Year-Round Tomte

It’s 2024.10.01 on the lunar calendar today.

I picked up a discounted tomte just days after last Christmas, thinking he could function as a warning that another year will be here before I know it and transition into a holiday decoration when the time arrived. He started the year looking like a little Santa waiting to be put back into storage then turned into your garden-variety gnome through spring and summer. Now that Mariah Carey has announced it’s time for Christmas, he’s surprised me by revealing himself to be a Nordic creature once more.

Why keep a gently ominous figure in my living room year-round? Maybe it’s because I grew up reading Brothers Grimm fairytales and didn’t get enough of the Disney versions until immigrating to the US. Happily ever after can end in bloodbath and some people will get their eyes pecked out by pigeons and go blind.

I can still picture the off-white and dark-olive-green cover of my Korean-language Grimm anthology and wanted to show you but I couldn’t find it. But here’s a photo of another book I adore—a print proof of my album book!

My photographer Gianina and I were both happy with how the cover colors turned out, and the 8.5” by 8.5” book feels substantial at 144 pages filled with stories, lyrics, lead sheets, snippets of diary entries, and lots of space to journal.

I’m going to spend the next few days making final copy edits and minor design tweaks before printing a limited edition of 100. If anyone is especially into journaling and/or Carl Jung, this would make a thoughtful gift for them. You can order the book here.

I’m going to spend the next few days making final copy edits and minor design tweaks before printing a limited edition of 100. If anyone is especially into journaling and/or Carl Jung, this would make a thoughtful gift for them. You can order the book here.

That’s all for this update. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep Sunday, if you reside in a state that turns their clocks back, and please cast your ballot if you’re an eligible voter.