One final thing about the wedding Leah and I attended last week: they handed out books. It was a brilliant idea, and fitting with the season—put books specially picked out for individual wedding attendees underneath a Christmas tree. My prize was a rare collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. I’ve written a bit about my love of Poe before, and our friends getting married were teachers who knew I enjoyed Poe units a lot. I own a few Poe collections, but none that were published in 1904. It’s really neat and they said they got it at a used bookstore in Salem, MA. Also, the volume has a good theme, which is humor. Poe was pretty prolific, and I haven’t read any of the stories here, so I’m excited.

Leah’s book was A Forest Feast Gatherings, so it was equally as fitting. It is a cookbook, but with recipes centered around entertaining at parties. Leah also has the first A Forest Feast. Leah told me it is mostly vegetarian, which is mostly what she is, too! So anyway, what a great idea, and now I will expect all future weddings to have book giveaways. With the books placed under Christmas trees. Regardless of what time the wedding is (yes, I want my Christmas-in-July wedding book thank you very much, ha ha!).

–Jeff and Leah