Category Archives: Book of Days Calendar

Dec 03 2025
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Advent, Book of Days Calendar

The Mellstock Church West Gallery Choir, or Your December Book of Days

There’s a book I have picked up and begun and lost twice in the last five years: Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy. Both times I have read the opening chapter, which is set at Christmas (“Part the First: Winter”), and then perhaps some of the next chapter, and then something important comes up and I set the book down in a very logical place and eventually I forget the logic behind that particular decision. The book remains unfinished to this day. Be that as it may, I’ve just found it again. It is, I think, an early 20th century printing (undated, part of the Sun Dial Library by the Garden City Publishing Company) bound in green buckram, a small book. I think it’s the perfect book to reopen now. I’ll begin at that same Christmastime chapter, but the plan this time is to not set it aside once I move on to the following chapters. I’m going to read the story through and through this time, and then, perhaps, it may be Christmastime in my own life, too, and not just for the folks who make up the Mellstock Church West Gallery Choir.

In his BBC Radio program from 2014, A Cause for Caroling, Jeremy Summerly laments the passing of the West Gallery Choirs, like the Mellstock Church Choir, from English churches. The sound was heartfelt, real, not polished… pure joy. By the late 19th century, the Victorians had effectively replaced the west gallery choirs with organs and proper choirs who sang proper arrangements of proper carols. And I do love a choir like that (don’t you?), but I also feel, like Jeremy Summerly, a sense of loss: that perhaps we may have lost something of the passion that was more prevalent in the Mellstock Church Choir, with its strings and woodwinds and brass and less polished sound.

This all brings us to your Convivio Book of Days calendar for December. Our cover star this month is an old penny postcard by Alfred Moritz Mailick, printed around 1902, who, if you ask me, was just as wistful for the west gallery choirs that had, by then, gone by the wayside. Click to see it: four musicians are bundled up, trudging through the snow, on their way to town (to the church, no doubt, for Midnight Mass). One has a trumpet, one a French horn, another a cello, and the one bringing up the rear has, I think, a violin in a green case. I see this image and I immediately think of Dick Dewy and his father, Rueben, and the other country folk that make up the Mellstock Church Choir. I may be wrong, colored by the fact that I have just found my lost book again… but I don’t think I am.

And so here we are: Advent has begun and we are now on our approach to Christmas. These weeks ahead of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are designed to help us prepare the way: a time of darkness that leads us to the light of Christmas. It is a time to make our homes as fair as we are able. On the Sunday evening that just passed, we lit one purple candle in our Advent wreath of three purple candles and one rose candle. The first candle, representing Hope. When Sunday comes again this weekend, we will light two purple candles in that ring, the second representing Peace. On the third Sunday, a day known as Gaudete Sunday, we will light the two purple candles we’ve lit before, plus the rose candle. The rose candle represents Joy. And on the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, we will light all four candles, the last purple candle in the ring representing Love. That also happens to be, this year, the day of the Midwinter Solstice, and on that darkest, deepest night of the year, our Advent wreath will shine brightest. Brightest and Best. Like an old carol sung by a west gallery choir.

 

COME SEE US!
We’ve got several pop-up markets planned these next few weeks and we’d love to see you if you’re local!

Saturday December 6, Miami
MIAMI CHRISTMAS MARKET
We’ll have a huge pop-up shop filled with handmade artisan goods from Germany plus specialty foods, too, and our Advent candles and calendars. Saturday December 6 from 11 AM to 8 PM, indoors and outdoors (we’ll be indoors) at the German American Social Club in Miami, which is where we spent Oktoberfest this year. 11919 SW 56th Street, Miami.

Friday December 12, Lake Worth
KRAMPUSNACHT
On the Eve of St. Nicholas’ Day, it is Krampus who accompanies the good saint to scare girls and boys into good behavior, and he gets his own celebration at the American German Club in suburban Lake Worth (a little later than St. Nicholas’ Eve) on Friday evening, December 12, from 6 to 11 PM. We’ll be there with our biggest pop-up shop ever as this night ushers in the weekend’s Christkindlmarkt. Tickets required and must be purchased in advance. 5111 Lantana Road, Lake Worth.

Saturday & Sunday, December 13 & 14, Lake Worth
CHRISTKINDLMARKT
The annual Christkindlmarkt at the American German Club in suburban Lake Worth is just wonderful, and we’ll be there with our biggest pop-up shop ever, filled with German Christmas artisan goods plus more from Sweden and Mexico, as well as specialty foods and who knows what else! Tickets are required and must be purchased in advance. Usually sells out! Saturday December 13 from 1 to 9 PM and Sunday December 14 from 11 AM to 7 PM. 5111 Lantana Road, Lake Worth.

Friday Evening December 19 and Saturday & Sunday December 20 & 21
SOLSTICE MARKET at the shop
We don’t keep regular hours at the shop, but we do open for special events, and this is our next one. Festive shopping, good music, good company, homemade Christmas cookies while you shop with our own Löfbergs Coffee from Sweden… and your last chance to pick up Christmas items from us before the Yuletide Season begins, as we won’t be open again until January (though we will open for you by appointment, should you need us). Our Solstice Market is on Friday evening December 19 from 6 to 9 PM and on Saturday & Sunday, December 20 & 21, from 11 AM to 4 PM.

 

Image: “Happy Christmas,” printed postcard by Alfred Moritz Mailick, circa 1902. [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons. A note, too, on the “Brightest and Best” (also called “Star in the East”) video above: Jeremy Summerly, in his A Cause for Caroling BBC Radio program mentioned earlier, makes the argument that “Christmas has always had one foot in the church and one in the pub.” I think this is readily observed in the performance of this old carol.

 

Nov 05 2025
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Autumn, Book of Days Calendar

Autumn Afternoon, or Your November Book of Days

Last month was dominated by Oktoberfest Miami, and then we went to Maine for a quick visit to see Seth’s family, and when we got back it was Hallowe’en, and then the local Dia de Los Muertos festival… anyway, I have finally gotten around to publishing your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for November. We delve deeper into autumn now.

The calendar is a printable PDF, as usual. I do hope you had a mysterious Hallowe’en and a lovely All Souls Night. Though I did not write to you here, we did celebrate all these nights, and you’ll find pictures at our Instagram page (@conviviobookworks) of our Hallowtide so far. These days of remembrance continue through Martinmas on the 11th of November. In this house we are still basking in the glow of orange lights each night in the company of pumpkins, and we’ve just finished the last of the Butternut Soup from Hallowe’en and the cinnamon and anise scented Pan de Muertos my sister made for Dia de Los Muertos. She made other sweets, as well. (I, meanwhile, have an appointment on Thursday for bloodwork for my 6-month physical… I don’t think “A candy apple a day keeps the doctor away” is quite how the old adage goes, and yet, this is the current state of things.)

We enter into a very busy time of year for us, and here’s a listing of the in-shop events and pop-up markets we currently have on our calendar:

We’re planning an Advent & Christmas Market at the shop the weekend of Saturday November 15 & Sunday November 16, and another Advent & Christmas Market on Thanksgiving Weekend: Friday November 28, Saturday November 29, and Sunday November 30. The shop is at 1110 North G Street in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

Find us on Friday November 21, Saturday November 22, and Sunday November 23 at the Scandinavian Christmas Market in Lantana; then on Saturday December 6 at Christmas Market Miami at the German American Social Club in Miami; and at Krampusnacht on Friday night December 13 and Christkindlmarkt on Saturday & Sunday December 14 & 15, all at the American German Club in Lake Worth. And we’ll reopen the shop again for our Solstice Market on Friday December 19, Saturday December 20, and Sunday December 21.

And here’s a really nice story about Convivio Bookworks that was written by Amancio Paradela. It came out in the October 29 edition of OutSFL. I think it’s the best thing that was ever written about us; I feel like Amancio really understands what we’re trying to do at Convivio Bookworks. Thank you, Amancio!

Finally, I imagine most of you who read the Convivio Book of Days must also subscribe to our more popular mailing list for the Convivio Dispatch from Lake Worth… but who knows, maybe I’m wrong. If you did not receive last week’s Convivio Dispatch for Hallowe’en, well… here’s a link to that Dispatch. Though All Hallow’s Eve has passed, it’s a pleasantly mysterious read, no matter what time of year. And since we are still in the midst of Hallowtide, reading it now is actually just right.

That’s all for now. I would promise to be better about writing this month, but let’s face it: Look at all those dates we have scheduled! The writing is most likely going to have to wait. I will, however, be sure to write during momentary lapses of good judgement. Have a wonderful month, and we’d love to see you, if you’re local, at one or more of our events or pop-up markets this holiday season!

Image: “Autumn Afternoon” by László Mednyánsky. Oil on canvas, circa 1900 [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

P.S. There are three open seats still in this Sunday’s pasta making workshop at the shop! My family will be teaching you how to make Cavatelli. It’ll be an absolutely delicious day!

 

Oct 01 2025
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Autumn, Book of Days Calendar, Feast of the Guardian Angels

Pumpkin Possibilities, or Your October Book of Days

Now it is October, and here is your Convivio Book of Days calendar for the month. We’re excited: Even here in this land where Autumn is an exercise in subtlety, I might dare say we’ve seen some hints of change.

Our markets are full of the bounty of the season, trucked in from northern climes. Apples, pears, and my favorites: the pumpkins and winter squashes. I can remember weeding the pumpkin patch when I was a print apprentice under Brother Arnold Hadd at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine in the late 1990s: the warmth of the sun on my back, my hands in the rich soil, and the very particular scent of pumpkin vines, which, for the life of me at this moment, I cannot remember well enough to describe, but I know that if I ran my hand across a pumpkin leaf, the scent would waft up and I’d know it immediately. Something about that fragrance, and the vines and tendrils, and the fruits themselves, spoke to me of great possibility. Of stories and books that I did not know then and still do not know… though I feel they are close at hand, on the horizon. Pumpkins, for me, are more than just a fruit to carve for Hallowe’en or to make into a pie or soup. The thing is, though, I don’t yet know what this all means. It’s a bit of a fairytale, where there is magic, but I’ve yet to discover it or watch it fully unfurl. The feeling is one I can’t shake. Everlasting, like the pumpkin in the engraving that is our cover star for the month.

If you feel this way about pumpkins, too, I’d love to hear your story or your take on this. And in the meantime, I will keep at my annual pumpkin reverie.

As you read this on this First of October, folks in the Jewish tradition will be preparing for Yom Kippur, which begins with tonight’s setting sun. Tomorrow, the Second of October, brings one of the oldest celebrations in the Church: the Feast of the Guardian Angels. It comes on the heels of Michaelmas a few days ago (September 29), which honored St. Michael the Archangel. It is an angelic week, this week, which might explain why I’ve had Shaker songs about angels playing as the soundtrack inside my head all week. I sing them, too, as I brush my teeth or as I go up and down the stairwells at work.

Pumpkins. Angels. Stories. I can’t help it. This may very well be my favorite time of year. Of course I’m singing in the stairwells.

COME SEE US!
The shop won’t be open much in October, though we are trying to put together one last Boo Bazaar one evening before Hallowe’en. For much of October, though, you can find us with a huge pop-up shop at OKTOBERFEST MIAMI at the German American Social Club in Miami. It’s their 68th Oktoberfest: the oldest Oktoberfest in Florida. We’ll be there the second and third weekends of October (Friday through Sunday, October 10 through 12 and October 17 through 19), plus this Saturday, October 4, is a smaller Oktoberfest there at the German American Social Club for the German International Parents Association, and our Miami pop-up shop will be open for that, too.

At the shop this Saturday, come learn how to make gift baskets. It’s our next creative workshop, and it’s with instructor Deborah Desser, who had a gift basket business in Montreal. You’ll learn all the essentials, plus tricks of the trade, and you’ll even get a discount voucher for the shop as part of the workshop ($10 off a $60 purchase; $20 off a $100 purchase). It’s actually an excellent workshop to take if you’ve ever considered a gift basket business yourself, whether full time or as a little side hustle. You’ll learn a lot!

We’ll also teach you how to make homemade Cavatelli in November.

Happy October. The Childs’ Everlasting Pumpkin image is taken from a 1913 garden seed catalog published by the John Lewis Childs Company [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.

 

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