Merry Christmas. I think of Christmas as an unenvironmentally produced gaudy plastic bauble, made under slave-like labour conditions to string around our over-mortgaged homes for a few days. Cynical? Just a little. I also recognise that Christmas brings so many of us the unusual shiny gift of time. Time to spend with our loved ones. Time to nurture traditions, time to breathe, read, surf. Time for being instead of doing.
I wish everyone a very blessed time wherever you are and whoever you are with. May the holiday bring you time to reflect on the beautiful, the ludicrous and the sparkling parts of the year. May we not be diminished by the dark parts but somehow strengthened by them. Resilient; shaken but not stirred.
May you eat nourishing food and have laughter ringing out of your house like kookaburra calls from the trees. If you hold resentment for those in your tribe, may you acknowledge it and move through it, not be turned poisonous and bitter.
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May you find the time to be in nature with people you love or just by yourself. May you notice the dappled light falling through the leaves of trees.
May you see bumblebees and dragonflies as the real angels of Christmas; may you see the miracle of them. May you rest on a regal bed of springing grass. May white-teeth sand squeak between your toes. As Walt Whitman would say, may you “loaf and invite your soul”.
May you see past the gaudy plastic baubles and the retailers’ flurry and gather those you love close to your breast. May you relish them. May you give thanks for all the Beauty in your life.
May you eat cake, raw mango cheesecake, may you share it with loved ones and go back for a second piece. May you sneak a piece for breakfast while your loved ones sleep.
Merry Christmas – may your soul bask in the summer sun.
Raw Mango Cheesecake
Base
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Filling
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This is delicious – it tastes like a little slice of healthy tropical island. It is a soft cheesecake so, if you want to cut it into perfect slices, freeze for a few hours before serving.
Love and happy holidays,
Bell x
