“Tis the season

You begin in November, designing the card you will send out to the other member of your card exchange. This photo or that? This online card or that one? And then you find it: the perfect card. You upload your photo, adjust the text and place your order.

You read the email message thanking you for your order. Then you await the message telling you it has been shipped. When that one comes you obsessively track your package online, not content until you see it on your stoop when you come home from work.

You check your email frequently for the mailing labels to be sent to you. When they arrive, you print them. After you’ve printed them you receive the email with corrections. You print a few more.

You spend a day stuffing and labeling envelopes. realizing you don;t have quite enough stamps, you send the international cards first, then plan a trip to the post office so you can mail the others.

Then you wait.

Sometimes, as you wait, you wonder if anyone chose the same design you did, and you hope not.

Every afternoon, you open the mailbox with anticipation because, unlike the rest of the year when you expect mere bills and junk mail, there might actually be something exciting.

When the first card arrives, you celebrate, not just the season, but the dogs and the people, too. Your heart swells knowing that in this time of transition, there is still good in the world.

Author’s Note: I wanted to experiment with writing in the second person and share my annual card exchange. Pictured above is my 2016 Card for the annual Daily Drool Card exchange. Numbers are down this year. I’ve sent out as many s 200, but this year, only 96  people are participating. But I still get to put up 95 basset hound Christmas Cards!

 

 

Warming my heart with tea and books

Yesterday was the first day of Hanukkah. Last night’s tea from my advent calendar was Glitter and Gold.

Looking for a little star power? This sweet, spiced black tea is filled with pretty little gold star-shaped sprinkles. Take a sip and the slow suggestion of cinnamon will warm your body. Your toes will tingle and your mind will turn to fireworks, falling stars, late-night seduction. It’s basically magic.

Ingredients: Black tea, lemon peel, sugar sprinkles, sugar, cloves, natural and artificial flavouring.

My sister, the giver of the advent calendar,  was the one who explained to me that this tea was to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah. I love this cultural cross-pollination of the Advent calendar!

And that thought brings me to one of my favorite holiday books by Patricia Pollaco,  The Trees of the Dancing Goats.

Goodreads Summary: Trisha loves the eight days of Hanukkah, when her mother stays home from work, her Babushka makes delicious potato latkes, and her Grampa carves wonderful animals out of wood as gifts for Trisha and her brother. In the middle of her family’s preparation for the festival of lights, Trisha visits her closest neighbors, expecting to find them decorating their house for Christmas. Instead they are all bedridden with scarlet fever. Trisha’s family is one of the few who has been spared from the epidemic. It is difficult for them to enjoy their Hanukkah feast when they know that their neighbors won’t be able to celebrate their holiday. Then Grampa has an inspiration: they will cut down trees, decorate them, and secretly deliver them to the neighbors, “But what can we decorate them with?” Babushka asks. Although it is a sacrifice, Trisha realizes that Grampa’s carved animals are the perfect answer. Soon her living room is filled with trees — but that is only the first miracle of many during an incredible holiday season.
Based on a long cherished childhood memory, this story celebrates the miracle of true friendship.

This book will warm your heart more deeply than a cup of tea.

What I Gave and What I Received

Christmas is about the books, the ones we give and the ones receive. So, I thought I’d share my giftapalooza this year.

To my twin sister for her birthday on December 23rd:

Glaciers by Alexis M Smith

To my twin sister for Christmas:

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. I’m a little nervous about this one. I think she’ll like it once she starts reading it.

To Tom, my brother-in-law:

Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars by Lee Billings.

For my 15 year old niece, Alexis:

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. I loved this and I think she will, too.

And here’s what I got:

For my birthday:

The Luminaries  by Eleanor Catton. winner of the UK’s  2013 Man B0oker Prize & Canada’s 2013 Governor  General’s Award – 832 pages I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into!

For Christmas:

 The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong – My sister loved this book and knew I would so she gave it to me. It’s about a woman living very remotely in early Canada.