December 2020 Issue

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The Senses of the Holidays Every culture has its traditional festivities. Our celebrations, whether weddings, harvest festivals, religious holidays, or national observances, are woven tightly into our overall cultural identity. The sounds of the season are an important part of our celebrations. These sounds put us in the mood as we prepare for our festivities with loved ones. When we drive to the store to purchase gifts or ingredients for the heirloom red velvet cake, there’s holiday music on the car radio. The Salvation Army volunteer rings the bell outside the store. People talk and laugh. Employees, friends, and strangers wave and say, “Happy Holidays!” As we celebrate together, we

100 Christmases

I walked into the old farmhouse that housed four generations of the Jenkins family. Suddenly memories of Christmas Eve flooded my mind. I remembered so many details of that special night that made me laugh and shed a tear, but mostly, my heart swelled with gratitude. Uncle Bill was standing in the doorway with his fancy video camera with enough lights to illuminate a football stadium. So what I did I get for Christmas that year? Retina damage… I remembered my grandfather — we called Gumpa. He sat in his old burgundy chair with the wooden arms. It was his corner, almost a sacred place. He had a bird’s eye

A Thrifty Christmas Celebration

Christmas in Ireland is a massive celebration over the entire month of December. Normally we would be celebrating Friendsmas, a great huge gathering of my husband’s mates from Blackrock College and their spouses in a nice large restaurant spilling over with people. There is also the grand adventure of The 12 Pubs of Christmas, where friends and family take on a pub crawl that is not for the faint of heart, as revelers must complete a set of challenges for each pub. Anyone sick of his family on Christmas Eve can wander down to his local watering hole, always bursting to the door with people. For television entertainment, there is

Lights of St. Mary’s

On the frosty eve of Bethlehem, hazy nimbus of lamplight on cobblestones leads to the open doors of St. Mary’s. Within, eternal flame of brooding majesty burns above the ornate cupola. Towering pillars, angled arches, patterned concentric circles lofting above the altar — silent hints of the complexity of church history. Lambent stained windows and shadowed mosaic encircle the faithful with biblical messages. Ruby poinsettias amid pine-scented greenery flank altars ablaze with candles shedding their muted pools of empathy and bright sparks of hope this Christmastide. A tree-wrapped manger filled with new straw portends the good works of a parish to welcome the Christ Child! Lusty chorus of ancient carols

Sparkling Wine Cocktails | Libations

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so maybe you thought 2020 rocked. Yeah. Maybe you’re into pandemics, polarizing elections, systematic racism, murder hornets, wild fires, impeachment, and the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. No? Didn’t think so. It’s safe to assume that I’m not alone in looking forward to ringing in 2021, and what better way to do that than with a little bubbly? Sometimes you just gotta pop some bottles. I’m definitely into some champagne (or cava, prosecco, or whatever — I don’t discriminate) but, really, I’m into some sparkling wine cocktails. French 75s are delicious, but in the midst of celebrating, we can’t be bothered

To Keep Christmas Well

“…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well …” It is among the closing lines from Charles Dickens’ classic story, “A Christmas Carol.” It may be one of the best remembered and most cherished sentences in the book. “To keep Christmas well,” I suspect, implies different things to each of us. But in the language of the day when this book was written, it meant to observe, or to honor, or to celebrate something. To actively remember. Perhaps in this year of rather lopsided “celebrations” — with their often double-edged experiences and wobbly sense of imbalance — I have found myself searching for

‘Tis the Season to Prepare for Your New Year’s Job Hunt

The holidays are a season of hope, but they should also be a season of preparation if you are thinking of changing jobs in the new year. According to Monster.com, January is the busiest month for job searches, although we typically see hirings begin to ramp up in February. We have found that when you apply for a job — as in, how soon you apply after the job is posted — can decide whether you get selected for an interview. That means you cannot wait until a job is posted to refine your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile. We call these your personal brand, and we recommend you

Healing Water for My Soul

My love for healing water is the whole point for so many of the stories I tell and that I’ve told on the pages of Bella Magazine this year. The drops of healing water in my life are the moments of loving connection with others where I get the opportunity to share life with them, and they with me, with no strings attached. Some of these encounters this year have been a brief passing moment as I exchanged glances and a smile with someone, and other encounters have been for long chapters of my life that continue. There are so many times in this chaotic year when I have felt

HOW TO Celebrate the Holidays WITH SPECIAL DIETARY NEEDS

In 2008 I finally figured out that the health problems I had been experiencing for over a year were due to food allergies and sensitivities. There were a number of foods that caused my symptoms, the primary ones being gluten grains (wheat, rye, barley), corn, soy, and milk. I began to feel much better during the summer after I eliminated these foods. During the fall I began thinking about the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday meals that would be coming up. I could not eat the traditional turkey dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, or my mom’s pecan pie. Even the canned cranberry sauce was off-limits for me because it