Life Improvement Tips For The Wise Few

I do hope you had a safe a fulfilled Christmas and that your looking forward to starting off the new year with a bang. I am looking forward to what this year has to offer. I will make 2008 my best year ever, because I have a whole load of things I wish to accomplish. I do hope you have your list organized, or as they say, a ship without destination, goes no where. Your not going to spinning your wheels this year, so let me know; “What’s your resolutions for 2008?”

So far I started by creating a whole new make over for this website. this is the best way to start the new year, a new look, and a better and more improved site. Please let me know what you think of the look, and what you would like me to improve. Doubt you would find anything, but the feedback would be appreciated…

I have also decided to end the one man show and give everyone a chance to participate in our discussions. Every time I create a new article, I would like to discuss this with each member, making it more rewarding, and it would also help you to improve your communication skills.

For this, I have created a Personal Development Community, it’s a forum where each and everyone of you can sign up and become a member. Please make sure to sign up, even if you don’t understand how it works, you will in due time. If you want to be anonymous with your postings, you can use a nickname as your sign up name. For those who are not afraid and would like to show their true colors, just be yourself and use your real name. All will be explained, and you will learn how to use it, once you become a member, and if your not sure about something, please contact me.

This year is going to be great, so I would like each and everyone to sign up, read the help manual for the community. This will get you all fired up and ready to start posting. I will be the only forum moderator for now, as the site grows, I will pick a couple of enthusiastic members who has really shown that they are contributing in a positive way and has been improving their life, and make them moderators.

For now, I will say, have a blessed New Year, and I look forward to bringing you even more exciting and positive articles your way.

Happy New Year to each and every reader,

Alexander Marlin

P.S. Without you this site would be a worthless effort, it would be all wasted talent, I do appreciate you all, and do hope all of you contribute, and help me build a bigger and better community that we all can be proud of one day soon.

Just one more day for Christmas, and I know most of you have been in full swing, buying gifts, shopping and preparing the menu for that big dinner.

I myself has been to Marigot, that’s the capital on the French Side of Sint. Maarten. There I got my sweet potatoes, ginger, pumpkin and yam to make my sweet potato pudding. Another surprising thing that took place this year, is that Alex Jr. did all the mixing, and of course I did all the grating… yes, my finger tips are missing. I also bought two new baking pans, to test and the one I chose made the ends of the pudding a little stiff, but the flavor and taste is awesome. Yes, they attacked the pudding the same day it came out of the oven, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

The smell filled the streets again, and this time I went outside to verify that my pudding aroma was all over the neighborhood, and believe you me it was.

Well, tomorrow is Christmas, and I wish each and everyone a Merry Merry Christmas and a fulfilled day of eating and enjoyable day.

This is the first time that I can honestly say: “The Christmas spirit hasn’t found me yet.” I was always very happy to count down the days before Christmas, as we start getting down to the final week of Christmas and start buying the gifts for the kids and hiding them.

Even my wife would be acting like a baby, because I would always buy her just one, or say that I was too busy and didn’t have time to get her a gift. And on that day we would be opening all gifts, the kids would bring her the rest, and jump in and help her unwrap her gifts. My wife does all the gift wrapping.

Can I be sabotaging my own Christmas?

Well, I will be truthful with you, and tell you that I am not really feeling nothing this year for X-mas. Just not feeling like buying anything or going out and doing any shoppings. I have a week to change, that can also be due to the fact that I am not seeing any life on our lovely Island of St. Maarten, that can put the spirit of X-mas into my soul. Has our Island lost it’s friendliness and the Guava Berry sensation? This is not about my little Isle, so i won’t go there.

The Marlin Family ways of celebrating Christmas

I have to admit that my wife is a Christmas holic (if such a thing exist), she lives for this day and I have to always surprise her with any gift that me and the kids purchase for her. First off, we start by doing some grocery shopping, and I mean we go all out. We get the ham, turkey, not a lover of the white meat, two chickens that we will bake, wine, drinks and a whole lot more festive foods. We buy coconut tarts, that one I have never tried to bake.

And then the fussing starts, they telling me to go get my stuff together for a potato pudding, yes, I am a master chef also, and I do hope that if your in the neighborhood you can feel free to drop by and get your fair share, now please don’t wait until a couple days after. This family eats that pudding like they are in starvation mode, but then again who wouldn’t, seeing that I bake a pudding only twice per year, and that is on Christmas day and New Years day.

My son Alex Jr. is begging me to cook a dinner with him, he says he would like to be a chef, and I told him well I will have to train him. I mean, it runs in the family so why not make a great living from a talent you love. My kid is witty, he thinks on the money. Got to pep him up, I think he got that from his dad… all smiles right now.

I bake my puddings the night before Christmas, you can stay from the roadside and smell my potato pudding aroma, don’t come begging then, I never cut my stuff when they are hot or warm. You should see them waiting around for it to cool, it is really sad how these people crave that stuff. Do you believe it is that good? I am really having fun here, because I can see your mouth watering and your taste buds really trying to taste that master piece.

On that night we fool the kids, now I can’t say kids, because only Iovana, my youngest daughter still believes in Santa. Tradition is to not tell my kids Santa exist until they are 11 or 12 years of age. And believe you me they do believe in Santa. We always told them that if they believe and go to bed early, Santa would bring them big X-mas gifts, and a lot of gifts, the kids who don’t believe only gets one or two small gifts.

This is so weird, because they would come home giving us stories of how the kids at school called them dumb, and tells then that there is no Santa Claus, and we would say, don’t believe those kids. They are all naughty, ask them what they got for Christmas, and you would see only one or two gifts. We always proved those kids wrong, because they always got just one two or no gifts at all (sad isn’t it, when you don’t buy your own kid a gift on Christmas day).

Christmas is a fun time, and I believe in keeping my kids young and innocent for as long as I can, it creates tighter bonds.

The fun part was that they would put cookies on a saucer and draw pretty cards for Santa explaining what they wanted and how much they loved him. I still have those cards, the bigger ones found them and started punching away at me saying, man you really had us fooled. And all I would answer is I do hope you will do the same to your kids.

They are now keeping the secret and watching how their little sis is trying hard to be nice, so she can get big gifts… it is so funny, makes me smile just thinking about it. Have you noticed what I am doing, I am thinking back on Christmas. I am pepping myself up, and putting myself in a great Christmas spirit.

Did you have a tradition at home when you was younger?

Let me hear about what you do for Xmas and how you spend your day!

Christmas day

They would awake and rush into our rooms and say: Mommy, Papa, come and see what Santa brought for us… Wow… we were really nice. They would ask all kinds of questions like how does Santa get into our home, seeing we have no chimney. I would say Santa has a master key and he only goes to kids houses who has been nice.

That day, we would video tape everything, every one would have to thank Santa, and each would be video taped in turn opening their gifts. It was hilarious, because certain gifts would have on names from their grand parents or auntie, but they would simply accept that the ones without names was from Santa.

After the gift unwrapping and opening we would go and cook a nice and hearty Christmas breakfast, everything goes, eggs, bacon, sausage, whatever we got, we eat. It is just wonderful pigging out like that.

Later down in the day, we would go by family members, and open even more gifts, and then we would eat a big family dinner, that my wifes Mom cooked, and boy, believe you me, she can cook. It is finger licking good… no it’s not Kentucky… duh (learned that word from my kids).

The day runs by fast, and we spend the whole day by family, after we leave my Mother in laws home (the gift opening rotated and was kept at a different home every other Christmas), we would go to my Mom’s home. There we would eat some more, no wonder they say you gain an extra 20 pounds just around the Holiday Season.

When we leave for home, we have doggy bags, but I have to say no dog gets any part of this, we have food to last through boxing day. That is the day when me and wifey sometimes cook our own dinner for friends, I did say sometimes, meaning not often, because we would still be stuffed from all that we ate on X-mas day.

The potato pudding is already down to crumbs, yes, it only last just one day in this home.

As we all know, it is time for giving and enjoying, if your away studying and you start missing home, which I know you will. Give each other the best gift of Christmas, by pooling money together and getting together and making your day, a jolly and happy one.

And for those who are at home, just enjoy, count your blessings and make this Christmas a unforgettable one, buy someone a gift, even if you have never done this before. Give the gift of love, no matter how small it is.

And to those who used to spend Christmas with us, and can’t anymore, this family still holds a warm place in our heart for you and yours. You know who you are, we love you dearly, kiss the little one on her cheek, and tell her merry X-mas from her uncle… Shirl (yes, I miss hearing that little voice call out my name).

Merry Christmas to all my readers.