Christmas Book Flood & O Christmas Tree

Here are the novels I lined up for last year’s Book Flood

Icelandic holiday traditions are my new Christmas jam. 

I love Iceland’s Yule Lad myths, and I wrote a series of posts about those troll rascals, starting here! 

Tonight, being December 20, prepare for the visit of the Sausage-Swiper—so watch any meat you’re cooking because this Yule Lad is on the prowl!

But even better than Iceland’s troll legends, is their tradition of the Christmas Book Flood. 

Sausage-Swiper and some of Iceland’s infamous 13 Trolls: the Yule Lads (Photo credit: Iceland’s Official Website)

Calling All Book Lovers

Celebrating the Book Flood is easy: line up a good book for Christmas Eve, snuggle in a warm blanket with a cup of cocoa at the ready, and prepare for a cozy reading binge! 

I am very lucky to have a book fairy—local librarian Megan keeps an eye out for novels I might like, and she recommended the one I’ve got for the Christmas Book Flood: history, mystery, and a touch of mysticism. It certainly ticks all my boxes for the holidays.

I can’t wait to start this one

O Tannenbaum

If you’re a regular reader here, you know my holiday secret: I love Christmas. The lights and sparkle, the celebratory pause before winter’s long, cold slog, and the spiritual aspects of the best Christmas stories.

And while my husband John and I focus on simple holiday traditions, I do have one requirement, no ifs, ands or buts:

A Christmas tree. A real one.

For the first decade of our married life, every December, around mid-month, we bought a seven foot fir. To me, Christmas wasn’t Christmas unless I had an oversized, fully decorated real tree in my living room, exuding that lovely scent of fresh fir.

We would set it up the week before Christmas—and there it would stay until Epiphany, January 6—at least! Happily, John was totally on board about keeping our tree around too, until the needle-drop became extreme.

We moved from a “they-cut” to a “U-cut” Douglas fir, but it was still purchased. Once every few years we would reallygo all out, and spend the big bucks for a noble or grand fir.

Then as the years rolled on, I managed to let go of the huge tree, and dialed it down… To a six-foot fir.

But three years ago this month, my usual holiday plans—including my precious tree tradition— were turned upside down. We were needed for an out of town family emergency.

Without a spare second to bake a few cookies or buy some gifts—and of course Christmas cards were completely off the table—I was forced to make do.

Just before we had to leave home, I managed to create a Christmas tree…of sorts.

I found a stand of baby cedar trees on our property growing too close together to thrive. I cut down three of the saplings, lashed them together, and stuck their spindly little trunks in a sturdy vase filled with water.

It was new, to have to pare down the lights and tchotchkes to decorate my little semi-tree. Yet in a way, this experience turned out to be quite rewarding—to use only the ornaments with personal meaning, including the ones my daughters made when they were little, and our prettiest angel ornaments.

Three little cedars almost = one Christmas tree

Curiously enough, while I was wringing my hands over missing out on a Christmas tree, a funny thing happened around our garden. Volunteer firs! 

If you’re at all familiar with the Foothills of the North Cascades in the Pacific Northwest, you know that firs and cedars grow like weeds.

So it should have come to zero surprise to me, that they’d turn up in our garden!

The last two Christmases turned out to be a bit topsy-turvy as well. Still, it was a perfect opportunity for my dialed-down Christmas tree. So decorating a little Charlie Brown fir I find in the garden but is now our new tradition. 

At the store the other day, I saw 5 1/2 foot Douglas fir Christmas trees for $45! I had no idea even smallish trees had gotten so expensive. A baby Christmas tree, for us, means having more resources to share with others at holiday time.

Refreshing Your Holiday Entertainment

For years, I’ve been watching the same old Christmas movies. I LOVE them, I mean, who doesn’t adore “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Santa Clause,” and “A Christmas Carol”? But really, I’ve been due for a refresh. 

As I don’t have cable TV, I don’t have access to all the wonders of the Hallmark holiday movies. However, I recently discovered “Last Christmas”—a feature film starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. I actually didn’t much like the movie at first. Yet by the end, I was a tearful puddle, so touched by this tender, mystical story. 

Last night, my husband John and I had a special, unexpected treat: Ted Lasso’s “Carol of the Bells,” Episode 4 of Season 2. If you watch any Christmas TV this season (and don’t mind all the profanity!) I hope you’ll make room for this episode! Like “Last Christmas,” the story is a celebration of love and community, and the true spirit of the season. 

For any of you who don’t do streaming (our internet too slow), I borrowed both the film and TV series in DVD through my local library. You’ll find my latest news in my December newsletter, “Of Owls and Empaths”…I hope you’ll take a look!

St. Nicholas Day & a Simpler Holiday

One Christmas corner in our house

Has Christmas turned into a 3-month event?

Holiday advertising seems to be everywhere by mid-October, and the New Year sales don’t end until the middle of January. Each year, it seems that the holiday season gets longer and longer. The celebrations get more and more elaborate.

How can you create a simpler holiday when the commercial pressures are all around you?

I was amazed to recently learn that Advent calendars have become a big business. I mean, huge. 

Now, my old paper Advent calendar feels perfect to me. There’s lovely Nativity scene, a bit of glitter, and a Bible verse behind every door. When Advent calendars with chocolate behind every door came along, I, as a chocolate lover, was all for it. Still, while they seemed quite festive to me, I was always happy with my faded paper one.

But chocolate was just the beginning. Now you can get calendars with a whole world of stuff. Merch.

One item every day of Advent. Make-up. Skin care. Jam. Beef jerky. Toys. Coffee. Even wine. 

A young Danish homesteader wrote this week that she was so turned off by the commercialization of Christmas, she had pretty much given up on celebrating the holidays. No lights. No carols. No shopping. 

But somehow, her little girl, hardly more than a toddler, asked her about Father Christmas. How could she deny her child the pleasures of Christmas?

How can all of us experience more Christmas joy?

The Danish woman’s solution turned out to be exactly like mine: to focus on the basics. To enjoy the lights and music and rituals without a lot of shopping or fancy celebrations. As I do, she’s baking goodies to give as gifts and stringing lights around the house. And like me, she sings Christmas carols while she cooks and does her chores. 

Unlike her, I don’t have a little one to sing to, but I can enjoy the carols all the same. 

Today, December 6th, is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas—the patron saint of children, and the real-life inspiration for holiday gift-giving and Santa Claus. This year, I have promised myself to do something Christmasy each day of Advent. (That is, besides opening the little door on my Advent calendar.)

It doesn’t need to be much. Watching a gentle Christmas movie, reading about others’ simple celebrations, starting my Christmas letter, planning some festive—though simple!—meals during the season. Learning more about the religious aspects. Tonight, I’m putting out the first decorations, and baking some cookies. 

You may find, if you give up all the rush and bustle and present-buying and fancy celebrations, a much more meaningful holiday. 

I also celebrated St. Nicholas Day by harvesting the last of our fall carrot crop! Carrots are at their absolute sweetest if you wait to pick them until after first frost of fall. We had an extremely late first frost, 6 weeks after the average one. December 1st! 

We’ll have festive dinners all through the holiday season with these sweet carrots!

Sweetness in the meals to come!