Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: Holidays

  • My Favorite Things – Holiday Books

    I have certain books that I read/ listen to on audiobook every year around the holidays. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas/ Yule without them.

    Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris – This book includes the famous Santaland Diaries and is a must read if you haven’t. I highly recommend getting the audiobook because David reads most of the stories himself and is joined by his sister Amy as well. Sure to make you laugh.71t0yJrW7UL

    Hogfather by Terry Pratchett – Pratchett’s wonderful tale about the discworld equivalent of Santa and what happens when someone puts out a hit on him. Death steps in and then it starts to get fun. Death’s granddaughter Susan proves herself to be a badass in her own right. Has a wonderful albeit cynical quote about the importance of belief.

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    The Life and Adventure of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum – The author of the Wizard of Oz penned this charming and strange origin story for Santa complete with woodland fairies. Baum tries to answer some of the important Santa questions. Good to read aloud with children.

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    The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore – The unusual town of Pine Cove is celebrating Christmas. An angel comes and grants them a Christmas “Miracle” that leads to a zombie uprising. Oops.

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    T’was the Night Before Christmas or A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore – A Christmas classic. I have had it memorized since I was little, and I love to read/ recite it every year. It is still fun to do. My favorite line is “The moon on the breast of the newfallen snow gave a lustre of midday to objects below.” I love good rhymes.

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    Do you have a favorite holiday book? Have you read any of these?

  • Welcome December…Blogmas Day 1 on Day 2

    It is officially the holiday season!! I have been making little purchases here and there for a month, but now it is here and the decorations can finally go up now that Santa has paraded into Herald Square in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Here is a small collection of things that I purchased before I consider it acceptable to do so, lol.

    I realized coming into Thanksgiving that I have 39 pairs of holiday socks. How? Why? So this year I decided to do 35 days of holiday socks beginning the day before Thanksgiving and going through the end of the year. So far I have worn brown stripey reindeer socks, snowflake socks, rampaging holiday dinosaur socks, Santa riding a unicorn socks, Argyle with a fleece cuff and holiday sloths.

    The day after Thanksgiving Seth and I headed down to my hometown Newark (30 miles east of Columbus) for the lighting of the courthouse. Newark has a beautiful historic courthouse, and they go all out when they light it. Santa and Mrs. Claus are given a ride to the courthouse square on a firetruck, and then they lead everyone in carols for a bit. When the time is right they ask the children to make as much noise as possible to light the courthouse. It almost always takes three tries somehow. Now for the before and after.

  • Bucket List For the Rest of 2019

    This is the list of things I would like to do before the end of 2019. Some of these may seem easy, but have issues associated. Many involve a lot of moving parts, so that makes them challenging. Let’s see how many I cross off. I will revisit as I get things done.

    • Wench photo with the Queen!
    • Get my major changed to creative Writing.
    • Attend both days the last weekend of Ohio Renaissance Festival
    • Finish Blogtober strong (I get a book if I do)
    • Rennie outing to Book Loft?
    • Participate and succeed in NaNoWriMo (Are you participating? Link me BetsySnowWhite)
    • Photo with Krampus!
    • Photo with Santa and the Wenches
    • Wench invasion of Columbus and Cincinnati Zoo.
    • Set up Christmas trees.
    • Christmas Party
    • Roaring 20s New Year Party

    I think that is it…though I may add and subtract things as I go along.

  • The Colors of Fall/Halloween

    The Colors of Fall/Halloween

    Thinking of Fall/Halloween the first color that comes to my mind is orange, but there are so many other amazing colors that can be used to decorate for the season. I decided to play with idea boards and get some inspiration for this years decorations.

    Jewel Tones: Rich reds, deep purples, sapphire blues and emerald greens…all point to gorgeous fall or Halloween decor.

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    Purple and Green: While orange and black is traditional there is something so beautiful about the combination of purple and bright green. A personal favorite.

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    Pastels: Recently I have become obsessed with spooky, pastel decorations. They are creepy cute and utterly wonderful.

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    Blue Halloween: If you are looking for something different blue is it for Halloween.

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    Black and White: Anything but boring, decorating with a monochrome palette is dramatic and lovely.

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    Do you have a favorite Color palette for Fall/Halloween? Do you go more traditional or bravely pull in another palette?

    All images pulled from Pinterest.

  • This is Halloween…Movie Edition.

    Since it is finally October I can begin my Halloween movie watching. I am a huge fan of both cheesy kids Halloween movies and spooky, scary movies. Here in no particular order are some of my favorites:

    This is obviously not exhaustive, but these are the ones I watch every single year. I enjoy horror movies, but I don’t really have a favorite one. I love old horror films, though, especially ones with Vincent Price like the House on Haunted Hill or The Masque of the Red Death.

    Do you have a favorite Halloween movie?

     

  • The Beautiful Batshit of Freeform Christmas Movies

    The Beautiful Batshit of Freeform Christmas Movies

    Playing in the hulu holiday movie queue the other day I was delighted to stumble upon a cache of Freeform Christmas movies. Several years ago I had found what was to become a favorite holiday film, the Freeform presentation The Twelve Dates of Christmas, and since then I am mildly obsessed with the amazing and insane offerings that Freeform creates around the holidays.

    One of my favorites of all time is The Twelve Dates of Christmas starring Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. The movie centers around a woman who enters Christmas Eve hung up on her ex, set up on a blind date by her step mother whom she is resentful of, and being generally a little high strung. She finds herself reliving this day again and again until she gets things right, including falling in love with the blind date Miles. This is essentially Groundhog Day for Christmas, only we know she only has 12 dates to get it right.  Favorite Batshit Moment: Miles’ wife died a year ago by falling off a ladder while cleaning out the gutters.

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    My current favorite which is not new, but is new to me this year, is The Spirit of Christmas starring Thomas Beaudoin and Jen Lilley. Kate is a lawyer specializing in estate issues, and she needs to sell an inn that is supposedly haunted, but can’t get an appraiser to stay long enough to finish the job. She drives to the inn to force the appraisal and instead meets incredibly good looking ghost Daniel who becomes corporeal for 12 days beginning on December 13th but he has no idea why. Kate decides to help him find the answers in the hope of getting him to cross over so she can sell the property. Does she instead fall in love with a ghost? Does he somehow become corporeal for good? You will have to watch to find out. The movie is worth it for Daniel being ridiculously good looking, oh and there is murder and bootlegging, you know typical Christmas fare.

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    Other favorites of mine are :

    Snow: The current Santa comes to California to retrieve a missing reindeer and falls in love with a cute zookeeper.

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    Christmas Cupid: A PR specialist is haunted by the starlet she represented after she dies choking on an olive until she can fix her messy personal life.

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    Santa Baby: Santa’s daughter, a high powered exec, returns to the North Pole after her father suffers a heart attack to help out and to learn how to love again.

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    Holiday in Handcuffs: A harangued artist kidnaps a patron from the restaurant she works at and takes him home for Christmas to play her boyfriend for a weekend in a cabin with her family.

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    These movies defy convention, and provide a much needed distraction from the typical holiday pablum some channels provide. A large portion of these films can be found on Hulu if you are so inclined to sit back, suspend reality, and let the crazy flow.

    Happy Watching!!

    And Merry Christmas!!

     

  • Blessed Lammas/ Lughnasadh

    Blessed Lammas/ Lughnasadh

    It is difficult in the heat of August to think that Fall is starting. In Ohio we have at least another month of summer like conditions to go at the beginning of August, so for me Lammas is less a Fall/Harvest festival than it is a celebration of the continuation of summer. It is the time when all the county fairs begin, and when the schools are getting ready to open again for the school year.

    Lammas is a bright golden sunny holiday; it brings with it the glance of fall that comes when you think of children going to school, football games, and bonfires at night. Corn is not quite its ripest or sweetest, but it is working toward it. August is when you start to work overtime to do all the fun summer things you wanted to get in before the season was over. Lammas is a warning that your summer is winding down, and your autumn is on the horizon.

    Enjoy the last days of your summer. Go to a baseball game, eat a popsicle from a truck, go on a picnic, do all the things that make summer what it is.

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  • Beltane Blessings – A Witchy Post

    Beltane Blessings – A Witchy Post

    It is Beltane and in honor of the day I am using a Tarot Spread from Llewellyn called the May Queen.

    May Queen

    May is a time of fertility and high spirits. By Beltane, the dark time of the year is a distant memory and the possibilities of life seem sweet. Use the May Queen spread to regain or confirm a sense of abundance and safety. If you have a specific question in mind, ask it as you shuffle the cards. Shuffle the cards and place them in positions one through five, as shown.

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    Position 1: Safety. Emotional security. What you need to feel safe. Where are you secure in yourself? A seemingly negative card describes a situation that needs your focused attention. Work with the energy of that card to produce feelings of safety.

    Position 2: Abundance. Feelings of plenty. Abundance may encompass monetary prosperity, but it also describes the emotional breadth of your life that is full and sweet. A challenging card directs you to constricted energy flow; by releasing the block of a challenging card, emotional abundance will follow.

    Position 3: Regeneration. Exploring the possibilities. The bold action needed to grow and flourish. A challenging card will show you the block that keeps you from your heart’s desire.

    Position 4: Love. Emotions and relationships. All forms of love, from friendship to sexual passion. Only you know your heart. Look at the suit of the card: what does it tell you about your life right now? (Wands = passion or anger; Cups = love or friendship; Swords = loving the intellect, heartache, or painful decisions; Pentacles = sensuality, the body, or the value you place on love; Court Cards = personal characteristics in your relationships; Major Arcana cards = the big picture, karma, or the spiritual aspects of your relationships.)

    Position 5: The Future. The present conceivable outcome based on the flow of cards one through four. What story do the cards tell? The lessons to be learned and the potential for growth. How does position three, regeneration, relate to the future?

    1. Safety: Page of Wands (Reversed) – My place of safety is within my creativity, but I can also use it as a crutch and an excuse. I also have a bad habit of procrastinating which is always pushing the limit of what I am capable of doing. I need to be smart and do my best work and best thinking early when I am at my highest self and most creative.
    2. Abundance: King of Cups – My abundance lies in my creativity. If I learned nothing else from my mother it was how to make something out of nothing. I need to make the most of this.
    3. Regeneration: Five of Cups (Reversed) – I need to make the most of new friendships and relationships. And also keep myself open to the return of old relationships. Or, be social, Betsy!
    4. Love: Four of Pentacles – Per the chart above I feel stable, and somewhat possessive of my love, which is true. I am in love with our love, in all it’s aspects.
    5. The Future: XX Judgement – I am coming to a time of renewal and new beginnings. It is time for a good hard look at myself, and some decisions about where I am heading. It is time to start a new part of my journey.

    It sounds like my future is auspicious. I am working on a Job spell, so hopefully much of the tarot reading is an omen toward that. I hope you have a beautiful Beltane.