Drifting Leaves: An Autumn Tag

My friend Olivia tagged me with this little seasonal challenge over on her blog, Meanwhile, in Rivendell... last fall.  I'm in the mood for blog tags lately, so finding it in my drafts was perfect timing.  Belated thanks, Olivia!

Here are this tag's rules:

1. Download the cover photo and use it for your post (check)

2. Acknowledge the person who tagged you (check) 

3. Tag others and comment on their blog to let them know! (check) 

4. Slip into autumn vibes (check)

And here are the tag questions:

1. If autumn isn't your favourite season, what is? And if autumn is your favourite season, why? 

Where I currently live, autumn is my favorite.  Winter is my true favorite, but the winters here are mostly grey and ugly and barren, with no snow to cheer up and beautify the world except for a couple of days here and there.  I am passionately in love with snow (and I have lived in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Connecticut, so I know whereof I speak -- this is not a childish and frivolous love) and Christmas and so many wintery things -- but winter here is disappointing.  

So I love autumn best here.  And that's because it's when we can say farewell to something I hate: being hot.  I really hate being hot.  And it is hot here from late May through mid-September.  It's quite disgusting, Holmes.  But when fall finally arrives, the heat leaves and I feel like myself again.  (I actually get the summertime version of Seasonal Affective Disorder toward the end of most summers, so I literally mean I feel more like myself again when autumn comes to rescue me.)  Also, I get very creative in the fall and usually do some of my best writing then.  And I love all the changing colors of the tree leaves.  And I love to bake, but it's too hot in the summer to bake much, so I can bake more again once the weather cools down!

(All photos in this post are my own.)

2. What is your favourite thing that you do each autumn? 

I love to go to Colonial Williamsburg in the fall to see all the beautiful trees and drink hot apple cider while strolling down Duke of Gloucester Street.  It might be my favorite season to spend there, though come springtime, I'll say that's my favorite.  Both are so beautiful!

For the past few years, we have gone to Colonial Williamsburg in mid-November to see them fire their bricks.  They build a giant kiln out of unfired bricks that they made all during the spring and summer, and then build a massive fire inside it and bake the bricks.  It's amazing to watch.

3. What are a couple of your favourite autumn memories? 

I have a lot of fun making costumes, and I have some great memories of making unusual costumes for my kids, especially when they were very small.  A fire truck, an airplane, a big squishy pumpkin, and a Lego person were some of my favorites to try to figure out.  

4. What book most reminds you of the autumn? Movie? 

The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle is set in October, and it's hands-down my favorite fall read.  I am exceedingly fond of the 1988 version starring Jeremy Brett, and we watch it every October.  Well, most Octobers -- I'm sure we have skipped a year once or twice.  But generally, we cozy up with it sometime in the fall.

5. What is your favourite drink for the season? 

I love hot apple cider.  And cold apple cider.  It's one of the few things I really only drink in autumn.

6. What is one new thing you want to do this autumn? 

I am contemplating making homemade apple butter for the first time.

7. Do you decorate for the autumn? If so, how soon? If not, why? 

I do, a bit.  I hang seasonal wreaths or other decor on the closet door in our foyer, and I made a fall-themed wreath years and years ago to use in autumn.  This year, I pulled all the flowers and things off it and redecorated it with a mix of a few of the old pieces and some new things.  Here's how it turned out:

I used the bits and bobs that were left over from that project to make a triangular wreath-ish thing to go around a whole bunch of battery-operated candles as a centerpiece for our dining room table.  Three of the candles are in tall glass candle holders that my kids decoupaged with autumn leaves they'd collected.  They made those years ago, and I really like how they turned out.  They've lasted so well, too!

I have a few other things I bring out just for Thanksgiving to put on my mantel, but this is the bulk of my autumn decorations.

8. What is your favourite way to celebrate Thanksgiving? 

With my family, either at my house or my brother's house.  I loved celebrating it in Colonial Williamsburg, but now that Dad is gone, I don't really want to do that again.

9. What colour makes you think most of autumn? 

Dark orange.  Orange of all sorts, really -- the only time of year I don't mind the color orange is autumn.

10. Type up a list of ten words or names that encapsulate the season of autumn for you.

Cool

Crisp

Welcome

Change

Creativity

Renewal

Hope

Comfort

Finally

Cozy

I hereby tag:

The Maidens of Green Gables

Cab Drivers and Coffeepots/Musings of an Introvert

Sidewalk Crossings

Taking Up Room

With Freedom, Books, Flowers, and the Moon

Here's a clean list of the tag questions for you to copy with ease:

1. If autumn isn't your favourite season, what is? And if autumn is your favourite season, why? 

2. What is your favourite thing that you do each autumn? 

3. What are a couple of your favourite autumn memories? 

4. What book most reminds you of the autumn? Movie? 

5. What is your favourite drink for the season? 

6. What is one new thing you want to do this autumn? 

7. Do you decorate for the autumn? If so, how soon? If not, why? 

8. What is your favourite way to celebrate Thanksgiving? 

9. What colour makes you think most of autumn? 

10. Type up a list of ten words or names that encapsulate the season of autumn for you.

Time Machine: Colonial Williamsburg

Have you ever wondered what life was really like during the 1700s? Reading books and watching movies can only go so far toward helping you understand how people lived and worked hundreds of years ago. 

Since time machines have yet to become widely available, most of us have no way to revisit the past. If only there was a place where people recreated Georgian life, so we could see and experience it first-hand. Oh, wait—there is! At Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, you can do precisely that. 

I first visited Colonial Williamsburg in the early ‘90s. Pre-teen me had read all the American Girl books about a girl named Felicity who lived in Williamsburg during the colonial era. I learned from them that the historic center of the city has been restored to look the way it did in the 1770s, on the eve of the American Revolution. Although I considered history to be one of my least-favorite subjects in school (I was twelve; please forgive me), I loved learning about how people lived in days gone by. 

Around that same time, we moved to North Carolina, and our first spring there, my dad had to attend a conference in Williamsburg, VA. I convinced my family we should all go along so we could experience the colonial recreation for ourselves. We’d been to many living history spots over the years, and we expected this to be similar: a handful of restored buildings, a dozen tour guides in period clothes, a few people demonstrating handicrafts, maybe a blacksmith. I hoped there would be a gift shop. 

Imagine our delight when we stepped onto the cobblestone streets of Colonial Williamsburg. Not a small cluster of restored buildings, but several streets lined with them! Not a dozen tour guides, but hundreds of reenactors in period dress! Not a few handicrafts being demonstrated, but shop after shop where you could see people plying their trades. (And yes, there was a blacksmith.) Not just a gift shop, but store after store where you could buy recreations of household items, books about the town, and more, plus several restaurants where you could eat food prepared from colonial-era recipes! Paradise! 

My whole family fell in love with Colonial Williamsburg. In fact, it became one of our favorite places. We would plan our vacation routes so we could stop there for a day or even just drop in to eat a meal. And the best part? It continues to grow! New houses are restored, more reenactors are hired—it keeps getting better and better. I went back in 2011, my first visit in almost a decade, and I was astounded at how it had grown. 

On that first visit, we discovered many different ways to learn about and experience colonial life in Williamsburg. We began by buying the tour package that let us traipse through the Governer’s Mansion, the Raleigh Tavern, the powder magazine, and homes of people great and small. I particularly loved the houses, the way they gave me a glimpse of the world inhabited by colonists in all different walks of life. And the reenactors fascinated me. Most of them are portraying a specific character, or even historical figure, complete with name, personal history, and an occupation. Visitors are encouraged to engage them in conversation, and although I’m still too shy to talk to them much, I’m blessed with a father who loves to ask questions. That first visit, I was young enough to be unembarrassed by him accosting reenactors, asking them, “Now, who are you? What are you doing? Tell us your story.” They gladly did just that. They explained what they were doing, whether it was cooking, sewing, or making a pair of boots. They told us their historical character’s names, where they were born, what their parents did, if they were married, if they had children, how long they’d lived in America, what their aspirations were—this budding writer was fascinated indeed. 

The shops and restaurants are all open to the public, as are most of the gardens. The shops are one of my favorite things to visit. I love browsing their wares: period clothes and accessories, hand-bound books and journals, quill pens, clay pipes, hand-dipped candles, mob caps, tricorn hats, books that explain various facets of colonial life, and more. While I haven’t gotten into wearing period clothes while I’m in Williamsburg, I love buying little things like soap, hats, and candles there. 

We’ve recently learned that if you want to experience living as a colonial American for more than a few hours, you can even rent a restored house to stay in overnight. There are a multitude of these lining the side streets of Colonial Williamsburg, and they’re furnished with antiques and replica furnishings, but also have modern plumbing and electricity. In them, I can easily imagine myself wearing period clothing while seated at a desk, writing in a hand-sewn journal with a quill pen—it's as close to a time machine as I’m ever likely to get.

(This post originally appeared in the July/August 2014 issue of Femnista magazine.)

Are You Still Bored?

I've been collecting up more fun and free/cheap ideas to share with you, activities you can do to alleviate boredom while you're still sheltering-in-place.  I know a lot of places are starting to lift some restrictions, but... a rainy spring day being cooped up at home is never fun, and even less fun when you've been stuck at home for 6+ weeks, so... here are some fun things you (or your kids)(or your parents) might enjoy :-)

(ICYMI, my first post of such ideas is here.)

+ Concordia Publishing House is offering a free printable coloring page for National Day of Prayer, which is TODAY (May 7).  PLUS that page also has printable coloring cards for Mother's Day and Father's Day.

+ Theater students at my alma mater, Bethany Lutheran College, created their own productions of the first nine episodes of the original Lone Ranger radio show!!!  And you can listen to them online right here.  Fun, family-friendly entertainment.

+ Tweetsie Railroad is offering free printable designs for making paper trains and train cars.  They've added a new one every week for quite a while, so there are lots of them to try out.

+ Colonial Williamsburg has added virtual tours of the Governor's Palace and their Art Museums to their website.  They're fabulous, especially the one of the palace, which is filled with costumed interpreters and just... awesome.

+ Chawton House (aka the estate where Jane Austen lived in later years) has put their spring museum exhibits online!  They're called the "Man Up!" collection, and are all about women who did things they were maybe told they couldn't or shouldn't, but discovered they could do anyway.  You can explore the exhibit here.

+ Etsy artist Magnetic Past is offering free downloadable coloring pages with themes like Famous Authors and Pride and Prejudice and Medieval Times.

+ LeVar Burton is doing a Twitter livestream 3 days a week, reading books aloud!  Mondays are children's books, Wednesdays are YA, and Fridays are for adults.

+ YourLMMStory.com is collecting up people's stories of how they became a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery's books.  You can share yours today!

+ If you have Disney+ and you or your kids are interested in learning what it took to make an animated movie back in the days of hand-drawing everything, you need to watch The Reluctant Dragon (1941).  It's a gentle little story of a man who has an idea for a movie and wanders around the Disney studios trying to find Walt himself, on the way encountering everyone from story board artists to sound effects recording artists and everyone in between.  I learned a lot from it, and so did my kids.  Plus, it's funny!  Bonus points if you spot a very young Alan Ladd in a bit part (this was one year before his breakout role in This Gun for Hire).  Hint: he's wearing a green jacket.

That's all I've got for you this time.  Friends of mine from elsewhere are saying that restrictions are easing up, but here where we are, things are pretty shut down still.  But we should be able to start holding worship services in church again about the time our new pastor arrives in a few weeks!  What a blessing!

Fun Stuff to Do While Sheltering in Place

So... life just got pretty weird this month, huh?  Here in the US, anyway -- I know it's been weird for a while in other parts of the world.

My family has been "sheltering in place" for two weeks now, in that Cowboy is now working from home, our church services are now held online, the kids' swimming lessons have been cancelled, and so on.  I do still go out to get groceries, but only once a week, not two or three times, and I don't take the kids with me.

I feel so blessed right now.  Cowboy can work from home.  We already homeschool, so my kids haven't had to transition to a new way of schooling.  We can video chat with family and friends with ease.  My hubby and I are both introverts, so we haven't been chafing under the need to stay home.  My house is crammed with books and movies and games and puzzles and toys, so there's no need to run out of fun things to keep us all occupied.  We own our own home and have a backyard, so the kids can still play outside without having to worry about coming into contact with others, plus we're not sharing walls or ventilation systems with other people.

The thing is, I know there are people who are not this blessed.  Who live in tiny apartments or crowded places, who are having to learn how to teach their children, who are extroverts and need social interaction for their emotional well-being.  Who don't own oodles of books and movies, or aren't entertained by them.  And people who have lost their jobs, whether temporarily or permanently.

For me, this has been a cozy couple of weeks.  For others, this has been a nightmare.  I understand that.  I don't want to give the impression that just because my family is doing okay, I assume everyone else is too.  If you're struggling at this time, please reach out.  To family, to friends, to strangers on the internet.  It's okay to say, "This is hard."  "I hate this."  "I'm having trouble."  "I need help.  Please help me."  If you need help, let people know.  Let me know, if you need to.  You can message me on Instagram or leave a comment here, especially if you have a prayer request or just need someone to talk to.

Okay.  So.  The title of this post is "Fun Stuff to Do While Sheltering in Place," and that's what the rest of it will be devoted to!  I've found a whole slew of things online that are either free or cheap and that I think other people might find fun or helpful.  Here they are:


+ Amazing children's book author and illustrator Mo Willems is doing free lunchtime drawing lessons for kids here on YouTube.

+ Colonial Williamsburg is closed for now, but their website is adding all kinds of wonderful interactive content.  I think their interactive timeline for the Stamp Act is really cool.  And they have all kinds of cool videos done by their historical interpreters (scroll down to find them).  PLUS, they have downloadable activity and coloring sheets.  AND they have some recipes here for 18th-century dishes.  If you're a teacher (public, private, or homeschool), you can create a free teacher account (or use a temporary one) to access videos, lesson plans, and interactive online activities.

+ Homeschool blog Blest the House has some great ideas for educational, fun ways to occupy your kids.  It's aimed at those who are suddenly having to teach their kids at home for the first time, but seasoned homeschoolers can find great ideas there too.  You might find that their Curriculum Potluck series of posts has ideas of resources you might find useful too.

+ The website Learning Through Literature has a lot of helpful articles and links to resources right now too.  I recommend their articles on book-based indoor activities, five tips for home learning, and how to create a rhythm for your day while sheltering at home.

+ ALL kids audiobook titles are free to kids on Amazon's Audible service for as long as schools are closed.

+ Scribd is offering a 30-day free trial of their ebooks and audiobooks.

+ You can listen to full-cast audio recordings of seven of Shakespeare's plays (including Hamlet!) for free on the Folger Shakespeare Center's website now through June 30.

+ You can watch a video of the Folger Shakespeare Center's 2008 production of Macbeth for free now through June 30.  (WARNING: Looks too scary for kids.)

+ The American Shakespeare Center has had to close their Blackfriars Playhouse for the spring season, but they're offering streamed versions of many of their plays, with "tickets" starting at $10.  (Might not always be child-friendly.)

+ The Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI, is offering their museum coloring book for free download so you can print it off and color it at home.

+ Etsy artist Bookmarks by Faye is offering four dragon coloring sheets for free download.

+ Etsy artist Mandie Manzano has lowered the price on each of her three download-and-print coloring book collections to $5 each.  I love her artwork so much!

+ Several artists, including Mandie Manzano, have created Collective Coloring, a place to find free downloadable coloring sheets.

That's all I have for today, but if I find more cool stuff to share, I'll do another post like this in the future!  If you have resources you'd like to share, post them in the comments so others can learn about them too!

Autumn 2018 To-Do List Wrap-Up

Tomorrow is December 1st.  Time to pull the plug on my autumnal to-do list :-)  Let's see how I did!

~ Read Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge Check!  My review is here.

~ Read 5 other books from my TBR shelves Check!  I read SEVEN others off my TBR shelves:

• Soldier On by Vanessa Rasanen
• A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Laconte
• The Case of the Very Bad Cat by Perry Elisabeth Kirkpatrick
• Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright
• An Hour Unspent by Roseanna M. White
• Death by the Book by Julianna Deering (review to come)
• Exodusters by Nell Irvin Painter (review to come)

~ Read 3 books for my Classics Club list Check!  I read four:

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
• Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (review to come)

~ Read 3 books from the library Check!  I read five:

A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
The Bronte Sisters by Catherine Reef
Night School by Lee Child
Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

~ Watch 5 movies from my TBW shelves Check!  I watched Rough Magic (1995), Spaceballs (1987), The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), Red Mountain (1951), and I finished season 2 of Leverage (2009-2010).  Yes, the last is not a movie, but it takes up space on my TBW shelves, so it counts.  Of those, I liked Winter's War, Red Mountain, and Leverage enough to keep.

~ Go see the 2011 Jane Eyre with a bunch of friends Check!  It was super fun :-)  We have a new theater not too far away that holds these "afternoon tea" events once a month -- basically, they show a period drama and feed you tea and treats that are themed around the movie.  I've been to three of them now, and I am firmly addicted.

~ Go see Crazy Rich Asians Check!  It was amusing, but I didn't love it.

~ Go see First Man Fail :-(

~ Go see Bad Times at the El Royale Fail :-(  I went to visit my parents right when both this and First Man came out, and I flew over two different weekends, which meant I couldn't see movies on those weekends, and I totally missed them.  I'm so bummed.

~ Go see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Check!  You can read my initial thoughts on it here.

~ Get together with some blogging friends again, somewhere, somehow Fail.  Maybe after Christmas.

~ Make copycat Frankenmouth hot buttered noodles Check!  We made them for an Oktoberfest gathering we hosted back at the end of September (yeah, I know -- but it's totally a thing.  You celebrate Oktoberfest in September if you're good Germans, and I'm half a good German, so hey), and they were FABULOUS.

~ Make apple crisp muffins Fail :-(  I did print the recipe out, but that's it.

~ Take our kids camping in the Shenandoah Valley Check!  And we all survived.  No one got eaten by a bear.  I did mess my knee up again, though.  Grr.

~ Order photos Fail :-(

~ Start writing the first draft of my next book Check!  I'm more than a chapter in, and I love it.  I don't have a good title for it yet, but it's a retelling of Snow White set in the 1870s during a wagon train.

~ Run down to Colonial Williamsburg at least once  CHECK!  I went THREE TIMES!  It was basically the perfect autumn.

All in all, it was a charming autumn.  I'm particularly pleased that I got so much reading done, because it was also a busy season.  But I did NOT let my reading fall by the wayside! 

I'll post my winter goals soon.  How was your autumn?

(All pictures taken by me.  Many got posted on my Instagram account.)

The Four Things Tag

Eva did this on Coffee, Classics, and Craziness and tagged anyone who enjoys rewatching movies.  I ADORE rewatching movies, as you undoubtedly know, so... I consider myself tagged and am filling this out accordingly (with some asides to narrow down the categories a bit).

Four Jobs I’ve Had

Face-painter
Waitress
Cashier
Columnist

Four Things I Don’t (like to) Eat

Boiled potatoes
Baked potatoes
Mashed potatoes
Stewed potatoes

(My reaction to 'taters.)

Four Places I’ve Lived (since I was an adult)

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Connecticut
Virginia

Four of my Favorite Foods

Chocolate
Peanut butter
Pears
Asparagus

(From Pinterest)

Four Movies I’ve Watched More Than Once (with my best friend)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
Slow West (2015)
Hamlet (2011)


Four TV Shows I (am currently) Watch(ing)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
Leverage
Castle
F Troop

Four Things I’m Looking Forward to This Year (2018)

Publishing my next book, Dancing and Doughnuts
Visiting the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum (I hope)
Seeing my best friend again (someway, somehow)
Cleaning up the giant mess that my bedroom has become


Four Things I Can’t Live Without (besides the obvious things like water and air and food)(and not counting people or God, cuz they're not things)

Books
Movies
Yarn
Cameras


Four Places I’ve Visited (over and over)

Colonial Williamsburg, VA
Mackinac Island, MI
Charleston, SC
The Wisconsin Dells, WI

(A pic I took in Colonial Williamsburg last year.)

Four Pet Peeves (or things that annoy me, anyway)

The number of people who don't differentiate between an opinion and a fact
Lots of Alan Ladd's movies aren't available on DVD
The phrase "try and" -- it's bad grammar and ought to be "try to"
The way the big toenail on my left foot just won't go back to normal after getting ripped off like 2 years ago


Four Things I Wish I Could Do

Fence (with swords, I mean, not put up fences)
Enjoy housecleaning
Eat as much bacon as I want
Decorate really pretty cakes

(From Pinterest)

Four Subjects I Studied at School College

English
History
Literature
Creative Writing


Four Things Near Me Right Now

My Wolverine coffee mug
The Sons of Katie Elder soundtrack on CD
A box of my daughters' nail polishes
My red camera, Francis

There, I finally finished this tag!  Yay!  I hereby tag anyone who loves bacon :-9

Winter Wonderland Tag

I found this on Write On, Cordy! and decided to fill it out because you know what?  I'm really in the mood to fill out tags right now.

Tag Rules: 
Link back to The Storybook Journal
Answer the questions; think Winter-y thoughts! Include pictures, if you like.
Tag at least 3 other bloggers, or more if you're feeling ambitious. :)

1. Name a few things you love about Winter and a few things you don't love so much about it.

I love snow and the absence of hot temperatures.  I love Christmas and my daughter's birthday and my husband's birthday.  I love a nice fire in the fireplace.  I love hot chocolate (though, truth be told, I drink it all year 'round). 

I don't love living in a place where we don't get much snow.  I don't love icy roads.

2. When you were a child, did you "believe" in Santa Claus?

Why is "believe" in quotation marks?  As a kid, I literally believed in Santa's existence.  As an adult, I fiercely insist upon it.

3. Is there a book or movie that you really love to read in the Winter as opposed to other times of year?

I really only watch White Christmas (1954) in the winter.

4. Is there a particular Christmas movie that you watch EVERY year as a tradition?

Alas, no.  I kind of cycle through a bunch of them, watching ones that I haven't seen for a while or am just in the mood for at the moment.  Which ones?  These ones!

5. Do you usually get a real tree or a fake tree for Christmas? Who's in charge of decorating it at your house?

We have had fake trees all of our married life.  Now that our youngest is 6, though, and not liable to pull the tree over... and now that our current fake tree is getting really wobbly... we might just get a real tree next year.  I love real trees.

As for who is in charge of decorating it?  I am, naturally!  I hand out the ornaments to the kids, and they hang them where they please.  I do the lights and garland first, though.  Otherwise, we descend into madness.

6. Does your family usually stay home or go visiting (relatives, friends, etc.) on Christmas Day?

Since moving here in 2011, we have been hosting Christmas Day festivities at our house after church.  However!  My brother and his family bought a house this year, and so they have the honor of hosting us this time instead.

7. What does your family usually do on New Years Eve? Any traditions? Do you ever stay up till midnight?

Well, Cowboy always has New Year's Day off, so we usually watch a movie.  Sometimes we stay up until midnight, sometimes we don't.  Now, back when we both worked third shift, we were ALWAYS up to ring in the New Year, which amused us greatly.

8. Do you get snow where you live? If so, have you ever built a snowman and named him Olaf?

We do get a bit of snow sometimes!  In fact, all of the pictures in this post are from earlier this month.  (Some are of snow in my back yard, and some are of Christmas decorations at Colonial Williamsburg.)  I'm always excited if there's enough snow for us to build a good-sized snowman with the kids, but I don't think we've ever named him Olaf.

Last week, my son Sam made a tiny snow mouse face and put it on top of our wind chime.  Because he's cute.

9. If it's snowing outside, would you prefer to go outside and build snowmen and enjoy it, or would you rather stay inside with a blanket and something hot to drink and maybe a movie or a book?

I love to play in the snow!  But I also love to read books while it's snowing.  Ideally, I would choose both.  And I miss living in a snow-filled world where I didn't have to choose one or the other, but could do both.

10. When do you start looking forward to or getting excited about Spring?

Usually in February.  I get creatively stagnant as winter progresses, and I start to long for the changes of spring that will reawaken my hibernating creativity.

I wasn't tagged with this, so I'm not going to tag anyone.  If you feel like doing a Christmasy tag, go for it!

A Very Merry Tag

I recently started following Abby's blog Lavender Spring, and as part of her Advent celebration, she's created this delightfully Christmasy tag.  You probably know by now that I'm something of a Christmas addict, though I haven't actually made a Christmas header for this blog this year because I can't bear to replace my Alan Ladd yet.  But I made my book blog all Christmasy, which pleases me no end :-)  [EDIT:  You know you made a good choice in best friends when they read this and immediately email you with Christmasy Alan Ladd pictures so you can have your Alan Ladd and your Christmas header too.]

Anyway, here are my answers to her Very Merry Tag!  I wasn't tagged directly by anyone, but Abby basically tagged anyone who read her initial post, so... thanks for creating this and sort-of tagging me, Abby!

Does it snow where you live around Christmas? (If it doesn't, you have my sincere sympathy.) How much? Any special snowy Christmas stories? 

Not usually.  We do get some snow in January and February most years, but I don't think we've had a single white Christmas since moving here five years ago.  I've had many white Christmases in my past, and loved them, so brown Christmases tend to annoy and sadden me.  I absolutely adore snow.

I don't have any special stories about snowy Christmases, but I do have a fun memory of a very very very snowy and icy New Year's Eve from when Cowboy and I were first married.  We lived in Wisconsin then, near a lot of his family.  One New Year's Eve, all of his siblings and their families and the two of us went to their aunt and uncle's farm about ten miles from where we lived.  A big ice storm blew in and forced us all to spend the night there at the farm.  Cowboy and I and three of his siblings all worked 3rd shift, so we stayed up all night long playing board games and eating leftover food while everyone else slept, and it was a grand time.

Do you get a real tree or a fake tree? 

We haven't had a real tree once in fourteen years of marriage, but I keep saying that one of these years, we're going to drive up into the mountains and cut one ourselves.  My family did that for many years, and it was so fun.  I like the smell and look of a real tree best, but this is the first year in so long where I haven't had a kid so small I worried they would tip the tree over and spill water all over my nice wooden floor.  I did get some of those "Scentsicles" things this year to try out, and they smell really nice, if not exactly real.

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

White Christmas (1954).  I adore it!

Where in the world would you like to spend Christmas the most? 

Wherever Cowboy and our kids are.  But if we could all be together someplace awesome like Colonial Williamsburg, I would love that too.

What fictional/literary character would you most like to spend Christmas with? 

Sergeant Saunders from Combat! (1962-67).  I would do my best to make his Christmas merry and bright, even in the middle of a war zone.  We could sit cozily together by a bonfire in some abandoned barn or sawmill or whatever, not saying much, not doing much, just being quiet together, and each knowing that the other was totally okay with just sitting there quietly together.  Bliss.  I like to imagine he would think so too.

(Vic Morrow as Sgt. Saunders in Combat!)

What is your favorite Christmas song? 

"Carol of the Bells."  Here's a favorite Christmas memory:  This is actually a Ukrainian carol, and I got to sing it with my future in-laws at their church in Ukraine (where they were missionaries) one Christmas.  That was pretty amazing, let me tell you.

What is your favorite Christmas book/story (besides, ya know, the story)? 

Probably "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," a story in the Sherlock Holmes canon that takes place at Christmas and never fails to charm me.  It's one of my favorite Holmes stories, with such a great ending.  Also, it makes me laugh several times, and you know I dearly love to laugh.

Which do you prefer: multi-colored lights or white lights? 

I prefer multi-colored lights on my tree and white lights elsewhere in my house.

 What time period/decade would you most like to spend Christmas in? 

Well, I'll just say the 1940s so it meshes with my wish to spend Christmas with Sgt. Saunders, who is more dear to my heart than any other fictional character in anything at all, be it book, movie, or TV show.

Which period drama has the best Christmas scene/episode?

Welllllll, since I already used White Christmas in another answer, I guess I'll go with Little Women (1994), which opens with a beautiful example of sharing Christmas cheer with others, and also includes a Christmas scene that makes me cry (even just thinking of it, I've got a lump in my throat).  I'm speaking, of course, of the scene where Beth gets a new piano.  Too Much Wonderfulness.

I am not going to tag anyone today because I need to get school going, but I don't want this to languish unfinished anymore.  If you're feeling Christmasy and want to do this tag, please do so!