I spent my weekend immersed in books, either buying them or reading them, and wanted to continue that into the week. So today, for Day 10 of the Virtual Advent Tour, I thought I’d offer you a few videos of folks reading holiday stories. Settle in with a warm cup of cocoa, a Christmas cookie, and your crafting project for a seasonal story hour:

First up, because Hanukkah doesn’t officially end until sundown, let’s start with a celebration of the Festival of Lights. Actress Molly Ephraim reads Hanukkah in Alaska, by Barbara Brown and illustrated by Stacey Schuett:

Next, do you know the story of “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus,” the editorial from The Sun? Well, this is Virginia O. Hanlon, the author of the original letter to the editor, reading to a group of children in Albany, N.Y., in 1959 the paper’s response to her:

This is a long one, but well worth a listen. Actor Liam Neeson reads Chris Van Allsburg’s Polar Express:

Investigative journalist Keith Morrison of Dateline gives a dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas:

Finally, to end up on a high note, then-First Lady Michelle Obama reading “‘Twas the Night before Christmas” by Clement Moore at the Children’s National Medical Center back in 2012:

May you have a wonderful day. See you back here tomorrow!

Today is the second Sunday of Advent and the final night of Hanukkah.

Our host for today is my partner, Rudi of Random Duck, who has something a little … different … to share today, with some interesting Catalan Christmas traditions. I don’t know where he finds these things…

Stop back tomorrow for something that’s likely to be less corporeal, but also less funny, behind the next Virtual Advent Tour door.

Happy Saturday, folks! We’re entering the second week of December today, which feels rushed to me, honestly. Wasn’t it just Halloween?

Today I’m playing host again and, after reading an article in my favorite local news website, DCist, earlier this week, I decided to head to Georgetown this afternoon to capture a local tradition of which I’d been unaware.

Every year since 2006, the David M. Schwarz Architects has built Gingertown, a planned gingerbread community. They release an urban planning document and invite other architects, urban planners, engineers, and contractors to design a building for it. They provide the gingerbread, frosting, and candy, as well as the site plan (which does specify that certain lots must be reserved for certain types of buildings, such as a mill or a tavern.

Teams, who earlier put in bids for specific lots and submitted a charitable entry contribution, have three hours to construct their building before judging commences.

This year the theme for the village was medieval, so in addition to some lots that were available for general construction, required buildings in Gingertown included Gingerella’s Castle, St. Cadbury’s Cathdral, Bazooka Barracks, and Bubblegum Bandit Camp.

(Below is the album slideshow, which you can navigate. I’d also encourage everyone to click through to Flickr to look at some of the building details, since the shots here are really too small to do any justice to the skill and whimsy that went into each building.)

This was a great village, where the cobblestones were cocoa pebbles cereal, bridges were pretzel rods, and jellybeans were waterways. The city did seem to have a dragon infestation, since I counted at least two definite dragons on roofs and a couple other rooftoppers that I think were dragons. I suppose even the best planned communities has some unforeseen problems. I cannot express to you how wonderful the foyer of this office building smelled. It was comparable to being in a room where gingerbread is baking.

After this weekend, the buildings will be separated and shipped off to various local charities, who will also benefit from the funds raised by participants. This really seems like a holiday win for everyone.

May your day be as sweet as mine was. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Welcome to day seven of this year’s Virtual Advent Tour!

We’ve made it a full week, friends, and I hope that your holiday celebrations continue apace. My tree is up and mostly decorated and I’ve started my shopping, which will continue this week. Tonight, I had a huge hankering for my grandmother’s cranberry bread, which she always made this time of year (and the recipe for which I shared during last year’s tour), so I suspect that will be on this weekend’s agenda.

Today’s host is Judith of Reader in the Wilderness, one of our first-time participants this year. She has a great post on her favorite Christmas reads of the past five years, which recalls the Virtual Advent Tour’s origins in the lit-blogging community. Please stop by her post and make her feel welcome!

I’ll see you back here tomorrow for our next calendar door!

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. St. Nicholas stopped by last night, and we must have been pretty good this year because he left behind candy and a Harry Potter ornament for me and candy and some kitchen knives for Rudi.

2. I mailed my first Christmas card this week, which only bodes well for the rest of them, just as soon as I figure out where the stamps disappeared to during the great Christmas party cleanup.

3. Speaking of which, Rudi found my Mets cap, which was missing for the entirety of the 2018 season. I blame its absence for their performance, because in order to be a true baseball fan for the team that’s home to the Cy Young winner you have to believe it’s your headwear choices, rather than their playing, right?

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Greetings, Virtual Advent Tourists!

Happy St. Nicholas Day! I hope you’ve all been good this year and receive only treats overnight in your shoes!

Today’s guest host is longtime Virtual Advent Tour contributor, raidergirl3, who has been a part of it since the beginning. (You can see her history of contributions here.) Today she shares why December 6th is such an important date in Canadian history.

Stop back tomorrow for yet another stop on the Virtual Advent Tour. (And if you’re interested in joining us, we still have some dates available for writers!)