Yule 2023

Yule Image

A season of celebration hardly seems attainable at the moment, and yet perhaps that’s exactly what we need: an external source of joy and excuses to gather together, offsetting the dreadful uncertainty that has settled in ahead of the bone-deep chill of winter.

Never fear, this year’s Yule offerings are replete with the treats, tales, and fancies you have come to expect from us when the sunlight grows scarce. And because the days have been particularly dark as of late, we’ve also launched a series of fundraiser scents benefiting World Central Kitchen, a trusted organization which is supplying emergency humanitarian aid in places like Gaza where the bombardment of critical infrastructure is leaving people without basics such as food and water. You may donate directly here: https://wck.org/

It’s often said that what we give to others comes back to us in one way or another; it’s impossible to know whether that’s true, or if it even matters. What matters most is that year after grueling year, we all keep turning ourselves inside out searching for evidence that the spirit of generosity still persists — and whether it was there all along, or is summoned as a result of such strenuous searching, we end up reunited with it, receiving the natural blessings that it confers.

Receiving generosity isn’t easy either, and it can be especially hard to feel worthy of pleasure and contentment and at a time when so many are left without such basic human comforts. Our wish for everyone this year is that your spirits will be buoyed by opportunities for communal exchange, that your hearts will be warmed by proximity to goodness and safety, and that you will not refuse these consolations purely on ascetic principle. Accepting one’s deserved sense of connection and celebration is part of how we embody the enduring soul of hope — which very much belongs in each of us, regardless of how dire the news may be at any given moment.

So pull up a chair near our fireplace (set just off the Lavender Kitchen) and get cozy. Your anxieties are welcome here, but not needed; your contributions are appreciated, but not expected. Have some gingerbread! You don’t even have to help with the dishes, because none of this is entirely real… but isn’t it interesting how tangible these comforts can seem? And how much more motivated we are in our daily struggles, when we don’t feel like we must conquer them alone?

May you know such peace. May it gradually proliferate throughout the world.

Yule 2023

Yule Image

A season of celebration hardly seems attainable at the moment, and yet perhaps that’s exactly what we need: an external source of joy and excuses to gather together, offsetting the dreadful uncertainty that has settled in ahead of the bone-deep chill of winter.

Never fear, this year’s Yule offerings are replete with the treats, tales, and fancies you have come to expect from us when the sunlight grows scarce. And because the days have been particularly dark as of late, we’ve also launched a series of fundraiser scents benefiting World Central Kitchen, a trusted organization which is supplying emergency humanitarian aid in places like Gaza where the bombardment of critical infrastructure is leaving people without basics such as food and water. You may donate directly here: https://wck.org/

It’s often said that what we give to others comes back to us in one way or another; it’s impossible to know whether that’s true, or if it even matters. What matters most is that year after grueling year, we all keep turning ourselves inside out searching for evidence that the spirit of generosity still persists — and whether it was there all along, or is summoned as a result of such strenuous searching, we end up reunited with it, receiving the natural blessings that it confers.

Receiving generosity isn’t easy either, and it can be especially hard to feel worthy of pleasure and contentment and at a time when so many are left without such basic human comforts. Our wish for everyone this year is that your spirits will be buoyed by opportunities for communal exchange, that your hearts will be warmed by proximity to goodness and safety, and that you will not refuse these consolations purely on ascetic principle. Accepting one’s deserved sense of connection and celebration is part of how we embody the enduring soul of hope — which very much belongs in each of us, regardless of how dire the news may be at any given moment.

So pull up a chair near our fireplace (set just off the Lavender Kitchen) and get cozy. Your anxieties are welcome here, but not needed; your contributions are appreciated, but not expected. Have some gingerbread! You don’t even have to help with the dishes, because none of this is entirely real… but isn’t it interesting how tangible these comforts can seem? And how much more motivated we are in our daily struggles, when we don’t feel like we must conquer them alone?

May you know such peace. May it gradually proliferate throughout the world.

  • A DOLL'S DOLL

    A Doll’s Doll Perfume Oil

    Something to hold and play with during the solitude imposed by winter: cool porcelain cheeks glowing with a blush of spun sugar, lacy carnation frills delicately strung with pearlescent snowberries, and the faintest dusting of chimney soot.

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  • bear prince

    Bear Prince Perfume Oil

    Shaggy fur, snow-flecked and rose-touched.

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  • black julbocken alchemy lab

    Black Julbocken Alchemy Lab Perfume Oil

    Our winter mascot! A musky, snow-touched, forest-deep Yuletide blend: shaggy black wool and a slushy tangle of juniper, mistletoe, winter sage, spikenard, white moss, and terebinth.

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  • BLACKBERRY APPLE SUFGANIYOT

    Blackberry Apple Sufganiyot Perfume Oil

    Sugar-sprinkled sufganiyot filled with blackberry jelly and spiced roasted apple.

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  • blizzard

    Blizzard Perfume Oil

    Snow:

    years of anger following

    hours that float idly down —

    the blizzard

    drifts its weight

    deeper and deeper for three days

    or sixty years, eh? Then

    the sun! a clutter of

    yellow and blue flakes —

    Hairy looking trees stand out

    in long alleys

    over a wild solitude.

    The man turns and there —

    his solitary track stretched out

    upon the world.
    – William Carlos Williams


    A solitary track stretched out upon the world: grey amber and white oud, ti leaf, vanilla ash and white sandalwood.

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  • GELT

    Gelt Perfume Oil

    A bounty of chocolate coins! Dry cocoa and golden amber!

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  • HARD LUCK LOLLIPOP

    Hard Luck Lollipop Perfume Oil

    Each year, the organization Transanta gathers holiday wish lists from young trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people, setting them up with registries so that well-wishers online can provide everything they can’t count on from their family or community — including gender-affirming items which might otherwise elude them. You may more and/or donate directly here: https://www.transanta.com/

     

    You can view the wish lists here:

    https://www.instagram.com/transanta/

     

    This year’s fundraiser scent is a wish for enjoyment that transcends hard conditions: a cotton candy-flavored lollipop blessed with a pinch of grit and petrichor.

     

    Proceeds from this scent will be donated to Transanta through their fiscal sponsor, Allies in Arts, a 501(c)3 non profit.

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  • hearth

    Hearth Perfume Oil

    Sweet pipe tobacco, cherry wood, the warm, worn leather of an easy chair and a pleasant, subtle waft of fireplace smoke.

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  • HILDEGARD’S CAKES OF JOY

    Hildegard’s Cakes of Joy Perfume Oil

    Nutmeg (Nux muscata) has great heat and good moderation in its powers. If a person eats a nutmeg, it will open up his heart, make his judgment free from obstruction, and give him a good disposition. Take some nutmeg and an equal weight of cinnamon and a bit of cloves, and pulverize them. Then make small cakes with this and fine whole wheat flour and water. Eat them often. It will calm all bitterness of the heart and mind, open your heart and impaired senses, and make your mind cheerful. It purifies your senses and diminishes all harmful humors in you. It gives good liquid to your blood, and makes you strong.

     

    The best grain is spelt (spelta). It is hot, rich, and powerful. It is milder than other grains. Eating it rectifies the flesh and provides proper blood. It also creates a happy mind and puts joy in the human disposition.</em>

    – Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica, translated by Priscilla Throop

     

    A hearty, humor-balancing, cheer-inducing cake crafted with spelt, nutmeg, clove, and a dollop of honey.

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  • hymn to st brigid

    Hymn to St. Brigid Perfume Oil

    Far above enthroned in glory

    Sweetest Saint of Erin’s Isle

    See thy children kneel before thee

    Turn on us a Mother’s smile.

    Sancta Mater, hear our pleading

    Faith and hope and holy love

    Sweet St. Brigid, Spouse of Jesus,

    Sent to us from Heaven above.

    Sweet St. Brigid, Erin’s children,

    Far and near o’er land and sea

    In the world and in the cloister

    Fondly turn with love to thee.

    Sancta Mater, sooth the mourner

    Shield the weary tempted soul

    Sweet St. Brigid, guide thy children

    To thy bright and happy home.

     

    A bounty of butter, honey, and sweet cream.

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  • krampus

    Krampus Perfume Oil

    Happy SEVENTEENTH ANNIVERSARY to our Krampus perfume!

     

    This scent is anything BUT jolly! Draped with chains and bells, wielding both whip and rod, this rag-clad, horned, red-skinned, soot-covered leering creature is both the companion and the antithesis of rosy-cheeked and ebullient Kris Kringle. He is called by many names, and, in a myriad of cultures, he is seen with different robes and faces, but he is nevertheless always a sinister and fearsome instrument of Santa’s wrath: he wields a switch on all irredeemably naughty children before tossing them into his large black sack and whisking them away.

    Be good, or Krampus will toss you in a river! Sinister red musk, black leather, dusty rags, and wooden switches.

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  • lick it with consent

    Lick it With Consent Perfume Oil

    A sugar-crusted vanilla peppermint stick!

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  • MARI LWYD

    Mari Lwyd Perfume Oil

    An echo of the rites of Rhiannon, the Great Queen and Mother of Horses, the Mari Lwyd is a Midwinter tradition in Wales. The beribboned Grey Mare travels door to door with her entourage, seeking permission to wassail and initiate a contest of wit: the pwnco, a battle of improvised verses filled with good-natured ridicule set to song. If the Mari party were victorious, they were invited into the home to partake of ale and cakes and provide entertainment for the family.

    Welsh cakes and ale with a smattering of dried lavender.

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  • marshmallow snow
  • midnight mass

    Midnight Mass Perfume Oil

    I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts.

     

    But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord.

     

    In Roman Catholic tradition, the Christmas season begins liturgically on Christmas Eve, though it is forbidden to celebrate the Christmas Mass before midnight. The most devout attend Midnight Mass, celebrating both the Eucharist and the drama of the Nativity.

     

    This perfume is a traditional Roman Catholic sacramental incense, most often used during a Solemn Mass. Traditionally, five tears of this incense, each encased individually in wax that has been fashioned into the shape of a nail, are inserted into the paschal candle. This is, of course, represents the Five Wounds of Our Risen Savior. Symbolically, the burning of the incense signifies spiritual fervor, the fragrance itself inspires virtue, and the rising smoke carries our prayers to God.

     

    Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

     

    Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis.

     

    Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

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  • PUFF PASTRY APPLE ROSES

    Puff Pastry Apple Roses Perfume Oil

    A deceptively simple recipe: paper-thin red apple slices pulled from a bath of lemon juice and rosewater, sprinkled with cinnamon, layered just so in syrup-brushed strips of pastry, and then rolled into perfect rosebud shapes that crisp up into a red-gold bouquet in the oven.

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  • RED VELVET TUXEDO

    Red Velvet Tuxedo Perfume Oil

    A very special Yuletide sponsorship scent, dressed up for a scandalous night on the town:

    red velvet fruitcake with buttercream and a splash of cologne.

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  • ROSE RED

    Rose Red Perfume Oil

    The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.

    Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.

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  • slug

    Slug Perfume Oil

    A relaxed, lazy scent; slightly sebaceous and sweetly slimy: warm, buttery honey cream and dribbles of amber. May we all have at least a few gentle, sweet slug moments throughout this holiday season.

     

    Painted by Nagasawa Rosetsu.

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  • snake oil hot toddy

    Snake Oil Hot Toddy Perfume Oil

    BPAL’s perennial favorite, Snake Oil, soaked in whiskey, honey, and a twist of lemon.

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  • SNOW WHITE

    Snow White Perfume Oil

    A chilly, bright perfume: flurries of virgin snow, crisp winter wind and the faintest breath of night-blooming flowers.

    Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.

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  • peacock queen

    The Peacock Queen Perfume Oil

    In dramatic contrast to the soft innocence of Snow White and the dew-kissed freshness of her sister, Rose Red, this is a blood red, voluptuous rose, velvet-petaled, at the height of bloom. Haughty and imperious, vain, yet incomparably lovely to the eye, but thick with thorns of jealousy, pride and hatred.

    Illustrated by Franz Jüttner.

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  • THE PICTURE OF DORIAN SUFGANIYOT

    The Picture of Dorian Sufganiyot Perfume Oil

    It has mysteriously stayed fresh for decades… but you REALLY don’t want to see the pastry in the attic.

     

    A deep-fried fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea.

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  • THE POINSETTIA GOWN

    The Poinsettia Gown Perfume Oil

    A perfume simply inspired by a vintage Christmas postcard. Rose cream, jasmine cream, mallow, vanilla foam, and sweet amber.

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  • to a wreath of snow

    To a Wreath of Snow Perfume Oil

    O transient voyager of heaven!

    O silent sign of winter skies!

    What adverse wind thy sail has driven

    To dungeons where a prisoner lies?

     

    Methinks the hands that shut the sun

    So sternly from this mourning brow

    Might still their rebel task have done

    And checked a thing so frail as thou

     

    They would have done it had they known

    The talisman that dwelt in thee,

    For all the suns that ever shone

    Have never been so kind to me!

     

    For many a week, and many a day

    My heart was weighed with sinking gloom

    When morning rose in mourning grey

    And faintly lit my prison room

     

    But angel like, when I awoke,

    Thy silvery form so soft and fair

    Shining through darkness, sweetly spoke

    Of cloudy skies and mountains bare

     

    The dearest to a mountaineer

    Who, all life long has loved the snow

    That crowned her native summits drear,

    Better, than greenest plains below –

     

    And voiceless, soulless messenger

    Thy presence waked a thrilling tone

    That comforts me while thou art here

    And will sustain when thou art gone

    – Emily Brontë

    Morning rising in mourning grey: tobacco flower, white oud, lavender bud, and ambergris accord.

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  • VINTAGE BLOW MOLD CANDY GARLAND

    Vintage Candy Garland Blow Mold Perfume Oil

    This tangled string of hollow plastic sweets is sure to conjure childlike fantasies of cartoonish opulence! An enticing swirl of multi-hued fruit and mint flavors, illuminated from behind by twinkling amber tree lights.

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  • VINTAGE MRS. CLAUS BLOW MOLD

    Vintage Mrs. Clause Blow Mold Perfume Oil

    A shell of milky plastic encasing fond memories of bread pudding with strawberry cream, illuminated from within by 40 watts of glowing amber.

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  • VINTAGE SNOWMAN BLOW MOLD

    Vintage Snowman Blow Mold Perfume Oil

    He’s just pretending to be cold! A milky plastic shell of frosted blue spruce, illuminated from within by 40 watts of glowing amber.

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  • VINTAGE WISE MAN BLOW MOLD

    Vintage Wise Man Blow Mold Perfume Oil

    A sun-faded plasticky shell of lemony gold, frankincense, and myrrh, illuminated from within by 40 watts of glowing amber.

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Yule 2023 - Carved Wooden Holiday Village 2023

Carved Wooden Holiday Village 2023

This image is decorative

Lift the box down from its shelf, gently unwrap the tissue paper, arrange everything just so. You now preside godlike over your very own simulacrum of holiday cheer!

What fate awaits the fictitious revelers in your care? Can they feel the warmth of your kindly attention, the indolent chill of your disdain? Have they any respect for the precarious nature of their reality, the lowliness and relative simplicity of their station in the extended microcosm? Or will they alleviate their existential crisis by gazing further inward, laying out a smaller carved village of their own, accessing elusive forms of coziness on a miniature scale?

No judgment, we get it. Tiny shit is so cute!

  • Carved Wooden Alchemical Laboratory Perfume Oil

    The Lab isn’t open to the public, but you can smell it from the street: hundreds of tiny wooden bottles of Snake Oil, marked with wee paper labels and packed off in tiny cardboard boxes.

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  • CARVED WOODEN BAKERY

    Carved Wooden Bakery Perfume Oil

    Be sure to visit early in the morning to watch as scores of flaky chocolate-filled croissant are rolled out on a walnut countertop with a maplewood rolling pin.

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  • CARVED WOODEN BARBER SHOP

    Carved Wooden Barber Shop Perfume Oil

    Many an hour has been whiled away in this gentlemanly retreat: skin-warmed steel, fresh cedar shavings, a creamy fougere lather, a soothing splash of orange blossom water, and the distant memory of blood and bandages.

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  • CARVED WOODEN BAWDY HOUSE

    Carved Wooden Bawdy House Perfume Oil

    Let your fingers wander along this ornately carved teak banister, polished to a high gloss by the rough hands of countless miniature clients being led upstairs to taste trickles of sugar maple sap, illuminated by a cherry-red light and suffused with decadent, lustrous perfumes.

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  • CARVED WOODEN POST OFFICE

    Carved Wooden Post Office Perfume Oil

    We owe everything to the USPS! And we certainly wouldn’t mind waiting in line surrounded by this ink-smudged, papery shuffle of letters, parcels, and holiday cards stuffed into a mahogany mailbox cabinet covered in shiny brass doors with a faint whiff of fruitcake.

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Yule 2023 - Gingerbread Cotillion 2023

Gingerbread Cotillion 2023

Now you shall hear a story that somebody’s great-great-grandmother told a little girl ever so many years ago:

There was once a little old man and a little old woman, who lived in a little old house in the edge of a wood. They would have been a very happy old couple but for one thing — they had no little child, and they wished for one very much. One day, when the little old woman was baking gingerbread, she cut a cake in the shape of a little boy, and put it into the oven.
Presently she went to the oven to see if it was baked. As soon as the oven door was opened, the little gingerbread boy jumped out, and began to run away as fast as he could go.
The little old woman called her husband, and they both ran after him. But they could not catch him. And soon the gingerbread boy came to a barn full of threshers. He called out to them as he went by, saying:

I’ve run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
And I can run away from you, I can!

Then the barn full of threshers set out to run after him. But, though they ran fast, they could not catch him. And he ran on till he came to a field full of mowers. He called out to them:

I’ve run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
And I can run away from you, I can!

Then the mowers began to run after him, but they couldn’t catch him. And he ran on till he came to a cow. He called out to her:

I’ve run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
And I can run away from you, I can!

But, though the cow started at once, she couldn’t catch him. And soon he came to a pig. He called out to the pig:

I’ve run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
A cow,
And I can run away from you, I can!

But the pig ran, and couldn’t catch him. And he ran till he came across a fox, and to him he called out:

I’ve run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
A barn full of threshers,
A field full of mowers,
A cow and a pig,
And I can run away from you, I can!

Then the fox set out to run. Now foxes can run very fast, and so the fox soon caught the gingerbread boy and began to eat him up.

Presently the gingerbread boy said, “Oh dear! I’m quarter gone!” And then, “Oh, I’m half gone!” And soon, “I’m three-quarters gone!” And at last, “I’m all gone!” and never spoke again.

Yule 2023 - Grove of Pomegranates 2023

Grove of Pomegranates 2023

Pomegranates

About the pomegranate I must say nothing, for its story is something of a mystery.
– Pausanias

Yule 2023 - Holiday Vice Duets

Holiday Vice Duets

Vice Image

Happy holidays, indeed.

Yule 2023 - Nourishment Wherever Needed

Nourishment Wherever Needed

Decorative Image

As a small business we can’t be everywhere, speak for everyone, or do more than we can possibly do. But one small thing we can do right now is direct funds where they are most sorely needed, and we trust World Central Kitchen to help alleviate suffering by providing meals in response to humanitarian crises.

Everything above the cost of production will be donated; to donate to them directly, or for updates on their current work in Gaza and Israel, visit here: https://wck.org/

Yule 2023 - Santa Doesn’t Need Your Help 2023

Santa Doesn't Need Your Help 2023

Santa Image

When a K-pop boy band shows up to “save Christmas,” it’s the last straw!
Santa Claus may be getting older, achier, more forgetful over the years, but he is determined to prove to the world he can still do his job without anyone’s help. “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Cupid, on Comet, I must show the world that Santa’s still got it!”
Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Maher and New Yorker cartoonist Joe Dator have given the timeless tale of saving Christmas a clever twist when Santa decides to save the day himself this year. What follows is a laugh-out-loud adventure about refusing help.
Will old Saint Nick discover the true meaning of Christmas? Or will he ruin everyone’s holiday because he’s too stubborn to admit when he’s wrong?
Various sites where the book is sold:

Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
Astoria Bookshop
Bookshop.org
Books-A-Million

Yule 2023 - Snow on Snow, Snow on Snow

Snow on Snow, Snow on Snow

When the wicked woman returned home she went to her mirror and asked:

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?
The mirror answered once again:

You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But Snow-White, beyond the mountains
With the seven dwarfs,
Is still a thousand times fairer than you.

When she heard that, all her blood ran to her heart because she knew that Snow-White had come back to life.

The Peacock Queen will not be pleased! Not only is Snow White still alive, but she has invaded the BPAL general catalog, and she’s hurling flurries of winter beauty wherever she goes.

Illustration by Arthur Rackham.

Yule 2023 - The Lavender Kitchen

The Lavender Kitchen

In the last hour before waking, we dream of a fey place where aromatic fantasies end up pressed between pastry sheets, distilled into rich, oily tinctures, or salted and stashed away for future use.

It’s a place of labor, a place of love; among these jets of steam, puddles of batter, and piles of dishes, we anticipate the arrival of those depending on us for succor and sustenance. We dream so redolently of love that a trail of fragrant crumbs is scattered across our waking life — one which, in quiet moments, can be followed back to this lively place, bluely infused with evidence of our own belonging, stocked with all the tools and ingredients necessary to bestow this feeling upon others… who should be arriving any moment now.

Welcome to this tiny corner of our dream home, the Lavender Kitchen.