"Let your heart be light": Holiday Baking, Winter Reading, and a Whimsical Poetry Prompt
One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and my favorite line in that song is “Let your heart be light.” Every time I hear the song — and my favorite version is the original sung by Judy Garland in “Meet Me in St. Louis” - I’m struck by the word “let,” which suggests that lightness - emotional/psychic/spiritual if not actual during December — is there already, waiting only to be recognized. And yes, the song does come at a sad moment in the movie, but that’s just the way stories work...
I’ve never been much for sermons, so I won’t belabor the point, but here’s Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Oxen,” which touches on similar themes.
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one of us there To doubt they were kneeling then. So fair a fancy few would weave In these years! Yet, I feel, If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come; see the oxen kneel, “In the lonely barton by yonder coomb Our childhood used to know,” I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.
The best line, in my opinion, is the second line in the third stanza: “In these years! Yet, I feel,” — I love a line with many small parts working together and punctuation also carrying the emotions and haven’t you felt just that way? I know I have.
Maybe next year I’ll do my baking post well ahead of the holidays, so you can plan ahead too, if you like. But, on the other hand, this is what I’m really up to——not just what I’m doing for the sake of Substack——and that feels more authentic.
In any case, I’ve been busy, following (and adjusting) my baking schedule, and here are my bakes, as they say, so far.
The most surprising: Chocolate Butter Cookies. These are not Spritz cookies; rather the recipe suggests using a large cake decorating tip, and wow was that fun! Definitely making these again.
Most pleasing shape: Kugelhopf with powdered sugar. Delicious. A must-make every year (not least because I own a special pan just for this cake).
Prettiest: Maple Cake. Loved the frosting: great taste and consistency. If you like spice cake, this is for you.
Most fun to eat: Gingerbread Wands. Crunch, crunch, crunch!
Cutest: Mini Panettone with dried cherries (a key ingredient here in Michigan), dried apricots, and chocolate chips. I used the broiler to get those browned tops. Just a minute! If even that. Do not walk away from the oven! These were probably my favorite bake.
Easiest to make: Palmiers. I’ll definitely be making these again for a quick and fancy dessert. Very satisfying.
Most festive: Buche de Noel. Not my best looking Buche de Noel / Yule Log, but pretty good. I wisely switched from the chocolate ganache the recipe called for to my preferred chocolate buttercream. Candied cranberries and rosemary add a nice wintry touch.
Winter seems the time not only for classic desserts but also for classic novels. There’s something satisfying about hunkering down with truly good writing. In recent winters I’ve discovered a love of Nathaniel Hawthorne and an appreciation of his insightfulness and humor that high school Mary Ann could not have imagined. My favorites, so far, are The Marble Faun and The Blithedale Romance. I’ve also re-read A Tale of Two Cities, and this time loved it and Dickens, who in the past has gotten on my nerves (must he show off on every page?? well, yes, it seems he must). I also think fondly of discovering The Country of the Pointed Firs, a novella by Sarah Orne Jewett, and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. A friend who grew up in England says that the latter was a girlhood favorite. As an escape from winter, I recommend The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
That’s just a sampling, but you get the idea.
Right now, I’m reading three books: War and Peace, in advance of Simon Haisell’s Substack read-along and which so far reminds me of Hawthorne and of Austen in terms of precision and insight and wit about social situations and personalities; This is Happiness by Niall Williams, which is quiet and beautiful and reminds me of my parents; and Painting Can Save Your Life: How and Why We Paint by Sara Wooster, which I happened upon at my favorite Up North bookstore, Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, Michigan. I love reading books about other kinds of art-making; there’s always something useful to take back to writing.
I’m also re-reading Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End by Barbara Herrnstein Smith in preparation for my grad poetry workshop this coming semester. More about that once the semester gets going.
Also on my this-winter or next-winter to-read/re-read list: all of Hardy’s novels, Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables, more Cather (I loved Death Comes for the Archbishop), and maybe another big book such as Les Miserables. Might need a read-along for that one.
Despite how it might sound, I am not a voracious reader. More like fits and starts. But I’m in the space of reading these days and enjoying myself. Also, I have a little book light that is a pleasure every time I use it.
What about you? What are you reading? Or what are you hoping to read? The hoping counts, in my book (pun intended), nearly as much.
Richard Scarry is a classic, for sure, and I hope you’ve been as happy this holiday season as these animals. I think I’d like to be the raccoon with that nice fluffy tail. What about you? As winter begins, might not be a bad idea to go around pretending. Let your heart be light. And that’s my bit of poetry “wisdom” this time. You’re a bear with a banjo. Write that poem, but don’t let on.
As always, thanks for reading. Take care. Talk soon.