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Christmas Recipes: Main Dishes. No.3 of 12 - Smoked Haddock & Spinach Fishcakes
Christmas Recipe Serves: 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Calories per serving: 605
Suitable for freezing (after step 4)
Christmas Recipe Ingredients:
* Breadcrumbs, fresh 75 g (3 oz)
* Semi-skimmed milk, 150...
Christmas Shopping 101 : Gift Buying Made Easier
Why should you do christmas gift shopping at the mall when you can buy your gifts safely online?
Seriously. I was reading the latest news about black Friday at the malls. A 73 year old lady was knocked down and hit her head against the floor as...
Enjoy your Christmas! Backup your data files!
Hello all, and merry Christmas!
You may wonder what backup has to deal with Christmas..and yet,
there is something you can benefit from here, too.
As the only way to enjoy your Christmas thoroughly is to spend
your time as you want...
How Not To Be Disappointed This Christmas - A Practical Tip
Many years ago, when I was living in circumstances not quite
like today, I invented something in the spur of the moment which
is fascinating and has significantly improved my life.
It actually started four months earlier, for my birthday...
In The Mood For Something Different This Christmas Trip?
Where are you thinking of heading this Christmas travel season? The usual place? Well, if its been a tough year or a banner year for you you may want to either get away, away or celebrate with an atypical but exciting venue this year. Is it warm and...
It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without A Pantomime
A visit to the Pantomime is a longstanding Christmas tradition. Children and grown-ups alike love it, this peculiarly British way to celebrate the festive season. When else would you take the kids to see a woman playing a man, a man playing a woman...
The Christmas Temptation - Department Store Credit Cards
Now that we are heading at breakneck speed to the peak retail season (ie Christmas), you will soon, if you are not already, be wondering what to do about all those gifts and other expenses that need to be catered for in the holiday season. November...
Tips and Ideas for Making Bead Christmas Ornaments
Have you always wanted to create your own beaded ornaments but have little experience with bead work? Provided in this article are some simple tips that will help you create stunning and beautiful hand made beaded Christmas ornaments that will...
Use Your Photographs to Create Unique Christmas Gifts
Having a tough time coming up with creative Christmas gifts this year? The answer might be right in front of you – in your photograph albums, boxes, or file folders. Don’t just give the traditional framed photo though. Instead, give your recipients...
Wreath Christmas Tree
Do you live in an apartment or small house? Chances are, you
don't have a lot of floor space on which to put a Christmas
tree. On the other hand, there is often unused wall space. This
is a fun and novel project to solve your tree dilemma.
...
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The Four Work Stresses of Christmas
It is December 14th, but the plants in my garden would hardly let you believe it. Geraniums are still in flower, roses are still blooming and my magnolia tree has yet to lose a single leaf. London may be basking in peculiarly unseasonal weather, but Christmas is nearly upon us.
'At Christmas I no more desire a rose Than wish a snow in May's newfangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows.' > Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Love's Labour Lost
Christmas - that time of over-indulgence, added anxiety and sheer stress. Bah, humbug!
Actually, I love Christmas. But the reality for so many people at work is that hidden beneath the surface of jollity and bonhomie is that it is potentially the most difficult time of year.
The four work stresses of Christmas.
1. Christmas has become a giant milestone in the year. This forces everyone into an artificial mindset that demands that everything be completed 'before the holiday.' As a result, the weeks before Christmas are an absolute nightmare for many people. People who are already overworked are forced to pull extra hours to get work completed. Yet often, a moments thought by those demanding the completion of jobs would show that nothing bad will happen if they are held over until early January.
If you are a 'holiday hurrier', spare a thought for what is truly urgent and what is simply being hurried because it is Christmas.
2. The social whirl. Just because it is Christmas, everybody has to get on. And on, and on. Festive parties seem to start as soon as the shops start displaying tinsel - and that can be as early as September where I live! If you are prone to suffer from stress - as so many of us are these days - endless eating and drinking in smokey atmospheres (even if you don't smoke yourself) is just going to make things worse. Not only are you lowering your bodies resistance, but you are also severely limiting your ability to keep on top of the heightened workload.
Don't be a killjoy, but equally, don't party yourself into the floor.
3. 'What-haven't-I-done-itis'. When I worked for advertising agencies, every Christmas was blighted by worries of what I may have forgotten, what I may
have rushed and done wrong, what other people may have messed up and so on. It was only in my last couple of years that I cracked the problem. I made lists. Big lists. I wrote down everything that needed to be thought about from December 1st onwards. If I had a newspaper campaign running I would call every paper to double check the ad positions. And I would write down the answers. I became obsessive about detail. And it worked. On Christmas Eve I would make two copies of all my notes, leave one on my desk and take the other home, locked in my briefcase. Then, when the demon thought sprang up during Christmas lunch that I had forgotten something vital, I knew I had it covered - and had the evidence to prove it to myself.
Funnily enough, just knowing that it was there made me forget about it completely and enjoy my holiday.
The moral of the story is - don't plan for Christmas Eve, plan for the days you will be home worrying.
4. Photocopiers and backsides. It might sound like fun, especially after a few beers. Don't go there. That glass can splinter! And even if it doesn't, do you really want the evidence of a drunken moment to haunt your career for years? There is always someone who has had a few less drinks than you who thinks it's amusing to hang on to the evidence.
Have a laugh, but try not to lose all your inhibitions. A broken photocopier could be the least of your worries!
'Call a truce, then, to our labours let us feast with friends and neighbours, And be merry as the custom of our caste; For if "faint and forced the laughter," and if sadness follow after, We are richer by one mocking Christmas past.'
> Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), author, poet. Christmas in India.
Christmas is a lovely time if worries about work don't poison it for you. Try to plan ahead and have yourself a very merry Christmas this year.
About the Author
Martin Avis is a management and training consultant. To get your unfair advantage (and 6 free gifts) in Internet marketing, business and personal success, subscribe free to his weekly newsletter, BizE-zine. mailto:subscribe5@BizE-zine.com or visit his information-packed website at http://www.BizE-zine.com
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