Reading for the Christmas Season

It's Christmas Eve and I'm taking a deep breath. Yesterday, I finished my last pre-Christmas deadline. My brother is visiting. There is a wealth of cocoa. I'm starting to think about catching up on non-grad school reading. 

I've written a few pieces for the Advent and Christmas season this year, and I decided to gather them all in one place so that you could pour yourself a glass of something good and read through them.

Enjoy, friends, and Merry Christmas. Thank you for being here.

On the Twelfth Night of Christmas in The Cresset

I began the process of writing this piece last year, interviewing a family friend who introduced me to the 12 days of Christmas as a kid. This piece is a little bit personal reflection, a little bit faith, and a little bit food history (in other words, it's everything I like to write about in one piece).  

Single All the Way: We make too big of a deal about being coupled up for the holidays at Salon

I've written in years past about the difficulty of being single during the holidays, but it hasn't been like that this year. Instead, I wrote about not being sad about singleness this holiday season, and what I've been doing instead. 

A Romantic Celebrates Christmas at Art House America

This piece is in a similar vein to the above, but it's less about being single and more about being a person. I put on my etymologist hat for this one, too, as I am wont to do. 

Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent for Off the Page

Every year since I discovered it, I've been walking through Advent with Enuma Okoro's wonderful book. This year, I was deeply honored to be able to interview her about it. It was remarkable to have a connection from Nigeria to Washington State and to be able to talk about something so important, for this time of year, and always. 

Why Was Turkish Delight C.S. Lewis's Guilty Pleasure at JSTOR Daily

I wrote this earlier this year, but it's about Christmas and Narnia, and it seemed fitting to share it again. It wraps up my love of the Narnia books, made me empathetic toward Edmund, and allowed me to research the background of Turkish delight (which I do love to eat).  

I'm planning to be back next week with some favorite pieces and thoughts as 2016 winds down. 

Merry Christmas, friends.