{"id":13147,"date":"2024-12-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=13147"},"modified":"2024-12-20T10:39:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:39:47","slug":"christmas-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=13147","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTMAS GRACE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again, we come to the season of Christmas. The time when the world slows just a bit,<\/strong> when we stop to count our blessings and reflect on the passing of another year. We enter the season of Christmas grace. On Wednesday morning children all over the world will delight in the presents they receive; their belief in Santa reinforced and hopefully they also learn a bit about the reason for the holiday. Of course, as we age, our priorities shift. No Tiffany blue box or set of golf clubs can take the place of the present we appreciate most: the presence of the people we love<\/strong>. There is something almost magical in the gathering of close friends and family this time of year. The hugs always seem to last a bit longer and the laughter is just that much sweeter. And, of course, we miss the presence of those who are too far away to join in the festivities or who are no longer with us. I hope, like me, that if you are missing someone this year you have a reservoir of wonderful memories to draw upon. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I received a Christmas letter this year that contained an anonymous quote about Christmas grace that perfectly describes the uplifting spirit of the season. It says: “Christmas is an unexpected gift of grace<\/strong>; grace to conceive at this time and place, a new dream or plan, to overcome an old fear, to discover a new strength, to find a new friend, to live boldly and honor the changes<\/strong> that are happening, to care for my soul as well as those I love, to elevate the discourse around me with laughter and hope.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My brothers and I are lucky that we have we had a wonderful upbringing, with a dad that was the epitome of Christmas grace<\/strong>. As is my custom each year, I am sharing his Christmas Ice Cream Fizz recipe to hopefully add a bit of cheer to your holiday celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POP’S CHRISTMAS ICE CREAM FIZZ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fill a blender 1\/4 full of ice cubes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add 6 jiggers of gin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add 4 scoops of French Vanilla ice cream<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add 1 small bottle of soda water (the size you get in a 6-pack)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My brother Bob adds an egg, so the white adds some froth, brother Jack doesn\u2019t add an egg.  Personally, I\u2019d add it just because you can then claim it\u2019s a protein drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just blend it well and \u2013 voila \u2013 <\/em>you have a concoction sure to put a positive spin on everyone and everything!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our mom served them in a wine glass with a dash of nutmeg.  As we got older, we would conspire with Pop and ditch the wine glass for a chilled beer mug from the freezer. Saved having to go back for seconds\u2026or thirds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My brother and I wish all of our readers a very happy holiday season,<\/strong> blessed with all the presence you could ask for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your authors, Christmas 1972<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Once again, we come to the season of Christmas. The time when the world slows just a bit, when we stop to count our blessings and reflect on the passing of another year. We enter the … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[3223,4618,1235,4304,4617,4619],"class_list":["post-13147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holiday-observations","category-opinion","tag-christmas-eve","tag-christmas-grace","tag-ice-cream-fizz","tag-ice-cream-gin-fizz","tag-the-magic-of-christmas","tag-the-presence-of-people-we-love-at-christmas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Christmas-kids.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-3q3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13147"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13162,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13147\/revisions\/13162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}