Welcome back to the Virtual Advent Tour! Today’s host is me!
Music is so important to making my holidays what they are. I grew up in a household where a stereo was always on, and my dad has been a big proponent of making Christmas mixes since before I was born. So I thought today I’d share three songs for your holiday listening pleasure that I’ve encountered for the first time this year:
The first is a re-imagined “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” updated for a #MeToo world. While I agree with those who say that it’s not the original intention of the song’s writers to make it seem creepy, I think some of the actions described in the song, combined with the frequent age discrepancies between the male and female singers in the duet, hit a little too close to reports from survivors of sexual assault/harassment to make it a completely comfortable song for me to listen to. Your mileage may vary, and I respect that, but for others who’ve moved away from the song, this version from Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski may give you a way back in:
Phoebe Bridgers (with Jackson Brown) dropped this cover of McCarthy Trenching’s “Christmas Song” last week, and I can see it getting a lot of play at my house this year:
Finally, singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson lost both her parents in the last year and wanted a way to reclaim the holidays at a time that was so hard for her. This version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” with Leslie Odom Jr. gives you an example of what you’ll find on her new album, Songs for the Season:
That’s it from me. Join us again tomorrow for the Virtual Advent Tour. And if you want to join in with the writing of posts, drop me a line in the comments and we’ll find you a date that works.
Welcome back to Day 2 of the Virtual Advent Tour! I hope you’re enjoying the weekend so far.
Today’s host is Bridget of The Ravell’d Sleave, whose family is commemorating a major milestone event today. Head over to her blog to read all about it.
Be sure to stop back tomorrow for our next stop on the Virtual Advent Tour!
If you’re enjoying the Virtual Advent Tour so far, consider joining our merry band of writers. You can find the current schedule on yesterday’s post. Just leave a comment letting me know what date you’d like to claim!
More holiday links:
Drops is doing their annual Christmas pattern giveaway through Dec. 25.
The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge is underway now through Jan. 6. In addition to reading holiday-themed books, there’s also a category for watching themed movies and for reading books with children.
Riveted is letting you read recently published YA novels for free on their site during the lead-up to Christmas with their annual 25 Days of Christmas celebration. I can’t endorse any of them personally, but there are several authors I’ve enjoyed on the list.
Welcome to Day 1 of the Virtual Advent Tour! I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving, if you celebrated it, and a great final week of November if you didn’t.
Today is the first day of December, and, as with any traditional paper Advent Calendar, it marks the first door of our 24-day calendar to be opened. What will we find behind each one? It will vary from destination to destination, so I urge you to visit each day to see what our bloggers have in store for you.
Today’s host is Nan from Letters from a Hill Farm, who has a fun post about a different type of virtual Advent calendar (and cards).
There is still time to sign up! We’d love for some more bloggers to participate. Wondering what’s involved? Go here. I think you’ll find we’re a supportive, enthusiastic bunch, so however casual or formal you want to go, we’ll be appreciative. Here’s the schedule as it currently exists:
1: Nan
2: Bridget
3: sprite
4: sprite
5: Nan
6: raidergirl3
7: Judith
8:
9: Rudi
10:
11: Kat
12:
13:
14: Judith
15:
16: Kat
17:
18: Jo Kay
19:
20: Constance
21: raidergirl3
22:
23: Rudi
24: Bridget
A few final notes:
I promised a badge and have one now in 1200px and 400px. Let me know if you want a different size or need help downloading them.
I am a night owl, so I’m writing these posts before I go to bed in the wee smalls and then scheduling them to go live between six and seven a.m. EST in the U.S. If posts are live at our destinations as I’m writing, I’ll share a direct link to that post and give you a teaser. If they aren’t, I’ll give you a link to the author’s blog and will try to update my post later in the day with more specifics. If there’s no Virtual Advent Tour post live when you stop by a site early (I know some of you are up way before the sun!), please check back later. It’ll be worth a return visit!
If you are a day’s destination and like to receive feedback/have conversations with your visitors, please make it as easy as possible to comment on your post. We like to leave you notes, but don’t always have access if you have to log into some other site, like Facebook or Gmail, to comment. Obviously, though, that’s up to you, because I get how annoying spammers are.
That’s it! See you back here tomorrow!
As I learn about other free or low-cost Advent events around the web, I’ll let you know. If you hear of others, leave me a note in the comments and I’ll promote them.
Courtney of Be More with Less is running her 31 Days of Gifts You So Deserve, an emailed Advent calendar of what looks to be quieter, low-cost suggestions for a balanced December.
Two knitting patterns where the instructions are given in short, daily chunks: Christina Campbell’s Project Peace 2018, which is a cowl supplemented by peace-centered posts at The Healthy Knitter, and Tricia Weatherston’s Advent Scarf 2018, which is a scarf comprised of Japanese stitches. (It started the day after Thanksgiving, so there will need to be some catch-up if you want to give this to someone on Christmas Day.)
My folks went out to the town of Union yesterday to buy their Christmas tree. We tromped all over the farm hunting for a tree with branches strong enough to hold their heavy ornaments and soft enough not to prick fingers and in the Goldilocks range for size.
Finally we found an interesting one and decided that would be best:
This is a concolor fir. The branches seem firmer than most firs, and the needles long but not sharp. And it has a citrusy piney scent, which smells delightful.
Mum, Dad, and I made dozens of Spritz cookies this afternoon, but the cookie press broke in the midst of the final batch. Mum was not deterred and improvised with the last of her dough, and I used up all the sprinkles I would otherwise have needed to return to their containers with some decorating that looks done by someone more four than 44.
The snowman, provided for comparison, is the size of the average Spritz cookie.
Tomorrow, we’re off to get them a tree and to get it inside before the rain begins in the evening.
I saw my first inside Christmas tree on my bike ride Sunday. That just made me feel stressed. But seeing this, tonight, on my walk back from leaving some books at the Little Free Library in the park? Exactly what I needed…
Speaking of Christmas, I’m running the Virtual Advent Tour again this year. If you’ve already left me a comment saying you’d like to join in, awesome! I’ll be emailing you after I get back to D.C. next week with confirmation and dates. But there’s still lots of space for other folks to join in, so please do!
