Today is the final night of Hanukkah and the final Wednesday of the Virtual Advent Tour. Can you believe we only have four days left?

A song for you:

We return to raidergirl3 at an adventure in reading for today’s post, which creatively combines her love of science, language, and Christmas and involves her high school physics students.

See you back here tomorrow!

I’m going to give us a song or a film clip on posts this week, because we all need those extra few minutes to breathe deeply or sing loudly before facing the rest of the day. Since tonight will be the penultimate night of Hanukkah, I thought I’d share this favorite (which I think is from the New York City concert my family and I were lucky enough to attend when I was a kid):

For our final Tuesday of the Virtual Advent Tour, we return to kathy b at Compassionknit, who has a post for us on gingerbread creations. Yum!

Stop back tomorrow for another stop on the tour!

Since according to today’s post, The Broke and the Bookish will be ceasing publication in 2018 and since I basically just ask Santa for “Books! Please bring me books!” I thought I’d do another off-week post for Top Ten Tuesday (which will continue, but elsewhere).

I wasn’t ready to think about winter last month, when the topic of what’s on our winter to-be-read lists ran, but since the seasons change later this week, I guess it’s time to look ahead.

In no particular order:

• Catriona Lally’s Eggshells, about a woman looking to make a friend named Penelope (NOT Penny!), definitely did not work as poolside reading, but I suspect it will lend itself well to a weekend curled up under blankets with a pot of tea next to me.
• I was lucky enough to snag a copy of John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down on opening day at the West End branch of the library. My dad has already read it and is waiting impatiently for me to be able to discuss it with him.
• Far from the Tree by Robin Benway, this year’s young people’s National Book Award winner, is overdue to the library, so I’m hoping to finish it before the end of the year.
• Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire is waiting for me at the library and is part of the selection of books I hope to read this Christmas season.
• I cannot seem to get around to Susan Dennard’s Truthwitch, which has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. This winter could be the time!
• I’m thinking Frederick Backman’s My Grandmother Asked Me to Say She’s Sorry should lend itself to a winter reading.
• Mysteries are a solid choice for winter and The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry seems like a fun choice from my shelf.
• John David Anderson’s Ms. Bixby’s Last Day is a middle-grade novel that’s been on my shelf for a year.
• Sherry Thomas’ A Conspiracy in Belgravia came out this fall.
• Also in catching up with series, Maia Chance’s Teetotaled is next up in the Discreet Retrieval Agency.

How about you? What’s on your TBR list for the cold months?

We’re entering our final week of the Virtual Advent Tour, as this is the last Monday before Christmas. I hope your holiday plans are all going smoothly, that you’re getting to listen to seasonal songs while wrapping gifts and sipping eggnog or cider or resting with your feet up while you revel in a week mostly free of stress and obligation. I am a procrastinator and an uncompromising over-scheduler which means I have no idea what I’m going to write about in the next paragraph because I spent the day shopping, working on Christmas gifts, writing cards, and running around. The great news is that I have to be narrowing in on finishing some of those tasks because I’m running out of days in which to do them. But, as I pointed out in a card to a friend, I didn’t even start Christmas cards last year until Dec. 30, so I’m way ahead of that game. Plus, thanks to the laundry I got done yesterday, I even have clean underwear in which to tackle this week! That will make all the difference!

Ahem. Right. You came here to read something Christmassy, didn’t you?

How about some Christmas lights and window displays? Here’s a Coldplay song I’ve never heard before for a soundtrack (although clearly in both the following scenes they would be piping a tinny version of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”):

This house is about half a mile away from where I live:

Want a closer look?

This is Arbo, who lives with “Mr. Holidays” (probably not his real name). He seems like a nice dog.

And on the other side of town, where I was shopping Friday afternoon, here are the windows of the Coldwell Banker Real Estate office:

Here’s my favorite detail:

Also, the house in the front right corner of the window is for sale. This would be an awesome place to live.

Stop back tomorrow for our final Tuesday post!

Welcome to the 17th day of the Virtual Advent Tour. Today is Gaudete Sunday.

“Gaudete” is the Latin word for “rejoice,” the first word of the verses from Philippians 4:4-5 spoken at the beginning of the Catholic service on the third Sunday of Advent. (My Catholic friends, if I’ve misrepresented that, please correct me.) The 16th-century carol “Gaudete” is sung here by Steeleye Span who charted in the U.K. with it back in 1972.

So, in honor of the day, let us rejoice that Christmas has nearly arrived and celebrate by heading over to visit Nina at The Cozy Pages, who has a post for us today in which she answers some questions about her holidays.

See you back here tomorrow for the start of the final week of the Virtual Advent Tour!

I assume you also have a busy day ahead (mine involves some wrapping, a trip to the post office, and a couple neighborhood Christmas festivals), so let’s get right to the good stuff:

Today’s Day 16 of the Virtual Advent Tour and we return you to Nancy of Wyoming Breezes, who has a post for you about how her family spends their time together during the holidays.

Have a great Saturday and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!