Interview: Soap Stars Share the Magic of the Holiday Season, Part 2

Allyson Rice (ex-Connor, “As the World Turns”): I LOVE Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday. I put up an absurd amount of lights in my yard and on my house, including an 8-foot-tall inflated Santa on the roof. They go up immediately after Halloween (none of this after-Thanksgiving nonsense!). Starting last year, I decorate my car in lights as well. I wrap about four strands of multicolored lights all over it and plug them into an adapter inside the car. I have actually started to keep lights up in my house and one strand on the front and back porches throughout the entire year now. It just makes me happy to look at them. I say, Why limit the wonderful festive feeling of the season to only a month or two out of the year? I also make handmade Christmas balls (pictured) that we decorate our tree with, and I give them to family members as Christmas gifts. My grandmother started the tradition, and my dad and I, and now my youngest niece, are the ones who have kept it going, thanks to my mom’s encouragement after my grandmother passed away. I put up an art studio in my backyard earlier this year, where I have all my jewelry-making supplies, and I’ve set aside one corner of the place for my Christmas-ball-decorating supplies as well, so that I can make them year-round, whenever the inspiration hits. And of course I play the Christmas playlist I created on my iPod while I make them (I have more than 400 Christmas songs on it!).

Kassie DePaiva (Blair, “One Life to Live”): Normally I spend Christmas up in the Catskills with my immediate family, and between Christmas and New Year’s, I have cousins who come up from Atlanta with their children, and we just sit by the fire, play in the snow, snow-ski, and just eat, drink and be merry. It’s all a very fun, family time that has become tradition for the past 15 years. Usually there’s a lot of good snow, and there is always a lot of good fun.

Mario Lopez (ex-Christian, “The Bold and the Beautiful”): I spend the holidays with my family. It’s family and friends and a lot of food, a lot of cocktails and a lot of love.

Murray Bartlett (Cyrus, “Guiding Light”): It’s about being with family. I usually spend the holidays with family. Because it’s the middle of the summer in December in Australia, I’ll spend the holidays with family on a beach or something. It’s beautiful where we go — there’s the beach and the ocean, there’s tropical rainforests. Also, I remember back in 2000, I rang in the new millennium on a sand dune with my best friends. We just hung out there and waited for the New Year. That is my perfect kind of holiday.

James Reynolds (Abe, “Days of Our Lives”): Every Christmas when my son was young was a special Christmas. A child’s excitement on Christmas morning goes deeper than just getting things. There is a sense of magic and fantasy in the anticipation of this special day.

John O’Hurley (ex-Jim, “The Young and the Restless”): We are developing a family tradition. We just bought a place up in Vermont in an effort to return to authenticity. We’re now going to be spending our holidays up there; it’ll be our return to an authentic Christmas. It’s going to be spent in Vermont rather than L.A. I think Vermont is such a beautiful state, and the holidays are more special up there.

Allyson Rice and World Vision Gifts

For all our Daytime Dial readers, Allyson Rice (ex-Conner Jamison Walsh, As the World Turns) asked me to post this letter on the website, and I didn't hesitate, because it promotes a wonderful organization for the holidays. I hope you will read it and be moved to participate.

Hello wonderful friends near and far:
I wanted to share an idea that we are doing this year at the holidays. We've done this before, but are doing it on a larger scale this year. There are so many people in desperate need right now, and even though we, like a great many people, are having trouble meeting bills, and keeping our business running, we still have more than most people on the planet. If you're getting this email, you probably do too.

There's a catalog I got in the mail called World Vision Gifts (www.worldvisiongifts.org), and they have a large range of price options -- lots of inexpensive options: $25 to give 2 chickens, $17 provides fast-growing and drought-resistant seeds, $35 for a share of a sheep, $30 for 5 ducks, $25 provides care for an orphan or AIDS-affected child. And on up to $2000 for 28 farm animals if you have the resources to do some thing bigger! All are gifts that will help them build a better life; the gift grows and continues to enrich the lives of their family members and community. A "teaching them how to fish" kind of gift...

Dashiell (my 14-year old) really likes the ones that "multiply" due to corporate matched gifts (he's also asked for this gift from relatives -- totally his idea when he saw the catalog lying around...) : $25 provides $350 of school supplies, $35 provides $490 worth of clothing, $25 provides $350 of necessities for US children (diapers, clothing, blankets, toys, etc), $50 provides $250 worth of emergency food and aid in Africa, $60 provides 10 fruit trees, etc etc. Lots more to choose from, but these are some of the lower $ options. You also might consider doing one of the ones that specifically helps young girls and women around the world: $35 to send a girl to school, $35 to assist with care for sexually exploited girls rescued from sex slave trade, $100 loan for an impoverished women.

Of course, there are so many good causes out there to support, and maybe you have your favorites already. But it's just something to think about this season with all this talk of CHANGE going on. Make it a bigger action than just you alone. Get your family and friends involved. We could all give up one more sweater or small electronic to share some hope with someone in need.

And you can always go to the post office locally and look through letters to Santa that are asking for basic needs like clothes and food for their family. I've done that since living in NY where the central post office in Manhattan gathered all the letters together for people to look through and help locally. There are people probably right down your street that need help, and a little support. Go out this holiday season and really spread the SPIRIT of the season, no matter what holiday you might celebrate. Please feel free to forward this to as many people as you can think of to encourage a really special holiday this year. And as you type the email addresses of your friends and family members, count them, your support system, among your many blessings!

I wish you all a beautiful holiday season, filled with joy, gratitude for all you have, and a spirit of reaching out knowing you can make a difference in someone's life.

Many blessings,
Allyson

Interview: Why Allyson Rice Quit Her Day(time) Job

Many soap fans will remember Allyson Rice as the beautiful and ballsy Connor Jamison Walsh — the gutsy go-getter who took her rightful place at Walsh Enterprises from 1990-’97, much to the chagrin of Lucinda Walsh. After leaving As the World Turns and starring in a couple of shows here and there, Allyson dropped off the Hollywood map — and she couldn’t be happier about it.

After Allyson left the public eye, she took an interesting path. “The year I left was such a devastating year,” Allyson explains. “(My dismissal from ATWT) was so sudden, and it happened really badly. They let me know late Friday night after I was finished taping my scenes that my replacement was coming on Monday.

“I no longer had an agent; I hadn’t had one for quite a while, because I didn’t feel I needed one anymore. So I wrote to the two casting directors I knew, and one called me in for the Timecop job. I had to move out to L.A. again, but I really didn’t want to leave New York. But I got the job, and it was really exciting. Then, literally 48 hours after getting to L.A., after moving my family out there, they told me they redid the whole thing, and rewrote and eliminated some characters, one being mine.”

After allowing herself some time to wallow and not knowing what to do, Allyson came to a realization. “I made the decision I was going to like it out here this time,” Allyson says. “I decided I have to look for the light and make a conscious choice to be happy. I got a few jobs, but I was finding that I was enjoying myself more when I was not working, when I was not acting. During makeup for a Love Boat reunion audition, I realized there has got to be more to life than this.”

So Allyson took some time off to find out who she really was and what she wanted out of this life. She had attended a wilderness-survival retreat back on the East Coast, and she wanted to explore that further. “It dealt with Native American teachings and philosophy — it’s back to earth, and very healing and grounding. I did a few programs and a vision quest. I was into yoga and meditation, and I got certified to teach in that.”

While Allyson was gaining much insight into her spiritual life, she was losing someone in her personal life. “By that time, my marriage had broken up. My husband was not into the path my life was taking.”

Allyson went to the Earth-Heart Institute of Vision and Healing in Topanga, Calif., for her vision quest. “I was surrendering into a difficult time — knowing that something is bigger here and trusting my heart to find it. Going from soap operas to wilderness survival was certainly a big leap.”

Allyson took another leap of sorts at Earth-Heart, for that is where she met her current husband, Malcolm, with whom she’s been married for eight years.

Making the leap from soap-opera actress to life and spiritual coach might not seem like the most natural transition to some, but that choice has made all the difference in Allyson's life.

Aside from co-owning the Earth-Heart Institute of Vision and Healing with her husband, Allyson has branched off to create her own company, The Total Human. Allyson explains: “When I started at Earth-Heart, I developed the ‘Lighten Up’ program as well as the two-week retreat. I’m the type of person that I get an idea, and I jump on it. Malcolm is different in that he moves much more slowly — that sometimes creates conflict. So I broke away from Earth-Heart so I’d have the freedom to develop my programs the way I want.”

Some of the programs The Total Human offers include women’s retreats, the occasional vision quest, energy and healing, and a creativity program. Spiritual awakenings aren’t the exception in these classes, either — they tend to be the norm.

“Major breakthroughs during classes happen all the time. What is special about these classes is we give people experiences — it’s not just a lecture where you are taking notes. Transformation happens when you’re in the energy of it and doing it. Even if someone isn’t comfortable with actively participating, she still will take something away from the class.”

Allyson offers a women’s retreat every spring in Sedona, Ariz. “People from all walks of life come. The land is very powerful; it’s an amazing place. We teach them about women and connecting with the Earth. We have always had at least five generations of women attending. No one is required to believe anything or change her beliefs.

“Even the most skeptical people have the greatest time,” Allyson continues. “When they leave, the women are amazed by how much they’ve transformed, how close they feel with the rest of the women. They are surprised by how it feels to be in a group of joyful, supportive women who listen to you. People leave with a wide-open heart and a brand-new perspective.”

About a year and a half ago, Allyson started channeling her creative energy into making jewelry. “I combined energy healing with jewelry. It’s amazing, joyful work to let creativity move through you. I am also collaborating with artist Amy Moran Scott to create coloring books for women with inspirational and beautiful pictures as another creative outlet for women.”

Allyson’s soap-opera life seems almost foreign to her now. “It’s like a different life. When you move onto this path, for a while what you were doing has to fall away. It comes full circle — some things come back into your life, some relationships come back. When those things come back, it’s like seeing everything for the first time. But I am much happier now than I was 10 or 15 years ago.”

Don’t expect to see Allyson back on your TV screen anytime soon, either. “What I don’t miss about acting is it’s a business where you are not valued — especially women — the older and wiser you get. In your 30s, you are over the hill. In the area I am in now, the more experience you have behind you, that is really valued. To go from one to the other certainly was a drastic, and pleasant, change.”

To learn more about Allyson Rice and her personal-growth workshops, go to thetotalhuman.com.

Where Are They Now? Allyson Rice

I often read and hear about soap fans wondering whatever happened to Allyson Rice, the talented actress who was most noted for portraying Connor Jamison Walsh on As the World Turns back in the '90s. Well, I have tracked her down.

She is the founder of The Total Human™, a company which offers life-changing programs, retreats, and weekend workshops that will help to expand your personal power and presence in the world. Whether the program centers on health and healing, enhancing creativity and intuition, yoga and meditation, vision questing, ancient women's teachings, or reconnecting with the healing power of nature, the goal is always to create the dynamic manifestation of your greatest untapped potential. The programs are holistic, mind-body-spirit in approach, with a focus on direct personal experience as the path to transformation.

I have been in contact with her and will be interviewing her for the Daytime Dial syndicated column over the weekend, however I wanted to post a link to her site for anyone who might be interested.

Aside from the interesting workshops and retreats, she also makes handmade jewelry that she sells on the site.

Check it out, www.thetotalhuman.com and keep and eye on this space for more details after the interview.