Merry Christmas!

Martha wants you to put on a feast.

This is a post of little substance, and I make no apology for it.  It’s holiday time, so I’m taking it easy with the help of the local public library.  Just before Christmas I stocked up on some good books to read over the break.  Right now my spouse and I are taking turns reading Imagining Canadian Literature: the Selected Letters of Jack McLelland, which has very little to do with the holidays but offers incredible insight into publishing in Canada, canon formation, and the Canadian literary community.  These subjects are in some ways peripheral to LIS in Canada, so I’ll touch on the text in a day or two, but right now I’m going to sing the praises of Martha Stewart and libraries with comprehensive magazine collections.  Like a lot of people in the USA and Canada, my Christmas feast was pulled off without a hitch by following Martha Stewart’s advice.  I cooked up a great dinner that fed friends and family for three days straight, and I couldn’t have done it without borrowing the 2008 Holiday Cooking issue of Martha Stewart Living. Although the issue is 12 months old, Halifax Public Libraries kept it in the collection so that non-foodies like me could pull off some kitchen magic once a year.  I’m saddened to return the issue next week since it was so vital to the success of the Christmas Dinner; there is definitely the odd extra splatter of cranberry chutney and gravy on its pages (I finally pulled off a half-way decent gravy, praised be to Martha) on account of my cooking.

Anyway, happy holidays.  Enjoy your break, if you have one, no matter how long or short it might be.  And remember to return those old magazines you borrow so that the entire community can make an extraordinary white wine turkey gravy.