A Little House Christmas

I finished this a while ago, but it's very fitting at this time of year. This passage actually made me cry, so I thought I'd put it up here. It also makes you think about all the stuff that everyone is out buying in a shopping panic. Enjoy!

From Mr Edwards meets Santa Claus in Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Something was shining bright in the top of Laura's stocking. She squealed and jumped out of bed. So did Mary, but Laura beat her to the fireplace. And the shining thing was a glittering new tin cup.

Mary had one exactly like it.

These new tin cups were their very own. Now they each had a cup to drink out of. Laura jumped up and down and shouted and laughed, but Mary stood still and looked with shining eyes at her own tin cup.

Then they plunged their hands into the stockings again. And they pulled out two long, long sticks of candy. It was peppermint candy, striped red and white. They looked and looked at that beautiful candy, and Laura licked her stick, just one lick. But Mary was not so greedy. She didn't take even one lick of her stick.

Those stockings weren't empty yet. Mary and Laura pulled out two small packages. They unwrapped them, and each found a little heart-shaped cake. Over their delicate brown tops was sprinkled white sugar. The sparkling grains lay like tiny drifts of snow. And the inside of that little cake was white!

It had been made of pure white flour, and sweetened with white sugar.

Laura and Mary never would have looked in their stockings again. The cups and the cakes and the candy were almost too much. They were too happy to speak. But Ma asked if they were sure the stockings were empty.

Then they put their arms down inside them, to make sure.

And in the very toe of each stocking was a shining bright, new penny!

They had never even thought of such a thing as having a penny. Think of having a whole penny for your very own. Think of having a cup and a cake and a stick of candy and a penny.

There had never been such a Christmas.

Young Adult-ness

I've just read Divergent - a book I actually saw the film trailer for a couple of weeks ago. I bought it for a long train journey, and quite enjoyed it; although it's not particularly well written, it's got some interesting ideas.

People are divided into five factions, based on their personality traits. There are those who value honesty most of all, then courage, intelligence, kindness, and selflessness. But some don't fit into these categories so neatly, and that's where the fun starts.

It got me thinking about which faction I would be in, if I lived in that world, and maybe even more difficult to decide, which one I think has its priorities right. Of course they're all good traits and I aspire to have them all, but where would I actually fit?

I like to think it would be Dauntless - the faction that honours courage above all else. The one I would like to be more like is probably Amity (kindness) or Abnegation (selflessness). The book itself has an interesting perspective on this; that in many cases, selflessness and courage are nearly interchangeable. We can be at our bravest when we are thinking of others and not ourselves. Forgetting the self can help us to act, even when we are scared.

1,2,3 write!

A little while ago, Lift (a fantastic new app which helps people to build habits and hold themselves accountable for whatever they choose to commit to) asked me to create a writing coaching plan.

It's a 30-day plan; sign up and you'll get a new tip each day, based on things that have helped me get down to writing, even when I don't particularly want to, or when I don't know what to say. The tips are simple and (hopefully) fun - I'd love you all to have a look and tell me what you think. It's the first time I've ever written anything like this, but I really enjoyed it.

You can find the plan here.

I've also been tweeting a bit about my plan; if you like it, please sign up and/or share it yourselves. Happy writing!