The End

I recently published my first edited book,  Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology ,  with  Small Harbor Publishing . It's an anthology of writing from  Literary Mama  staff over the past 20 years. It's a beautiful collection and I am proud of the writers and proud to share the book.  It seems a fitting moment, as I pondered sharing about the book here on the blog, to reflect on my life as a blogger, and acknowledge that it is time to officially end this blog.   I started blogging in about 2007, when my baby was learning to toddle, when I was learning how to be a mother and stepmother, when I was just starting to see my way as a writer. I needed it back then. I craved it. I had a variety of blog iterations--family, art, creativity, writing things I delved into. There's a freedom in blogging, a casualness, an easy familiarity that's lacking (for me anyway) in other kinds of writing. I loved blogging and the words came pouring out.  Over the years since then, some
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Christmas Tree Farm

Christmas is over for another 11 months, but we still have a few christmas library books kicking around the living room.  One that I particularly liked is called Christmas Tree Farm, by Ann Purnell, illustrated by Jill Weber.  I grabbed this randomly from the holiday shelf a few days before christmas, and was delighted by it.  I suppose anything about trees makes me smile, but this is a sweet little book that captures the spirit of christmas, focuses on nature's beauty and variety, while skipping all the religious stuff.  Just my speed. 

Since Rob and I have been raising this little family of ours we have gotten our tree each year from a farm where you can go wander amongst the trees and find just the right one for your house.  This year was no different.  In early December we took the kids out to a new field, in Newfield, and traipsed about in the sunshine.  After some searching, we found just the right tall, skinny spacey tree.  Talya held the trunk while Rob sawed off the base.  We carried it back to the barn where the owners had cookies and cider waiting. 

This book defines exactly the experience we had (minus the grandparents as tree farmers), but also shows how the people selling the trees work all year round to keep the trees maintained and protected and growing happily in their fields. In the end there is a captivatingly illustrated page of a number of different types of christmas tree trees.  Top the whole thing off with a final page of christmas tree facts, and you're set with a sweet book that truly captures what a lovely experience it is to hunt for, cut, and bring home a tree from your local Christmas Tree Farm.

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