Laura’s note: I’ve admired the blog Food Loves Writing from afar for the last year, with its gorgeous aesthetic, thoughtful writing, and simple but elegant–and healthy, to boot–recipes. Husband and wife Tim and Shanna Mallon teamed up to create this cozy Internet corner. Oh, and they write books! When I reached out to Shanna in…
The Christmas of 1995 started for me on a frosty night in late October. I had driven up to my best friend’s house for an autumn bonfire and hayride, but when I opened the back door I was greeted with a rush of music so lovely I knew it had to belong to the Christmas…
Writing for Golden Hours has been pure gift for Lanier and me—and we’re not finished yet. In fact, I have a notion that during these days after the twenty-fifth, continued ruminating and reminiscing will be just what the doctor ordered. Lanier excels at keeping the twelve days—I don’t do as well. I start to get…
I wrote this piece a few years ago, and while my heart is pierced by a loss I didn’t see coming at the time, I’m also struck by the fact that, amid a sea of changes, some things remain blessedly the same. A sweet second day of Christmas to you all! It’s been a day…
Lanier’s note: I asked the lovely Sarah (Clarkson) Fink-Jensen if she would give us a peek into her life in Oxford, England at Christmastime–I’m sure you’ll be as delighted with her response as I was! Happy Christmas, friends! And thank you, Sarah, for this day of ‘postcard wonders!’ The mornings are sleepy these days in…
Candy-making is one of the time-honored arts of an old-fashioned Christmas–the very notion conjures visions of nineteenth-century kitchens and copper pots and paper cornucopias stuffed with homemade treats. I’ve always been enchanted by the whole idea, if not a little intimidated. But it just would not be Christmas for me without that bubbling pot of…
Warning: This post contains content not suitable for kiddos. It’s rated G, but it’s not (red) SUITable, if you get my drift… If I’m a Christmas princess, my mother, Louise Protzmann Krainer, is the Christmas queen. (You’re about to see that I come by my Christmas-love honestly.) Both German and Czechoslovakian, Mom’s family in…
note from Laura: Hi, lovelies. Some shameless favor asking today. A version of this piece appeared on The Mighty last night. If you’re not familiar, The Mighty is sort of like the Huffington Post but with a positive spin–its tagline is “We face disability, disease and mental illness together.” If you’re so inclined, would you…
Lanier’s note: This piece was written by Heidi Johnston, my dear friend in Northern Ireland. In addition to teaching a class at Belfast Bible College on the Poetic and Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, she is a regular conference speaker, Bible study leader, and contributor at The Rabbit Room. She is also the author…
There’s nothing like stringing cranberries (or laying splayed out on the couch) in front of a crackling fire and a good Christmas movie. (The Bad Christmas Movie seems to be a genre all its own. Jingle All the Way and its sequel. Really?) And then there are the worthy classics, but you can only watch…
Lanier’s note: Sarah (Clarkson) Fink-Jensen is not only one of the finest writers I know–she’s also a very dear friend. Recently married, and living in Oxford, England, Sarah is the author of several wonderful books, including the acclaimed The Lifegiving Home, co-authored with her mother, Sally. Sarah also writes for The Rabbit Room, and on…
I’m hiding in my room today, thanks to a wicked case of poison ivy made worse when I “eat fire,” Luke’s word for where I sit when I’m in the den–so close to the hissing flames my back turns bright crimson and I thirst for a gallon of water. Back here, propped up against a…
Lanier’s note: I met Brian Brown back in October at Hutchmoot–which is one of the few places on earth, I imagine, where you find yourself talking about incarnational theology and Prohibition-throwback speakeasys in one conversation. We’re honored to to feature a couple of his famous festive libations today! Last Saturday, my family threw its annual…
Blast! I can’t blog tonight, I announced via email to the Golden Hours Team (Lanier and her husband-strategerist, Philip). I’ve had An Afternoon—a two-hour traffic jam, an ornery 14-year-old (with autism, to boot), and a freshly groomed hound who got into whatever it is dogs get into when they go out to the loo and…
I had been looking for them for weeks, from the first real shock of cold weather in early November, expecting at any moment to be brought up short in the midst of a day’s round by the sound that is at once the most wistful and the most exhilarating I have heard in nature. To…
It’s been a beautiful Saint Lucia Day, and just my kind of happy: I’ve been in the kitchen since early morning, baking cookies and wrapping homemade caramels for Christmas gifts, accompanied by various cats vying for the chairs closest to the fire and an Australian shepherd only too willing to clear up the bits of…
Happy Birthday, Frank Sinatra! Born December 12, 1915, the greatest interpreter of modern popular song and arguably the greatest entertainer of the 20th century would’ve turned 101 today. Sinatra, who passed away in 1998, left behind an immense and peerless body of recordings, stretching from the late 1930s to the early 1990s. And his estate…
Lanier’s note: Twenty years ago, my best friend Rachel married an Australian and moved 10,000 miles away to that breathtaking Great Southland down under (which she affectionately refers to as “Oz”). In the years since, Rachel and her husband have raised a lively, intelligent and imaginative flock of children, all with a strong sense of…
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