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| Scroll down to bottom of the page for recipe |
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of
down-time spent with loved ones. This year, my Christmas was spent very
differently than normal. It was the first time I was in Boston, while my entire
family was in Indiana.
A typical Christmas Eve, for me, is usually spent at my
Mamaw's house, where over 20 people gather in her living room, filling up every
last corner. It is loud, chaotic, and joyful. As an only child, it is one of my
absolute favorite nights of the year.
During the afternoon of this Christmas Eve, I started to feel a
sense of heaviness weigh on my heart. I grew sad as more and more photos and updates from my family were sent to me throughout that day. There was picture of my mom with the two new babies in our family, another of my
cousin carrying out our tradition of baking Christmas cookies, and so on and so
on...
I felt a tear start to form from the corner of my eye, as I began to feel sorry
for myself that I couldn't spend my Christmas with my family. At this moment, out of the blue, my doorbell rang. I made my way downstairs, where I found two packages lying outside my front door. One was a package from my aunt and another from my cousin
Kristin.
I opened the gift from Kristin first and inside was a light pink
scarf and a beautiful long gray sweater. Two things in which I had wanted and
needed, but had never even told her about. I instantly put on the sweater and
scarf over my workout t-shirt, tags on and all, and speedily started to open my
aunt's package...
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| Kristin and me one Christmas Eve at our Mamaw's in Indiana |
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| Kristin's gift |
Inside the box were a homemade blanket and a photo album. The
album contained hilarious old photos with a beautiful message written on the
back of the cover. I immediately plumped down on the couch, placing my blanket
on over the scarf and sweater, and began to flip through the photo album.
Suddenly, I felt a new feeling spread over me. While my heart still felt heavy, it
was a different sort of heaviness. One that was filled with love and so much appreciation. I
truly felt that I had a piece of Indiana with me and no longer like I was
missing out. In fact, later that night, I was able to Facetime with everyone at
my Mamaw’s house, including the babies! As everyone, took turns to
excitedly talk to me, model their outfits, show me their gifts, I felt truly
loved and included in the traditional Indiana Christmas festivities.
And so while I think that social media can be a little bit
alarming at times, I firmly believe that it can be an incredibly
comforting way to get to connect you’re your families and friends scattered around
the world.
Through social media, I was also able to see so many of my friends
and family celebrate their Christmases. I loved all of their stories on their traditions
at Christmas time, the "tracking" of Santa updates, the exciting
proposals and baby announcements, and hilarious family photos.
When you "share" a beautiful photo
or tweet an inspirational message, it sends positive vibes out into the
world. Unfortunately, the most eye-catching and highest-played stories on the News involve acts of violence and/or feelings of sadness. And while I think that it is very
important to stay informed, it is disheartening that such stories are the ones that we are constantly discussing and sharing.
We read or hear a shocking fact and instantly throw it into
our conversations. The sad news stories spreads like wildfire; yet, there is so
much good in the world that remains undisclosed.
But in order to handle the "tough things" in our lives, we need to take time out to fully celebrate all of the good. To relish in the happiness,
marvel at the successes re-tweet a positive message, and simply process what it feels like to "feel good."
I hope that Creatively Lu can provide such an outlet for you.
Whether you read the blog on the train during your morning commute or stumble across it while pinning late at night, I hope that you find to be Creatively Lu a place where you can come to feel celebrated
and experience bliss for a few moments out of your day.
Every single time I receive
a message from one of you, whether it be regarding how you connected with a specific
story or simply really enjoyed a suggested product, I get that bliss feeling of "full on chills". To
know that something written on these pages has impacted you for the better
is the best feeling in the world.
I promise to continue to create and write to
the absolute best of my ability; and to remain raw and honest. While I admit that during this
past month there have been numerous times when I have thought about hitting the backspace key on my computer in order to “tidy up” the post a little bit; I never,
ever do. Creatively Lu is an inviting community that encourages you to keep on expressing/exploring creative outlets. Creativity can be a messy form of art, but
isn’t that the most beautiful and moving kind of all?
Below is a Christmas Detox recipe to jumpstart a new year of
feeling good and taking time out for yourself.
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| ecards photo: Pinterest |
I hope you all enjoy your detox smoothie. This makes a great breakfast and is perfect for whenever you feel you need a boost of energy and jumpstart to your body. As a non-beet lover, this is also a great way to sneak in the vital nutrients of beets, without having to actually taste them. Feel free to add in any extra smoothie ingredients such as 1/2 cup of grapes, a carrot, or a handful of spinach. You can also substitute the coconut milk for any other liquid such as coconut water, almond milk, etc. Below is your daily dose of inspiration. Create a wonderful Thursday everyone!
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| Photo Courtesy of: Jess Angelos |
