Author: Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Gina Munsey is a Mexico-born, Eastern Europe-raised missionary kid who ended up being a Californian by way of Florida outside of Nashville, Tennessee. She lives her days full of coffee and adventures while her 12-year-old learns Mandarin Chinese and Greek, her 3-year-old uses all the markers, and her artist-husband creates worlds from pixels and light. A blogger since the turn of the century (ouch!) she's an editor, co-op teacher, and writer who has only completed four chapters of her languishing manuscript. You can find Gina right here at oaxacaborn.com, or in the middle of [home]school surrounded by stacks and stacks of books.

It’s October, and already, I’m seeing a big spike in Christmas-related searches. (You all really, really love Christmas posts.) Can you believe it’s almost time for the Third Annual Scandinavian & Nordic Christmas Series? It’s crazy that we’ve been doing this together for three years now!

If you’re a new reader, every year in November and December everything goes Christmas here on Oaxacaborn. And not just any Christmas. We celebrate all things Scandinavian and Nordic, and during these next two months the blog will be full of Jul with brilliant guest posts by bloggers, photographers, writers from around Northern Europe.

We’ll talk about advent calendars (julkalender and adventskalender, that is), traditional celebrations and foods, wrapping paper, decorations, meals, dinner parties, ornaments, and Christmas trees. We’ll delve into snowy winters and traditions and we’ll light candles in the windows and we’ll deck the halls with red and white (and blue and yellow, and blue and white, too).

The most amazing part to me about the Annual Scandinavian & Nordic Christmas series is how all of you — all of us — come together to make this happen. For the last two years, people from all over Europe and the US and have shared beautiful Decemberish photographs and words with Oaxacaborn readers, and it’s you who have made this series the success it is today.

If you participated before, you’re welcome to share again! If this is your first time, we’re so happy to have you. (You don’t even need to be Scandinavian or Nordic…just a lover of Christmas and the northern traditions.)

Maybe you have a tutorial on how to create a Swedish heart. Maybe you want to share how your family celebrates Finnish Independence Day. Maybe your Christmas dinner table last year was stunning, and you want us to see. Maybe you live in a Scandinavian or Nordic country, and you want to send photos of your town’s or family’s celebrations. Maybe you have a memory of your grandparents and how they passed down the traditions to you. Maybe you’re an absolute pro at curating images, and you want to send a round-up of (properly credited) Christmas images. Maybe you’re a knitter who creates Icelandic sweaters. Maybe your Norwegian heritage shows proudly every time you get out the Christmas decorations. Maybe you want to show how the streets of Copenhagen look in December. Maybe you want to share some Christmas legends and lore. Or maybe you have a killer mantle display and want to share the wintry beauty.

Remember, we’re celebrating all things Nordic and Scandinavian, all November and December. So in addition to Christmas (of course!) this series also aims to showcase any national holidays or celebrations happening during that time leading up to Christmas, too.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the previous Scandinavian/Nordic Christmas posts here, and then email me, oaxacaborn@gmail.com.

(Content which you’ve already published on your own blog is perfectly fine. And remember, the posts don’t have to be lengthy – a single inspiring image is excellent, as well.)

Can’t wait to hear from you. :)

Hyvää Joulua! God Jul!

Life in Photos, Poetry & Words, Theology

Maybe I’ll Write

October 8, 2013June 23, 2022 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

White Ceramics and Lucky Bamboo

Eiffel Tower and Washi Tape

Grey Dotted Paper Lantern

Pablo Neruda

Blue Toile Pillowcase

“Wonder Aveline the Super Dog” has finally gone to sleep, Josiah is at a Sigur Rós concert, and I am here in a quiet house with a lovely plate of food and silence.

Maybe I’ll watch a movie, maybe I’ll write a bit more — not here, mind you, but elsewhere, and just for me.

Sometimes I think that’s the only way I’ll ever write a book is if I tell myself all the words are only just for me. Sometimes when I’m writing for you, I let you get in the way. Sometimes you scare me, and I let that fear change how much of the story I tell.

I’ll never write a book if I write it for you.

So maybe tonight I’ll write for me. Maybe I’ll finally open up that lonely document called Chapter One, and maybe I’ll begin it like this:

“I lived in the South the year I turned thirty. At least, I thought it was the south. It was well below the Mason-Dixon line. It dangled into the ocean, for crying out loud; wedged between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. But people said it wasn’t the real South. The real deep South, they told me, was further north. …”

Little Style

LITTLE STYLE :: 5 Outerwear Options for Little Girls

October 8, 2013October 8, 2013 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

While we don’t need a winter coat here — a spring/fall jacket will get us through the handful of “cool” days we might have — I still wanted to put together a fun mini round-up.

Oilily “Chilly” winter coat via olliewood.nl

Collection B® Packable Down Jacket via JCPenney

Ski Jacket via Mini Boden

Checked Lumberjack Jacket via John Lewis

John Galliano Gazette Print Bomber Jacket via Harrods

Will it get cold enough for winter jackets where you live? What’s in the coat closet for your littles this year?

Poetry & Words, Theology

Let the words fall again

October 4, 2013June 23, 2022 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Technology as a hindrance to overcoming writers block

Mason Jennings has a new album, due out November 12 (11.12.13). I haven’t really listened to any of the sneak peeks yet. But I am struck by the way he wrote this album.

“After nearly a year of writer’s block, Jennings holed himself up in a cabin with only a handful of tools at his disposal: a guitar, electric piano, bookshelf, notebook, tape recorder and one 90-minute cassette.

…’I was overwhelmed by all the technology,’ Jennings says, ‘and it was getting in the way of the true core, the mystery of songwriting.'” [via this article.]

I love that.

Maybe when the writing stops coming, maybe it’s because I’m letting things chase the words away. Maybe I need to chase everything else away, and the words will return.

I want the words to fall again, like delicate leaves, slightly broken, let loose from an autumn tree. I want them to fall again, to gather around my feet, to follow the path they were meant to flow in the middle of the silent forest.

Maybe I need to chase away the howling wind.

Babiekins Magazine, Poetry & Words

My Decision to Step Down from Babiekins Magazine

October 3, 2013 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Copy Editor Gina Munsey's decision to Leave Babiekins Magazine

After two wonderful years, the time has come to leave my post as Copy Editor for Babiekins Magazine. There are no hard feelings involved, just a season coming to a close — as seasons are wont to do.

My time with Babiekins has given me the privilege of seeing my words on bookstore shelves — a dream I have had since I was fifteen. Nothing can replace all I’ve learned over the past two years. But even more than that, this experience has given me the opportunity to connect with scores of talented people all over the globe, and it’s those personal relationships for which I’m most thankful.

As I say goodbye to my editor role, I’m also saying hello to my newest project, Lenka and the Fawn. Lenka is a brand-new online children’s clothing store based around the concept of bringing European childhood to the United States. I’ll be launching the website in the coming weeks.

Thank you all for being so supportive of my creative endeavors; you, readers, are more encouraging than you know.

And Priscila, a huge thank you to you for all you’ve done — I am so thankful for our friendship and wish you and the team nothing but the absolute best!

Monday's Pretty Things

MONDAY’S PRETTY THINGS :: Fall, Family, & a Little Bit of Yellow & Blue

September 25, 2013 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

This week marks the start of fall here in the Northern Hemisphere, and while Florida’s proximity to the Tropic of Cancer makes the change of seasons less pronounced, the weather is dipping ever so slightly in the autumnal direction. It’s a welcome, if nearly imperceptible change; merely a bit less of an “I’ve instantly been poached” sensation when one steps out of doors.

And while my presence has been scarce here on the blog, it’s been for the best reason possible — family is in town! My heart is beyond happy watching this little face chatter away with “gamma” and “gampa”.

September 2013 - 3 - Milkmaid Braids on a Toddler

September 2013 - 2 - Milkmaid Braids on a Toddler

This seasonal shift always makes me think of yellows and blues, despite these hues often being seen as spring colors. But why should they be confined to just one end of the year? Autumn is full of ever deepening blue skies and — in some parts of the world at least — rich golden leaves.

And so here, on a very non-Monday, is a tiny round-up of pretty things.

The Adventurer, a nautical/anchor mug via ModCloth

Plywood triangle banner via Against the Woodgrain on Scout Mob

Sandalwood & Musk soap from Mozi‘s Big Bear Collection

California letterpress print via 1canoe2 on Etsy

Enamelware plates from Best Made Co.

CC1 Square Blouse via Yarnmade Sweden‘s Cactico line

(Want to see even more pretty things?)

Travel/Moving

TRAVEL :: Aveline is a Parisian Shop

September 18, 2013 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

What a delightful discovery! Aveline is an art gallery on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, specializing in objets d’art from the reigns of various Louis.*
Aveline, an art gallery on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France
Thanks to Follow Lauren — who’s currently happily roaming somewhere between Barcelona and London — for the sighting. (Photo via 1-cities.)