Part 1
Oh goodness me! I can't stop yawning today. I think my manic days have reached their limit already. I have been ridiculously domestic this week and haven't been any where near my studio.
Gardening, cleaning, christmas shopping, putting up decorations, thinking about husband, son, and father's b'days, which are all in the week before Christmas and the rest...you know how it is!
As usual I have been planning to retreat into some kind of silent meditation for the whole Christmas season and attend a church service.
...but something came over me when I was watching a very soulful cooking show with my favourite chef Rick Stein.
He was travelling through European villages and seeing what their festive meals consisted of. I watched with tears welling up as the simple act of buying wholesome, natural food from the local fresh food markets and cooking up into a festive meal that was central focus of the family as they came together for Christmas. It was all about how the different foods marked this once a year special occasion.
Well I haven't cooked anything much since I began my art career 6 years ago. I saw it as a waste of my time and creative energy and the quicker I can get out of the kitchen the better, unless of course we have visitors and then I try to make a reasonable impression by throwing together a stir fry or a pasta and salad!
I think the reason I was moved to tears was because I have had my own experiences of this connection with food and family in my growing up and visiting different parts of the world.
My relatives and my children are all long distances apart from each other and if I wanted to, I could choose any one of them and their group of friends and relatives, to spend Christmas with, BUT my husband cannot be with me because he is a minister of the church and is working Christmas Day, so I tend to be with him. He is usually so exhausted by the time the services and greetings are over he gets home and falls asleep in the arm chair. I hope your feeling sorry for me by now...or maybe him, ha ha!
Some would say I was lucky that I don't have to do the whole 'family thing' at Christmas because it can be a pain in the arse when you are running from one end of town to the other and you can divide that again if the parents are separated. In some cases you just have to swallow your pride and play 'happy families' or not get together at all!
Continued in next post....
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