Title: Holiday Biz and Books
Author: DJL
The Dish: It's that time again. The time of year when chinook winds blow down upon the US from Canada and when the leaves are turning brown and leaving behind their sturdy trees to form crunchy piles just perfect for jumping. Or raking, depending on how you view it. Winter is upon us and already Christmas carols are playing through certain radio stations 24/7, and you just have to smile and think, 'Wow...where did the year go?'
As hard as it seems, with the Thanksgiving holidays over and December already begun, Christmas, Chanukah/Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever winter holiday you celebrate will be here soon. You know what this means, right? Preparation. When it comes to any major holiday, the key word is always preparation. For some, this means preparing your house for out-of-town visitors and for others it means preparing to go on vacation. There is an awful lot of planning that goes on around this time of year, and even I get swamped with getting things ready (which is also my excuse for not having a post in awhile).
Take this week. I have been working every day this week on a different set of truffles for a Holiday Bazaar this weekend and also for mailing out to family and friends. So far, I've made 3 batches of about 30 truffles each, so I have 90+ truffles so far. This evening will be devoted to the last batch of truffles and also mixing up rolled sugar cookie dough for tomorrow's decorating time following work. Luckily, I'll have some assistance in that department so it should be fun to see how each of us decorate the cookies.
Despite the busy-ness and the potential stress that comes from planning and purchasing and mailing and wrapping and decorating, this is still my favorite time of year. Seeing the culmination of the planning take place whether it's on Christmas Eve or a chosen weekend to celebrate the holidays in December (or even November or January) makes all of the work worthwhile. It always thrills me to see my friends and family enjoying any of the homemade goodies I gave them for the holidays. And I look forward to getting a Cookie Swap started either this year or the next year.
What I also really love about this time of year are all of the holiday-related books and television specials published or shown for the season. Some of my favorites include
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, an anthology of werewolf stories that take place around the winter holidays,
Christmas Poems, an anthology of poems centered around Advent, Christmas, and winter by various poets, and of course
A Christmas Carol, both in book and several film formats. I will say that one of my preferred renditions of A Christmas Carol is with Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge in
A Christmas Carol: The Musical mostly because of the musical factor and also seeing other actors that you don't normally see in holiday films. Nostalgia is key when it comes to holiday specials because no matter how many times I watch the same specials in December, I never get tired of them. There is a reason why television specials like
A Charlie Brown Christmas,
Mickey's Christmas Carol, and
How the Grinch Stole Christmas have withstood the tests of time. It's because they are wholesome and heartwarming holiday animated specials that both young and old can appreciate.
Favorite Holiday Reads:
Title: Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
Editors: Charlaine Harris and Toni P. Kelner
Summary: Let's Face it - the holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard if you're a lycanthrope. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest, saddest werewolf tales, by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon and with a silver bullet close at hand. -Amazon.com
Title: Christmas Poems (Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets)
Editors: John Hollander and J.D. McClatchy
Summary: An anthology of Christmas poetry, from Milton to Schnackenberg, that gives an appealing twinkle to many familiar ornaments by hanging them with a tasteful selection of contemporary pieces and older, often neglected works that deserve the fresh polish they receive here. -Amazon.com
Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Summary: Cruel miser Ebeneezer Scrooge has never met a shilling he doesn't like. . .and hardly a man he does. And he hates Christmas most of all. When Scrooge is visited by his old partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, he learns eternal lessons of charity, kindness, and goodwill. -Amazon.com
Favorite Holiday Films and Specials:
Title: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Summary: This television classic features the Peanuts characters in the story of Charlie Brown's problematic efforts to mount a school Christmas pageant. Everybody's on board: Lucy, Snoopy, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, but the biggest impression is surely made by Linus, who stops the show with his recitation from the gospels of the story of Christ's birth. -Amazon.com
Title: Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Summary: The Grinch, whose heart is two sizes too small, hates Who-ville's holiday celebrations, and plans to steal all the presents to prevent Christmas from coming. To his amazement, Christmas comes anyway, and the Grinch discovers the true meaning of the holiday. -Amazon.com (regarding the book, but same basic premise)
Title: Beauty and the Beast The Enchanted Christmas
Summary: This film takes place before the Beast’s great transformation at the end of Beauty and the Beast. It was on Christmas Day that the heartless prince was transformed from his human self into his beastly state, and so Christmas has been a forbidden holiday among the castle servants. Belle, who loves Christmas, chooses to bring it back into the castle against the Beast’s wishes as well as threatening the plans of Forte, the musical maestro who believes things are better with the servants as objects. - DJL
Title: A Christmas Carol - The Musical
Summary: A musical setting for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a natural, and this holiday TV-movie (based on the Broadway version) generously crams music into its quick spin through the venerable story. Kelsey Grammer uses his musical pipes (and some of his "master thespian" style of acting) as Ebenezer Scrooge, the man whose miserliness needs no introduction here. -Amazon.com
Title: The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause
Summary: A wizardly fairy named Ak helps the young Nicholas understand human misery and charges him with the task of serving mankind. Nicholas's talent for charming little children and brightening the lives of the poor--and poor at heart--soon turns into a lifelong career. -Amazon.com
What holiday books and specials are traditions in your household?
