Mama Mojo

Having muffins with my family at our local coffee shop this morning, I noticed a homeless woman looking through the window.  She seemed to want a cup of coffee, which we were happy to get for her.  As I moved to the door, a man approached the woman and gently led her inside.  He had the same idea.  At the counter he asked her what she would like to order.  “Just a cup of coffee,” was her reply.  “And what would you like to go with that?  A muffin?  Bagel?”  She looked at him with wide eyes then shyly said that she’d like a blueberry muffin. 

When all was said and done, the woman left with three bottles of apple juice (“It’s good for you, so take a few.” He had said.), a cup of coffee, two bagels with cream cheese, and a bag full of muffins.  The woman beamed as she left with her breakfast… lunch and dinner.

My guess is that the man didn’t run home and blog about his giving for the day.  He bought the woman food just because he wanted to.  No agenda.  This month during ExtremeGiving, I had moments where I was desperately searching for ways to help others so I could report back to you.  I sometimes forgot the point of the exercise.   What I watched at the coffee shop today reminded me to live with an open heart each day (not only during the holidays) and constantly observe and learn from the kindness of strangers.

I can’t sing but I can cook.  On Christmas Day, my ExtremeGiving was to make a feast for our friends and to keep my singing voice mercifully low during our caroling.

Here’s the menu of food:

Green Herb Dip with Vegetables

Parmesan and Thyme Crackers

Butternut Squash Apple Soup

Portabella Mushroom Lasagna

Green Beans

Goat Cheese Beet Salad

Gingerbread Cookies

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Here’s the menu of singing:

12 Days of Christmas

Deck the Halls

Silent Night (an especially tough song to hit the notes on!)

Roudolph

Frosty

We went to a beautiful church service on Christmas Eve.  It was quiet, filled with candles and was a nice time to stop for a moment and remember why we celebrate Christmas.  I’ve been so caught up in baking and shopping and the stress of this holiday season that I often forget to really count my blessings.  So on Christmas Eve I stopped to pray—to give thanks and to ask for a few things that our world needs.

My grandma is 86 years old and has a wicked sweet tooth.  Whenever I see her I try to bake something delicious for her.  For Christmas I thought the cinnamon rolls I learned how to bake in my baking class would be just the thing.  And they were, she went mad for them.

If there is one thing more fun than Christmas, it might be Disneyland.  Am I right?  For today’s ExtremeGiving my family gave another family passes to D-land.  They’ve lived in Southern California, relocated from Guatemala, for many years but have yet to visit the Happiest Place on Earth.  Christmas + Disneyland = Joy Overload!

My daughter has amazing preschool teachers.  I’m not quite sure how to thank them for all the work they’ve done, but I’m gonna try.  First, with a gift certificate to a local restaurant and second, with my family recipe for Christmas cookies.  Basically I’m going to make sure they have a bunch of food this holiday.  Food is good, am I right?

Kellie’s Mom’s Sour Cream Cookies

3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla
½ cup sour cream

-  Combine flour, soda and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.

-  In the bowl of a mixer mix the butter, sugar, and egg on a medium speed for about 2 minutes, until smooth.

-  On low speed add sour cream and vanilla to butter mixture.

-  Add half of the flour mixture and mix for about 1 minute.  Turn off mixer and add the rest of the flour stirring with a wooden spoon.

-  Roll dough out to ¼ inch thick.  Use cute Christmas cookie cutters!

-  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (do not allow the cookies to brown).

I love croissants.  And I love Christmas.  Really, it’s a beautiful combination.  Today I made croissants then my daughter and I took them to the neighbors.  

The Painted Turtle is one of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camps for seriously ill children.  They provide a safe and fun experience for kids and their families who deserve a chance to get away and take a break.  ”The Painted Turtle offers an exhilarating, challenging, and nurturing array of traditional summer camp recreational activities, seamlessly intertwined with programs that inspire children to become more self-confident and self-reliant, as well as more cooperative with their medical caregivers.”

The more I learn about The Painted Turtle the more grateful I am that a place like this exists.  My ExtremeGiving today was to support this organization.  To learn more go to ThePaintedTurtle.org. 

Today we participated in the “Family to Family” Holiday Program through Friends of the Family here in Los Angles.  Friends of the Family provides aid and services to disadvantaged families 365 days a year, but around the holidays they ask members of their community to bring a little extra cheer.

Since ExtremeGiving is not about just spending $$, I asked my own family to gather gifts and essentials for our adopted family, a single mom and her two kids, who are 9 years and 12 months old.  I couldn’t believe how much new stuff we put together that we just had hanging around the house.

This vital organization is “a comprehensive family resource center known for pioneering innovative, practical programs where families are recognized as central to a child’s well being and are supported to build on their skills and strengths.”  

I really believe that no matter what curve balls life throws at you, your family remains constant.  This is why I love this organization.

I volunteered to help out with the Winter Show at my daughter’s preschool today. Cuteness overload.

I’m sending greetings to friends, old and new.  While I love me some Twitter and Facebook, I’m very loyal to old fashioned holiday cards.

And you know what I really love about this extremegiving?  If you read this, I just sent you my holiday card too!

It’s pretty simple.  My 4 year old and I made banana bread to take to our neighbors.  It’s a recipe from my baking teacher’s blog: CarolCotnerThompson.blogspot.com.  The bread turned out perfectly and it could not have been easier to follow.  I highly recommend you make two loaves asap—one for your neighbors and one for you!

Today I adopted a family through Friends of the Family, Los Angeles.  It’s a single mom with two kids, so I’ve got some work to do to get things put together for them.  To make the gift special, I’ve enlisted help from my mom and decided that this will be a multi-day project.  Will post photos and keep you updated!

For more info on this organization visit: fofca.org

The House of Justice or Bet Tzedek provides free legal assistance to people who would otherwise not have access to the legal system.  They work with issues including elder abuse and neglect, patients’ rights, and Holocaust reparations.  Today my extremegiving is in support of the good work the lawyers and volunteers do to help the needy and impoverished of Los Angeles.  

I’m a treehugger.  Trees make life in a city a lot sweeter.   

TreePeople is a fantastic nonprofit that is dedicated to expanding the tree canopy thereby creating a sustainable future for Los Angeles.  Their mission is to “inspire, engage, and support people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, making it safe, healthy, fun and sustainable and to share the process as a model for the whole world (TreePeople.org).” 

My daughter is going to grow up in this city, and it’s vitally important to me it be a healthy, beautiful, and inspiring place to live.  So today I dedicated two trees to TreePeople.  Hopefully, I’ll raise Maggie to be a treehugger like her mama.  

My friend, Kim, is running her second Los Angeles Marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society. There’s not one person I know whose life hasn’t been affected by cancer. Simply put, we can’t do enough to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society and all the good work they do.

So, my extremegiving today is to help Kim embark on her marathon journey. I’ll be thinking of her and the good work she’s doing with each mile!

To support Kim and the American Cancer Society go to: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?px=18673806&fr_id=33706&pg=personal

Food.  A simple, basic necessity, yet many families don’t know where their next meal is coming from.  My extremegiving for today was to donate canned goods to a local food pantry that feeds 400 families per week.  I’m planning on making this a habit and not just a special thing I do for the holidays.  If each one of us just gave one grocery bag of food to our local food pantry each week, think of how many people we could help.  Just a thought…

Here in Los Angeles, there is a fantastic local radio station, KCRW.  I have it on every time I get in the car, and I even listen to it online in the house while I’m cooking.  This station plays the greatest alternative, undiscovered music, NPR news, and my favorite show “The World” from Public Radio International.  KCRW exists only though listener support, and I am an avid listener and had yet to become a member… but that all changed with #extremegiving today.  

This radio station does more than just a community service, for me, it defines the sound of L.A.  Whenever I’ve been away on location filming a show and finally get to come home, I know I’ve arrived once I turn on my radio and hear KCRW.

If you live in the Los Angeles area, it’s 89.9FM, and online, it’s KCRW.com.