www.harborlightnews.com Week of December 3-9, 20144B Harbor Light Community Newsweekly

As I write this month’s Lit Chat, I am basking in the glow of a burning Yule log in HD. Yes, that’s right. My

warm Christmassy fire comes in High Definition complete with Christmas music playing over the very realistic crackling and popping sounds of a burning Yule log.

I don’t have a fireplace in my little house. But I do have On Demand. Since the discovery of the On De-mand Yule Log feature, I look forward to putting away the Thanksgiving left-overs and sparking up a little warm Hol-iday cheer with the click of a remote.

“Tacky” is how an extended family member once described a similar scene. We were invited to a Christmas party, many years ago, and upon entering the host’s house were greeted by a boxy television with an even clunkier VCR whirring a burning Yule like fire onto a flickering screen. “Very tacky” was the response accompanied by agreeable “tsk, tsks” from most everyone.

This is the first time I am admitting to my family and friends that I am now one of those “tacky” people. However, I must ask that everyone refrain from judgment until they see how far the TV Yule log has come. It is quite a different experience since the invention of flat screens and high definition. Recently, a friend stopped by unexpectedly and I’d left the Yule burning in the other room with the volume turned up. She shushed me halfway through my greeting and said, “I think your house is on fire”. I had to stop her, as she sniffed the air for smoke and got out her phone to dial 911, to explain all about this seasonal television wonder. The sound is that good!

So, this month I will be reading books by my On Demand fire. And in honor of the holiday, I am rereading some old fa-vorites. Some are naughty. Some are nice. And some are just great stocking stuffers.

For those looking for something naughty, it’s the time of year to pick up Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. Most Sedaris fans

know this book well. In this slim volume of holiday themed essays, Sedaris writes about working as an elf for a mall Santa. And in another essay he explores the various versions of Saint Nicklaus as he travels. The best is the brutish version told to Sedaris by his cab driver in Amsterdam. This is one of those books that may be enjoyed most in its audio version with Sedaris as narrator. It’s the perfect gift for those on your list with a naughty sense of humor.

As for nice, I recently stumbled upon The Life and Adven-tures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum. Baum is also known for creating and writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This book on Santa was first published in 1902 and takes “the beloved symbol of a merry Christmas out of his conventional trappings and into the world of imaginative folklore.” Baum creates the story of Santa Claus from his boyhood growing up in the en-chanted forest to his first foray into making toys and sliding down chimneys. It’s a delightful find and perfect for those in need of a “nice” gift that is also a classic.

On the subject of classics, Let’s Be Enemies is a picture book written by Janice May Udry and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It’s a story about being best friends, being enemies, and then being friends again. It is a delightful mix of funny and naughty by two award-winning children’s book authors.

Udry won the 1957 Caldecott for her first book, A Tree is Nice. Sendak received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are; the 1970 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration; the 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, given by the American Library Association in recognition of his entire body of work; and a 1996 National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America. In 2003, he received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international prize for children’s literature established by the Swedish government.

Together, Udry and Sendak, delivered Let’s Be Enemies to the shelves in 1961. Again, it’s a classic worth gifting to a preco-cious child or adult collector.

Grayson by Lynne Cox is a feel good story that can be read in an afternoon and passed along to friends and family. Cox, a long-distance open-water swimmer, writes about an encoun-ter she experienced on one of her regular morning swims. As she starts to return to shore after swimming for several hours,

she feels the water move beneath her and realizes she is not alone. Nope, it’s not a shark. But it is a baby gray whale that has lost his mother. Remem-ber being lost in a grocery store isle unable to locate your mom? It’s the whale version of that feeling. Cox feels sorry for the baby that she names Grayson and recounts how she helped to reunite him with his mother. The description of the encounter is breathtak-ing and keeps a reader flipping pages as this real life adventure unfolds. It’s a great reminder that we, as humans, are just a small part of this world. And that sometimes, no matter what the species, we all just want our mommies.

As my Yule Log starts to come to the end of its 44 minute burn, I must mention one other classic tale. Indeed, I would be remiss in my Christmas Lit Chat duties if I did not mention The Night Before Christmas. I am sure everyone has a favorite version of this book. Mine is the 1975 version written by Clem-ent C. Moore and illustrated by Douglas W. Gorsline. There is a peacefulness that washes over me with that very first familiar line, “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” And because Gorsline’s illustrations were the ones I grew up look-ing over when this book was read to me as a child, its pages feel like home when I take it off the shelves each year and thumb through it again waiting for Santa to fly “like the down of a thistle” and “exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—‘Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!’”

Open through the Holidays

Hours: M-F 9-5:30, Sat. 9-4 (until Christmas Eve, then see you in the spring!) 231.526.2851 | 692 East Lake Street www.christiansgreenhouses.com

“Flowers for the Holidays” Christians’ Renolda Greenhouse & Florist

• Poinsettias • Wreaths and roping• Holiday Centerpieces• Potted and Cut Trees

Open HouseSaturday, Nov. 23rd

9 am - 4 pmSale 20% off store wide

(excluding Holiday greens, plants & floral)

Refreshments • Prize Drawing

Christians’RenoldaGreenhouse & Florist

Poinsettias • Wreaths & Roping • Fresh & Potted TreesFresh Floral Arrangements • Grave Blankets & Pillows

• Decorate indoors and out with our variety of custom greens, berries, etc.

• Great Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List

Call for appointment:526-4299 643 E. Lake St.

www.theharbor-barber.com

The Harbor BarberMens Cuts - Youth Cuts -

Straight Razor ShavesGift Certificates Available

Celebrating Words, Literature, Authors, Libraries, Booksellers and Reading!

As part of our ongoing efforts to honor reading and writing, “LitChat” will be included in our newspaper on a regular basis. Emily Meier, a writer and reader with deep connections to northern Michigan, is our LitChat editor.

L i t C h a t

Emily Meier and Wally

The Naughty, The Nice, and The Yule Log

Overhead in the bookstore:“I was in your store when they brought the Christmas tree down the street. All of a sudden, I thought we were having a solar eclipse. I looked outside and couldn’t see beyond the dark shape in the windows. It could have been the end times!”

-Submitted by Katie Capaldi, Between the Covers