Merry Ludachristmas, My Loves
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!
Yep. I’m in Atlanta. Toasting my toes, watching my niece grow.
And in keeping with the season I am gonna be good today. Entirely on topic. To begin, check it out. I give you Moomin gingerbread houses all thanks to bookshelves of doom. They’re even holding a raffle for the molds.
Quoth the creator: "Here is finally our little family project: a Moomin gingerbread house! We found the template here and we used some of our normal gingerbread cookie dough. We had great fun doing the Moomin house and next year we’ll try something more difficult :-)" More difficult? Uh… well if you wanted to recreate Hogwarts in gingerbread form . . . .
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(frantically searches the web to see if anyone has done that already but only finds a cake)
But here’s an alternative gingerbread house that’s just as amusing in its own way.
And I know that you’ve been just dying to figure out what to get for me this year. Well, I found it. It’s a mere $1,700 and I can’t imagine that it’ll be a problem to fit into my New York apartment (when on earth are they going to invent a sarcasm font?). You even get to choose between three models.
Thanks to Books Blog for the link.
Okay, I was good and on-topic. Now I’m not. Failing the above, I wouldn’t mind a Jenga tree. They don’t call it that, but they might as well do so. Can’t you just imagine some tot running up and grabbing a stick as his playmates prod him on by chanting, "Jenga, jenga jenga jenga!"? Thanks to BB-Blog for the link.
Santa Claus is coming to town and he’s bringing his laser shooting axe. What? Don’t you read your L. Frank Baum? Oz and Ends posted a great piece on the Rankin-Bass adaptation of one of Baum’s stories, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. The differences between the film and the book appear to be minimal. "In the original, scores of wicked beings are wiped out at a time. Also, the book has no laser-shooting axe; the great Ak simply chops his foe in half. Now go dream of sugar plums, kids!"
Things that make me happy. Cupcakes. Mouse puppets. Weird traditions where people hide pickles in Christmas trees and fill perfectly good limes with cloves (seriously, does anyone else do this?). And, of course, the world’s greatest rendition of O Holy Night. Remember to listen to it all the way through. I don’t think any song written today is more perfect than this. Just when it can’t get any worse, somehow, inexplicably, it does. A Christmas miracle!
And I’ll end with something I learned last year (hence the out-of-date song) but is only going up now. Dig it!
Filed under: Uncategorized
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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Yes, we have a pickle ornament on our tree. The first person who finds it (okay, there are only two people in our family and one puts the tree up) gets an extra present. We also have an acorn ornament for prosperity and a nest with three golden eggs, also good luck. Loved the Moomin gingerbread house! Have a great day with your cat and niece.
Oh my… That song sends me straight back to 2003… How delightful! I’m late, but Merry Christmas!