www. reenepublishin .cor Friday, December 18, 2009 Uicwpoints & Opinions Madison Enterprise-Recorder 3A n County tension Service__________I Simplify The Holiday Season By now, you may be on your way to what can be described as holiday burnout. It's the feeling you get when you are doing too much in the few short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is shopping, decorating, school plays, church func- tions, holiday baking, meals to plan, food to prepare, family gatherings and the list goes on and on.... These days, most families are too busy with their weekly routine and stay over scheduled on any given day Now, you add more activities and your to- do list seems endless, all with a deadline of Decem- ber 25th and January 1st. No wonder you feel stressed and warn out by the end of the season. To help you get through this holiday season, take steps to simplify your life. First of all, keep in mind that you can't do everything. Plan your time and money so you enjoy a few activities rather than over commit to everything that can possible come along. Here are a few tips from time management specialists to get you through the holiday season. Be mindful of your eating habits It is often said the average person gains 5 lbs. during the holi- day season; the reality is that most people only gain 1 to 2 pounds. Enjoy the foods you like, just keep the portions in control. If you're at a party, fill your plate, but don't overload it, save room for dessert (a small portion) and spend time socializing rather than stuffing your face. Cookies and candy are all part of the festivities, put your selection on a small plate or napkin and walk away from the tray. Keeping your activity level up helps burn calo- ries, so get some walking time in during the week. Take a 15 minute walk during your lunch hour and take longer walks on the weekend. When you go shopping, park your car at the far end of the parking lot and walk to the stores. Exercise also helps re- duce stress, so you get a double benefit. Keep your spending within limits Set a limit on the total dollars you will spend this holiday and stick to it. If you use credit, charge only what you can pay off on your next statement. This might mean family members recheck list and prioritize the top two or three items. Drawing names instead of gift buying for every person works well with ex- tended family. Food spending is one category that many fami- lies overlook at the holiday season. Since Ameri- cans tend to center celebrations around food, your grocery bills during the season can take a large chunk out of the monthly budget. Make a list and check it twice before going to the grocery store. Look through your pantry to determine if you al- ready have the ingredients needed for special dish- es. It is always a good idea to eat something before you go to the grocery store, you'll do a better job of sticking to your list. People tend to eat out more often during the hol- iday season, simply because they have less time to prepare meals. This practice is very expensive and if you take time to add up all of the money spent on meals away from home during December, you could probably have enough money to pay cash for every- thing on your Christmas list. Try to spend less eat- ing out and focus the money saved toward other expenditures. Take Care of Yourself If you can, give yourself some time each day to relax. For some, it may mean getting up 30 minutes earlier to read the paper with- out interruption. Others might relax by a fire and reflect on the memories of the holidays. Do whatev- er works for you and create some down time to de- stress and simplify the holiday season. The University of Florida Extension / Madison County is an Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color sex, age, handicap or national origin. By Paul Niemann We usually talk about Americans in this column, but sometimes a foreigner's accomplishments are so impor- tant that it merits an exception. Mr. Vespucci was an explorer, navigator and map- maker from Florence, Italy His first name can be spelled two different ways, so we'll just stick with his last name for now. Martin Waldseemuller, on the other hand, was a German mapmaker. Sometimes an explorer has a land named after him. That's a fair reward for being the one who discovers the new land, but that isn't the case here. By the way explor- ers aren't the only ones who have their works named af- ter them, as inventors sometimes have their inventions named after them, although they may regret it later (pag- ing Dr. Joseph Guillotine). Today's hero had not one, but two, lands named after him despite the fact that he did not discover either land. How did this happen, and who was Vespucci? He was born in 1451, which was 41 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America. In fact, America wasn't even called America until 1507, and there's more to this story than you learned in your His- tory classes. Sailing for Spain and Portugal, Vespucci made be- tween two and four voyages to Central and South Amer- ica from 1497 to 1504. The reason why we don't know the exact number of voyages is that records were not kept as diligently back then as they are today It was the German mapmaker Martin Wald- seemuller who credited Vespucci with the discovery of two lands when in 1507 he read a letter that was report- edly written by Vespucci that told of Vespucci's travels to the New World. Waldseemuller might have lost some- thing in the translation of that letter, which was written in Latin, and he created his famous map based in part of what he read in Vespucci's letter. Vespucci's full name was Amerigo Vespucci, and he is believed to be the person for whom the Americas were named. But was that his birth name? Waldseemuller was the mapmaker who named North and South America after Amerigo Vespucci. He was also the first one to draw North and South America separate from Asia. In 1513, he changed the names on his map from North and South America to "Terra Incognita." The rea- son for this is one of several unclear events that occurred in the mapping and naming of North and South Ameri- ca. For example, Waldseemuller was able to draw the Pa- cific Ocean six years before a European explorer would discover it. He also correctly drew South America to within 70 miles of its actual size. "Terra Incognita," by the way translates into "unknown land." There were 1,000 copies of Waldseemuller's map published, and only one is known to exist today It was found in a German castle in 1901 and then sold to the Li- brary of Congress. One thing's for cer- tain, though: The two Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci. Or were they named after British naturalist Richard Amerike, who re- portedly financed John Cabot's voyage to New- foundland in 1497? Or could they be named after the gold dis- trict in Nicaragua that was known as Amerrique? Both Vespucci and Colum- bus visited this area. Just as explorers tend to name the lands they discover af- ter themselves, it was once reported that Vespucci changed his name from "Alberigo" to "Amerrigo" - to possibly claim the new land in Nicaragua for him- self. Nobody knows for sure, but it kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Af- ter all, history wasn't al- ways recorded as it was being made. The way that history has recorded it, though, is that the two Americas were named af- ter Italian explorer Ameri- go Vespucci. Christmas Through The Years Though I've always loved Christmas, it's rather odd that not many of the early ones are memorable. I do remember that most of them brought us children a Christmas stocking which held some nuts, an orange, a stick or two of hard candy and, if we were extremely lucky a banana. And we were very happy with what Santa had brought us. Of course, we had more than usual of Mother's wonderful cooking on Christmas Day for most of it was homegrown. Mother could choose her main entree from beef, pork, duck, guinea hen or children from our own farm. Also, a great vari- ety of canned vegetables from her summer canning; pies and cakes from pecan, peach, pear and apple trees and pumpkin and sweet potato pies also from home- grown products. The main thing I loved was blackber- ry cobbler, another result of her picking and canning. So most of my early Christmas memories were those which titillated the taste buds. Then, for my ninth Christmas, I received my first (that I remember) sleepy-eyed baby doll. I never forgot that one. My Aunt Billie came from Macon with it and I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She had blue eyes and dark brown curly hair and when I rocked her, her eyes would close. While her head was of china, her body was soft and, to a nine-year-old, it seemed like rocking a real baby Other outstanding memories of Christmas were searching through the woods each December for the perfect tree. Of course, it was most always a pine. And we never had many decorations. We would search through the sewing basket for colorful scraps to make bows. If we were lucky enough to have a holly tree, the tiny branches with berries made lovely decorations. And sometimes we had popcorn. After being popped and sometimes dyed, we could string it and when wrapped around the tree and the final touch of moth- er's tiny candleholders clasped to the limbs and the candles lit, we could stand back and admire our mas- terpiece. I don't have outstanding memories of the next few years but, when I was 15, mother allowed me to make a forest in the living room. The forest floor was carpeted with pine needles. The next one was after I was married and I've writ- ten about that before when Dice and I were back on the farm with four small children and we made home- made toys for them. That and the fact that we were liv- ing in a log cabin that he had made all by himself made it the most memorable of all. I'll never forget the joy of the children as they found what Santa had brought them and opened their presents. As we watched that scene before an open fire on the hearth, our hearts were full to overflowing. I sincerely hope that you can experience such feel- ings on this Christmas Day I also hope that you have a joyful, wonderful and merry Christmas. Free H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccines are now available FOR ALL Madison County residents Vaccines are now available for persons 65 and older All residents older than 6 months should receive HINI Swine Flu Vaccine It is important that the following people get vaccinated: Pregnant women Household contacts and caregivers of babies less than 6 months Children and young adults Residents with medical conditions and at higher risk for complications from influenza CLINIC HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY 8:00 A.M.-11:00 A.M. & 1:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M. Madison County Health Department 218 Southwest Third Ave No appointment necessary. For more information, please call 850 973-5000 FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH