Elmo, Grinch, Eggnog (my dad taught me to make real eggnog, sans alcohol. The birth of the third grandbaby. A sweet, serious little girl. Her smiles are rare, but so worth the effort.
Love your illustrated work. And thanks for sharing those pages from your sketchbook.
The word Sock or Christmas stocking as we called them. Could be the British background. Scrooge (from the original 1951 Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim) I am showing my age! We watched that for years once we got tv when I was about 8. Christmas Cake my mom used to make in the 3 round pans that were used for wedding cakes! I still love Christmas cake . Not bought only homemade. As a kid I loved eating the batter! We sure wouldn’t encourage that now! I never made these myself but my best friend makes her Mom’s recipe. She makes one small loaf pan for me and also for my Dad when he was still alive. I tell her NO more….I will eat it all at once. I don't need the calories!
My own tradition is to make the Italian pizelle cookies that look like snowflakes. I do them with my grandkids. Or to share with friends.
Christmas letters from people are not a favorite thing. One family sounds like they are bragging as they rhyme off the amazing places they have been and they include a gorgeous perfect smiley happy photo or 5. I am probably envious of their polished looking life and abundance. I have always imaged sending back a dull story of my life. Some years have been quite a struggle. Of course no one wants to read the sad parts of people’s lives. Gotta work on that positivity!
Dear Amy, I used to type up a brief end-of-year letter from time to time. I received two tucked into Christmas cards yesterday. Made sure I was sitting down with a hot brew so I could really take time with each one. Both of these were written by wordsmiths which really could be reread and enjoyed a few times, just for the chosen style and voice. I too started with the Hallmark holiday films once 12/1 rolled around, although they’d been running them since October I think! Guess I missed the one that included the end of year letter. Darn. I can have a project going while they play, since they don’t take a lot of concentration. Good to know your mom is now in SF and you’ve got NEW projects going. The two/four of you must really have a good time together. Your crystal garland sounds lovely...lights/sparkles. Now about fruitcake. I’ve made it once or twice with dried apricots, cranberries, and bourbon-soaked cheesecloth. They are delicious when NO candied fruit is used! I’m heading to Petaluma today for a readers theater production of two Christmas stories, one being A Child’s Christmas in Wales - a long-time favorite of mine. (40 years ago I saw a production of the story where one actor played all of the characters! Memorable.) Thank you for sharing your steps through December and I hope you finish that shrug!
Elf with my students (such fun!) but Elmo with my own kids.
Grinch AND Scrooge are very nostalgic for me. My son played Scrooge in a junior high school production and had to improv his way out of bed curtains that fell down on him during the show! He will still cosplay Grinch as an adult, but he learned the lines to many of the Jim Carrey movie scenes when he was just 5. He’s very dramatic. Haha!
I’d probably add our trip around the Midwest to my newsletter. If it was by the numbers I could add the miles driven, cities seen, state/national parks we flew through, Capitol buildings entered, number of meals eaten out, hotel room numbers memorized (that turned out to be a game we played all week we traveled!).
I’m curious about the Sidewalk Oracles, searched our local library and saw they didn’t have it, and found I could get it free through the app Everand. My daughter read and loved a book called Rabbits by Terry Miles that was about connections, so she’s been hoping I’d read that one.
Overfull - that's the word for this week/month. To be sure, some of it is self-imposed. The decorating, for one. A few gift selections for another. But work is also jam-packed with conferences, and end-of-year reports, and wrapping things up before the holidays. So I guess it's a mix. Cindy-Lou-Scrooge. I can't let it go, but it leaves me a little breathless.
Fruitcake has a bad rap because there are so many terrible, mass produced fruitcakes on shelves in stores. A fruitcake made by someone with more time and concern for ingredients eschews the jewel-toned, tasteless, candied fruit for earth-toned dried bits of fig, apricot, or cherry. They soak the fruit in brandy for a day, then make and bake their cake with love. When it's out of the oven, they further infuse it with alcohol to preserve it, a process that can go on for as long as 8 weeks. The end result is moist, dense, and a happy sort of boozy (if you're into that kind of thing). Mostly, though, I think it's the love.
I was a committed holiday letter-writer, in the tradition of my mother and her brother, and her brother's children, for years and years. Some years, I didn't get the damn thing off until February, when it became a Valentine. As the deadlines slippage became more common, I decided to leave the cards we hung across our double doorway until I finally fulfilled my commitment. One year, they stayed up all year. And, thus a new tradition was born. They hand year round now, without apology!
This wasn't the last holiday letter ever to be written, but it was, I think, the most real.
Elf, Cindy Lou and the quirky ornaments on the tree. They all tell a story from the past (I touched on this in coffee today).
While I don’t do yearly letters at Christmas, I have created a slideshow every year for each of my sons on their birthday since they were born. It includes pictures, videos and their favorite music from the year and, much like a letter, it touches on the most important memories and experiences. We watch the video with all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who come to their birthday party. It serves the same purpose as the letter and we often go back and watch previous years to relive the fun. Since my youngest has a birthday in early December his always feels like a wrap up for the previous 12 months. We’ve also been doing 1SE for the past few years. It’s a NYE tradition for us to watch the year.
Scrooge! For two reason: I love the Christmas Carol, and I am a Scrooge about the elf on the shelf- in that I am not ready to take on that commitment. It’s hard enough keeping the Santa and Easter bunny charade rolling with my young kids. I print a short family letter on the back of our Shutterfly Christmas cards. We are a military family and I don’t get a lot of chances to catch up with the extended family. I hope it’s a way to fill people in a little bit, even if it’s just the soundbite version, when they sometimes forget even what state we are in!
I remember as a kid looking into the red mirrored ornaments at my own reflection with the many blinking lights, wondering what Santa would bring me this year. I miss the wonder and magic of that time. My tree always includes red mirrored ornaments. It helps to bring me back to that time.
No yearly letter but I have already started my 2023 year in review list that is just for me. (Potato. Potahto?) I have always listed goals but last year I started to spend some time on a review. I often feel that my life is boring but it really does help to stop and reflect on what was accomplished. Where did we go and do? Who did we visit? Time does fly by and so much of it is forgotten. Your art journal practice sounds amazing.
From the thin margins to the pooling lines, it all has something to do with the velveteen reality, and I am so grateful for your continuing attempt to bring it all together in ink and thread. This is a letter. This is friendship.
Thanks for the mention! The second fruitcake recipe, for the Western fruitcake with dried fruit, is easy and effective. My brother just send me the recipe for the plum pudding he used to send us each year. It’s like a dense fruitcake.
I wrote about nostalgia this week, too. I think this is the time of year most conducive to it.
I’m still collecting snow movies, writing poems for strangers and starting in on the Robert Moss book.
I’ve never been able to do Christmas cards. I just bought some and they’re just sitting there. I’d rather email or phone my friends.
the tinsel Christmas trees you had to stick each branch into the "trunk" individually. My daughter bought one at a garage sale last year and it brought back so many memories. Our second grandson arrived a week late on Christmas Eve and is just a wee cutie.
Elmo, Grinch, Eggnog (my dad taught me to make real eggnog, sans alcohol. The birth of the third grandbaby. A sweet, serious little girl. Her smiles are rare, but so worth the effort.
Love your illustrated work. And thanks for sharing those pages from your sketchbook.
The word Sock or Christmas stocking as we called them. Could be the British background. Scrooge (from the original 1951 Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim) I am showing my age! We watched that for years once we got tv when I was about 8. Christmas Cake my mom used to make in the 3 round pans that were used for wedding cakes! I still love Christmas cake . Not bought only homemade. As a kid I loved eating the batter! We sure wouldn’t encourage that now! I never made these myself but my best friend makes her Mom’s recipe. She makes one small loaf pan for me and also for my Dad when he was still alive. I tell her NO more….I will eat it all at once. I don't need the calories!
My own tradition is to make the Italian pizelle cookies that look like snowflakes. I do them with my grandkids. Or to share with friends.
Christmas letters from people are not a favorite thing. One family sounds like they are bragging as they rhyme off the amazing places they have been and they include a gorgeous perfect smiley happy photo or 5. I am probably envious of their polished looking life and abundance. I have always imaged sending back a dull story of my life. Some years have been quite a struggle. Of course no one wants to read the sad parts of people’s lives. Gotta work on that positivity!
Dear Amy, I used to type up a brief end-of-year letter from time to time. I received two tucked into Christmas cards yesterday. Made sure I was sitting down with a hot brew so I could really take time with each one. Both of these were written by wordsmiths which really could be reread and enjoyed a few times, just for the chosen style and voice. I too started with the Hallmark holiday films once 12/1 rolled around, although they’d been running them since October I think! Guess I missed the one that included the end of year letter. Darn. I can have a project going while they play, since they don’t take a lot of concentration. Good to know your mom is now in SF and you’ve got NEW projects going. The two/four of you must really have a good time together. Your crystal garland sounds lovely...lights/sparkles. Now about fruitcake. I’ve made it once or twice with dried apricots, cranberries, and bourbon-soaked cheesecloth. They are delicious when NO candied fruit is used! I’m heading to Petaluma today for a readers theater production of two Christmas stories, one being A Child’s Christmas in Wales - a long-time favorite of mine. (40 years ago I saw a production of the story where one actor played all of the characters! Memorable.) Thank you for sharing your steps through December and I hope you finish that shrug!
Elf with my students (such fun!) but Elmo with my own kids.
Grinch AND Scrooge are very nostalgic for me. My son played Scrooge in a junior high school production and had to improv his way out of bed curtains that fell down on him during the show! He will still cosplay Grinch as an adult, but he learned the lines to many of the Jim Carrey movie scenes when he was just 5. He’s very dramatic. Haha!
I’d probably add our trip around the Midwest to my newsletter. If it was by the numbers I could add the miles driven, cities seen, state/national parks we flew through, Capitol buildings entered, number of meals eaten out, hotel room numbers memorized (that turned out to be a game we played all week we traveled!).
I’m curious about the Sidewalk Oracles, searched our local library and saw they didn’t have it, and found I could get it free through the app Everand. My daughter read and loved a book called Rabbits by Terry Miles that was about connections, so she’s been hoping I’d read that one.
Thank you for your newsletter!
Overfull - that's the word for this week/month. To be sure, some of it is self-imposed. The decorating, for one. A few gift selections for another. But work is also jam-packed with conferences, and end-of-year reports, and wrapping things up before the holidays. So I guess it's a mix. Cindy-Lou-Scrooge. I can't let it go, but it leaves me a little breathless.
Fruitcake has a bad rap because there are so many terrible, mass produced fruitcakes on shelves in stores. A fruitcake made by someone with more time and concern for ingredients eschews the jewel-toned, tasteless, candied fruit for earth-toned dried bits of fig, apricot, or cherry. They soak the fruit in brandy for a day, then make and bake their cake with love. When it's out of the oven, they further infuse it with alcohol to preserve it, a process that can go on for as long as 8 weeks. The end result is moist, dense, and a happy sort of boozy (if you're into that kind of thing). Mostly, though, I think it's the love.
I was a committed holiday letter-writer, in the tradition of my mother and her brother, and her brother's children, for years and years. Some years, I didn't get the damn thing off until February, when it became a Valentine. As the deadlines slippage became more common, I decided to leave the cards we hung across our double doorway until I finally fulfilled my commitment. One year, they stayed up all year. And, thus a new tradition was born. They hand year round now, without apology!
This wasn't the last holiday letter ever to be written, but it was, I think, the most real.
https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/eight-thousand-seven-hundred-and
Thanks, Amy, for invoking honesty.
Elf, Cindy Lou and the quirky ornaments on the tree. They all tell a story from the past (I touched on this in coffee today).
While I don’t do yearly letters at Christmas, I have created a slideshow every year for each of my sons on their birthday since they were born. It includes pictures, videos and their favorite music from the year and, much like a letter, it touches on the most important memories and experiences. We watch the video with all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who come to their birthday party. It serves the same purpose as the letter and we often go back and watch previous years to relive the fun. Since my youngest has a birthday in early December his always feels like a wrap up for the previous 12 months. We’ve also been doing 1SE for the past few years. It’s a NYE tradition for us to watch the year.
Have a great week!
Scrooge! For two reason: I love the Christmas Carol, and I am a Scrooge about the elf on the shelf- in that I am not ready to take on that commitment. It’s hard enough keeping the Santa and Easter bunny charade rolling with my young kids. I print a short family letter on the back of our Shutterfly Christmas cards. We are a military family and I don’t get a lot of chances to catch up with the extended family. I hope it’s a way to fill people in a little bit, even if it’s just the soundbite version, when they sometimes forget even what state we are in!
Elmo, Grinch
I remember as a kid looking into the red mirrored ornaments at my own reflection with the many blinking lights, wondering what Santa would bring me this year. I miss the wonder and magic of that time. My tree always includes red mirrored ornaments. It helps to bring me back to that time.
No yearly letter but I have already started my 2023 year in review list that is just for me. (Potato. Potahto?) I have always listed goals but last year I started to spend some time on a review. I often feel that my life is boring but it really does help to stop and reflect on what was accomplished. Where did we go and do? Who did we visit? Time does fly by and so much of it is forgotten. Your art journal practice sounds amazing.
Thank you for your post.
From the thin margins to the pooling lines, it all has something to do with the velveteen reality, and I am so grateful for your continuing attempt to bring it all together in ink and thread. This is a letter. This is friendship.
Thanks for the mention! The second fruitcake recipe, for the Western fruitcake with dried fruit, is easy and effective. My brother just send me the recipe for the plum pudding he used to send us each year. It’s like a dense fruitcake.
I wrote about nostalgia this week, too. I think this is the time of year most conducive to it.
I’m still collecting snow movies, writing poems for strangers and starting in on the Robert Moss book.
I’ve never been able to do Christmas cards. I just bought some and they’re just sitting there. I’d rather email or phone my friends.
Elmo, Grinch,
the tinsel Christmas trees you had to stick each branch into the "trunk" individually. My daughter bought one at a garage sale last year and it brought back so many memories. Our second grandson arrived a week late on Christmas Eve and is just a wee cutie.