The Can we read? holiday activity survival guide + the Gift of Good Email

Notes From the Reading Nook: December 14

Hello, and congratulations on making it to Tuesday! (I am all for celebrating even the smallest wins, especially right now.)

This missive is going out to everyone today, paid and free subscribers alike, because I’ve got something out of the ordinary for you: first, a few suggestions for things to do with your family to survive the next few weeks with, if not style, then at least grace. And second, a gift guide to the very best newsletters in my inbox (especially handy if you’re leaving things to the last minute — that gives me hives, but you do you).

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What we’re reading

• Little Fairy’s Christmas by Daniela Drescher

• Finding Christmas by Robert Munsch

• Twas Nochebuena by Roseanne Greenfield Thong (I reviewed this in my special edition on Christmas, Part 2)

• Have Fun, Anna Hibiscus! by Atinuke (this is our current read-aloud)

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The Can we read? holiday activity survival guide

As of tomorrow I am off work for the remainder of the year and though I will be spending some of those days alone, at home, all day long (hallelujah!), and some of them traveling and visiting family, some of them will simply be days at home with my children.

I have a high tolerance for at least a few things most grownups don’t — making gobsmackingly (it’s a word) huge art messes; setting up full-size tents in inconvenient camping places, like the living room; going outside and then coming inside and then going outside and then coming inside x10 — but I am awful at activities others seem to find enjoyable around the holidays; e.g., we have never once made it through the baking of cookies without yelling (me) and tears (mine). I do adore my children and making magic for them whenever possible, though, so over the years I have tried to create traditions and good memories and warmth in the ways I am able.

Unsurprisingly, I got these ideas from books and I’m sharing them today not just because they have helped me stay sane, but in the event you have need of them yourself.

Draw together

I highly recommend getting out a mountain of paper, every colorful writing and drawing utensil you own, turning on some music, and making. This is a great way to create personalized gift tags for presents (you want to see a grandparent’s eyes light up?) or cards, but it’s also amazing for the last half-hour before bedtime (ask me how many years it took me to figure this out and how often we do it — it works!)

Everyone in my little family loves to draw but we’ve found that having “how to draw” books makes it more fun. Lulu Mayo’s How to Draw a Reindeer and Other Christmas Creatures is our favorite one for Christmas, hands down:

(If drawing together fails there is always — surprise! — reading together. If you’re still looking for some great titles to enjoy in the next week or so, check out my special edition on Christmas: Part 1 and Part 2.)

Dress a tree for the animals

I suppose this one depends on where you live, but even if you can’t get out to decorate a whole tree with edible, animal-friendly treats, work with what you’ve got: get a tiny pine in a pot (I saw one at Target a few weeks ago, which kind of alarmed me) and drape it with strings of popcorn and leave it on your porch; clean and fill up your birdfeeders or roll a pinecone in peanut butter and hang it from a branch; go the absolute easiest route and leave chopped apples, whole peanuts, and plain cheerios in handfuls on the railing of your balcony or deck.

The point isn’t to be pedantic about the tree (though if you have a whole tree, go for it) but rather to think about what animals might need this time of year and provide it. (Beware that this may come back to bite you, as once I complained that deer were eating all my expensive oil sunflower birdseed and my children reminded me we’d left food for everyone — so now we buy 20lb. bags of dried corn cobs at the hardware store and twist off the kernels by hand to leave on the ground beneath the feeders for our cervid friends, a toddler activity that’s successful to a degree I have a hard time describing and also manages to be weirdly satisfying even for adults.)

If you need some inspiration for this activity, check out The Night Tree by Eve Bunting and The Snow Tree by Caroline Repchuk:

Bake sun bread

Winter solstice is exactly a week away and every year in our home, we celebrate by eating dinner solely by candlelight, with all the other lights off in the house. Sometimes, though, we also make sun bread, inspired by Elisa Kleven’s lovely book of the same title, where a (dog) baker misses the sun so much she decides,

Because the real sun likes to hide
I’ll make my own small sun inside.

(From Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven)

Whether or not you decide to shape your loaf into a sun (or animals, or anything else), baking bread is a lower-stakes activity than making cookies (though really I just like being alone in the kitchen and I don’t feel guilty about it anymore) and it’s a surprisingly satisfying and soulful way to welcome back the light.

Go forth and make memories (or, you know, just do your best to hang in there. You’re not alone).

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The Gift of Good Email

Is “good email” a thing? Absolutely. Of course my favorite emails are messages from my friends but the next best thing are the newsletters I pay for — I get an actual, real little thrill when I see them in my inbox.

Also, this newsletter gig is a lonely business but not an alone business, so this is not only the perfect way to highlight newsletters I enjoy and truly value, but a way to share my gratitude for my fellow writers in this space (the space of Substack, the space of the internet, the space of the world as a whole).

If you’re still looking for gifts, I highly recommend a subscription to any/all of the following:

• Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith — A twice-a-week newsletter about how we navigate diet culture and fatphobia, especially through parenting. (But non-parents like it too!)

• Evil Witches Newsletter by Claire Zulkey — A newsletter for people who happen to be mothers.

• Make Time and the Make Time Farm Patreon by Vanessa Jean — Daily observations, A Week of Questions, homework assignments, sketches for upcoming projects, brainstorms, and Vanessa just trying to figure out how to be human.

• Kosmic Cooking Club Newsletter by Sarah Kate — Weekly recipes, ideas on how to use pantry items you already have in a new way, and seasonal tips for staying well and feeling your best.

• the examined family by Courtney Martin — A weekly newsletter for people who get all twisted up inside about the brokenness of the world, and wonder how to actually live in it, loving and humble, but brave as hell.

• Men Yell at Me by Lyz Lenz — A twice-weekly newsletter about the intersection of politics, culture, and feminism. (I regularly come away from reading this furious, sometime even crying, á la “if you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention,” which is an endorsement.)

• For the Love of Words by Olivia Mardwig — A fun and engaging educational resource for young readers and writers ages 8-13. Think book club mixed with a writing workshop. Each week you’ll receive discussion questions, close reading, and creative writing prompts on the best books for young readers sent right to your inbox.

• Is My Kid the Asshole? by Melinda Wenner Moyer — Addresses questions and concerns about challenging kid behavior, runs Q&As with experts on particular topics relevant to parenting, and addresses other gnarly parenting questions with science.

• Monday Monday by Marlee Grace — A newsletter about pursuing your art; believing in yourself; and other perspective-shifting thoughts, every Monday.

• Ælfgif-who? by Florence H R Scott — Provides biographies of historical women who lived between the years 500 and 1100, straight to your inbox every two weeks.

Note: if a particular newsletter is not obviously running a holiday subscription drive, click the Subscribe button and look for “Other subscription options” — “Give a gift” will be in the drop-down.

Special thanks to Virginia Sole-Smith for sharing the holiday subscription love.

May your email now and in the new year be very, very good indeed.

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Read good books and take good care 😘
Sarah