Advent prompts

December 1: Winter words

We start the month with a straight-up list. Words which are exclusively reserved for winter. Set yourself a time limit: 2 – 5 minutes? Include names of places, things, people. Brand names. Words that capture a moment. Sounds. Weather. Warmth and cold. This is a big theme – take it where you want or where it takes you. Have fun curating your very own collection of winter words. Ask someone else to do the same task, then compare. How different/similar are your lists? Is there anything you’d like to take from each other’s lists?

december 2: Little trees

Here is an idea for how to give the gift of writing to someone special. The ‘cinquain’ is a 5-line poem invented by Adelaide Crapsey (real name) in the early 20th century. It has a neat structure which goes like this:

line 1: 2 syllables
line 2: 4 syllables
line 3: 6 syllables
line 4: 8 syllables
line 5: 2 syllables

And, because of the amount of syllables on each line, you can easily make the poem into the shape of a tree. Once you’ve composed your cinquain masterpiece, write each line on a separate strip of card/paper/old Christmas cards/whatever you can lay your hands on and arrange in a tree-like fashion. Once you’re done, carefully turn over each strip and attach some string or thread using tape on the back of each piece.

december 3: stories by firelight

This is a fine storybook for winter nights. Here are stories and poems that evoke winter, stories that need to be told snuggled up warm on the sofa, and a fire blazing. The particular pleasure of the book lies in Shirley Hughes’ atmospheric illustrations, they are integral to the text and go well beyond it. There’s a selkie story and a story of a bonfire with grandpa. These are special stories to be read together. And pictures that invite readers in to elaborate their own stories.

I am old enough to remember running down the cold stairs in the morning to get dressed in front of the fire. Sometimes, when I was ill in bed, my mother would light a fire in the tiny grate in my bedroom and at night I lay in the dark, the shadows made by the flames dancing across the walls.

What are your memories of firesides? When and where? What stories do you have to tell?