Welcome back to this Lit for Christmas vacation party!
In this episode, Marty and his wife, Beth, return to the land of scotch, talking about O. Henry's classic Christmas short story "The Gift of the Magi" and a chest freezer full of dead cats.
BONUS POINTS: Help Beth title the poem she wrote for this episode!
This episode is dedicated to LFC's number one fan--Helen Haskell-Remien (January 15, 1956 - August 21, 2022). "I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing, / as though I had wings." -- Mary Oliver
SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT:
Oh Henry!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. Scotch whiskey
3/4 oz. Benedictine
4 oz. Ginger Ale
Directions:
Mix ingredients. Pour over ice. Add twist of lemon is you like.
SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT NONALCOHOLIC ALTERNATIVE:
1 1/2 oz. nonalcoholic Bourbon
3/4 oz. Simple Syrup
4 oz. Ginger Ale
Mix ingredients. Pour over ice. Add twist of lemon is you like.
Lit for Christmas Party Hosts:
Marty has an Master's in fiction writing, MFA in poetry writing, and teaches in the English Department at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He served two terms at Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula, and has published the poetry collection The Mysteries of the Rosary from Mayapple Press. For more of Marty's thoughts and writing visit his blog Saint Marty (saintmarty-marty.blogspot.com) or listen to his other podcast Confessions of Saint Marty, alsoon Anchor.fm. Marty is a writer, blogger, wine sipper, easy drunk, and poetry obsessor who puts his Christmas tree up in mid-October and refuses to take it down until the snow starts melting.
Beth has a BS in English Secondary Education. She has worked as a substitute teacher, medical transcriptionist, medical office receptionist, deli counter attendant, and Office Max cashier. Currently, she is the front desk clerk at a hotel and enjoys discussing/arguing about literature with her loving husband.
Music for this episode:
"Jingle Bells Jazzy Style" by Julius H, used courtesy of Pixabay.
"A Christmas Treat" by Magic-828, used courtesy of Pixabay.
Other music in the episode:
"Gift of the Magi." Mitchell, Joni. Joni Mitchell Archives--Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967). Rhino Records, 30 October 2020.
A Christmas Carol sound clips from:
The Campbell Theater 1939 radio production of A Christmas Carol, narrated by Orson Welles and starring Lionel Barrymore.
This month's Christmas lit:
Henry, O. "The Gift of the Magi." New York Sunday World, 1905. <https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/1-the_gift_of_the_magi_0.pdf>
