The Gift

“I need a day off,” I said.

So Good ‘Ol Saint Rick shouldered the list of all the town errands and drove off to brave the last-minute Christmas Costco gauntlet alone.


Winston assumed the seasonal pose. I didn’t have anything in particular to do, aside from a bit of gift wrapping and maybe making our traditional family recipe of sausage balls* (recipe below: it’s old school and OUTSTANDING) for Christmas Eve.

Well, that and all the other ordinary stuff a person has to do in a day, like walk the dog, make breakfast, clean the kitchen, throw some laundry in, shower and wash my hair, and so on.


And because these things happened on a “day off,” I didn’t feel like I was already behind and these tasks were standing between me and what I really should be doing.

I stood contentedly in the forest, listening to the birds and the rain-turning-to-snow sift through the monster cedars to splash onto the ferns by the path while I waited–again–for the dog to finally quit sniffing and pee.


I bonded with my fancy new flipper from What’s Cooking in Qualicum Beach as I fried two farm-fresh beauties for my stand-by “Fried Egg Sandwich With Ketchup” (no recipe needed: just fry an egg (break the yolk) on both sides, make a piece of toast, put the fried egg on the toast and apply as much ketchup as you can get away with). And then I ate the sandwich. And life was good.

[Editor: There will be no photo provided to illustrate the paragraph below. Instead, we offer you this somewhat random image of melting Brie. We’ll make it work.]


By the time I was sudsing up my hair with my favorite-scented shampoo (I go by smell) in a warm shower with great water pressure, gently stretching my neck muscles as I massaged my scalp, I was feeling like those actors in shampoo commercials who carry on like this shampoo experience is, bar none, the best friggin’ moment of their entire life, like melting Brie.

And that’s when it occurred to me that it hadn’t taken me any more time to walk the dog, cook and eat breakfast, or shower today than it does any other day. I just enjoyed each activity in the peaceful space that seemed to have opened up around them, moment by moment.


And then I thought, “Hey! Why not every day? What is stopping me from enjoying my shower as much on a work day as I am today? In fact, why not enjoy work itself this way?”

Why not, indeed?

We wish you all the merriest of seasonal joy and peace in ALL the moments.

Love, Kathy and Rick


Rick and Kathy’s Christmas Sausage Meatballs (as stolen verbatim from Kathy’s Mom’s recipe box)

Meatballs
l lb pork sausage
l slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup fine cracker crumbs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp sage

Sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbls brown sugar
1 tbls vinegar
1 tbls soya sauce

Combine all meatball ingredients, beat at high speed for 5 min. Drop teaspoonsfull on a cookie sheet, cook @ 350 deg until brown (approx. 15 min). Mix all sauce ingredients, bring to a boil while stirring, remove from heat. Combine meatballs and sauce, keep warm in a chafing dish to serve.

[Note: if you don’t have a chafing dish or even know what one might be, you can use a small slow cooker or decorative serving pot on a kitchen warming pad to serve them with toothpicks at a party. Or you can just stand at the stovetop and eat the whole pot by yourself with a big spoon. Your choice.]

2 thoughts on “The Gift

  1. Diane Tyler

    Hi Kathy,

    It has been almost a year since you blogged sharing Christmas 2017. Previous to that you shared that storms were brewing.
    Hope everything is good with you? and no ill health has beset you or your loved ones.

    sincerely Diane

  2. Fentiman Jane

    You are hilarious. No wonder we love having you around as much as possible. I have to laugh at how you have adopted many of my bad habits!

Comments are closed.