Books for Gathering

And also lots of pie. All the pie. So. Much. Pie.

Helloooo Friends! I was looking back at my newsletters of this month, contemplating where my lost week went, and noticed that all my pictures are so dark and full of despair! This is not great! This is not how I am feeling! True, there may be a touch of despair in the wake of our election, but there’s also fall and winter to be had! Feasts and festivities to enjoy! I am ready to turn it around and get sparkly and shiny and bright for the holiday season. I am already eagerly counting down the moments until I can turn the radio to the Christmas All The Time dial and jingle my way through December.

Feeling Merry and OH so Bright last year in Austin

Fall and winter are my favorite. I love the traditions, I love the crisper weather, I love the gray clouds that roll in and hang like a thick cozy blanket in the sky. I love Christmas carols and sweaters, family gatherings, and festive drinks. I love taking the kids to pick out the tree, hanging the lights, crafting the crafts, and baking the pies. Can you smell the cinnamon and citrus yet?

This Thanksgiving our family gathering is small, but the cousins are here from Minnesota and we are in full slumber-party make-believe run-amok bliss.

I remember being a kid at my Uncle Walt’s house plotting Nerf wars or choreographing dance performances or plays. The parents are background noise, fading out of the scene.

I hope I am background noise to the joyous productions of our children this holiday.

Despite being a smaller gathering (just 5 adults and 6 kids…y’all we are outnumbered and I JUST realized it. If there is a mutiny, we may lose) we are still planning on having SIX pies. SIX. This is some kind of ridiculous. But there are the traditional ones that cannot be forfeited (Apple, Pumpkin, Pecan) and then my son tried a sample of blueberry pie at the grocery the other day and it has been on his menu ever since, he has been adamantly inviting everyone to our house for this pie so, no need to disappoint. Then I watched *this video* and can’t help myself. I wanted to make some (or all, let’s face it) of these pies. I’ll report back soon.

Apparently, making too many pies is also a tradition! Huzzah!

Gathering together is why Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is so simple and wholesome to celebrate one another and the season around a table piled high with excellent food — even if I wonder about the traditional dishes. Like who first decided to put crispy onions and mushroom soup on green beans? Do you call it dressing or stuffing and do you cook it in or out of the bird? Why turkey? Do you fresh cranberry or cranberry from a can?

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes and recipes? What part of this season are you looking forward to?

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LIT TIP

Don’t forget that even a family gathering (or maybe especially a family gathering) still has room for story times. Some of my favorite pictures of my kids and the cousins are when they are all gathered around whoever has started reading the story. They come like moths to a flame.

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FROM THE STAX

ALL THE WORLD by Liz Scanlon Illustrated by Marlee Frazee

All the world’s a garden bed. All the world is you and me. From the farmers market to the restaurant, to the warm house glowing in the night, this book is about community. It starts with a seashell, with fruit and vegetables grown from the ground, the small stuff. It ends with the universe, the sky, the world as a whole, and us within it.

We started reading this to my oldest when they were a baby and it is still enjoyed today, a book that grows and unfolds alongside you as you grow, this is the perfect book to encourage harmony and community on the micro level and watch it (hopefully) grow.

BEASTLY FEAST by Bruce Goldstone Illustrated by Blair Lent

A rhyming book featuring beasts and feasts (as you could have guessed). Each animal brings a unique dish for a giant celebration meal in a colorful melee of happy chaos. Then when the armadillo brings pillows, they take a big nap. A perfect end to a feast IMO (see: everyone on their couches sleep-watching football after gorging on the thanksgiving feast). Basically, thanksgiving but with fishes. Who bring knishes. I dare you to read this book and see if your kids ask you what a knish is.

THE RELATIVES CAME by Cynthia Rylant Illustrated by Stephen Gammell

previously reviewed (here) but I simply can’t help myself. Especially when surrounded by the out-of-town cousins who have come to visit. From the first squeezing hugs to packing people in where we can, conversations that fill a room, sleeping in strange places full of people, routines busted and new things learned, sharing food and swapping stories. This just feels like how it is, how it should be, when the relatives come.

FREDERICK by Leo Leonni

Winter is coming and the mouse community is preparing by gathering food and supplies. Except Frederick, who seems to be sitting around doing nothing but staring into space. He gets teased by his mouse friends, until the dead of winter when the dark days stretch on, when the food and supplies have run low and lost their luster. And then Frederick reveals what it was he was gathering during the bright summer months.

Less about feasting (all the food is gone!) and more about the power of story and observation being used to brighten the days when the weather and the circumstances get a little dark. A book about understanding that we all have different things we bring to the table that help make the world a beautiful place, you will fall in love with Frederick if you haven’t already.

RAILROAD HANK by Lisa Moser Illustrated by Benji Davies

Hank doesn’t get the assignment. Granny Bett is feeling blue and Hank wants to cheer her up. On his way, all his friends want to help make Granny Bett feel better so they send along their own cures… But, when he takes the tree instead of the apple, the hen instead of the eggs, then his friends have to give chase. Suddenly it is the whole crew that shows up on Granny Bett’s stoop to cheer up. Turns out it isn’t the things that makes her feel the best, it is her friends and the fun.

I like the idea that even if you bring the wrong thing, you are still bringing yourself and that is where the true joy lies. Especially if you are trying to make six pies! If one falls flat, if the dough crumbles, if the turkey is dry, oh well! It is the company and the comraderie that make the holidays special.

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Hope you report back stuffed full of pie and enjoy all the cozy.

Happy reading and see y’all soon!