A Gift of Thanks this Holiday Season
Gifts come in many shapes and sizes, but I believe the most precious ones are those delivered from the heart. It's so easy to get caught up in the mayhem of life, particularly during the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but every day there are people amidst the chaos who help you, who take time out of their busy lives to make a difference in yours. This year, why not return that gift?
This holiday season, as wrapped gifts exchange hands, I ask you to pause, reflect on those
who've truly made a difference in your life, and if possible find a special way to say thank you. This can be a simple gesture--something like a greeting card, a bouquet of flowers, or a heartfelt poem. Maybe you could bake someone their favorite cookies. Or present them a coupon book filled with everyday chores, which they can tear out and give you to do on those trying days when they really need a helping hand. The absolute best gift you can offer another person is one given from the heart. And when special-delivered, without any strings attached, it touches their own.
This Christmas I'm making gift baskets filled with my favorite homemade things, such as macademia-butterscotch chip cookies, shortbread, double chocolate-orange-pecan biscottii, Vermont maple syrup, orange-lemon-maple syrup marmalade and more. With each one, I'm sharing a part of myself with the other person.
My gift to you is one of my favorite recipes, Peppermint Ice-Cream Pie!
Peppermint Pie
Oreo pie shell
1/2 gallon peppermint ice cream
cool whip
chocolate fudge ice cream topping
small candy canes crushed (three crushed per pie)
Place 1 quart of softened peppermint ice cream (1/2 tub) into Oreo pie shell and smooth out flat. Place 1/2 inch or slightly thicker layer of cool whip. Pour on a layer of chocolate fudge ice cream topping. Sprinkle top of fudge with crushed candy canes. Put plastic top on and freeze.
*I usually make this a couple of days in advance and leave it on a flat shelf in the freezer.
**This takes less than 5 minutes to make. Amazingly, each of the ingredients balance the other out. It's wonderful. And I'm not even a peppermint lover :)
I sincerely wish everyone health, friendship and happiness this holiday season, a time with the best gift of all is the gift of yourself--that one-of-a-kind present that can make a difference in the life of another.
What ideas can you think of? Remember--the more original and inventive, the more fun! I can't wait to hear your ideas! I'm giving away one signed copy of His Captive to a commenter today! And the third book in the MacGruder brother series, "His Conquest," is out now!
