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I don’t want to spoil The Mandalorian finale much, so I’ll just say that technology used in its production seemed to be used more successfully here than in many other film projects. Also that I am a sucker for fan service so it was an effective finale for me.

My Most Memorable Christmas Presents from Childhood

I’m really on a break now - had my last business-ish meeting yesterday, no Zoom calls scheduled through the new year. So I’m going to write some holiday/end-of-year blog posts.

First up, inspired by this tweet, a list of my most memorable Christmas presents from childhood.

  1. A tape recorder. When I was around 5, Santa left a beautiful red tape recorder under the tree for me. I hadn’t asked for it; I’m not sure I even knew such a thing existed. But it rapidly became my favorite thing. I took it to church for the Christmas morning to show off; I told people that it was just what I wanted even though I didn’t know I wanted it. For years I used that tape recorder to record imaginary radio shows or, as we would call them now, podcasts. I also used it to record my baby sister singing “La Bamba,” which was priceless.

  2. A globe. I loved that globe. I can’t tell you why. I just remember spinning it and touching the raised mountain ranges and feeling like some new knowledge had suddenly become accessible to me. I was 7 or 8 for this one.

  3. A telescope. I never quite got it working right, but this was like an exponential increase in the feeling I felt when I got the globe. I have been interested in astronomy ever since. Probably got this one when I was 9.

So there you have it, my most memorable Christmas gifts from childhood. Or, if you prefer, evidence that I have always been this nerdy and into learning.

Have a good weekend! I’ll be back next week with thoughts on some holiday movies and my year in books.

I have been having this problem all week where I sit down and then I need to eat but eating would require getting back up and I just don’t want to, so then I just sit all hungry. Probably a severe ankle twist earlier in the week is not helping this vibe.

At Literary Mama, Victoria Livingstone writes about how the tasks of motherhood that “cannot be commodified or marketed” help us learn how to let go of the need to always be productive, and instead grant us space to let our creative spirit wander.

I’m experimenting with using Notion for weekly and daily planning. I put my most important tasks for the week at the top of my weekly planning page. Doing well with this week’s MITs, 1. Rest 2. Rest 3. Rest.

Got myself a Hanukkah present from Everyday Magic & it arrived today. Rededication body butter & sweet sufganiyot bath bomb by Crystal Bar Soap for EM. & they included this The Chariot card from the Wayhome Tarot. The Chariot is the card of my soul, so this felt extra special. 2nd photo is my new moon/solar eclipse reading for today & it’s pretty huge. Feels extra special to get the ☀️, 🌕, & 🌎 in an eclipse spread.