Author's posts
Dec 08 2023
Grýla: Iceland’s Fearsome Christmas Witch
Christmas folklore is often filled with kindly gift-bringers, cheerful elves, sparkling lights, and magical reindeer. Iceland does things a little differently. High in the mountains, according to Icelandic tradition, lives a terrifying old creature named Grýla. Each winter she emerges from the wilderness with a particularly gruesome purpose: searching for badly behaved children to carry …
Dec 08 2023
Traditional Raspberry Linzer Cookies Recipe
Few Christmas cookies look quite as charming as classic raspberry Linzer cookies. With buttery almond cookies, jewel-bright raspberry jam, delicate cutout centers, and a snowy coating of powdered sugar, they seem made for holiday cookie trays. The cookies pictured here have that wonderfully traditional look: round golden sandwiches with little stars, Christmas trees, and other …
Dec 07 2023
The Symbolic Meaning Behind Favorite Christmas Carols
Christmas carols have a remarkable ability to make familiar stories feel new again. A few notes of “Silent Night” can quiet a crowded room. The opening of “Joy to the World” seems to throw open the doors to celebration. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” carries an entirely different feeling—one of waiting, longing, and hope that …
Dec 06 2023
DIY Christmas Yarn Craft Ideas: 5 Cozy Handmade Projects for the Holidays
There’s something about yarn that feels made for Christmas crafting. It’s soft, cozy, inexpensive, and wonderfully forgiving, whether you’re wrapping it around a simple cardboard shape or turning it into a handmade gift someone can wear all winter. Best of all, you don’t have to be an expert knitter or crocheter to make beautiful Christmas …
Dec 05 2023
5 Unique and Easy Pipe Cleaner Christmas Projects
Some of the most charming Christmas crafts begin with the simplest supplies. A handful of colorful pipe cleaners—also called chenille stems—can be twisted, curled, wrapped, and shaped into tiny Santas, candy canes, Christmas trees, wreaths, and other cheerful decorations. There’s very little mess, the projects come together quickly, and no advanced crafting skills are required. …
Dec 04 2023
DIY Christmas Crafts from Recycled Materials: 3 Beautiful Ideas to Make at Home
Some of the loveliest Christmas decorations don’t begin in the craft aisle. They begin with an empty glass jar you almost tossed into the recycling bin, an old sweater tucked away at the back of a closet, or a handful of branches gathered from the yard. Turning everyday materials into Christmas décor is wonderfully satisfying. …
Dec 03 2023
Fun and Easy Christmas Crafts with Toilet Paper Rolls
Before you toss those empty toilet paper rolls into the recycling bin, take another look. With a little colored paper, paint, glue, and imagination, those humble cardboard tubes can become some of the cutest Christmas decorations of the season. Santa Claus, rosy-nosed reindeer, cheerful snowmen, miniature Christmas trees, and even the Grinch can all begin …
Dec 02 2023
5 Christmas Ham Recipes for a Beautiful Holiday Dinner
There are certain dishes that simply look like Christmas when they arrive at the table, and a beautifully glazed ham is one of them. Golden at the edges, glossy with a sweet-and-savory glaze, and surrounded by rosemary, citrus, cranberries, or roasted fruit, Christmas ham has all the drama of a holiday centerpiece without requiring an …
Nov 30 2023
100 Christmas Words: A Festive Vocabulary Journey
Christmas has a language all its own. The moment December arrives, ordinary conversations begin filling with words that seem to belong to this one sparkling season: mistletoe, sleigh, carol, gingerbread, stocking, holly, Noel. Some Christmas words are ancient and religious, carrying meanings that reach back centuries. Others come from winter landscapes, traditional foods, beloved songs …
Nov 29 2023
Rediscovering the Magic: An Old-Fashioned Christmas Through the Ages
There is a certain kind of Christmas magic that seems to belong to another time: a room glowing by candlelight, a tree covered with handmade ornaments, oranges and nuts tucked into stockings, carolers singing in the cold, and a table filled with foods prepared from recipes handed down through generations. An old-fashioned Christmas was not …
