was really great :) Anny also flew out to VA to be there for a few days after Christmas and i always love being around her - she is such a happy, kind person and it feels nice to be around her :) i wish that we could hang out with her and dane more often! having several states in between us does make that difficult though...

i love and appreciate old friends even more these days since i live in a place where i am away from so many of the friends i've made over the years. i have found that at times it is more difficult to make friends in the places that i used to look to for creating friendships since those people may be at different stages in their lives which aren't so conducive to having lots of time to do much friendship-building. one of my favorite parts of our trip was that one of my best friends ever from our BYU days, Kim, was able to take a road trip up to my parents' house with her husband Tim and their new baby Addison to visit us!!! their trip was short but the little time that we did have to spend together was priceless and i treasured every minute of it!! it was so kind of them to make that several hour trip up from GA to visit!! i was able to get to know Tim a little better since the only time i'd met him before was at Kim's wedding last december (and again, for obvious reasons didn't get to talk to him much! i need to start getting to know people before their wedding day when they're too busy to talk! :) i was also able to meet their little girl Addison who is so beautiful and seemed to be a very happy baby. we would have to ask Kim and Tim their thoughts on that though to confirm or deny it since they are the experts ;) i really wish that they lived closer because friendship with them comes so easily and is so fun! we have a lot in common! it was great to see Mike enjoying their company as well. we'll have to get together sometime in the future for certain!!!

traditions! - old traditions, new traditions...i love them all!!! it has been interesting to me to marry into a family with far fewer traditions than those of the family i grew up in. mike didn't have very many traditions associated with Christmas so last year when we just had our own Christmas morning here in MN we adopted most of my traditions - which i was very okay with because i love them so much! but i kept feeling like i was running the show since Mike didn't have too many things he had grown up doing. anyhow we really enjoyed the well-established traditions of caroling, Christmas Eve party at Gma's along with dad's bday celebration, opening presents one by one on Christmas morning (aka afternoon and into the evening haha), sharing Christmas memories, trip to D.C. temple to see the lights, and lots of yummy treats constantly surrounding us just to name a few :) we are excited and welcome the new traditions of writing notes to family members to put in each person's heart box, combining resources to help a struggling person or family have a better Christmas, and daddy-daughter/daddy-son and mommy-daughter/mommy-son outings :) i may have to write another blog on those but for now we'll just leave it at that :) "traditions are the glue that holds a family together" and i felt so close to my family as a result of doing all these things together and making so many wonderful memories!

i better stop there before i completely lose track of time reminiscing, but all of those things combined with the joy of celebrating our Savior's birth and the peace and the love that Christmas always bring into my life made for an absolutely amazing holiday for me and seems to have left me stronger as a person. my love for the Savior as i've taken the time to appreciate and contemplate more on His life have rejuvenated my spirit and filled me with a glorious joy of life and the gospel and people in general :) the love i've felt from friends and family has reminded me that i am not alone and i have been blessed immeasurably to have such incredible people in my life. being able to share my beloved family traditions with my husband first-hand and being with him in my parents' love- and gospel-filled home has strengthened our resolve to create a similar home where all who enter feel welcomed and at peace from the weariness that the world can bring, and where we know that our future children will feel safe and be able to grow in truth and righteousness. these feelings are ones that i don't want to fade away as Christmas memories and feelings seem to do so quickly with the world in general as the new year brings a return to the daily schedule and tasks and moves us one calendar page at a time from that blessed Christmas day. i've been making an effort to fill my life with the gospel, with continued contact with my family, with activities that bring me joy and fulfillment, and with acts of love and kindness for Mike and for those other people that are around me so that i can keep that Spirit of Christmas that i felt so strongly while at home and do not want to let go of. i am resolved to go over my talk from last year about keeping Christmas with you and if you are looking to hold firmly to the Christmas spirit you've felt over the last few weeks then i encourage you to click on the link there to that blog entry and read it too! hopefully it will help in your endeavors :) i have also really enjoyed a song that my dad posted on his blog not too long ago about keeping the Spirit of Christmas with you throughout the year:

happy two weeks after Christmas and merry rest of the year everyone!!!!!!! :)