FOSTER YOUR FESTIVE SPIRIT
3 Reasons to Embrace Holiday Decorating and How to Start!
One of the best parts of the holidays — no matter which you celebrate — is decorating for the occasion. At the Foster Firm, we love to decorate our office every year, rotating through themes and color schemes to keep things fun. We love watching our client’s faces light up when they walk in to see us! So, if you’ve never decorated for the holidays before, we encourage you to start, and if you’re a little apprehensive, we totally get it — decorating can feel overwhelming at first. To help you, we wanted to first share why we think decorating is so great before giving you two simple tips to get started this year. No. 1: Decorating can boost people’s mood. Believe it or not, decorating impacts not only your decor but also your mental health. According to one report from the University of Chicago, decorating for the holidays makes people happier and “enhances the feeling of enjoyment.” No. 2: Decorating enhances creativity! Part of the reason Arnice Foster loves to decorate so much, both at home and in our office, is because of the artistic expression it allows her. You can carefully place each decoration to create a design that lets your creative juices flow. No. 3: Decorating with family brings you closer together. The best thing about decorating is you don’t have to do it alone. You can enlist your whole family to help you, and collaborating makes you feel
closer as you work toward your goal. Plus, the time you spend decorating is time spent together, which is always incredible for a spouse or parent. Now that we’ve made our case as to why you should decorate
this year, here are a few easy ideas you can try! Make your own holiday table centerpiece. A festive centerpiece can set the mood as your loved ones gather around a table to eat. You can make a centerpiece with seasonal flowers and fruits or create your own elaborate piece like the ones pictured on this page! Color swap your decor. If you don’t want to go out and buy new decorations, consider swapping out any blankets, pillows, towels, or napkins to coordinate with the season or holiday. For example, replace anything with bright summer colors for items with warm colors and cozy textures for winter! And remember to have fun; that’s what decorating is all about!
Grandmother Bell’s 7UP Cake
Celebrating Kwanzaa involves various rituals and customs that revolve around the lighting of seven candles, one for each day of the holiday. Each candle represents one of the Nguzo Saba principles. 1. Umoja (Unity): To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, and nation. 2. Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves as well as create and speak for ourselves. 3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together, making our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and solving them together. 4. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. 5. Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community to restore our people to their traditional greatness. 6. Kuumba (Creativity): To always do as much as we can in the way we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. 7. Imani (Faith): To believe with all of our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Learn the Meaning of the 7 Candles How Is Kwanzaa Celebrated?
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Generously grease a 10-inch fluted tube pan (such as Bundt). 2. In a large bowl, beat white sugar and butter together using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, blending well after each addition until batter is smooth, then stir in lemon extract. Mix lemon-lime beverage into batter and pour into the prepared pan. 3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove cake from the pan immediately by placing a wire cooling rack over the base of the cake and inverting the pan to release. 4. While cake is baking, in a bowl, beat confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla together using an electric mixer on medium until glaze is smooth. Pour glaze over warm cake and let cool completely.
INGREDIENTS
Cake: • 3 cups white sugar • 1 1/2 cups butter, softened • 5 eggs • 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted • 2 tbsp lemon extract • 1 cup lemon-lime carbonated beverage (such as 7Up®)
Glaze: •
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup milk • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
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