December CalendarCAT

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December CalendarCAT

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1LibraryCin
Nov. 17, 2019, 4:28 pm

December CalendarCAT


I’ll take some cues from previous months on additional ideas beyond the various holidays listed in the image I’ve found.

You’ll also find more lists of days/holidays on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December

“December is the twelfth (and final) month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and is the seventh and last of seven months to have a length of 31 days. December got its name from the Latin word decem (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC which began in March.” (from wikipedia)

So, you could use the number 12 or the number 10 in some way – in the title, or #12 or 10 in a series.

December's birth flower is the narcissus.
December's birthstones are the turquoise, zircon, and tanzanite.
December’s zodiac signs are Sagittarius and Capricorn.

Authors born in December include: Elizabeth Berg, Ann Patchett, Joseph Conrad, Christina Rossetti, Willa Cather, Bill Bryson, Naguib Mahfouz, Shirley Jackson, Jane Austen, Philip K. Dick, Donna Tart, Mary Higgins Clark, Stephenie Meyer, David Sedaris, Rudyard Kipling, Nicholas Sparks, and more!

Some international holidays include (I took these from a December challenge I set up a couple of years ago, so hopefully it is still correct!):

- Krampusnacht: The Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated in parts of Europe on Dec. 6. In Alpine countries, Saint Nicholas has a devilish companion named Krampus who punishes the bad children the night before.

- Bodhi Day: Day of Enlightenment, celebrating the day that the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni or Siddhartha Gautama) experienced enlightenment (also known as Bodhi).

- Saturnalia: An ancient Roman winter solstice festival in honor of the deity Saturn, held on the 17 December of the Julian calendar and expanded with festivities through to 23 December. Celebrated with sacrifice, a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival.

- Yalda: The turning point, Winter Solstice. As the longest night of the year and the beginning of the lengthening of days, Shabe Yaldā or Shabe Chelle is an Iranian festival celebrating the victory of light and goodness over darkness and evil. Shabe yalda means 'birthday eve.' According to Persian mythology, Mithra was born at dawn on 22 December to a virgin mother. He symbolizes light, truth, goodness, strength, and friendship. Herodotus reports that this was the most important holiday of the year for contemporary Persians. In modern times Persians celebrate Yalda by staying up late or all night, a practice known as Shab Chera meaning 'night gazing'. Fruits and nuts are eaten, especially pomegranates and watermelons, whose red color invokes the crimson hues of dawn and symbolize Mithra.

- Pancha Ganapati: modern five-day festival in honor of Lord Ganesha, celebrated by Hindus in USA.

- Christmas Day: one of the most celebrated holidays around the world, increasingly celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike.

- Kwanzaa: Pan-African festival celebrated in the US. It is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the West African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving.

- Hanukkah: Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication.

And, please do update our wiki with what you read this month:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2019_CalendarCAT#December:_-_Theme:

2rabbitprincess
Nov. 17, 2019, 5:57 pm

For this challenge I read The Aviator, by Ernest K. Gann -- International Civil Aviation Day is on December 7.

3Robertgreaves
Nov. 17, 2019, 6:00 pm

My online reading group is reading Saturnalia by John Maddox Roberts, so that's one easy one.

4JayneCM
Nov. 18, 2019, 12:33 am

Love the calendar!
I am being super predictable and reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

5Kristelh
Nov. 18, 2019, 1:00 pm

Agree, nice calendar Cindy!

6DeltaQueen50
Nov. 18, 2019, 2:28 pm

Since it is the festive season I am going to be reading:

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay
Christmas at the Gingerbread Cafe by Rebecca Raisin
Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies

7christina_reads
Nov. 18, 2019, 3:40 pm

I'll almost certainly read Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and I may also read a couple of Damon Runyon's Christmas stories.

8LadyoftheLodge
Nov. 18, 2019, 3:43 pm

I love the calendar! I am also being predictable and reading A Wedding in December and already read Christmas Shopaholic. I will probably read a few more by end of December though!

9LibraryCin
Nov. 18, 2019, 9:01 pm

Thank you! I thought this calendar was cute. :-)

I have yet to do some digging to figure out what I'll read. That may not happen till the weekend!

10LibraryCin
Nov. 24, 2019, 3:46 pm

I have a few options that will either fit for Christmas and/or winter:

- Landline / Rainbow Rowell
- Light on Snow / Anita Shreve
- The Right to be Cold / Shelia Watt-Cloutier
- First Snow, Last Light / Wayne Johnston
- Iced In / Chris Turney

11luvamystery65
Nov. 24, 2019, 4:03 pm

I'll be listening to The Woman in Black by Susan Hill which starts out on Christmas Eve.

12lowelibrary
Dez. 7, 2019, 12:09 am

Continuing to finish the "seasonal' series. reading Winter Is Not Forever by Janette Oke for Winter Solstice (December 22nd)

13LibraryCin
Dez. 7, 2019, 3:38 pm

Winter/Cold

The Right to be Cold / Sheila Watt-Cloutier
3.5 stars

Sheila Watt-Cloutier was born in a Northern Quebec Inuit community and raised by her mother and her grandmother. She was sent away to school in Churchill, and (mostly) enjoyed her time there. She later married, had kids, and went back and forth between her home in Northern Quebec and the southern part of the province.

Eventually, she would become an activist; she is most commonly associated with environmental activism, but really she is an activist for her Inuit culture, for education and health care, and yes, for the environment and climate change, and how it is currently affecting the Inuit culture and lifestyle. They are seeing the effects of climate change now, and they feel that they deserve “the right to be cold” – they need that cold – in order to sustain their traditional culture.

This was good. I expected more of the environmental aspect in the book (and a lot of that did come in the 2nd half), but actually ended up enjoying the biographical part of the book best. Much of the 2nd half of the book included her travels to various conferences and counsels to tell the story of the Inuit to put a “human face” on the environmental crisis in the Arctic. Surprising to me, I just didn’t find that part as interesting. Overall, though, I liked it.

14NinieB
Dez. 7, 2019, 5:27 pm

My book this month is A Hard Winter Rain, which is set in December.

15rhinemaiden
Dez. 8, 2019, 4:57 am

I'm reading An English Murder by Cyril Hare (published 1951)... A Golden Age classic set on Christmas Eve.

16MissWatson
Dez. 8, 2019, 8:58 am

17LadyoftheLodge
Bearbeitet: Dez. 8, 2019, 10:54 am

>16 MissWatson: That is one of my favorite Christmas stories! I saw it produced on stage in a local theater, and it was hilarious and touching. And of course there is the movie with Loretta Swit.

18MissWatson
Dez. 9, 2019, 3:20 am

>17 LadyoftheLodge: I didn't know about a movie! Thanks for telling me.

19sallylou61
Dez. 9, 2019, 11:08 am

Online I reread "The Gift of the Magi," a very, very short Christmas story by O. Henry. I had not read it for many years; it was the story which I thought it was.

20DeltaQueen50
Dez. 9, 2019, 12:52 pm

I have completed my first seasonal book with Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies and it was a lovely read.

21Kristelh
Bearbeitet: Dez. 9, 2019, 9:58 pm

I read Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller and am putting it here because it is set in the arctic circle, has a polar bear and it mentions the winter solstice.

22staci426
Dez. 13, 2019, 1:15 pm

I'm counting Mary of Nazareth: A Novel by Marek Halter for this month. It tells of the life of Mary up to the birth of Jesus which is celebrated in December.

23clue
Dez. 13, 2019, 2:28 pm

I read Santa's North Pole Cookbook by Jeff Guinn. It includes 70 recipes for the Christmas season from around the world with commentary by Santa Claus and his chef Lars.

24LibraryCin
Dez. 13, 2019, 10:32 pm

Christmas

Landline / Rainbow Rowell
3 stars

When Georgie decides she needs to stay home and work over the Christmas holiday (she’s a script writer and she has a deadline to get multiple new scripts done for her dream show in a short time), her husband takes their two daughters to his “home” in Nebraska for the holiday. Georgie has trouble getting ahold of her husband on the phone, but does manage on her mom’s landline. BUT, it appears that the Neal she has gotten ahold of is not her current husband; the Neal on the other end of the landline is the Neal she knew before she married him… she is talking to the Neal from 15 years ago!

Both main characters were very unlikable. Neal did not come off as a nice person, at all, in my opinion, and Georgie was such a whiner and acted like she was still a teenager, all angsty over the holiday separation. I also had a hard time, at times, figuring out if we were in current day or flashing back to when they were both younger or if it was current-day Georgie talking on the landline to younger Neal. I listened to the audio, which was fine and held my attention, but overall I was disappointed. Even still, I’m rating it ok, but I think I liked the premise more than the execution of it.

25LadyoftheLodge
Bearbeitet: Dez. 14, 2019, 12:10 pm

>23 clue: That sounds interesting to me. I do not cook a lot, but it sounds like some interesting commentary.

26Robertgreaves
Dez. 16, 2019, 10:45 pm

27MissWatson
Dez. 18, 2019, 4:37 am

I have finished Blood feud by Rosemary Sutcliff who was born on 14 December.

28staci426
Dez. 18, 2019, 10:08 am

I finished a Christmas-themed collection of short stories, A Merry Christmas and Other Christmas Stories by Louisa May Alcott, 3.5*.

29kac522
Bearbeitet: Dez. 18, 2019, 11:44 pm

I read about 10 stories from The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. At over 600 pages, I knew I wouldn't have time for all 60+ stories, but enjoyed the ones I selected, especially Peter Todd's "Herlock Sholmes' Christmas Case." What a hoot!

30dudes22
Dez. 19, 2019, 5:54 am

>29 kac522: - That sounds like a fun book to have when there's not a lot of time for reading this time of year.

31kac522
Dez. 19, 2019, 10:13 am

>30 dudes22: Yep, and I was thinking it would make a great gift for a mystery-lover.

32luvamystery65
Dez. 21, 2019, 11:24 am

I finished The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and while it starts out on Christmas Eve it really doesn't take place at Christmas or have anything to do with Christmas. I started NOS4R2 by Joe Hill which is creepy and all about Christmas Land so I'll count it.

33MissWatson
Dez. 21, 2019, 1:36 pm

Two more for the CalendarCAT: El reino de este mundo by Alejo Carpentier, who was born on 26 December. And Herr Mozart feiert Weihnachten where Wolfgang Amadeus finds himself in our present and invited to a family Christmas.

34JayneCM
Bearbeitet: Dez. 21, 2019, 6:22 pm

>33 MissWatson: I would love to read the book about Mozart! But I don't think my German is up to it. And I see she has written another book about Mozart waking up in the present time.

35MissWatson
Dez. 22, 2019, 10:48 am

>34 JayneCM: I found it in the remainders bin and noticed belatedly that there is a previous book, about Wolfgang finding himself in our time. What I liked very much is that the author has Mozart speaking in a very old-fashioned way, lots of French and lots of technicalities about music, so it's probably not ideal for getting back into German.

36LibraryCin
Dez. 22, 2019, 4:54 pm

Iced In: Ten Days Trapped on the Edge of Antarctica / Chris Turney
4 stars

The author, Chris Turney, gathered together many people in 2013/2014, mostly scientists, to travel to Antarctica to do some research. Antarctica is a dangerous place, as the weather and ice conditions can change in a heartbeat. This group was lucky enough to start off with a number of good weather and ice days, but things quickly changed on Christmas Eve and they ended up locked in by ice.

This was really good. Turney also recounts Ernest Shakleton’s story of being trapped 100 years earlier, so he goes back and forth between his crew and Shakleton’s. As the leader of the expedition, and impressed by how Shakleton had handled things in his time, Turney made decisions based on “what would Shakleton do?”. It’s a different world now, though, as compared to during Shakleton’s time when no one knew what had become of Shakleton and his crew. With Turney’s group, they kept in connection via radio, satellite phone, social media, and were able to call in for help. Even still, there were times where things were dicey, and they really weren’t sure when or if they’d be able to get everyone out safely.

37DeltaQueen50
Dez. 22, 2019, 4:57 pm

I had another seasonal read with Christmas at the Gingerbread Cafe by Rebecca Raisin. A short and simple seasonal read that I will most probably forget all about in a week or two.

38JayneCM
Dez. 22, 2019, 8:00 pm

>35 MissWatson: I wish it was available in English as I would love to read both books. I am borrowing some picture books from the library as a starting point. I was even thinking of borrowing a general conversation course as well.

39JayneCM
Dez. 22, 2019, 8:01 pm

Quick and fun Christmas read, A Jane Austen Christmas, in the lead up to the big day. Some of the recipes sounded quite delicious. Maybe one year I should have a themed Christmas?!

40DeltaQueen50
Dez. 23, 2019, 10:18 pm

Another seasonal read with the vintage Christmas mystery, The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay.

41christina_reads
Dez. 30, 2019, 11:56 am

I read several Christmas-themed books this month. Carla Kelly's Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand is a Regency romance that begins at Christmas time; J. Jefferson Farjeon's Mystery in White is about a strange assortment of train passengers who get snowed in at a mysterious country house for Christmas; and Alyssa Maxwell's Murder Most Malicious involves a murder that takes place on Boxing Day. I also reread Georgette Heyer's Envious Casca, which is my favorite of her mysteries and which also takes place at Christmas.

42LibraryCin
Dez. 30, 2019, 4:47 pm

Winter, Christmas

Hans Brinker, or, The Silver Skates / Mary Mapes Dodge
3 stars

Hans and his younger sister live in Holland and love to skate. Unfortunately, their father had an accident 10 years earlier when Gretel was just a baby, and has been in a coma(?) since, so Hans makes their skates out of wood. But, with a race coming up, a nice girl offers to buy Hans some new skates. Meanwhile, they are still hoping their dad will wake up, as he had hidden away a large chunk of money just before his accident. Money they could really use.

This was ok. I liked Hans’ family’s story, but there was also a section (mostly in the middle of the book) that focused on some of the other local boys. I mostly lost interest when the focus was on them. There was some nice descriptions of the area and the (19th century) culture in the book, and one of the other boys was from out of the country, so some of this was seen through his eyes, in a way. Overall, it was ok.

43beebeereads
Jan. 3, 2020, 3:27 pm

Christmas
A Christmas Carol

Listening to this classic, I relaxed into the 19th century language and heard the undertow of outrage from Dickens. How much it reminds me of human rights activists today who use their pen and their creativity to awaken the souls of those who would ignore what goes on outside their door. Bravo! I am glad I made space to listen to this directive again.