New Year's Presents for All

[ellenkushner]

Feeling the strain? Consider this:

I was a young teenager obsessed with the Tudor court (Henry VIII and his brood). In one of those "Young Elizabeth" books, she made a New Year's present for her father (or maybe it was for Catherine Parr. Or both). Eureka! I had found it. Not only is it Tudor, it's Traditional. Back before the Christmas Rush, there was New Year's. Wassail! Tumblers! Hand-sewn slippers, and maybe a Greek translation!

And no Little Baby Jesus.

Giving New Year's presents is cool. It's secular & ecumenical. It allows you to avoid shopping with the panicked crowds. (My dad, who grew up in the Bronx, claims he used to go down to Macy's on Christmas Eve, just to watch the scrimmage.) And it allows you to cash in on the fact that after Dec. 24 at 11:59 pm, prices on everything suddenly, magically, drop. And it means you get presents at precisely the time that post-holiday depression would otherwise be setting in.

So if you're wondering where the hell my card is already, or why I seemed to be ignoring you at Chanukah, take heart.

There are 16 shopping (and mailing) days 'til New Year's.

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I could become a big fan of this idea. :)

...of course, my nephew who was born on New Year's Day might not be such a big fan of it. :)

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Ah, now it's secular and ecumenical, but you know why New Year's is when it is, don't you? It marks the Feast of the Circumcision, the first time the Little Baby Jesus shed blood.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Shhh! We'll just keep that to ourselves, then, shall we?


(Crap. Howcome you knew that, and I didn't?)

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

Possibly because Yahoo just ran a great Weird News item about the Search for the Holy Foreskin?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Is that what that thing was? Dammit - I put it out with the Mogen David bottles after the bris!

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

'Cause I used to study Renaissance literature, probably...

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Well, so did I - but somehow the foreskin connection eluded me.

[krismcd59.livejournal.com]

Even more fun fact -- in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when Gawain receives the"nick on the neck" at the climax of the story? It happens on January 1 and symbolizes the Feast of the Circumcision. Happy Solsticial ritual sacrifice! Every time I point this out to my class, they're all "whooooooa!" (Can you tell I have grades due tomorrow and am looking for distractions from marking final exams?)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

OK - but if this is the kind of course you're teaching, it sounds like a final exam I'd love to take!

Good luck with all that grading. You're not the only one I've seen trolling the boards for distraction . . . .

[idiomagic.livejournal.com]

I personally celebrate XXXmas. ;)
This year, I purchased ten copies of Swordspoint to give to my friends.
I adore your books, and have made it a personal mission to expose as many people to the joys of your words as possible.
I lost my home and my 4000+ volume library to Hurricane Katrina, and the first books I purchased to rebuild my collection were yours. Thomas the Rhymer haunts my dreams, and The Fall of Kings has provided me with the motivation to go back to school when I can afford to.
I know it's off topic, but I really wanted to let you know how much your writing means to me, and to let you know that your books helped keep me sane during some very tough times.
Happy Winter Holidays of your choice, my dear, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for the continuing inspiration.
-Gwyndyn

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Your words are the nicest gift I could possibly get.

Thank you for not waiting til New Year's to send them! (Though they'd be most welcome any time.)

deliashermanwill be delighted, as well: most of the University sections of The Fall of the Kings were her creation, and meant a lot to her.

OK, I'm speechless now. Joy to you and success to all good things you set your mind & hand to in the coming year.

[yswilce.livejournal.com]

If it's good enough for Great Harry, it's good enough for us, innit?!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Marry, even so!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Henry VIII did not celebrate World Week.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Heh! I know.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

There's a current Threads magazine on gifts that includes quite snazzy slippers with (as I remember) leather soles. You can do brocade tops with as much embroidery as amuses you.

http://store.taunton.com/onlinestore/item/034002.html

*hopping over from a friend's LJ*

[liminalia.livejournal.com]

:) NYE is already present time for me, as it is the dh's birthday.

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

In Russia that is how many people celebrated in the winter. The tree and presents and Santa Claus equivalent all happened, just on New Year's rather than on Xmas. It had to do with the fact that the soviet union was anti-religion.
I'm not sure if it stayed that way post USSR.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. The religious Christmas is January 7th (calendar conversion tricks, the same ones that made the Great October Revolution happen on November 7th), and features the religious bits, traditional foods, and quite possibly caroling. New Year's stayed more children and family oriente - it kept the tree, gifts and Grandpa Frost, and generally involves partying until well after midnight.

[kingsgrave.livejournal.com]

Years back, when I performed with a Victorian Christmas Caroling group -- yeah, I know, it seemed weird to me as well, but the music was beautiful, and I didn't burst into flames when I sang it for that reason alone, -- I could count on being absolutely booked solid from Thanksgiving through Christmas eve. Two to three shows every day, at two hours each, plus driving time in the Dallas Metroplex... Yeah, not much chance (or tolerance) for holiday shopping.

So for years, our families and friends got used to getting midwinter presents for us. That worked out brilliantly, because we got paid in early January for the caroling, and we could usually hit the end-of-year inventory-clearing sales.

We, being pagans, generally called them 'Imbolc presents', but they still went over quite well.

I don't have any such holiday pressure on me now I'm out of Texas, but I'm still in favour of New Year's presents as a concept.

[theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com]

You? Obsessed with Henry VIII? I would never have guessed that.

On a change of note: I just finished Privilege of the Sword, which I read because Neil Gaiman mentioned it in his journal and said you were cool, and you replied to my comment to say that he was your evil twin, and I thought you were awesome and bought the book and OMGILOVEDIT. Yeah. I just... have no words for how much I loved it. /fangirl

::scurries away::

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Hey! Scurry on back here! I wanna know what gave me away.

And very glad I am to know you loved TPOTS, too!

[theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com]

I'd have to say it was various elements of TPOTS, really. I guess it's cause I'm also obsessed with Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Especially Shakespeare and Webster. I actually adored the theatre scenes- when in college, I ushered at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Virginia (it's the only reproduction in the world of the Blackfriars in London). And my very last class in college was Shakespeare in Context, an "investigative theatre" course. We reported on how productions were done- I now know more than any sane person would care to know about how original staging practices. Of course, my chosen thing to report on was stage combat. :D

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for noticing that! There is a big old Jacobean Revenge Tragedy theatre scene in Swordspoint, too - and lots of other Elizabeth influences on both books. But people generally miss them when they're commenting on my made-up city, claiming it's mostly Regency or 18c, which just ain't so.

[theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com]

I was talking to my boss yesterday (I work at a bookstore, where I'm a children's lead, but the other staff know that I'm also a huge fantasy geek, and so is my boss), and telling him that a lot of the society parties and rules seem similar to Regency, but that the whole honor theme and swords makes me think of a couple centuries earlier. I can't wait to read Swordspoint! I ordered it and Fall of Kings yesterday.

Also: Jacobean Revenge Tragedy FTW! The Duchess of Malfi is my favorite play.

[shveta-thakrar.livejournal.com]

What a lovely idea. :) Happy Chanukah and New Year in advance!