Five gorgeous gifts, she says, proceeding to fill the entire whiteboard

This is what the inside of my head looks like

1) My whiteboard needs a good scrubbing; and 2) why did I save all those scraps of washi tape? I peeled them off something I decided I didn’t want stuck to a page after all & then couldn’t bring myself to throw them out.

The truth is, I am always always always full of ideas, endlessly compiling lists of things I’m enthusiastic about (thus the title of this newsletter), but I haaaaate putting together posts full of links and images. Even now I’m staring at the screen, thinking: I mean I should at least link to Jen Fox’s site—her notecards are so swoony. And I have GOT to review the Galen Leather notebook cover. I still can’t believe they sent it to me like that, just out of the blue! (Blue. It’s blue leather and one of the fanciest things I’ve ever owned. Gosh.)

(When did I become a person who says gosh? I write it all the time now.)

Puzzle. What does that even mean? Oh, right—that was another surprise item—a jigsaw puzzle with a mystery story component. The kids really enjoyed it. I should take a picture, dig up the info. Oh but look, the sun just came out, we should leaf-mulch the asparagus bed before it rains again. Wait, am I supposed to leaf-mulch the asparagus bed? Something else to look up.

And so it goes, inside my head.

I mean, Moomins, obviously: just buy a Moomin book for everyone on your list. We’re reading Moominpappa at Sea right now, the only one we haven’t ever read before. Why did we skip it? We’re laughing at ourselves because it’s as delicious as the rest of them and it didn’t deserve to be overlooked all the other times we’ve read the series.

That’s a Bookshop.org affiliate link, and that’s another reason I don’t like making proper lists. You wouldn’t believe the knots I tie myself in over whether or not to include referral links. Even though I applaud you for including them in your own posts! Your time has value! I appreciate your work!

Speaking of appreciation, I SO appreciate Simon Haisell’s work. You should definitely give yourself the gift of his Footnotes & Tangents. We reached the end of War and Peace Book Four today—just the Epilogues left!—and gosh. (See???) What an incredible experience, reading Tolstoy (and Hilary Mantel! I did the Cromwell readalong too!) in Simon’s company this past year. I’m about to order next year’s readalong books for Scott to wrap and put under the tree for me.

And don’t even get me started on Frizzlit Book Club. The highlight of my week, every week. Absolute riches. Marginalia, merriment, mythology tangents. Rabbit trails and rabbit holes. (My favorite things, as anyone who knows me knows.) You could spend December Saturdays chatting about Ovid with some of the brainiest people you’ll ever meet.¹

I both do and don’t want to continue gushing about the ideas I scribbled on my whiteboard. Since beginning this post, I did yardwork with the kids, took a long walk with Scott, and helped Rilla study for an art history test. I can rattle off a few things VERY QUICKLY, how’s that?

• Jetpens. My favorite place for pens and paper. Their color bundles are especially fun for gifts.

• Libro.fm is a great alternative to Amazon-owned Audible—and they carry the audiobook of The Nerviest Girl in the World!

• Creativebug is my favorite place to take art & textile classes. For a reasonable monthly membership fee, you get access to zillions of courses. I especially loved Lisa Solomon’s Color Meditations class, anything taught by my friend Lisa Congdon, and the embroidery tutorials of Rebecca Ringquist, another Portland pal. (Fun fact: I took both Lisa & Rebecca’s Creativebug classes before I got to know them! Extra fun fact: after leveling up my embroidery skills thanks in part to Rebecca’s classes, I became a test stitcher for some of her newer Dropcloth Sampler designs. You can see my handiwork on her Schoolhouse Sampler & Garden Path pages.)²

Schoolhouse Sampler at Dropcloth Samplers.

1. This is going to be the first Frizzlit book I won’t be in since I discovered the club in January. It’s a little bit killing me to miss out? But also: December. Three family birthdays (one of ’em mine). Christmas. Christmas shopping. Help.

2. Libro.fm & Creativebug are also affiliate links above. Both have good sales going on right now.

Now's the time to order signed copies of my books