Happy Holidays and here's to looking on the bright side

Here come the holidays once again. This is one of my favorite times of the year for a multitude of reasons. I love the excitement in the air, the joyful feeling that most people emit this time of the year. Of course, I love baking-lebkuchen, stollen, cookies. There is something magical about the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves wafting from the oven. Baking is a sort of alchemy---you start with simple ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, some flour and some flavoring. But from the oven emerges something delicious that is absolutely the best thing to go with a hot tea on a cold evening.

The holiday season always reminds me of how lucky I really am. There are always negatives in life, and I complain a lot about living in a huge, crazy city, surrounded by millions of crazy people. But really, kindness and friendship abound. If you stop regarding the throng of people as a huge, throbbing mass, and just consider the individuals you know, the majority of them are great. I should thank all the people here in Homestead who make may day to day life pretty enjoyable. An extension agent here in Dade county who is from Poland just stopped by before Christmas to give David and I a bag full of Polish soups, mushrooms, chocolate, and these delicious dried apples form her mother's tree in Poland. That sort of generosity really lifts one's spirit.

So all is not lost, humanity. People do still care about other people, although we may have to search a little harder to find compassion. I for one remain an optimist. I am saying this as my kitchen ceiling has sprung a leak and we are waiting for the plumbers, and the brakes on my new car are grinding again, after having been 'fixed' two weeks ago. Sigh. What can you do but keep plugging along and enjoying all the good times?

Happy holidays everyone!