merry making

part i {making]

For Christmas ’95, in my first apartment on Westland Ave., I made just about everything I could. Most of my pay went to Bo$ton rent — and space was at a premium within those four walls! So buying stuff, only to have to store it, or worse yet toss it? No.

My neighbor, Susan, a professional flautist, worked two jobs and was of…similar means. Which meant, in the weeks before Christmas, we’d schlep supplies between apartments and make.

Pinecones + glitter (wreaths, maybe? garlands?)…wrapping paper from brown bags and potato print stars…orange pomanders (of course)…upcycled denim draft dodgers (for gifts)…and applesauce-cinnamon ornaments that doubled as gift tags.

Susan and I reconnected through letters a few years ago. I told her that an especially strong scent of cinnamon brings me back to that season we spent together — and I think of it almost every Christmastime.

Sunday afternoon, I cleaned out the fridge and found applesauce no one’s going to eat — and I knew exactly what I’d do during the football game. I walked to the store for cheap cinnamon, mixed a 1:1 ‘dough,’ chilled it, cut hearts, then dried the batch in our dehydrator. (Alternatively, a 175-200° oven for a few hours will work.)

Simple. Smells good. Sweet memories.

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In other making, I started the second cake of yarn for my Mountain Throw at a basketball game over the weekend (only when the clock’s stopped) and the third while waiting for a concert to start last night. I’m not super excited by the color change from jewel tones of ‘Summer Day’ to muddy green + blue of ‘Imaginary Garden’ (above L), but it’ll lighten with the start of ‘Buttercup’ (above R) and brighten when I reach ‘Pink Marmalade.’ (Such a fun name for a colorway!) (Pictured in banner at the top.)

And I’ve started perusing patterns for Elsa’s sweater. I was hoping to sway her toward something like this… Sigh. But she wants a V-neck cropped cardigan with chunky wooden buttons. Like penny loafers, I wore those last time they were in style — so I don’t love them this time around. (Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?!) It’ll be a quicker knit than Linc’s sweater, at least. Take way less yarn. And it’s for her, after all! (So she’s the one who should like it…)

We’ll see. I take forever picking patterns and yarn. Maybe by then she’ll be over it?!

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part ii {reading]

Trust was a blind read for me. In fact, the sole reason I placed a hold in the first place was simply…curiosity.

Hernan Diaz and Barbara Kingsolver both won a 2023 Pulitzer for their novels Trust and Demon Copperhead, respectively. (I wrote about the latter, here.) It’s the only time two fiction writers have been awarded the annual prize — though there’ve been years when no one gets it — so, naturally, I wonder what constitutes a decision like that.

(I tried to find an article or interview about the decision but came up with none. If you have a source, I’d love to check it out!)

Anyway. Trust tells a story of obscene wealth — and how money of that magnitude is made. More interesting to me, it tells [a few different] stories of the people behind it. Namely, one particular couple whose wealth grew as a result of the Wall Street Crash of 1929…and the question of who caused it.

A discussion of Trust could go on at length, but I’ll be brief and stick with just a few elements here:

For starters, the subject of finance appeals to me hardly at all — so I’m glad I *didn’t* have a clue what it was about, or I’d have likely skipped it.

And, I’m a product of writing seminars that preach Show, don’t tell… The *entire* first part of this book is Tell! All. Tell. And you know what? It works. Somehow, it works.

Then, there’s structure. Diaz wrote four parts — he likes the ‘nesting doll’ effect: The first part, a novel within a novel. (Confusing at first, on audio! Don’t set your cruise control.) Followed by an incomplete autobiography…then memoir…and finally, journal entries. (All fiction.) (And all equally well done; each held my attention differently — for different reasons.)

Without spoiling the end, I’ll say the discrepancy and…misrepresentation…of one character throughout much of the book is the most powerful element, for me. (Diaz very much intended to drive that home — resolving it, magnificently, at the end.)

Trust was new for me. Unique. Accessible-but-stretched-me. From the financial, historical, and social research…to the spectrum of characters and voices…and what I’d call experimental structure within that structure…what a piece of work.

I’m curious — if you’ve read it, did you do audio? Or print? And how do you think that influenced your experience of the book? (I wonder…was the first part, the novel within the novel, more…palatable…because it was so well narrated and paced? And on the flip side, I’ll bet the autobiography and journal sections offer more when read with the eyes. Just curious.)

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Thank you to Kat + friends for the chance to connect! I look forward to seeing what everyone’s up to this week.

I may pop in, briefly, on Friday. But if not — I wish a Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates! And I’ll have our One Word party up for a week, starting Tuesday, December 26. ♥