Thanksgiving Highlights

[Wrote this up last week but never finished.]

Hello and Merry Christmas!!  It's December - it's past Thanksgiving - and that means the Christmas music I've been listening to for weeks is finally sanctioned. :)

But before we get to Christmas... a few high-points from our fall feast weekend!

//  My Thanksgiving break actually began Wednesday with a trip to the Doctor's, followed by a 4 and 1/2 hour nap.  I had been sick for a week leading up to that - mostly in bed - but trying to work, but my body was "improving" at a pathetic rate.  Thanks to modern medicine, I am on my way to rejoining the land of the living.

// The feast-day came and I headed over to my parents - first time "going home for the holidays."  I always lived at home - even through college.  So even though it takes less than 1 song to drive to my parents, it was exciting!  Here's me, setting off on my trek:

// Going home meant seeing my brother, Josiah, who goes to school over in Eastern Washington (and is about to graduate with his Master's in one week).  My aunt, uncle, and cousin also came over and thus commenced our 3rd or 4th annual Thanksgiving with them.  My aunt is a fellow English major and we can talk for days hours (I think our record is 9 hours straight).  Plus, she provides the turkey for the meat-eaters in my family.  "Recovering Vegetarian" means I still can't be expected to master certain meat dishes.  So, for the past few years, that means I get to load up on turkey, tofurkey, 2 types of stuffing, and of gravy.  Why do I still pile on the vegetarian fare?  Because it tastes like home.  It may not be the greatest (though, I love making a vegetarian, classic stuffing and my mom preps one killer tofurkey) but certain things are good just because they're familiar - yummy-by-association.  

// Amazing how so many hours of preparation can go into a meal that's over so quickly.  But I love it!  Compared to many previous civilizations, America has an alarmingly few "feast days."  We seem to find plenty of reasons to (over)eat - the Superbowl to 4th of July to a Saturday night "just because" - but days that are focused partly on a feast?  We don't have too many of those.  And I love the way God works: He tells his people to feast out of gratitude and faith, so we get blessed even in thanking Him.  [Random thoughts...]

// I was anti-Black Friday this year.  Did order a few things online, but didn't go anywhere!  I did, however, grab this fur collar later in the weekend.  Love it :)

// Apple cup with friends was awesome - go Dawgs!

// Saturday, my flatmate and I picked up our Christmas tree and other decor.  It's lovely to have a little place to decorate!

I hope your Christmas season is off to a fun and festive start :)

Bibliophilic Christmas Gifts

Christmas is coming and I have some ideas for the lit nerd in your life!*  You don't have to settle for a Barnes & Noble or Amazon gift card (though, those are always gratefully accepted).  No matter the price point, gender, or age of your literary loved one, here are some gifts for your consideration:


* If you don't have a Lit Nerd in your life, I volunteer as tribute! 

Obvious State, via Etsy-
Evan Robertson is continually impressing me with his skill of working literary quotes into layered works of art.  But if his posters are a bit out of your budget, consider a set of his notebooks - any 3 for $12.  Now your bookworm has a place to jot down favorite quotes of their own:

Litographs:
What if you could wear the text of your favorite book in it's entirety?  With Litographs, there's no need google that great quote... just grab a magnifying glass!  Litographs offers tees ($34), totes ($29), and posters ($24) featuring brilliant (if at times harrowing) designs made up of the entire text.  The cool thing about your gift is that it's not just for your loved one.  Litographs partners with the International Book Bank so that with every product you purchase, they're able to send a book to a child in need.  Check out some of their cool designs below:

[The Great Gatsby]

[Poems of TS Eliot]

[And my favorite design, Persuasion]

Out of Print Clothing:
For variety and creativity, look no further than Out of Print.  They have an array of apparel and accessories featuring famous covers of famous books.  Like Litographs, they have a buy-one, give-one business model through their business partner, Books for Africa.  A few examples of their products include:

[a "Poe-ka Dot" tote - $18]

[Pride and Prejudice Journal - the "lines" of this notebook are comprised of micro-text famous quotes - $8]

[For the Lit Nerd in training, the Goodnight Moon onesie for $22]

Middle Earth Skirt, via Etsy:
Do they have their own custom-made, Middle-Earth skirt?  For just $45, you can rectify the situation here!

The Penguin Collection:
One of the most famous publishers of the 20th century, Penguin has a long list of devoted followers.  From their iconic green and orange paperbacks to their more recently popular cloth-covered editions, Penguin has a lot to offer, including "The Penguin Collection."  Also consider these postcards:

 

[100 Book Covers - $25]

LiteratiClub, via Etsy -
This Etsy shop specializes in literary scarves like the one below from Alice in Wonderland:

[Literati infinity scarf - $31]

You might also search Etsy if your Lit Nerd has a specific book or character they're a huge fan of.  For example: Hermione's time-turner, a Finnick necklace,  or an Anne of Green Gables poster.

What if you want to get them an actual book?  But you want it to be cool!  They can get the classics anywhere; they may or may not appreciate the latest NYT best-seller.  So, how about some unique book ideas for this Christmas:

   \\ The book lover in your life will go "absolutely ape" over this piece of art from Doug Dorst and, nerd-royalty, JJ Abrams.  "S" is a book within a book.  In their own words:

One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

The book: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.

The writer: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.

The readers: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.

[this 3-dimensional, literary gem is available on amazon for just $21]

   \\ Tree of Codes by Jonathon Safran Foer is a book carved out of another book.  Bruno Schulz's novel Street of Crocodiles has been an influential work on the life and work of Foer (and on his wife, Nicole Krauss).  He decided to take the novel and extract a new one - not adding a single word, only by cutting out words.  The result?  An landmark literary and artistic work:

[via]

   \\ And finally, a book just for fun:  William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher.  I got to flip through this thing the other day, and let me tell you - it's golden!  And thanks to Amazon, it can be yours or your friend's (or yours) for $12.  Just check out the Star Wars prologue in perfect sonnet form:

[via]

Let me know in the comments if you or a book lover you know are asking for any wonderful, bookish presents this Christmas [no, a Kindle doesn't count].


Here's to a very, Merry Christmas for both you and the bibliophile in your life :)

Merry Christmas!

"Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime..."

- Samwise, describing Galadriel to Faramir

The Two Towers

Aaaaaghh! =)

I raise my hands once again as the song soars... The keyboard, electric cello, and electric guitar has the crowd swaying when the guitarist pulls out a violin bow and begins to gently slide it across his guitar strings. "Led Zeppelin style," my brother whispers. All I know is it sounds like ecstasy...

Strains of "O holy night" strike my ears and I melt again! Then they start into another song--only this time with xylophones, tambourines, drums, cymbals, ukuleles, and a myriad of other instruments I could not even name. This time it's "Joy to the world." And this time I'm giddy while trying to decide if I want to enjoy the moment or capture it as a video on my phone.

Splicing Christmas Carols, adding hymns, recreating arrangements--the music is simply overpowering. Then one of the artists brings it down. He's on his acoustic now and the music is much simpler once again. "We are still in need of a Savior. America is oppressed--if it is in small ways like our economic crises, or in the injustice of human slavery. We need hope just like the Israelites. And these are our songs of hope..."

"Silent Night" has everyone singing along. peaceful yet profound :)

And I have to sit down at this point--to take it in, and to rest in the peace of the moment...

How do I describe the way the music moves me? These aren't just songs--they are Christmas songs! And not performed any old way... it's worship, pure worship! Music raptures me to somewhere simply indescribable.

This Future of Forestry Christmas Concert reminds of that. Their incredibly-gifted, opening act, Josiah James, reminds me of that. The Sacred Sounds of Christmas Concert I was at just a few weeks ago reminds me of that. Breathtaking! There comes a point as the music crescendos and I just don't want to ever leave... And it makes me so grateful! I'm so grateful that God created a world with music and flavor and color and aromas and sensations--we could have survived without all those things, but He gave them to us anyway! And I'm so happy for that!

And I really do think about all these things as Future of Forestry wraps up another Christmas Carol... :)