Tag: holidays
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Holiday Baking: A Gingerbread Legacy
I know there’s more to the holidays than baking, but baking is simply one of those things my family does this time of year. It’s a ritual, a practice, an experience playing out over time that builds layers of memory and meaning. Even if I weren’t baking for holiday gatherings or for gifts, I’d still…
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Yarns and Yams: On Enjoying What My Loved Ones Enjoy
“I’m trusting that these shared meals are accomplishing, or may yet accomplish, something with good in it. Perhaps, at the very least, they’re a start.” – from “Yarns and Yams” Now that we’ve reached the month when many families in the US gather for Thanksgiving meals, I’m sharing this reflection I wrote earlier in the…
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Spending Time with Creative Block: Reflections on The Joy of a Field
I dread “the block.” It comes in all shapes and sizes for all kinds of creative projects. It frustrates the heck out of people whose well-meaning efforts it stalls. Ever been there? It’s not fun. Unfortunately, my most recent novel, The Joy of a Field, left me spending more time with creative block than either of…
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Wishing for a Kinder Holiday Season
How do you feel when you think about the holidays? I have such conflicted reactions. As you can tell, I’m already looking ahead. On the one hand, the holidays are supposed to be – and often are – a very special time of year when we pay extra attention to the important people and efforts…
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Summer Quartet II: The Drive
What kinds of things have you brought home this summer? With this “Summer Quartet” blog series, I’ve been challenging myself to bring home some haiku from my summer outings and add prose to develop them into the haibun (prose + haiku) form. Poetry amateur I may be, but I’m enjoying this summer hobby. ~~~ The…
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What God Does with Dust
It layered itself like a fuzzy film along baseboards I didn’t often clean. It gathered on books I hadn’t opened in years. Dust marked what I liked to forget. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the clergy would recite on Ash Wednesday in the church of my childhood. I remember…
About the author
Callie J. Smith writes about women who, like her, are finding themselves. Her stories and essays explore everyday things like hope, creativity, and grief.
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