Gift Guide

In total defiance of my “Pacing the Holiday Season” post where I claim to ignore all things Christmas until December 1st, I am starting a mini series on simple gift ideas. I justify this by acknowledging that most people (a) enjoy looking ahead to Christmas/Hanukkah in November, and (b) don’t wait until the last minute to go into a Christmas/Hannukah shopping/making frenzy. 

Each week for the next several weeks I will post about a toy, book, or homemade something that we ourselves have enjoyed receiving/giving. I will even offer my first ever “giveaway”!

The first gift idea is a book my children enjoy all year round: A Child’s Calendar, with John Updike’s poems and Trina Schart Hyman’s illustrations. The poems capture the essence of each month of the year, and I’m pretty sure the pictures depict Vermont.

I especially love November:

November

The stripped and shapely 

     Maple grieves

The loss of her

     Departed leaves.

The ground is hard,

     As hard as stone.

The year is old,

     The birds are flown.

And yet the world,

     Nevertheless,

Displays a certain 

     Loveliness-

The beauty of 

     The bone. Tall God

Must see our souls

     This way, and nod.

Give thanks: we do,

     Each in his place

Around the table

     During grace.