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the importance of setting goals

I love the quote by Bill Copeland “the trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score“. This is a perfect visual image for me and I think it speaks volumes. Especially, as it seems, though goal setting is encouraged on every corner, in every area of life – educational goals, workplace or business goals, family and household goals, goals in gospel living – it has almost become too ‘common’ a term.  And because of that, many of us miss the point.  So what is the point of playing the game if all you do is run up and down the field kicking the ball?  Eternal ‘practice‘?  For what? Goal setting is MORE than a worthwhile endeavour, it is absolutely necessary to becoming the person we would like to become.

The truth is, without goals we will spend our lives either spinning our wheels in one spot, or aimlessly adrift being influenced by every wind. The key is to set attainable goals that are meaningful.

Whether they are long term all encompassing goals like getting out of debt, short term easier goals like getting on the treadmill five times a week, or even eternal goals of living with our families forever, the act of setting goals propels us forward. A ship leaving the harbour with no goal or destination? Preposterous. Throwing a dart without a target? For what purpose? And yet, we are no different when we allow ourselves to go through the whole day, a whole week, month or year without purpose, without visualization of a hoped for destination. A GOAL. Whatever talent and abilities we might possess, whatever potential is ours – without focus and directed energy, they will never amount to anything.

I like to look at the idea of LEGACY. Defined, legacy is anything “handed down” (be it good or bad), but for my purpose here, I am speaking specifically about what we as a person are remembered for after we’re gone.  Its humbling to acknowledge that we have a lot of control over the legacy we leave behind. For the most part, what it will be is our choice.  Imagine that.  We create a good legacy through effort and energy, or we let our legacy default into meaningless. Again our choice. So ask yourself these three questions:
1) Where do you want to be in a year? five years? twenty years?
2) What is important to you?
3) What do you want to be remembered for?  What legacy do you want to leave behind?

Whether we realize it or not – whether we actually use the words “goal setting” or not, most of us DO set goals for ourselves.  I have some suggestions for ways we can make them more meaningful, and have a more empowering influence in our lives.

1. Goals give us Direction and propel us forward

Setting a goal provides a destination to work toward.  When you set a goal you naturally direct your attention toward the first step in achieving it. Focusing on it leads your thoughts in a certain direction, and what you think about becomes behaviour.

2. Goals keep us on the path. 

You can not walk a straight line without a fixed point to follow. When you have a goal in mind – a particular destination, you will focus on it, and you will be more inclined to avoid detours that would distract you from reaching it. The more specific your goals are, the more likely your path will be straighter and more direct.  For example, it has been a life long goal of mine to eat healthily.  Generally I do pretty good, but the goal itself is unspecific.  In the last few years, my goal has been to be ‘smarter’ about my choices.  Still very unspecific.  So recently I committed to avoid sugar for one month. This is specific, and measurable (see point #3), and very relevant to me. A clear and relevant goal sets you on a path and provides incentive to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve it.  There are always sacrifices involved in reaching a goal, because the nature of obtaining a desired outcome requires changing established behaviour. And that is never easy. Desirable maybe, but not easy.

3. Goals must be measurable to be of any value

By setting a worthwhile but immeasurable goal of “being a better person” or having a “successful business”, we never really know when or if we achieved it. We need to know where we are right now, and compare it to a fixed destination. Our goal should be “measurable“.  A big goal to “get out of debt”, broken into smaller goals of paying off the credit cards, the student loan, the car loan, setting a minimum dollar amount aside for unexpected expenses and to eventually replace the car so you don’t take on another debt, are all manageable, measurable, and as you achieve each step you have reason to celebrate.  A big goal of getting in a year’s supply of food storage, broken down into smaller goals of buying for one week ahead, one month ahead, and finally three months ahead, are all steps along the way, and are attainable. And measurable. And worth celebrating. The specificity of my goal to avoid sugar for ONE MONTH made it measurable and therefore attainable. I could see the end of the month from the beginning, the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. It was a mental exercise that made it easy to track success with every accomplishment. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. And you cannot improve what you cannot manage. (*1)

4. There must be flexibility in resetting your compass when working to achieve goals

Without compromising the end goal, you can be patient with yourself when you fall off the wagon briefly from time to time. Simply get back on. You are still better for being on the path, and it has been my observation that though our heart can change on a dime, behaviour sometimes takes time to follow, especially when you are dealing with a full out change of established habits and routine.

One of my favourite quotes is from Maya Angelou.  She says simply “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, DO BETTER.” How very simple and yet profound such a statement is.  It gives me permission to be patient with myself when I know that I am doing the best I can – on my path to do better.  It steers me away from the temptation to beat myself up over former short comings, and to always move forward reaching for a new bar of excellence. It is motivating by not being unrealistically rigid.

5.  Goals provide accountability – especially when written down

When your goal is specific, with a start date and an end in sight – you make yourself accountable to both. By writing it down, you have more accountability.  A goal not written down is just a wish.  By placing it where we will see it often, it can be a constant reminder, providing even more accountability. And of course sharing that goal with another, or within a safe support group – strengthens that accountability more yet. The combination of all the above, creates the best formula for success. Do NOT allow yourself to procrastinate by giving yourself loopholes.  Remember, “the Best time to do better was yesterday. But the second best time is RIGHT NOW.”  Be firm.  Don’t let yourself off the hook with all your favourite excuses for not changing.

6. Goals provide motivation, and help us believe in ourselves

Setting achievable, measurable goals transforms mountainous challenges into manageable hills. Visualizing the end result provides the incentive to keep working toward it.  Without setting actual goals, be honest with yourself, you’re just dreaming. Providing yourself with the accountability of writing your goal down and sharing it, is excellent motivation to move forward. Having a clear, compelling goal motivates you toward behaviour that will help you reach it. The goal to pay off a specific debt is clear and concise. It is easy to understand. It is measurable. Visualizing it and what it can mean for you and your future from that point on provides the motivation necessary to make it a reality.  Fixing your focus on the end result, and being mindful of your continual changing behaviour along your path gives you continual feedback by which to measure your success. Success breeds more success, and a constant motivation to move forward.  It isn’t simply about creating a plan, it is also about providing the inspiration and incentive to aim for and accomplish great things.  Without making that goal and working everyday to achieve it, how would you ever expect to attain any level of accomplishment?  When you actually SEE yourself making progress your dreams suddenly become attainable and your motivation increases. Newton’s basic law of physics remains true in all areas of life. “An object that is at rest will stay at rest unless a force acts upon it. An object that is in motion will not change its velocity unless a force acts upon it.”  Once an object is moving, it is infinitely easier to keep it moving than to try to get it moving again once it has come to a stand still.  And the same principle applies in our journey toward a specific goal. 

7.  Reaching a Goal should be celebrated as the accomplishment it is!

Seeing progress is addicting. It is invigorating and it sustains momentum.  On the path to being debt free are many accomplishments. When you pay off a specific credit card debt (job well done bytheway), you have every reason to rejoice in your progress toward your ultimate goal. On your way to losing twenty pounds, you have every reason to rejoice in losing five pounds, and every other success along the way.  Don’t underestimate the mental stimulation of celebrating smaller successes on your way to large ones.  Achieving goals builds character.  And that is something to celebrate. 

Zig Zigler once said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”  Of this I think we can be assured. We can never be happy with merely putting in our time till life is over.  As children of God, we are simply not wired that way.  What we can accomplish by deliberately aiming ourselves toward something meaningful that is in harmony with those things that are most important to us – is absolutely limitless. Remember that what we get by achieving our goals is nothing compared to what we ‘become’ by achieving them.   

Warmly,


Cindy Suelzle

footnote:
*1
I have no idea where that quote comes from, or who may have originally said it, or I’d be happy to give them proper credit. If if was you – thanks

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Provident Living and Self Reliance

November 18 of this year was a Sunday.  We woke up to an unusually cold house.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to confirm that our stupid furnace wasn’t working.  In fact, we suspected it stopped working the day before. In November in Edmonton, you don’t get along for too long without a furnace!

You may have experienced something similar.  If a furnace is gonna quit, its gonna do it in the winter time when its working steady. I know lots of others have had this very thing happen.  It may not be common, but it is not rare.  It was SO not in our plan for that cold November Sunday. The problem is, these kinds of things never ARE in the plan.  Who schedules the furnace quitting into your weekly calendar?  But planning for these kinds of possibilities makes all the difference in how you get through them. 

Provident Living
We could spend hours talking about the different facets of it. But cutting to the quick, being “provident” means having foresight and providing carefully for the future.  Its about taking care of yourself today AND tomorrow, and being prepared for the unexpected.  And it IS God’s temporal plan for His children.

Many years ago, Dan’s uncle was selling his motorhome. It was a nice one and he had taken exceptionally good care of it, and Dan really thought we should have it. He spent considerable time trying to talk me into it, and finally convinced me. Sort of. Mostly, I just gave in.  Then one day he came home from a session of General Conference and said “We’re not buying Uncle Ernie’s motorhome.” 
I was just starting to warm up to the idea. LOL

It was October 1998. President Gordon B. Hinckley had just told those attending a general session for the men of the church to GET OUT OF DEBT.  “I am suggesting” he said ” that the time has come to get our houses in order …  Self-reliance cannot obtain when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others.” He went on to say “I urge you brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchase to avoid debt to the extent possible.  Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage. This is part of the temporal gospel in which we believe.”  He concluded his remarks with this “If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wives and children and peace in your hearts.” 1

It wasn’t that we hadn’t heard the counsel to stay out of debt before. In fact, we felt strongly about it, and even tried to live it.  But that particular talk became one of those defining teaching events in our lives. It spoke to Dan’s heart and when we discussed it, it spoke to my heart.  It changed things for us. We recommitted ourselves and began working with intent toward becoming completely free of debt. 

Three years later, Dan lost his job. A job we had every expectation that he would retire from.  “Downsized” was a relatively new word at the time, but people were getting used to it.  One day he went to work as usual, and a few hours later he was home.  And that was that.  The truth is, nothing ever went back to ‘normal’ after that day. We owe a LOT to our strict obedience – finally – to the emphatic admonishment President Hinckley gave that evening three years before.  When a prophet speaks that forthrightly, that emphatically, and that urgently – it is a good idea to pay attention. I am so glad we did.

When we had a family meeting a few days later, to tell our kids that Dad no longer had a job, there was silence for a long time.  Jacob was just home from his mission, and he asked the questions everyone wondered. “What does this mean? How is this going to affect us in the day to day?”  Of course these were questions we had talked about ourselves before we met with the kids. We could tell them this: “Because we listened to, and obeyed the prophet’s counsel to get out of debt, we believe we will ride this out without too much pain. Our most important goal is to keep this house. It is the only thing we owe money on, and every energy must  be spent on making sure this house is never in danger.”

Things didn’t work out the way we hoped they would.  Dan never re-entered his field. After months of looking, he re-entered the workforce taking a job paying $12 an hour.  We had plenty of opportunity to reinforce our testimony to our kids of some very important principles. Like TITHING, FOOD STORAGE, and living within our means – which means avoiding DEBT. 

I could not even begin to count the number of times I shook my head and said to myself, or to Dan, or to whatever kid happened to be standing nearby “Wow. Can you imagine?  If we had had credit card debt, we would have lost this house by now!  Who knew this would go on as long as it has?” 

Provident living and being self reliant are not just Latter-day Saint ideals.  It is a very popular concept among all sorts of people who focus on independence.  However, there are a few things that I think are important to keep in mind when talking about Provident Living in a Latter-day Saint context.  And as with all important things, we get our most reliable tutoring from the scriptures.

So where in the scriptures does it tell us to prepare for the furnace to quit, or to get a food storage in, or to stay out of debt, or put some money aside in case the unexpected happens?

Well, we know that when the Lord speaks thru his prophets, that is scripture to us. Almost 60 years before President Hinckley gave that talk, (in 1941) President Heber J Grant spoke from the pulpit “If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family,” he said “it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.” 2

In the Doctrine & Covenants we read “… verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam your father, whom I created.
Behold I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal …” (DC 29: 34,35)

For the 72 hours we were without a furnace last November, we were surprisingly comfortable. We were sure glad it wasn’t 37 below, but there were other things that made that easier for us.  Being prepared for possibilities can take a near tragedy and make it nothing more than an inconvenience.  And not being prepared can take an inconvenience and turn it into a tragedy. We had always worried about what we would do if we lost heat in the winter.  That was the worst case scenario in our stay-at-home emergency plan. So over time, as we could afford it, we worked toward some solutions.

  • many years ago we spent considerable energy re-insulating our attic. We’ve noticed that it has made a big difference in our house retaining heat in the winter, and cool in the summer.
  • we have a gas fireplace which we turned on immediately.
  • we have a woodstove downstairs with a flat top for cooking if necessary
  • we have a few cords of wood stacked up outside, some of it by the back door, and some of it downstairs beside the wood stove
  • we’ve had some bad experiences learning to light that stupid stove when it was 30 below. We’ve smoked out the whole house that not only set off the smoke alarm, but took weeks to get rid of.
  • we had some money set aside for emergencies that we were able to use to fix the furnace

All these things we used on that Sunday and Monday.  By Tuesday morning, it was as if nothing had ever happened, except that our house smelled slightly of wood smoke.

We were so grateful for planning ahead for a possibility we hoped would never happen. And who knows? That might have just been a test run. I hope not.  

Provident Living and being Self Reliant means that we learn skills that will help our family should the unexpected rear its ugly head.  Knowing those skills takes the fear out of the unexpected.  Years ago – before I made my first long distance road trip without Dan, he thought it prudent to teach me how to change a tire. I admit, it wasn’t my finest moment. To say I was resistant would be giving me too much credit. I had absolutely no desire, but he insisted.  He made me come out and watch him as he patiently explained each step while he removed a tire, and put it back on. I stood behind him watching and noticed how dirty his hands were getting and I thought “You canNOT be serious! I am not touching that. And what if I break a nail? That’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”  I didn’t vocalize any of those thoughts and wisely Dan didn’t insist I actually demonstrate all I learned. 

I have since learned to change a tire. I use a CELL PHONE. The way I look at it – I have five sons and a husband. And I didn’t put up with all those boys for 40 years for nothing! Problem is, I got a flat tire in Montana, when I was far from any of those boys. And far from AMA, and in a dead zone for cell coverage. My very pregnant, but smarter niece was with me. Guess who changed the tire? Another one of my un-finer moments.

  • If you drive, the likelihood of you having a flat tire is extremely high. In fact, I’d venture to say its inevitable. Just a matter of time.  Its part of driving. 
  • If you live in Canada, the likelihood of you having a furnace issue one day is real. Even high.
  • You may have some unexpected and unusually high bills one day – that knock the wind out of you.
  • One day you may find yourself unemployed.

None of these things have to destroy you. Every one of them can be dealt with better and more smoothly with a little bit of foresight and providence.

Sit as a family and review some possibilities. And then talk out possible solutions.

  • What would we do if we lost heat in the middle of winter? How would we get thru the first few hours? What if it went on for a few days?  
  • What would we do if Dad suddenly couldn’t go to work? What is our plan to get thru the first few weeks? What if it went on for six months? What if he never worked again?
  • What skills should we learn to make our life more comfortable if things suddenly changed?
  • What if we had to cut our grocery budget in half?
  • What if we had a few bad months when we had zero money after the bills to buy groceries at all?  

During some very lean years, it never occurred to me for a minute to say “Wow, wasn’t that lucky that we happened to have a food storage downstairs?”  

When Dan lost his job, it never occurred to me for one minute to think “Wow, wasn’t that lucky that we decided several years ago to get out of, and then forever after avoid debt?”

Luck had no part in any of that. They were both results of obedience to the counsel a loving Heavenly Father – given for our comfort and peace of mind.

Some things to put on your list:

  • FOOD STORAGE: Get one!  If you’ve got one, keep it up. I have heard too many older people say something like “Now that the kids are gone, there’s not much point. I don’t bother with it anymore.” Are you kidding me? Did you suddenly stop eating? Who’s supposed to feed you?
  • DEBT:  Get OUT! Out Out Out. Avoid it like it is the plague it is. If you cannot pay for it by the end of this month, you cannot afford it.
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is meme-we-cant-afford-it.jpg

Wait for it. Save for it. But do NOT “buy it on time”! There are very few necessary exceptions. Obviously we have to borrow for a house. Sometimes one has to borrow for a reliable vehicle. (be reasonable. Affordability is still key here.) Sometimes one has to borrow for an education. But make paying those debts off a priority, starting with the smallest one first.

You can say “We cannot afford this.” Try it. Its not as hard as you might think it is. Just form the words: “We. Can’t. Afford. It.” See? not that bad. Use that sentence more. If you cannot pay it off by the end of this month – you CAN. NOT. AFFORD. IT! Stop feeling ‘less than‘ because you don’t have all that someone else has. Perhaps they can’t afford it either, but they’ve unwisely chosen debt to make it look like they can. Come ON. Those are mind games we play with ourselves, and ultimately we’re the losers. Stop feeling that you deserve this or that. I’ll tell you what you deserve. You deserve peace of mind. And you’re never gonna have it, no matter how nice your truck is – as long as you owe money.

I do not speak against nice vehicles. I don’t speak against nice vacations. Or leather furniture. If you can afford it, do whatever your little heart desires. But remember – if you can’t pay for it by the end of the month – you cannot afford it. Live with that. And man up to it. Live within your means and be grateful for all you DO have, instead of counting all the things you don’t.

EMERGENCY SAVINGS:    If you can only put $5 a week away, then put $5 a week away.  But do something. The Lord blesses us when we obey. We don’t have to do great things. Small things count in His eyes, and the Lord blesses us for them.

When referring to the story of Nephi finding ore to build tools necessary to build a ship, L. Tom Perry said “I have sometimes wondered what would have happened if Nephi had asked the Lord for tools instead of a place to find the ore to make tools. I doubt the Lord would have honored Nephi’s request. You see, the Lord knew that Nephi could make the tools, and it is seldom the Lord will do something for us that we can do for ourselves. The Lord does help when we go to Him in times of need, especially when we are committed to His work and respond to His will. But the Lord only helps those who are willing to help themselves. He expects His children to be self-reliant to the degree they can be.”

Elder Perry went on to say “Independence and self-reliance are critical to our spiritual and temporal growth. . . . . If we increase our dependence on anything or anyone except the Lord, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.”  3 (GC October 1991) 

We all could go on and on and on – giving examples and bearing testimony of how living the principles of Providence and Self Reliance has helped us and how they put us in a position of being able to be more charitable. And we could be uplifted and edified by it all.  And I think we should have those discussions.  In this article, we could only skim over the basics of such an all encompassing gospel lifestyle. And make no mistake, that is exactly what it is. A lifestyle. Learning skills that will help us be self reliant is a life long focus. It is a lifestyle. And it yields gratitude and peace of mind.

I encourage us all to look again at our our situations – no matter where we are on the spectrum, and find a way to do better. Make it your goal this year to become more self reliant and work toward that goal every single day.

The Lord will help us, but remember what Elder Perry said, He will “help those who are willing to help themselves. He EXPECTS [us] to be self reliant to the degree that [we] can be.”

Two more scriptures to leave you with.  I find them very motivating when I recommit myself to follow counsel from the Brethren “Why call me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)

“I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when you do not what I say, ye have no promise.” (DC 82:10) I cannot think of anyone I would rather have bound to me, than Him.  And He promises. He says “I the Lord am BOUND when ye do what I say.” It is my prayer that we will all willingly “Bind” Him to us as we strive to live what He says. As we strive to live providently, and to know the peace and freedom of a self reliant life.

Warmly,


Cindy Suelzle

footnotes:

  1. General Conference October 1998, Priesthood Session – To the Boys and to the Men. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1998/10/to-the-boys-and-to-the-men?lang=eng
  2. Heber J. Grant, Relief Society Magazine May 1932, https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/10/latter-day-prophets-speak-strengthening-the-home?lang=eng
  3. L. Tom Perry, October General Conference 1991 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1991/10/becoming-self-reliant?lang=eng
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my favourite old denim shirt

Loyal. . . . If I had to think of a word to describe that favourite piece of clothing that wears itself out in your service, I suppose it would have to be ‘loyal‘. In this favourite shirt or pair of jeans or pair of shoes, pajamas or whatever – you feel comfortable. You feel like ‘you‘. Even if you don’t always say the right thing, or feel all that confident around others, or have nagging doubts about important things – this shirt is your friend, and in it, you feel comfortable. Is it just me? Or do you have any of those? When I get a new fave its like I have nothing else in my closet. I understand that I might be a little over the top about that sorta thing. Then again, I might have some kindred spirits out there. ?

Truth is, I have a favourite shirt. A denim shirt. What can I say? I am a denim girl. I bought it a few years ago and as unhappy as I am to admit it, I’ve just about worn it out. This is most unfortunate and I have a hard time parting with a favourite companion like my denim shirt – which has served me so well. As it happens, my mom moved in with us several months ago – and although I can mend clothes as well as many others, my mom can do it better. When she mends, it’s professionally done. She breathes new life into the garment. She takes more care than the average mender – precise corners, that sorta thing. Like a true quilter. A few months ago, she saved my denim shirt with three small but important patches, in just the right colour of blue cloth. But as bad luck would have it, I ripped it in another spot and back it went into my mother’s sewing room where it hung for quite a while – while I spent weeks trying to convince her into giving it one last chance with another patch, and she spent those same weeks trying to convince me to let it go, and assuming I’d be reasonable. Reason I have discovered, is a relative thing. It took over a month, but I am happy to report I prevailed, and we went through her scraps looking for the piece that would work just right. Again.

It reminded me of a certain pair of jeans when I was about fourteen years old. In my view they were a patchwork piece of art. In my mom’s opinion they were an embarrassment. She kept saying “this is the LAST patch Cindy” to which I would readily agree, thinking surely this one would be the last needed. But inevitably within another couple of days I was back with my jeans in hand saying “Please Mom?“

She came from war years – where patched clothing may have been a necessity but it sure wasn’t a happy one, and any self respecting kid would have been mortified to have had half as many patches as I wore. Nowadays moms are saved the trouble. My grandkids prefer holes to the patches. But that wasn’t cool in the 1970’s when I was a teenager. Patches were.

Whatever happened to those jeans remains a mystery. They simply vanished one day, never to be seen again. I had already on a few occasions, rescued them from the garbage, to my mother’s embarrassment, so it is not difficult to imagine their eventual fate. But I am not bitter. I promise. And she claims she has no recollection of their fate anyway.

Flash forward a few decades. I am a mother and a grandmother, but it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some things just keep getting repeated. There I was in my mother’s sewing room again, pleading “Please Mom. Just one more chance. I’m not ready to give up on it.” And her saying “Cindy, have some respect. Give it a proper burial.” This is the same conversation we’ve had over several white cotton nightgowns over the last two or three or four decades.

She did it. She always relents in the end. My denim shirt lived to see another day. We both hope the next rip will not be too soon. Have you ever had a favourite something that you just wore out but couldn’t give up on? Truth be told, I’ve had a few. A worn out patchwork quilt that I talked Mom into making into a housecoat for me when I was in high school. I took it with me into my marriage. Wisely, Dan didn’t have an opinion. And several nightgowns that eventually transitioned into another realm after becoming transparent from wear.

Its not that I don’t like new things. Its just that have such an appreciation for the old. The stalwarts. The faithful friends. Old clothes. Old dishes. Old pictures. Old friends. Old houses.

I am familiar with the old adage:
Use it up. Wear it out.
Make it do or do without.

And I’d like to say that my sentiments are that practical, and I may have even justified myself from time to time with this philosophy. But nah, if I was completely honest – it is because I too am loyal.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

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making room in the Inn for Santa

part 3 of “to Santa or not to Santa”

I began my parental relationship with Santa Claus with slight trepidation. After introducing him to our four and five year old children I still worried (I was such a worrier) about whether we had done the right thing. The kids understood that Santa had a few rules to follow if he was to remain welcome in our home, and I tried to tread that ground carefully, balancing my idealism with allowing my children to enjoy the gift of magic and excitement that he had always brought to me as a child. I didn’t want to hold him hostage, but . . . . . .

Santa sitting in Charlie’s rocking chair

Oh how I wish that I could have had the slightest glimpse into the future – just enough to know that all would be well so that I could have relaxed a bit.

As time went on, I witnessed Santa evolve into the central figure in our Christmas celebrations as we enjoyed sharing the holiday with grandparents and aunts and uncles who delighted in the few children in both our families. We were riding a wave that I felt powerless to control, and I wasn’t happy about it. The way Christmas had developed – not because we actively created it, but because we allowed it – left me unsatisfied and feeling that I was letting our children down. Santa had become all I said I’d never allow him to become. He became our Christmas. I knew I could ask him to leave. I had reserved that right after all, but now there were so many others to consider. The overwhelming reality however, was that we were still the parents, and it was our responsibility to follow our hearts and reclaim the way we celebrated Christmas.

I tossed it around for months, considering different angles, and discussing the few that seemed reasonable with Dan. Santa and Jesus didn’t have to be mutually exclusive and although we had tried to talk about the source of the tender spirit-of-giving that motivated Santa, it seemed that our kids were so busy being ‘children’ (huh), full of the childhood wonder of Santa Claus with all his trappings, that I feared I had missed something really important. I sensed that time was ticking, and their memories were becoming more firm and important. It was clear that if were were to reclaim the way we chose to celebrate Christmas, we needed to create meaningful Christ-centered traditions. We were approaching Christmas 1986. We had four children, our youngest was just a year old.

In the end, we hit on a plan. We agreed to give Christmas Day to Santa Clause, but we reserved Christmas Eve for the Saviour. I wanted Christmas EVE to BE about Him. We wanted to talk about him and imagine the night of his birth. I realize that many families re-enact the nativity, but that wasn’t ‘us‘. We needed something that worked for us.

Journey to Bethlehem by Joseph Brickeyh

We talked about what kind of dinner Mary and Joseph might have had during their travels and after they arrived in Bethlehem. Research resources were not what they are now, but it seemed reasonable that their meal was very simple, and humble.

a Saviour is Born by Joseph Brickey

There was likely cheese. And undoubtedly bread. Flat bread. Perhaps figs or dates if they were lucky. Or dried fish. More than likely they would have drank water from a well or fresh wine / which wouldn’t have been much more than grape juice. It was probable that during their stay in Bethlehem they may have acquired mutton from time to time . . . . After dark, their only light would have been from candles or small lamps.
A picture began forming.

We envisioned, and then planned out our meal. It would be a simple one of white cheese with homemade flat bread, and grape juice. By candlelight. . . Preparing it was a family event. Making the bread. Cutting the cheese. Making the juice. Then we lit the candles and turned off the lights. Low light often reduces volume, and quiet discussion allows for tender feelings to be expressed. These are things we discovered while eating bread and cheese in the soft light of candles.

We have eaten bread and cheese by candlelight every Christmas Eve since 1986. There were years that were lean and cheese was expensive so there was less of it. In those years, we put homemade jam on the table. There were other years of plenty that saw fish and olives on the table. Other foods have been added from time to time. Figs. Dates. Pomegranates have become a personal favourite of mine. Oranges. More varieties of cheese. But always homemade flatbread. Always white cheese. Always purple grape juice. The grape juice has become our own, from our own purple grapes – saved for this meal.

It has become our most favourite Christmas tradition of all. One that we have maintained for over three decades. Half of my life. It is a delight to us to watch our children carry it on in their own homes with their children, and to hear that it remains their favourite tradition.

When does Santa get his time?

When the meal is over and cleaned up, and stories have been shared, and songs have been sung, . . . When guests have left, teeth have been brushed, . . . then we gather into the family room and Dan reads a favourite poem that we all know by heart but we listen to him anyway –

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In the hopes that St. Nickolaus soon would be there ….. “

I’ll admit it gets a little animated. And for families who normally don’t role-play, or do charades, kid after kid has always wanted a chance to portray the “plump, jolly old elf with a broad face and a little round belly, that shook, when he laughs like a bowlful of jelly.”

We owe a lot to Clement C. Moore – it is his description we rely on when we visualize Santa Claus. And he should know, because he spied him in his very own parlour all those years ago. I am grateful he took the time to write his experience down so that all of us might benefit.

I have come to love Santa Claus – and all he represents to me. I no longer quarrel with him. I am satisfied that he has done our family a great service in visiting us every Christmas Eve since that inaugural visit in 1982. We have felt his spirit as each of our children have discovered for themselves in their own time – who he really is, and what he really looks like, and WHAT HE DOES.

I think the tipping point for me in making that final decision all those years ago, was that I never felt the betrayal I’ve heard others speak of. Of course like others, I reached the age of doubting, but my mother always maintained that she believed. You could never get her to verbalize anything to the contrary. To this very day at over eighty years old, she still maintains that she believes in Santa Clause and always has. Because she always has, I always have, even though I wondered for a few years, whether I’d invite him into our lives as young parents.

One Christmas Eve when I was fourteen years old my older sister and I talked my mother into letting us help fill the stockings. Our Dad was working that night. We prevailed, and she allowed us into the inner sanctuary reserved for parents on Christmas Eve. The next morning I was shocked to wake up and still feel the magic. I confided to my mother that even though logically I understood, and for goodness sakes, had even filled the stockings, I couldn’t help it – I still “believed”! She never let me help again. Not even when I was seventeen years old and protested mightily. Not even after I was married. Until my own children hung their stockings, I was excluded from her private ritual. Although outwardly I rebelled, inwardly I always appreciated her refusal to give in. It kept the magic alive for me. And I have tried very hard to do the same for my kids.

In this house WE BELIEVE.

I’d love to hear how you incorporate your important family values into Christmas traditions. Please comment below.

Warmly,


Cindy Suelzle

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to Santa or not to Santa

…… that is a question every parent must come to terms with at some point early in their parenting. (part 1 of “to Santa or not to Santa”)

And its not a question to be taken lightly, because whatever you decide, it isn’t your right to wreck it for others’ who may choose a different path. For me, in our very first year of parenting it could be avoided. We had the only grandchildren on both sides, so the precedent hadn’t been established. We in fact, unintentionally – had the responsibility for establishing a precedent in both of our families. A place of considerable pressure for someone as young and idealistic as we were.

The dilemma I felt was that I wanted our children to love the Saviour and to recognize that Christmas was first and foremost about celebrating His birth, and to acknowledging the important part He played in our life. I felt that a celebration the magnitude of Christmas, could be justified just as well with or without Santa Claus. But on the other hand, I had many fond memories of Santa and didn’t want to deny my kids the wholesome magic that he brings with him. But still, Santa had overshadowed any feeling I might have had as a child for the Saviour. In fact in my early childhood, I had no knowledge of the birth of Jesus and its connection to Christmas. Nativities were not a part of our Christmas. Truth be told, I don’t believe they were a part of very many people’s Christmas in those days. I never saw one when I was a child, or a youth.

I successfully dodged that bullet for a few years, while our extended families, the grandparents and aunts and uncles stood a respectful distance away from Santa while allowing us the privilege of making that decision. Christmas of 1982 was the year I needed to jump off the fence and make a decision. Jacob was four and a half years old. Sarah was three and a half. They were going to have memories of this Christmas and it was time for me to make the choice: Was Santa going to be a part of our Christmas or not? The problem was, that I didn’t have a crystal ball and couldn’t tell how inviting Santa into our lives would impact our family long term. Dan wanted Santa. Our folks all wanted Santa. All our kids’ aunts and uncles wanted Santa. . . . . And there were other issues to consider. Like how to introduce him at this point?

Finally, I hit upon a plan. I discussed it with Dan and we had an important family council with our kids. It was time. We told them about the old man who lived at the north pole, who loved children. His delight in life we told them was to make children happy, and because of that, he spent his whole year building toys for them which he gave to them once a year on Christmas Eve. We held nothing back. We laid out for them the whole picture. The red suit and beard, the sleigh and reindeer, the elves, the list, …. everything. They were spell bound, wide eyed and enthralled. We told them that there was only one thing Santa loved more than children. He loved Jesus Christ. And he celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ by giving gifts and spreading good cheer because it made him so happy to do so, BUT his one fear and worry, was that children would get so excited about him and the presents, that they would forget about the “reason for the season” – the celebration of the birth of our Saviour.

His commitment was that if that happened in any house he normally visited, he would simply stop coming to that house. As long as the children remembered Jesus, and were grateful for Santa’s gifts then he would come every year for their whole lives. But if the children got too caught up in Santa and thought that Christmas was all about him and not about Jesus, he would stop coming to them. Of course, he might depend on us as parents to let him know how that was going. We told our kids that Dad and I thought they were big enough for us to invite Santa for Christmas – if of course, they wanted him to come. You won’t be surprised to know that they very much wanted him to come! And they promised that they would always remember the reason we celebrated Christmas, which was also the reason Santa did all his wonderful stuff.

The Spirit of Christmas by Greg Olson

That was it then. We officially invited Santa Claus into our Christmas the year of 1982. We were expecting our third child the next spring. It was time we moved on. I had some trepidation, but I was determined to monitor our Santa-meter and keep our Christmases in balance.

As it would happen, Santa Claus happened to be visiting our local shopping mall that Saturday and I asked the kids if they’d like to go see him. They had never seen him – or any likenesses of him, before then. It is wonderful, the control a parent has over the influence the world has on a four year old. Don’t we all wish we could protect them for a life time with the same care and attention we could when they were toddlers? We controlled what they saw on television, what they read and what they saw of the world. And until we were ready, I prevented any exposure they had to Santa Claus. We made preparations to go the very next day to see him.

As we stood in a long line of excited children, (another new experience for Jacob and Sarah, as I normally avoided crowds and malls) – I noted that Santa was asking kids what they wanted for Christmas. Yikes. I forgot about that important detail. Our kids did not know they could make gift requests. I coached them “Santa Claus may ask you what you want for Christmas. If he does, Jacob why don’t you tell him you’d like a covered wagon made out of wood with horses?”
“Okay!” he readily agreed.
“Sarah, how bout you ask him for a princess dress?”
“Okay!” she joined.
Whew. That wasn’t so hard. We got closer and Jacob and Sarah were very observant of all that was going on around them. I too watched the minutes unfold – this truly was a departure point for our little family, at least where the kind old man of Christmas was concerned. My kids were getting big enough that it was time for me to let some of the world into their lives – while I could still control the circumstances.

Finally, we were at the front of the line. Santa invited them to come near to him. I accompanied. He asked them if they had been good children. They assured him they had. As predicted, he asked them what they would like for Christmas. Jacob announced that he would like a toy covered wagon drawn by horses. Sarah told him she would like a princess dress (which bytheway, in 1982 was not the Disney princess dresses we’re so familiar with nowadays). Santa nodded and made mental note, then asked “What else would you like?”
Oops. I hadn’t anticipated that one.
“We don’t know.” Jacob confided “Our mom didn’t tell us that one yet.”
Whew. Quick thinking Son. We said our good byes and received candy canes for our visit. Dad happily waited on the other side to hear about our experience.

It was a happy day for him and the kids. A bit traumatic for me, but happy nonetheless. Our family was growing up. And we had just taken a big step into a new world that could never be reversed. A tangible innocence was traded in that day, for another circumstance – another innocence that would carry us for several more years until our children were ready to make another transition: a coming-of-age discovery that Santa Claus would play a big part in. In fact, he was here to stay the rest of their lives – in one form or another.

(this is part 1 of our Santa story)  
I’d love to hear about how you made that important choice of inviting (or not inviting) Santa into your family’s lives.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

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The Night We Nearly Went to Sleep Forever

So a couple of weeks ago, my son’s family’s carbon monoxide detector went off in the middle of the night. My daughter in law admitted that her first reaction was to assume it was a mistake and to shut it off before it woke the kids.  Do you ever think like that? Really.  Did she truly want to wake the kids up?  Get them out of the house at midnight on such a chilly night?  It was November!  In her exhausted state, she was certain that if she went back to sleep it would all be better in the morning.  She didn’t realize it then, but this line of thinking is a symptom of carbon monoxide poisoning.  How do I know that?  First hand experience.

Gratefully her more sensible side prevailed before she allowed herself to fall back asleep.  “What is the point of having a carbon monoxide detector if I’m going to argue with it?” she reasoned.  “Who do you even call at midnight anyway?  Where do I take the kids if we have to leave the house?”  Of course this had to happen during the ONE night her husband was away from home.  Figures!  She called 911.  They told her to get the kids up and get out of the house!  She did.  They all bundled up in the van.  Four little sleepy-heads, not up for an adventure in the wee hours of the morning.  Not much of an adventure anyway, when you’re stuck in car and all the action is going on in the house.  But there WAS a firetruck!  And the firemen WERE wearing masks.  And all those things helped to make the adventure a little more “fun”.  “Fun” bytheway, is all in the eyes of the beholder. 

In the end, it was determined that the exhaust from a running car in the attached garage had filtered through the air and apparently took a couple of hours before it rose to the second level where the family slept and finally set off the alarm.  After an investigation by the gas company and an airing out of the house, it was safe for everyone to go back inside for the last couple hours of sleep – a little wiser for the experience.

Several lessons learned.
1 – car running in the garage with the exhaust pointed toward the inside door – even though the big garage door was open to the fresh evening air …. ooops.
2 – Yes. Pay attention to the carbon monoxide detector and assume it ‘knows’ more than we do about the invisible, odourless, silent killer – carbon monoxide.
3 – GET OUT! Get fresh air.
4 – Call 911
5 – Don’t go back inside till you get the all-clear from a professional.

Know why she didn’t go back to sleep?  Because she remembered hearing something about an experience many years ago that nearly cost us everything that mattered.  The night we very nearly went to sleep forever.  The memory came back, vague as it was, as she laid in a nice warm bed wondering what to do.  It motivated her to get up.

As we chatted about it the next day, that long ago December night came back to me in vivid colour.  Like a movie replaying, where I had a front row seat.  I watched it unfold in slow motion – although the whole event in reality took only a few minutes.

Jacob and Sarah sitting on the front door step of our first house in Calmar, probably in the summer of 1982. He would have been 4, she would have been 3.

We lived in an old house.  A fixer-upper.  But we had fixed it  up and it was cozy.  And it was ours.  Well, we shared it with the bank.  We lived in a little farming town just south west of Edmonton called Calmar.  My husband commuted to Edmonton.  We had a garden.  I ground wheat to make our bread, just like the “Little Red Hen“.
We had lived there almost five years.  Two of our three children were born during those five years.

It had all the charm of quaint old houses and all of the problems that often come with them too.

Money was tight in those days, but we took on projects as they rose to the top of our priority list and as we could afford them.   During our second summer we re-shingled our roof and re-insulated our walls and roof.  (of course when I say ‘we’, I mean the ‘royal we’, as in “DAN”).  Bytheway, you’d be amazed at how little insulation is actually IN old  houses.  Not much!  No wonder our walls frosted up in the winter.  Original furnace too.  It was kinda neat.  Not very efficient, but waaaaaay cool.  And huge.  Took up half the basement.  Our house was older than my dad!  Which at the time seemed really, really  old.  At least as old as my Gramma’s house where he was born and raised.  Many good memories were lived out in that house.  …. And then again – there is THIS memory.

It had been an unseasonably cold autumn.  The furnace ran all the time it seemed.  I hardly ever left the house in those days anyway – which is a subject for another time.  The house seemed to always have a chill.  We wore sweaters and slippers, but I didn’t mind.  It was part of the charm of living like the Little Red Hen in an old house.  Part of the romance I suppose.  I know right?  What can I say? I was very idealistic in those early years.

I spent a lotta time standing on the heat register, reminded of doing the same thing on chilly mornings when I was a child.  But I had a constant headache.  A dull throb that never seemed to go away.  I suspected it had something to do with the air I was breathing, standing on the heat register – warm air directly from the furnace.  And I wasn’t feeling well most days. Funny why I suspected that.

To be cautious we called our local gas company, and asked if they would come out and check our furnace for possible gas problems.  Perhaps even carbon monoxide I suggested.  This stupid headache!   Calgary Power sent out a service man and he checked our house.   How he did so I have no idea, because he missed a deadly problem that should have hit him right in the face.   Nope.   ‘Nothing amiss‘ he said.   Sorry about your headache but no connection to your furnace.   It was a relief at least to have that nagging question resolved.

Days and weeks passed.   Dan went to work and came home.   The kids and I went for days without leaving the house.   That was just kinda the way I rolled in those days.   As Christmas approached we made plans to go to my folk’s house for the holidays.   In Fort Kent, Alberta.   Another little farming town about four hours northeast.

It was Christmas of 1983.   Our three children were Jacob – five years old, Sarah – four years old and Zack – an infant.   We spent a few wonderful days visiting Gramma and Grampa, cozied up in their comfortable acreage home.   The best way to do winters in Canada. Or at least how I did them.

After a few days, we loaded everyone back into the car and drove home.   Not sure what time we arrived, but it was dark.   And night time.   (Dark doesn’t always mean night time at the end of December up here.)   We were anxious to get the car unloaded and get to bed, but Jacob and Sarah were refreshed from the walk between the car and house, and they wanted to play with their new toys.   Santa had been good to us.   New toys to play with, new books to read.   I let them play while we got settled.   Zack fell asleep as soon as I laid him down.   Huh.   That was unusual for him. 

I became very tired myself and sat in the rocking chair while Dan continued to unload the car.   I was so tired.   Jacob and Sarah soon lost interest in their toys and laid on the floor of the toy room – within my sight line.   I told them to put their toys away and go to bed, but they continued to lay there.   Unusual for them.   Frustrated, and so wanting to go to bed myself, I told them to just go to bed, we’d put everything away in the morning.   They slowly drug themselves off the floor and walked past me to their bedroom.   Tipsy.   Like they were dizzy and couldn’t walk straight.   I became alarmed.   They shouldn’t be this tired.   Come to think of it, neither should I.   I could not get myself off the chair to go check on them.   When Dan finished unloading the car and came into the living room I said “Dan, there’s something very wrong.   Jacob and Sarah wouldn’t listen to me, and when I told them to go to bed, they could hardly walk straight.   And I am. So. Tired.”

Dan went to the basement and came flying back up the stairs. “Cindy!  GET UP.  We have to get out of here.  The house is FULL of carbon monoxide!”  He phoned his dad in St. Albert, a good hour north of us, to see if we could go there.  No cell phones in those days.  “Cindy!  GET UP!  Grab the baby.  We have to get out of here!”  He ran past me to grab an already sleeping child and took them out to the car.  “Cindy! GET UP! Grab the baby!”  He ran past with another sleeping child.

I recall watching him in slow motion, thinking very clearly “I better get up.  …. We need to leave the house. ……  We can’t stay here. …. Yeah.  I need to stand up and go pick up the baby.  I really should help Dan.  … We need to get out of here.”

“CINDY!” he shouted again and ran by with the baby.  “GET UP! I NEED your help.  Grab a suitcase.  We’re going to Dad’s.”  Then he was back for me.  Three sleeping children in the car, he pulled me from the chair and walked me out the back door.  I have a vague recollection of the walk and of getting into the car.  The fresh air was good to breathe.  I hadn’t realized my stupid headache had come back.

Somewhere during that hour’s drive to St. Albert, with my window cracked open and fresh air clearing my head, I said “We could have died.”  There wasn’t anything else to say.  We drove mostly in silence.

Christmas holidays isn’t the easiest time to find someone to replace your furnace, and we imposed on my inlaws longer than we expected, but it didn’t take long to sort out what had been happening in our home while we were gone.  Slowly, over the cold weeks of October and November, our old furnace had been leaking carbon monoxide into our home.  The daily opening and closing of the doors I suppose – of Dan going to work and coming home, had been enough to keep the air from being lethal.  But four days of being closed up tight had filled the house with a higher concentration which literally took only minutes to incapacitate all those within.

What if? What if? 

What if Dan hadn’t been in and out and in and out bringing in luggage and Christmas presents and all the other paraphernalia that fills up a car when you travel with three kids?  What if he’d too said “I’m tired.  Lets go to bed.  We can finish this in the morning.” ?  What if he hadn’t thought to check the furnace?  How could he possibly have known what it meant to find the rusted out chimney?  The image to the left is not our old furnace, but it is the nearest image I could find to illustrate it.  At a certain point a metal pipe exhausts into the brick chimney.  When Dan touched it to check the join, it crumbled in his hand – screaming the horrible truth that the air that should have been leaving the house for all these months, had in fact been staying in the house.

I’ve thought about that young and incompetent Calgary Power repair man from time to time over the years.  Why didn’t he catch it?  Because we trusted him we didn’t trust ourselves when we suspected that we had a “furnace issue”.  He was the expert after all.  What did we know about the price-of-rice-in-China?  That’s why you call a professional.  What else should we have done?  If there is one thing I have learned repeatedly over the years, it is to trust that ‘feeling’, that inner voice that speaks of something amiss.  When someone contradicts that ‘feeling’ – it is better to continue to trust the feeling than the often well meaning person who says otherwise.

We replaced the furnace that week between Christmas and New Years.  It took every dime we had saved for a rainy day.  All Dan’s holiday pay from the whole year of not taking vacation.  Who knew what we had been saving up for?  How grateful we were to have had it.  Grateful for whatever inspiration had prompted us to set it aside. After all, sometimes rainy days are in the middle of winter.  When we finally returned home about a week later, we marvelled at how modern and sleek the new furnace looked.  How little room on the floor it took compared to the old gravity fed octopus of a furnace that had nearly killed us.  It seemed immediately that our air was cleaner.  Fresher.  No more headache.

Soon enough the memory faded.  Tucked away behind the everyday urgencies of life with a growing family.  Every once in awhile I’d hear something on the radio about a family who all died in their sleep.  Victims of carbon monoxide poisoning.  And I would remember.  And I would shiver at all the what-ifs.  I would wonder what their final hours had been like.  Before they all decided to go to bed.  Had they received warnings that they ignored?   Did somebody say “Something isn’t right.  We should get out of here.”  Many years later, we learned of a new fangled thing called a carbon monoxide detector that one could buy and have in their home.  You can bet we own a few.

I’ll tell you what I believe.  I believe in guardian angels.  I don’t believe they have wings.  I think they look pretty much like you or me.  I believe that an angel – one especially assigned to us, stood in our living room and watched those few minutes unfold.  Yes, all that happened in probably less than fifteen or twenty minutes.  I believe he or she had (and still has) a vested interest in us.  He or she loved us, and was very likely related to us.  A wise man named Jeffrey R. Holland told me that in a talk I heard years later, and I knew when I heard it that it was true.  I already had a testimony of it, but the truth of what he said resonated in my heart again as if he spoke directly to ME.  I knew that we had been warned weeks before that night when I first formed the words “carbon monoxide“.  I didn’t even fully comprehend what carbon monoxide was, but the words were meaningful to me nonetheless.  We had been warned repeatedly in various ways, right up till that very night – when we “luckily” decided to get-the-job-of-unpacking-done before retiring for a well deserved winter’s sleep.  I really, truly believe that.  And I thank my Heavenly Father for tender mercies.  I thank Him for allowing two other children to join our family in the years following that night, and for allowing our original three children and their new brothers to grow to adulthood and have children of their own.  I thank Him for paying attention to us, for watching over us.  And I thank Him for guardian angels.

–  –  –  –  –  –  –  –

Carbon Monoxide is a silent, invisible, odourless, ruthless killer.  It is a gas formed by incomplete combustion of carbon.  Although our homes and furnaces are considerably better than they used to be, CM still claims victims every year – especially in the winter time.

Here are some tips to help prevent carbon monoxide from building up in your home:

  • install carbon monoxide alarms on all levels of your home and test the alarms regularly
  • never idle vehicles in an attached garage, not even with the garage door open
  • have your fuel-burning appliances (furnaces, fireplaces, gas dryers) cleaned and checked annually
  • contrary to what I once believed, carbon monoxide is not heavier than air, so installing a detector lower on the wall is not helpful. In fact, carbon monoxide is slightly lighter than air and diffuses evenly throughout the room.
  • it is recommended to install your detector centrally outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms. If you have more than one sleeping area, then install detectors in all sleeping areas.
  • do not install carbon monoxide detectors directly above or beside fuel-burning units such as fire places, wood stoves or gas appliances, as appliances may emit a small amount of carbon monoxide upon start-up.  A carbon monoxide detector should not be placed within fifteen feet of heating or cooking appliances.
  • clear snow from all fresh air intake vents, exhaust vents and chimneys
  • do not use gas-powered generators, charcoal or propane barbecues/grills, or kerosene stoves indoors, or in closed space.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM EXPOSURE TO CARBON MONOXIDE?

Symptoms of CM poisoning are tricky.  They are similar to other ailments and are progressive.  They closely resemble the flu.  Initially, you may have a dull headache, feel nauseous, dizzy, weak, a general unwellness that lingers.  Left long enough, you may even start vomiting.  The conditions become worse over time and you may eventually feel chest pains, shortness of breath, trouble thinking clearly, blurred vision, possible convulsions and finally,  loss of consciousnesses.  The poisoning can be fatal.
In my case, I had been feeling symptoms for weeks – no doubt made worse by the fact that I often stood on top of the heat register, breathing the warm air that was blowing up and keeping me warm.   I would sometimes even read while I stood there – completely oblivious to what was coming with that ‘warmth’.   The poisoning was gradual, leading to a continuous state of feeling poorly, but I kinda think that if we’d had such thing as a Carbon Monoxide detector, it would have been screaming!    I hope you have one.   I hope you replace the batteries often enough.   I hope it works!

If for any reason, you suspect carbon monoxide is in your home or people are experiencing symptoms:

  • Have a professional come in and check it out.   We did that, and it wasn’t much help – in fact it caused me to second guess myself and gave me a false sense of security.    Trust yourself and how you’re feeling.   Get someone else to check it out.   If you have a CM detector, that IS your professional.
  • If your CM detector goes off – GET. OUT!   Leave the house immediately.
  • call 911 once everyone is outside
  • don’t go back inside till you’ve got the all clear from a professional

My personal advice for those of us who love old houses – REPLACE THE FURNACE.
Old houses might be great, but old furnaces are not.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

footnotes
1.  Jeffrey R. Holland
– Ministry of Angels, Ensign, November 2008, pg 29

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Who is the Most Important Person in This Room?

Michael McLean said something to me years ago that has reframed my life.

It has helped me hundreds of times, when I needed to come out of my personal comfort zone and do what needed to be done.  He said simply this: “Its never about YOU.”  Then he added the following, summarized in my own words, and edited over more than a decade of implementation, but the essential concept in this post came from Michael McLean.

Woman at the Well by Liz Lemon Swindle

His counsel:  Every time you walk into a room (or situation) you have a decision to make.  As you stand briefly in that threshold, before you actually walk through the door, you should ask yourself one question.  That question is “Who is the most important person in this room?” If the answer to that question is “ME!” then you are completely justified in all kinds of self centred thoughts like “I am uncomfortable here …. This is awkward for me … No one ever sits beside me … Why bother? … This is soooo out of my comfort zone …. I’d really rather not be here …. ” etc etc – because after all, you ARE the most important person in that room.  However, (and this is the clincher), IF the answer to your question today is . . . . . “that woman over there!” or “Laura!” or …. then suddenly, as soon as you’ve made that decision, your thoughts become all about her.  “I should go sit beside her – I should tell her how I LOVE her new hair – I should tell her how much I enjoyed her son’s talk last week – I should tell her how much I appreciated that comment she made the other day, and how much it helped me” etc etc.  Notice how all your previously self centred thoughts and feelings, turned 180 degrees to focus on someone else.  I really think we all want to BE nice.  We all want to BE the kind of person who makes other people feel good about themselves.  What that boils down to, is that we want to BE more Christlike.  More like Christ.  Well, if that is genuinely true, then think for a moment.  WHEN was it about Him?  When did He put himself first and say “nobody likes me”, “They’re not gonna like what I have to say” “I am so stinkin’ sick and tired” … Even when He hung on the cross, it still wasn’t about Him!  “Father forgive them.” and  “Woman, behold thy son” (John 19).  When?  When there are other people involved, when should it be all-about-me?

The fact is – sometimes it IS about me.  Sometimes I really have to say “this time – I just cannot do that“. And those times are okay.  But they should be rare exceptions, not the rule.  Most of the time, no matter how you’re feeling, when you’re in a place where you see someone who might need a kind word or wave, or even more – simply ask yourself – “WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THIS ROOM?”  I cannot tell you how much that has helped me be a better person and get over myself for the moment. Thank-you Michael.

The only time it backfires is when you raise your children with this philosophy, and then one day when you’re really struggling and feeling sorry for yourself, your daughter says “So why is this all about you mom? Who’s the most important person here anyway?” Stupid kid!

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

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Best time to start was Yesterday. Second best time is right this minute.

So we woke up Sunday morning to an unusually cold house.   I admit that we turn the heat down quite a bit at night, and I admit that I keep the bedroom window open a crack even in the winter time – making it a pretty chilly room sometimes. . . . . . But THIS was cold even for me!

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to confirm that our stupid furnace wasn’t working.  Oh Burrrrruther!  SO not convenient!   In fact, we suspected it may have stopped working the day before.  We had been out most of the day and went to bed as soon as we got home.  Upon reflection it did seem a little chilly to me.  . . . . . Could have been off a good 24 hours before we discovered it.  Sheesh!  Its November in Edmonton!  You don’t get along for too long without a dependable heat source!

Lucky for me Dan was home, so he could take charge of figuring it out – LOL.  I hate doing that sorta thing.  Unfortunately however, none of his ideas worked.  Lucky for both of us, our son in law Ray lives within an hour’s drive.   He’s a pretty smart guy, AND he works with furnaces.  He put his Sunday going-to-church-with-his-family plans aside so that he could come help Dan fix the furnace.  (Thanks again Ray)  It was a bigger problem than any of us expected and he needed a part that could not be purchased on Sunday.  So that meant another 24+ hours without our furnace running.  This was SO not in the plan for a cold November day.

The thing about these kinds of occurrences is that they seldom are “IN the plan“, but planning for their possibilities makes all the difference in how you get through them.  They quickly move to the top of your list of priorities without much warning.  Seriously, in Edmonton a furnace is pretty close to the top of any priority list in November.  Fortunately for us it wasn’t bitter cold outside and fortunately for us again, there wasn’t a strong wind blowing.  Both things to be grateful for, but there were other things to be grateful for too.  Factors that contributed to how this next 48 hours played out.

Let me tell you the “rest of the journey”.

Among the many factors that went into making this experience easier for us, I want to focus on four.  Things that we were very glad to have paid attention to when they were manageable and affordable.  Perhaps you might find them helpful too, so here they are.

Factor #1
At the beginning of our married life, we committed to do our very best to prepare our home and family for potential hardships.

That early decision smoothed out many difficulties over the years and prevented undue stress at times when we would have been least able to deal with it.

We knew some of these preparatory projects would cost hard-to-come-by-money in those early years.  We committed to make those things a priority, and sometimes priorities require sacrifice.  We also knew we couldn’t afford to do everything at once.  It would be a work in progress, that we would complete one step at a time.  As we could afford it.

Factor #2
As part of that ongoing commitment to prepare ourselves, several years ago – maybe 15 years ago, we invested in reinsulating our house.   (We also re-insulated the first house we owned many many years ago.  It seemed like a good investment.  And it certainly paid off.)  We paid particular attention to the attic where Dan blew a special insulation all over the surface of it.  This may seem like an unusual project in preparation for future hardship, but remember, we live in Edmonton. …..  We planned for the extra insulation keeping our house more efficient winter and summer.  Truly it has paid off.  Big time.  Many times we continue to still be amazed at how long the house keeps its warmth in the winter, and how long it keeps a morning coolness in the summer.

Factor #3
About a decade ago, we decided to save up and buy a wood burning stove.  We did considerable research before choosing one, and we had it installed in our basement that November.  It became a major part of our Christmas that year.  We opted for a free standing woodstove that had a flat top upon which we could boil water and perhaps even cook a meal if needed.  We positioned it to be on the other side of the wall of a 250 gallon water tank which stands in the adjoining laundry room.  No mistake on the positioning of it.  Having 250 gallons of clean water is a wonderful thing, but losing heat in an Edmonton winter could freeze that water, and turn a very good thing – VERY bad.  That was a major concern of ours, and we deliberated upon how to prevent potential freezing in the event of heat loss.  The wood stove would serve a dual purpose.  Heat the basement, and prevent the water from freezing.

Factor #4
A wood burning stove is useless without a lotta wood!  So we purchased a few cords of clean-burning wood and stored it in our backyard.  We have a stash close to the back door, and we have a bin in the basement close to the stove.   We keep kindling nearby, and of course matches.  We learned the trick of lighting a fire in a wood burning stove when the outside chimney is 40 below zero.  If you think that isn’t important, then you have never tried it.  Cold air in the chimney makes it impossible for lighter warm air to rise above it.  The result? A smoked out house that takes weeks to get the smoke smell out.  Don’t ask me how I know this.

Factor #5
We tried for years to put a few dollars aside for emergencies.  We weren’t always successful but our hearts were in it and we tried to make it a priority.  Sometimes that is more difficult than one might imagine.  We get it.  However, a little here and a little there is what makes the difference.  Some thing is better than nothing.  Having a few extra dollars on hand can take a potential tragedy and turn it into an inconvenience.  And the opposite is equally true.

So with these factors in mind, let’s return to our Sunday without a furnace.  There were so many things to be grateful for that turned our experience into nothing more than an inconvenience.  The absence of some of the preparatory steps however could have had a completely different outcome.

Good thing / Bad thing
I like to play the good thing – bad thing game.  It helps me put things into perspective and appreciate blessings in my life.

* Good thing –  this happened on a day that Dan was home. Yay for me.
* Bad thing –   he couldn’t fix it.  Boo.
* Good thing –  Ray was in town and able to come and help. Yay.
* Bad thing –  he couldn’t fix it without an important component (the board), that could not be purchased on Sunday.  Boo.
* Good thing –  we have a gas fireplace upstairs.  We turned it on as soon as we realized we had no other heat.  We also have a wood stove in the basement.  Dan lit the fire right away and added some logs to it.
* Good thing –  the wood stove downstairs soon heated the basement to a toasty warm and we only needed a few logs to maintain it.
* Good thing – Dan kept a supply of house suitable logs cut and accessible for winter burning.
* Good thing –  we were surprised at not only how sufficiently the wood stove heated the basement, but how much of that heat flowed upward to keep the main level comfortable.  It wasn’t long before we were able to turn the gas fireplace off.  Of course sweaters and slippers were useful in keeping us comfortable.
* Good thing: once the house was comfortably heated again, it retained that warmth for an exceptionally long time.  Thank goodness for good insulation.
* Good thing – extra quilts and duvets made sleeping comfortable.
* Good thing – we had set enough aside for emergencies,  to cover the unexpectedly high cost of the new furnace piece we needed. Something to be especially grateful for.

By Sunday afternoon, we understood the earliest we would have a working furnace was late afternoon the following day.  Before bed we stoked the fire and kept it burning low.  Fortunately we still had embers in the morning that made reigniting it quick and easy.  We were pleased and surprised to note that the house had maintained a reasonable warmth during the night, and that the next morning was considerably less chilly than the previous one.

The moral of the story is to plan for and be prepared for emergencies which are reasonable in your area.  Sometimes those emergencies take the form of unfortunate situations.  Prepare for those too.  Sometimes that preparedness is the result of years of effort and commitment.  Usually that is the case.
One of my favourite mottos is “Best time to start was yesterday.  Second best time is right now.”

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

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Apricots – one of the world’s healthiest foods

Apricots – those gorgeous small orange fruits may look a lot like small peaches, but they sure don’t taste like peaches.  There’s nothing quite like them, a little sweet and a little tart at the same time, and not nearly as juicy as a peach.  When perfectly ripe, they have a texture that is all their own too.  Hard to describe.  ‘Smooth’?  But don’t let all of that fool you.  Those little orange fruits pack a whallop of a nutritional punch!

Years ago, we planted two apricot trees in our backyard.  We had no expectation of them producing fruit (we live in Edmonton after all) but we heard they were a beautiful shade tree and we were looking for two trees between which to hang a hammock.  Every year the apricot trees blossomed profusely and we truly knew what it was like to have “Popcorn popping on our apricot trees“, but it was usually too early and a late spring frost or big wind or something else we couldn’t control would eliminate any serious promise of the blossoms fruiting out.  Until one year.  The stars all lined up I guess.  Beautiful blossoms.  No late frost.  No big wind.  We were surprised to see cute little green apricots form.  Still we had no expectations out of them.  No sense putting our hope in unrealistic places. …. But they continued to grow, and they ripened into that beautiful apricot-orange we’re so familiar with.  Being the eternal skeptics, we figured they’d be lousy because … well, EDMONTON!  Hello!  You don’t grow apricots in Edmonton.

But we did!  And we harvested them.  Truth be told their texture by the time we picked them wasn’t very  inviting to eat fresh.  But their taste was amazing!  We picked several gallons.  And I made the best apricot jam in the history of the world.  We also made apricot pies.  First year ever for either of those two.  I love apricot pie to this day.  Sadly, one day the jam was all eaten up, and we never had another harvest.  And then we moved.  However, I am reading lately about new varieties that may be hardy in the Edmonton area.  You can bet I’ll be looking into them.

In the meantime, apricots have always been one of my favourite fruits – for two main reasons.  They are so full of nutrition and I absolutely love their flavour.  Dried apricots are especially delicious.

Good Food is Good Medicine

Apricots are rich in potent antioxidants, and an excellent source of Vitamin A (from beta-carotene).  When my kids were little, dried apricots were a real treat, and apricot nectar (though pricey) was the fruit juice that I bought for whoever happened to be sick at any given time.  The sick person got to drink a whole container apricot nectar all to themselves.  It was their special food-medicine because it is so rich in infection fighting and immune enhancing vitamins A and C as well as minerals and so many antioxidants that are known to fight free radicals in the body, and protect us from disease.  When appetite is minimal anyway, it never made any sense wasting it on anything that wasn’t going to help heal.

Apricots and Eyesight

Apricots are packed with Vitamin A, (also known as retinol) which helps with our vision.  Retinol, Beta Carotene and other related nutrients  (carotenoids and xanthophylls) reduce the chances of developing the serious eye-related disorder called Neovascular ARMD – an age-related macular degeneration that causes loss of vision in the elderly.

Research has linked regular intake of fruit in general (not just apricots)  with less risk of age related vision loss.  By simply increasing the amount of fruit you’re currently eating by three or four more servings a day you will increase your long term health in every way, not just vision related.

Apricot Protection Against infection and Inflammation

Apricots are a strong dietary source of phytonutrients.  A single apricot will provide you with 4-5 grams from catechins which are potent anti-inflammatory phytonutrients.  Multiple studies have shown that catechin-rich foods can protect blood vessels from inflammation-related damage, leading to better over all blood pressure control.

The richness of vitamin A makes apricots one of the most valuable immunity enhancing fruits.  The gorgeous orange colour isn’t simply cosmetic you know.  It indicates beta-carotene.  Why is that important?  The human body converts beta carotene into vitamin A.  We need vitamin A for healthy skin and mucus membranes, our immune system, and good eye health and vision.

Other fruits and vegetables that are particularly rich in Vitamin A via beta carotene are:  carrots. sweet potatoes. peppers, broccoli, mangoes, papaya, winter squash. cantaloupe. spinach, kale, and collard greens.  Look for deep orange and deep green.  Of course ‘freshness’ is very important.  There are also many non fruit or vegetable sources of Vitamin A.

Digestive Health – Apricots are a good source of dietary fibre which is helpful in supporting digestive health.  Soluble fibre also helps control blood cholesterol levels.  Since the retinol in apricot is fat soluble, the fruit dissolves in the body easily, and the important nutrients are easily absorbed by the system.  It breaks down fatty acids quickly, which keeps your digestion running smoothly.  Cleaning out the intestines regularly protects you from gastrointestinal concerns.  This helps increases metabolism and energy level which makes apricots a great midday snack when you need a little pick-up.

Blood Health – The type of iron in apricots (as in most plant based foods) takes time to be absorbed by the body and the longer it stays in the system, the better your chances in preventing anemia.  Vitamin C taken with iron ensures better absorption of this type of iron.  How wonderful that nature has them both present in apricots.  So it goes without saying that in iron rich foods like spinach, kale and apricots etc, you’d want that Vitamin C to be in good supply when you eat it.  This is important as Vitamin C is volatile and doesn’t stick around for a long time.  Did you know for example, that spinach (which is known as a good vegetable iron source) loses 100% of its Vitamin C within four days of harvest?  Well I dunno about your local grocery journey, but I can pretty much guarantee that the spinach I buy has not been picked within the last two or three days.  Not only does that mean you’re missing out on the Vitamin C, but because its not there, you’re also not getting full advantage out of the iron in spinach.  🙁  I hate to sound like a bad-news-Betty, but that kinda takes the magic outta ‘fresh’ store bought spinach for me.  There’s gotta be a better way right?  Well, . . . . another conversation for another day.  Stay tuned.  Lets get back to apricots.  

For Healthy Skin, make sure you eat apricots every day.  The combination of Vitamins A and C and also the phytonutrients present ensure good skin.  For years our teens took extra Vitamin A supplements to get them over those difficult teen-skin years.  I am convinced it made all the difference for them and prevented some of the teenage woes I went through.

Overall Health – Ripe apricots are a rich natural sources of antioxidants.  When eaten daily, they help the body to get rid of toxins that we tend to collect over time.  Antioxidants also kill free radicals that damage our cells.  They help to reduce the bad cholesterol content in the body while increasing the good cholesterol.  The potassium content in apricots balances the electrolyte levels in our system.  All of this spells good heart health.

Potassium also helps our bodies absorb calcium and assimilate it uniformly.  Better absorption of calcium is critical in developing and strengthening bones.

Where do Apricots come from? 

I’ve always associated apricots with coming from Turkey for some reason, and in actual fact, they arrived in Europe via the middle east.  They are mentioned in the Old Testament.  Apricots have been cultivated for about 5,000 years and their origin has been traced to China.  Apricot trees were first planted in North America beginning on the east coast (Virginia) in the early 1700’s century, and expanding as far west as California by the end of that century.  The climate there is perfectly suited to apricots, and most apricots grown in the United States are grown in the California sun.  Turkey, Italy, Russia, Spain, Greece, and France are also the world’s leading producers of apricots.  In western Canada, some of our seasonal apricots may be coming from southern BC in the Okanagan Valley, where as in eastern Canada, they are likely coming from Ontario.

When are they in Season?

Apricot season in North America runs from mid spring through mid summer at best.   Look for fruits with a rich orange colour and they should be slightly soft.  Tree-ripened fruits always taste the best, so the closer you are to the source, the more likely that’s gonna happen.  For maximum nutritional value, always choose fruit that was fully ripened on the tree and was harvested as close to your purchase time as possible.  No easy task if you live in Edmonton.

Apricots can also be purchased fresh, canned, dried or freeze dried.  They’re also popular in preserves of all kinds.  The taste of all are these variations is so uniquely ‘apricotty‘ and I love them all.

How to Eat Apricots

FRESH – Like most fresh fruits, apricots can be eaten in multiple ways.  Eating as a snack is always the easiest, but they are so much more versatile than that.  Nutritionally speaking, Fresh is always best!  But it has been my experience that it is difficult to get ‘good’ apricots in season, at least in my little corner of the world.  At best, I might be able to buy them once or twice in a season.  Sometimes not even that.  And its often disappointing.  Too frequently, you buy fruit that is ‘mushy’.  I hate it when that happens.  They are way too expensive for that.  This makes apricots more elusive in Alberta than mangoes!  What’s with that?

Unfortunately, one never really knows how ‘fresh’ fresh is.  How long ago were they picked?  Did they have time to ripen on the tree?  I realize that tree ripened fruit is more difficult to transport, and a lot more volatile, …. and living in Alberta, one cannot be too picky about that sort of thing.  I completely understand that there are so many variables that factor into getting ‘fresh’ produce out to the masses.  I don’t mean to sound unreasonable.  But one does need to consider the various options and choose the best for their circumstances.

Canned – Canning is still an easy and convenient way to home preserve excess fruits from the garden.  And canned apricots are still available to buy from the supermarket.  The process of canning  fruits of course, involves high heat for a prolonged period of time and usually the use of sugar.  Whether home canned or commercially canned, the process is the same although you can control the use of added ingredients when you do it yourself.  Generally speaking the resulting nutritional value of canned fruits is about 40% of whatever it was when it went into the canner.  While that is disappointing, we know a quart of fruit is boiled for 40+ minutes so it shouldn’t be surprising.  Still, canned apricots in February are better than no apricots in February, so canning remains a viable method of preserving excess summer produce.

Dehydrated Apricots are delicious and a convenient healthy snack food.  For years, this was my preferred way to eat them, primarily for convenience sake.   But commercially grown and dried apricots are often treated with sulfur-containing compounds during processing to extend their shelf life.  There is much concern about this additive.

Freeze Dried Apricots are delicious and another convenient and healthy snack.  They have recently become a viable option on the market that has all but replaced my romance with dried apricots.  For eleven months of the year, I choose to eat FREEZE DRIED Apricots.  After tree-ripened ‘FRESH’ – which lets face it, doesn’t happen too often in Alberta, freeze dried is the MOST nutritious source of apricots.  Of course nutrition is optimised when care and attention are given to the ‘quickness’ of the process, ensuring fruit was tree-ripened and that time between harvest and flash freezing is measured in hours rather than days.  Although the method of freeze drying is standard, the care of beginning with the best possible fruit varies from company to company.  There are many different brands of Freeze Dried fruits.  Do your investigation and find the one that guarantees best nutrition.  A good source of freeze dried apricots could yield up to 95% of the original food value.  And bonus: if packed properly in an oxygen free can, the shelf life could exceed twenty five years. This is a pretty impressive and stable way to keep apricots on hand for everyday use all year long.

using everyday

* Whether using fresh, dried or freeze dried, apricots can be chopped up and added to your morning cereal, granola or porridge.  Add them to your yogurt.
* Use them in baking.  Apricot tarts, pies, crumbles and cakes are amazing.
* My husband makes a delicious Persian Chicken baked with a fruit sauce made of freeze dried apricots.  We’ve also baked them with prunes in the same pot as a pork roast.  Adding them to meats dishes or vegetable stews adds a wonderful middle eastern flavour.
* We add them to greens with feta and almonds for a wonderful salad.  Just sprinkle a little balsamic vinegarette to finish it off.

* I make a wonderful apricot couscous with raisins, orange juice and a little bit of cayenne for punch.   Click here to see the recipe.

Apricot jam is the best jams ever!  Even better if you make it up as you need it from freeze dried apricots and little to no sugar.
I take about a cup of freeze dried apricots
add about 1/2 a cup of water and a pinch of sugar to taste (if any).
I refresh the apricots in a small sauce pan, heating over low heat and stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.  It takes about 20 minutes to thicken up to make an absolutely incredible spread.  I hesitate to call it ‘jam’ because there’s hardly any sugar in it.  But I use it as jam, so if the shoe fits wear it I guess.  Except there’s no guilt.

No matter how you are able to enjoy apricots, they are one of the healthiest fruits we can grow or buy. They deserve an honoured place in our diet.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

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Pineapple – why its so good for you

It may seem odd to read a blog post about Pineapple in a self reliance blog from a Canadian city homestead, but I would never for a single minute pretend we in this house eat only those things we produce. Heavens no!  What would we eat for the other nine months of the year?  There are many wonderful fruits and vegetables that are available to us that can enliven our days and enrich our bodies.  I am so glad to live in a country where variety can be part of my life.  However, it is still as important to me as ever to eat “in the season” – even though that season may be five thousand miles away.  There are ways of ensuring we get the very best nutrition – even out of tropical fruits, and yes, even while living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Pineapples –  those wonderful tropical fruits that are so gorgeously delicious – are even more nutritious than you may have believed.  I live in Canada, so the pineapple I grew up on was the same as what my parents had available –  canned.  Dole or Del Monte.  We thought that was delicious enough – imagine my delight when I discovered “fresh” pineapple in the produce department when I was all grown up and buying my own groceries!   Oh My!

There really is nothing like a ‘fresh’ pineapple.  But sadly, the pineapples we buy in most North American grocery stores are nothing like ‘fresh’.  That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who lives here; they have to travel many thousands of miles to reach us after all.  For that reason, pineapples are picked green.  Most of the time they’re still green when we buy them.  Sigh …. I know.  One of the hazards of shipping so far.  We all know that fruits and vegetables are at their peak of perfection in every way – including nutritionally when they are picked fully ripe – having ripened ON the plant.  Harvesting before ripe means of course that the nutrients have not had a chance to fully develop, and so are sadly lacking right from the beginning.  Since fruits like pineapples and bananas have to travel half way across the world to reach us, taking two to three weeks minimally before we see them on the grocery store shelf we cannot hope to have them picked ripe.  But wait a minute, must they always be less than they should be for those of us who don’t live in tropical countries?

Well, hold that thought.  Let’s first talk about all the wonderful goodness that a fully plant-ripened pineapple has to offer.  Pineapples are super rich in vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants.  They help boost the immune system, build strong bones, aid digestion, reduce inflammation and improve circulation.   And, even though they are deliciously sweet, they are surprisingly low in calories.

Immune system, respiratory health and healing:
Pineapple contains a huge amount of Vitamin C and other important antioxidants, along with Vitamin A, beta-carotene and other flavonoid compounds. Did you know that one cup contains 121% of our recommended amount of Vitamin C for the day? I KNOW right!
Since vitamin C is a primary water soluble antioxidant that stimulates your white blood cells to defend your body, it a major player in the fight against many diseases, as well as heart problems and joint pain.  Vitamin C and bromelain (the digestive enzyme pineapples are famous for – see below) are both known to reduce mucus in the throat and sinuses, thus they help prevent and treat respiratory illnesses like colds and flu. Heck, pineapple is a regular Super Hero in the whole-food world.  If you already have symptoms like excess mucus and phlegm, eat some pineapple! If you feel a cold coming on, feast on some pineapple. Prevent the mucus and phlegm from building up.

Vitamin C helps create collagen, a protein base that is essential for healthy organs, bones, skin and blood vessel walls. Increasing your consumption of pineapple will speed up your wound recovery time and help you fight off infection that may follow an injury.

Bone strength and oral health:
A one cup serving of pineapple contains nearly 75% of the daily recommended amount of MANGANESE (I know right!) which is essential in developing strong bones and connective tissues. Studies suggest that manganese is helpful in preventing osteoporosis in post menopausal women. Teeth are bone, so that same quality of manganese and bromelain is helpful in strengthening teeth. And the high vitamin C content as well as the astringent qualities of many of the natural enzymes tighten tissues in the body from skin to muscles, including your gums. So pineapple is great for good oral health.

Eye health:
Due to its high amount of Vitamin C and other important antioxidants as well as beta-carotene, pineapple is important in helping maintain healthy vision.  Additionally, studies show that eating pineapple can help reduce the risk of macular degeneration and other age related eye diseases.

Digestion:
Most fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of dietary fibre, and pineapple is particularly fibrous – which is essential in keeping our intestines clean and healthy.  But pineapple is also known as a wonderful source of digestive enzymes, perhaps the most important one being BROMELAIN, an enzyme that breaks down protein, being particularly beneficial in aiding in digestion.

Inflammation and improved blood circulation:
The ability that the proteolytic enzyme bromelain has to break down complex proteins, gives pineapple helpful anti-inflammatory properties. This is especially important when dealing with joint or muscle pain associated with arthritis.  A variety of studies associate bromelain with reducing tumor growth and other excessive inflammation often associated with cancer, as well as being helpful in treating osteoarthritis.

Besides being a valuable source of manganese, pineapple is rich in other minerals such as potassium and copper.  Potassium can help increase blood flow throughout they body by relaxing blood vessels to allow circulation in a less restricted manner.  For this reason, eating pineapple can help prevent blood clots, reducing the risk of artherosclerosis, stroke and heart attack. Copper is essential for red blood cell formation which increases our cognitive abilities and ensures optimum organ function which lowers our chance of neural disorders such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

In short.  Eat more Pineapple. 

Caution:
The wonderful active enzymes in pineapple make it a great meat tenderizer, but eating too much can result in tenderness of the mouth, including the lips, tongue and cheeks.  This is not a long lasting effect and will normally resolve itself within a few hours, but in some unfortunate individuals – a legitimate allergy may exist.  You have my deepest sympathy.

Eating unripe pineapple, is not only tasteless and sometimes bitter, but dangerous as it is toxic to humans and can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting.  Hint: if it tastes bad, it is bad.  Pineapple should be sweet and deliciously refreshing.

Where Pineapple grows and how we get it:
Pineapple can only be grown in tropical regions, but since its discovery in the 15th century by Europeans on the Caribbean Island of Guadalupe it has been introduced to many other tropical regions in Asia, Africa and the south Pacific where it has flourished.  Since it is so perishable, it was not only a rarity in the early days, but many attempts have been made over the centuries to preserve it so that those of us not living in tropical climates can enjoy it.  For centuries it was glazed in a sugar coating and dried as a luxurious treat for those who could afford it.

Pineapple was brought to Hawaii in the 18th century and became a major Hawaiian industry in the early 1900’s with the enterprising efforts of James Dole.  Nowadays however, Hawaii produces little more than to keep up with island demand and is no longer a world producer.  Other countries that grow commercially include Thailand, the Philippines, China, Brazil and Mexico.   Recently California and Florida have begun growing pineapple, but so far, not for export.

Best way to get the BEST pineapple with the MOST natural food value is to pick it ripe of course.  How is that possible for you and me?  Freeze Dried.  The science of freeze drying is bringing the most nutritious food to us all.  Wherever we live.  While there is nothing that can beat the wonderful juicy deliciousness of that perfect pineapple you occasionally find in the produce department of good grocery stores, for the sake of nutrition – go for freeze dried.

Freeze Dried Pineapple

Although the process of freeze drying is the same no matter who does it, the attention to details like plant ripening, and the urgency of flash freezing within hours of harvest are not the same.  Yet these are important, even critical factors in the fruit being at its peak nutrition by the time we eat it.  Do your homework.  And pay attention to the country of origin to begin with.  That is critical information.

Enjoy your pineapple.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle