Here below are 3 dogs from The Professional Dog and details about our Jolabokaflod holiday!
The text from the book is below each dog portrait.
In my last post I shared some of the books we’d ordered that came early for Jolabokaflod. Our house “rule” is that any adulting ceases and we open the book boxes when they come, pour the hot chocolate and give each book some attention even doing some sample reading. After that the books are put into the proper gift pile and, this is the hard part, left untouched until the evening of Jolabokaflod on Dec the 24th.
Here’s Judy opening one of the book boxes from Powell’s. She was pleased! I love her smile!!
Another book box came from Annie Bloom’s Books! And this is what was in it.
Still other book boxes came from Boadway Books. Our order came in two different boxes because one book is wonderfully big and bodacious!
We were both delighted with all of our books and with supporting our local independent bookstores! Here below is a description of what we did next… (and if you’re wondering what Jolabokaflod is there’s a fun article here https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/iceland-jolabokaflod-tradition/ )
We did our book gift piles on the couch this year. We chose that place because more than a few of the books will be enjoyed by both of us and our comfy chairs are just across from the couch.
So you can see the stacks better here’s another photo below. There’s one book, the Louise Penny title mentioned last post, that didn’t make it into the group photo because it had snuck out onto the kitchen table… oops. 😁
Adding to my pleasure of Jolabokaflod was hearing from the Aurora Gallery that people were enjoying my artist books there! It felt good like I was “giving back” to my local book-art-world from which I receive so much delight.
Because Jolabokaflod, in addition to being about books, is also about chocolate – here’s our hot chocolate recipe, again. 😁📚☕😁📚☕
At some point Judy found this article which added to our fun. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/02/05/boozy-hot-chocolate-recipe/
I continued with my sketchbook playing practice and posted these pages on my social media.
Like last year instead of social gatherings we focused on sending cards, sharing on social media and doing whatever we could creatively think of as ways to be in touch with people while staying safe during a pandemic.
Most of our friends and family did the same. We loved getting cards from people, several different people dropped gifts off on our porch and many people sent me photos of the fine art I made that they’d gotten for Christmas! Some sent photos of their children with my artist books that they’d gotten for the holiday! And someone sent a precious photo of their new grandbaby wrapped in a blanket made with one of my fabric designs! All of that, plus comments on my social media and this blog has made this holiday feel special! My heart has grown 3 sizes!! Thank you all!!
I hope your holiday was good too and that the new year is gentle to us all. See you next Monday.
What a Christmas celebration!! My grandnephews loved their copy of The Professional Dog! My daughter and son-in-law, too!!
Oh!!!! Yippee!!! I am thrilled to hear that your family loved their copy of The Professional Dog!!!! You made me smile as I read that! Thank you!!!
You’re welcome, Sue! How’s the reading fest coming along?
It’s coming along splendidly!!! I have read “Paradise Postponed” John Mortimer. Oh my can Mortimer write well!! Epic book, probably the most amazing fiction book I’ve read in a long time!! Also I have almost finished the British Crime Classic Collection of mystery short stories and have discovered several new-to-me queens of crime fiction. So will be looking those authors up as time marches on. The book I have begun reading at night before bed is the new translation of The Arabian Nights! This one is really rocking my world! Yasmin Seale, the translator, has added so much to my awareness of art… but I will post more about that in upcoming blog posts. Thank you so much for asking!!!!
Sounds like a lot of fun! I just downloaded War and Peace from Project Gutenberg for a year-long readalong.
Oh perfect!!!! I have printed copy and have read it twice. My adopted Dad read it every 5 years along with other related work i.e. biography of Tolstoy. I’ve tried to follow in his footsteps…managed to join him twice on the big W and P read festivities…and he and I had many a good discussion about W and P before he passed!!
I hope you’ll enjoy reading it too!! ❤📚☕❤
Oh, my goodness, what a coincidence!! I expect it will be most fun reading it with a group of people.
Thanks for sharing your festivities. I loved my Christmas eve book flood, even though it was more sedate with just me and my book, reading in bed.
So glad you enjoyed hearing about our festivities! Your description of your celebration is the heart and soul of the spirit of Jolabokaflod!!! Bravo!!!
It does sound like a fantastic way to spend a holiday! Cheers!!
It really was fantastic and had the added benefit of being pandemic safe… but we focused more on the fun of getting all thos books! What decadence!! I hope your holiday was fun too!! Cheers!
What fun to read all day! I ended up doing the finishing touches on my cover design on Christmas Eve and releasing my new paperback and Kindle on Christmas Day. 🙂 So satisfying, and it felt like a lovely gift to have it finished and feel free to relax and… well, read other people’s books. I also felt like I was giving a gift to everyone for Christmas since my new story, though carrying a bit of mystery, will likely deliver warm hearts and hope.
One of the delightful books I got to enjoy is your, Odditorium, Sue!! It finally arrived, and was delivered on Christmas eve. Perfect since we open our gifts that evening. Also finally reading one called, Fireflies and Chocolate, by one of my blog-friend authors. Just right to read while snowed in and looking out at the white-treed riverbed in the back yard. Nice!!
Enjoy the rest of your holiday time, Sue!!!
Wow!! Congratulations on your new book!!!! What is the title of your new work?? You’re so correct – making books is a way to give back to the book community that gives us so many pleasures!!! As part of the book community I thank you for your contributions!! And I thank you for reading my work too!! I’m delighted that Odditorium came to you in time for Christmas!!!
I’ll have to look for Fireflies and Chocolate…the title sounds interesting. We’re snowed in here too and I agree it is so nice!!! Enjoy the rest of your holiday too!!!
Thanks for being interested in my new book!!! The title is, ‘Through the Cracks’ and it’s under author, ‘Sheri J. Kennedy’ on Amazon. I know you like paperback books, and it’s available in ebook too. Just in case anyone wants a digital copy. Thanks again!! 🙂
Thank you for sharing the title!!! Yes I prefer printed books but I love and I read ebooks when I walk!! So I’ll look you up…😉
The only photo that’s missing is of the chocolate (bar?) you had in step 3.b 🙂
Yep. Sometimes chocolate gets eaten before it can be photographed 🤣
Best response ever 😁
Lol!!!!! 🤣 Thanks!!!