A Perfect Way to Spend the Day
Archives: Daily Issues
- MERRY CHRISTMAS!
- Today … Michael Masterson’s annual Christmas Day message.
One Simple Step To Make 2007 Your Wealthiest Year Yet
More than any other activity you can do, investing in your ability to achieve your personal dreams is the greatest gift you can give yourself this year.
As 2006 comes to a close, ETR has compiled its best products and put them into a blowout YEAR END SALE. These are our lowest prices ever, guaranteed, so there’s no better time for you to begin working on your goals for 2007.
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Take a moment to give yourself a distinct advantage this year.
“How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.”
Benjamin Franklin
A Perfect Way to Spend the Day
By Michael Masterson
As I’ve done every Christmas since ETR began in 1999, I’m spending the day at home with my family. I am writing this very early in the morning. It will be another hour or so before this magical day begins, but I’m full of energy and have snuck up to my little writing studio above the garage, thinking about the fun that lies ahead and wondering what you are doing.
We’re going to have a blast today, doing all the traditional things one does on Christmas.
The stockings, hung by the chimney just hours ago, will be opened first thing. I especially like the stocking stuffers – unexpected little trinkets that will almost surely never be used.
Christmas breakfast will follow. Here is where I take command. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, and muffins. Coffee, juice, and Champagne cocktails. There will be a great flurry of activity in the kitchen. Fast, forward-looking eating in the dining room.
Afterward, the "real" present opening will begin. Will it be a mad rush this year? Or will we be more civilized, each taking time to save the wrapping paper?
During the day, friends and family will come by and more presents will be opened, more thank-yous said, and more kisses given. Eggnog may be present. Bloody Marys, too.
Christmas dinner will be for 20. Or more. It depends on who comes by. K is in charge of the food. It will be elegant and sumptuous.
At dusk, we’ll light the lights outside, light the candles inside, and continue to enjoy one another’s company as long as we can keep our eyes open.
Late tonight – probably much too late – I will fall asleep counting my many blessings.
I hope you do the same.
15 Minutes A Day To Personal Freedom…
Just think, reaching your goals this year could make the difference…
Between retiring with just enough to get by… or with a millionaire’s portfolio…
Between having a job you dread going to every day…. or the job you’ve always dreamed about…
- Charlie Byrne
The Best Thing About the Holidays: Christmas Eve Chocolate Delivery
By Suzanne Richardson
My family is big on tradition. Finding the biggest tree possible. Opening one present each on Christmas Eve. Sharing the same delicious meal every Christmas Day. I love them all. But my all-time favorite Christmas tradition is our yearly Christmas Eve chocolate delivery.
My father and I spend days making truffles. We melt sweet chocolate gently on the stove and place it in precariously perched bowls throughout the freezer. Once frozen, we hand-roll the sweet chocolate and dip it into melted bittersweet chocolate. After another round of freezing, my mother carefully arranges the truffles on pretty Christmas plates. We blow-dry shrink wrap into place – careful not to melt the candy.
Then Dad and I climb into his pickup and drive all over town, delivering chocolates to close friends. We often get invited inside for hot cocoa and conversation, which makes a few deliveries turn into several hours.
When we get home – tired, happy, and full of Christmas spirit – my mother’s wrapped all the presents and a pot of steaming soup welcomes us from the stove.
A Word to Work Into Conversation Today: Clinquant
"Clinquant" (KLING-kunt) – from the French – means tinsel-like; glittering with gold or silver.
Example (as used by Thomas Shadwell in The Virtuoso): "Fine sparks … very clinquant, slight, and bright … make a very pretty show."
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2006
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