Proteidaes

A very merry *belated* Christmas to you! I got wrapped up in Christmastime celebrations and completely forgot I had book reviews to do! Advent ended on December 24th, so this entry will conclude my advent reviews ... and even though they're a tiny bit late, these are still enjoyable winter stories and I encourage you to seek them out. Thanks for following along on this project! I'm looking forward to sharing more reviews with you soon. Here's another wintertime treat for you! A little doodle of Reggie and Crew (characters from my upcoming graphic novel, Monster Friends ), wishing you a Merry Christmas with a happy tune!

Got a few new book reviews for you today!!

Got a pair of nice book reviews for you today!  

I've had a busy few days getting caught up on baking! With just a week left before our Christmas Eve Feast, things are speeding up!!  At the request of little bro, vanilla-mint marshmallows! (alton brown's recipe!) Fudge!    Fondant cherry chocolates 😍 Chewy molasses cookies w candied ginger!  Book reviews ahead!! 

 Book review round up! 

A quick and quiet review for you ~ perhaps it will inspire you to think more of someone else today!

Christmas baking is well under way! I wasn't joking when I said my family makes candies and cakes and cookies galore around this time of year.  (I have even forgotten to take pictures of a few! We have also made pecan shortbread tea cakes and some fudge ... YUM.)  Book reviews are here as well! Fashionably late, but we're gaining steam haha. 

Oh boy, oh boy! It's Christmas tree day!  Well, it was Christmas tree day yesterday, but things got a little hectic and I was only feeling like the one post. 🥰 Blogger privilege in 2020: don't post if you don't want to!! I have to be honest, moving to New England has changed some things about Christmas trees for me. Alaska has LOVELY cedars, pines, and spruces, but none of them are very Christmas tree shaped ?? (the light access for 6-8 months of the year make them grow tall and lanky, not bushy and full! Also, we have a LOVELY little beetle problem that is slowly turning the taiga into a haunted forest I swear ...) We always bought our Chrsitmas trees pre-cut trees from a lot; these were not native species, but were shipped in from Washington and Oregon ... "fresh, never frozen!" The signs always proclaimed! And these trees were usually quite expensive ... but BOY did they look nice. The last few years my family has gone tree cutting from different "u-pick...

Two book reviews for you today! What a treat!!   

Not a lot going on today. The book I have for advent today is really cute, though -- I think you'll enjoy it!

Exciting things are happening on my workbench! 2020 has been a year that finally inspired me to make some merch ... I have a number of *smol* projects I am going to release next year (and some BIG projects too!) and I'm kicking things off with my yearly Christmas/New Year card and a themed zine.  Since the zine is a *smol* run (and quite small in hand!), I decided to print the pages deconstructed and assemble myself! I love working with my hands, so this is a very soothing, very fast process, and so fun to see a little character come out of each booklet ... although my bone folder and cut/score board are making this SO EASY, there are a few special zines that have uneven pages and colorful scuff marks on the covers. Not bothersome at all! The beauty of handmade is about these little imperfections.  I really can't wait for everyone to meet these tiny guys!! I'm hoping to pitch a graphic novel for them soon, and this is the first step of my master plan (the plan being ((as it...

Today's advent book has got me thinking about traditions.  One of my favorite family traditions is to make Christmas goodies throughout the month of December. While it's sometimes an arduous task (there have been years that we had 30+ unique treats for our Christmas feast!!), it is always exciting to reveal the efforts after squirreling them away for the entire month. It used to frustrate me so much to spend hours  each afternoon baking and decorating only to have my treasures boxed up and frozen as soon as I was done ... Nowadays, it feels more like banked effort. And it's fun to pull things out and share if you have surprise company.  (I'm going to be honest, the only "company" we ever had was grandma and grandpa lol ... but if you live in a family with four starving boys, a cookie can go a long way towards keeping the peace!)  This year in particular I have also been drawn to our Scandinavian traditions, specifically Hygge:    I recognize now that this c...

Snow has been on my mind these days.  The last few weeks have been weirdly warm here in sunny Vermont, and it just doesn't quite feel  like Christmas yet! I'm learning that I have very "essential" ideas of seasons, mostly built around the time my family spent in Alaska. (We have just recently moved to VT after living in AK for nearly 25 years! That's a long time!!) Wintertime to me has a very specific look that I find myself impatient for ... it's not necessarily a temperature thing? But more that I keep expecting the light to do certain things. It certainly gets dark early enough to make the nights feel long and cozy! But I am missing the reflective and colorful quality of snow at different times of day. (These photos were taken near the beginning of November ... I miss a good frosty morning!)  Here's today's question: do you have a favorite season? Tell me what you like about it! (Or what makes you cringe if you're feeling That Way.) Today's...

My family is celebrating advent throughout December and we’re counting down the days to Christmas with illustrated storybooks! I remember doing this many many years ago, on a particularly busy year event-wise for us … oh, the joys of juggling piano recitals, choir concerts, church events, and family traditions! It was such a soothing way to spend time together each evening, and I’m looking forward to doing it again.  We already own so many of the classics, so I chose to branch into some retold favorites, traditional tales, and new favorites. Some are secular, while some have a Christian message, but all these books have a beautiful warm feeling; I hope you’ll enjoy the books I’ll be reviewing here! I also want to ask: do you have a favorite Christmas book to enjoy during this time of year? One of my favorite non-traditional stories is Susan Cooper’s fantasy novel, The Dark is Rising ! It’s the second book in a quintet of welsh-spun Arthurian legends, and takes place over the Ch...