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Dear Friend,

Happy Hannukah, Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa! There are so many wonderful traditions that fall around the longest, coldest nights of winter. We love looking at how our favorite artists choose to interpret the season through their art. We hope you enjoy looking through the different images we have here in the newsletter. Thank you for being an important part of our fairy community. We are proud to be one of your favorite places for all things enchanted and fantastical! - Just Another Sunset

 Celebrating the Winter Solstice!

Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere, with the least amount of sunlight and longest amount of darkness. It ocurrs around the 21st or 22nd of December. This year, is takes place on Monday, December 21. Many cultures have created traditions around this time of year, usually involving bonfires, candles, yule logs in the fireplace, and other ways of bringing warmth and light to this longest night. The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange in Ireland was built approximately 5,000 years ago and was designed so that at dawn on the Winter Solstice, a ray of light shines through the roof into a passageway and lights up the inner chamber. The event lasts 17 minutes. In Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, two narrow "daggers" of light make paralellel lines on either end of a spiral carved into the rock. At the summer solstice, one dagger of light appears directly through the center. Similar structures can be found all over Europe, North and South America, Indonesia, Asia, and The Middle East, each one using light to mark important times of the year. Different cultures marked the occasion with their own unique traditions, from celtic wreathes designed to represent male and female and the circle of the year, grand feasts in China, lamps kept lit all night in Romania to ward off evil spirits, to Mistletoe put over the door for good luck. You can create your own solstice celebration with a decorated yule log to burn in the fireplace, strings of lights across your porch or house kept on all night long, or a fire on an outdoor firepit and potluck feast with family and friends.

Celebrate With Just Another Sunset

Full Moon: December 2, 209 "The Full Cold Moon; or the Full Long Nights Moon - During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun. " -Farmers' Almanac

Sun Sign: Sagittarius (November 23 to December 21) Element: Fire Planet: Jupiter

Celtic Tree: Elder (November 25 to December 23)

December Birth Stone: Turquoise or Blue Topaz

December Birth Flower: Narcissus

Holidays and Festivals:

Hanukkah: Sundown December 11 Hanukkah is an 8 day Jewish Festival of Lights. After a group of Jews defeated a Greek army, they found that only a small bit of olive oil remained to light the Menorah in their temple. That small amount of oil miraculously burned for 8 days.

Bill of Rights Day: December 15 On this day in 1791, 1o amendments were added to the United States Constitution that guaranteed such rights as the freedom of the press and of religion, the right to bear arms, and the right of due process of law.

Winter Solstice or Yule: December 21 The shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Christmas: December 25 Commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

Boxing Day: December 26 A day to donate to the poor. During the middle ages, the wealthy would fill boxes with food to give to the less fortunate. In modern times, it is a day to fill up boxes with non-perishable food and clothing in good condition and donate those items to charity.

Kwanzaa: December 26 A 7 day holiday celebrating African-American heritage.

A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (Audio): Redux by Charles Dickens read by Jim Dale (New York: Random House Audio, 2003) MP3 Audiobook, 166.3 MB, 3 Hours, Fiction ISBN: 9781400086030, US$19.00

From the Cover: Marley was dead: to begin with. There was no doubt whatever about that. And so Jim Dale begins his incomparable telling of the beloved A Christmas Carol, a "little book," as Charles Dickens himself called it, which has been treasured by generations since December of 1843. Listeners of all ages will be enthralled as they meet for the first time - or are reunited with - that miser of all misers, Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge; his cheerful and long-suffering assistant, Bob Cratchit; Scrooge's mysterious visitors on a wintry Christmas Eve, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future; and the other characters of this timeless story which is sure to touch a chord in all of us. Let a master reader beguile you with this universal reminder of what the holiday season can and should mean in this unique production of Dickens' classic and ever-timely tale.

My Original Review: 12/11/2006 - 01:00:00 AM

My Review: I read and/or listen to A Christmas Carol every year, and have done so since I was in high school. It's a Christmas tradition with me, and let me say that there can be no better way to experience Charles Dickens' holiday classic than by listening to Jim Dale reading it. Dale (who reads the Harry Potter audiobooks) is simply amazing. With the possible exception of Frank Muller, there is no better audiobook reader, nay, performer than Jim Dale. Dickens' stirring prose comes to life through Dale's skilled performance (even if Scrooge and Co. sound suspiciously like Hagrid and Harry and Co.). In looking back at my previous review (the link is above) I don't know that I could say anything different about this version of A Christmas Carol than I did two years ago (or even a year ago when I read the print edition), so I would direct you to these two reviews with the caveat that if you are having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit, the best thing you can do is read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Posted by Bryan R. Terry in December 2008 Reposted with his permission

About Us In business since 2005, our mission is to provide the best. We personally choose each item we sell, focusing on quality and uniqueness. Each order is carefully hand-packed, and shipped to arrive at you safely. We've gone treasure hunting for these fantasy finds and enjoy sharing them with you. We will be adding extra features and amazing products over the next few months, so come back regularly.

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Just Another Sunset Enchanted Newsletter                    November/2009 Dear Alisa,       Now that the holidays are fast approaching, we want to let you know we have a lot of beautiful and inexpensive gifts. We know you need to be judicious with your holiday funds, and we are grateful to be one of your favorite stores for finding that special something for the important people in your life!   Thank you for being an important part of our fairy community.  We are proud to be one of your favorite places for all things enchanted and fantastical!     - Just Another Sunset

Celebrate With Just Another Sunset       Full Moon:  December 2, 209    "The Full Cold Moon; or the Full Long Nights Moon -  During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun. "   -Farmers' Almanac      Sun Sign: Sagittarius (November 23 to December 21) Element: Fire Planet: Jupiter   Celtic Tree: Reed (October 28 to November 24)    November Birth Stone:  Topaz    November Birth Flower:   Chrysanthemum    Holidays and Festivals:   November is Aviation Month, Internationa Drum Month, National Adoption Awareness Month, National Epilepsy Month, Peanut Butter Lover's Month, and Native American heritage Month     Great American Smokeout Day: November 19 Held every 3rd Thursday in November, this is the day to finally quit your smoking habit for good.   Thanksgiving Day: November 26 First celebrated in the early 1600s, this day is set aside for expressing gratitude for the blessigs in our lives. Congress made it a national holiday in 1941 and et it as the 4th Thursday of every November.   Black Friday: November 27 Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. In accounting, "red" means a business is losing money and "black" means a business is making money. Since a lot of retail businesses make a large portion of their profit during the holiday season, Black Friday represents the day they go from "being in the red" to "being in the black." New Moon  by Stephenie Meyer -Twilight Series, Book 2- (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006) Hardcover, 600 Pages, Young Adult Fiction These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume. - Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene vi, Lines 9-11 From the Cover: "I felt like I was trapped in one of those terrifying nightmares, the one where you have to run, run till your lungs burst, but you can't make your body move fast enough. ... But this was no dream, and, unlike the nightmare, I wasn't running for my life; I was racing to save something infinitely more precious. My own life meant little to me today." For Bella Swan, there is one thing more important than life itself: Edward Cullen. But being in love with a vampire is even more dangerous than Bella ever could have imagined. Edward has already rescued Bella from the clutches of one evil vampire, but now, as their daring relationship threatens all that is near and dear to them, they realize their troubles may be just the beginning. ...   My Review: So, I thought it was all just a phase I was going through. That I really wasn't as into the (non-)lives of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen as I thought I was. I thought it was all over. I was wrong. I still can't believe just how into these books I really am. I am in constant denial. The books don't leave the house (I would never dare admit on campus that I read these books, let alone let someone see me reading them). I pretend I don't know what the seventh- and eighth-grade girls I work with are talking about when they debate the merits of Edward v. Jacob like it was the latest verdict handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet, for some stupid reason, I can't stop reading these books.   I was up until 1:00 a.m. reading New Moon, trying to finish it, before I had to finally succumb to sleep. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was grab the book to finish before my wife and son woke up, so I could read without interruption. Is that bad? Are these the actions of an addict? Swap New Moon for meth or heroin and the essential thoughts behind the preceding sentences remains the same. "My name is Bryan Terry, I'm a 31-year-old male and I'm a Twilight addict. It's been twelve hours since I last read something by Stephenie Meyer..."   So, what did I think of New Moon? In my defense, it is not as compelling as Twilight was. The first 100 pages or so drag on and on, but once Jacob Black and the other Quileute Indians enter the story things pick up a lot. From there the story takes off with the same compelling characters and simple plotting that was seen in Twilight but Meyer's writing has gotten better from Book One to Book Two. I can only imagine that it is much better in Book Three.   This is the same thing that is seen in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. The writing starts out very simplistic in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and progresses to being very mature in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But it is still Meyer's characters that drive the story (and reader) to the last pages and beyond.   I think that this is what makes these novels so addictive: the characters. Even though the plot is somewhat basic and almost formulaic, you read because you are fully-vested in who these people are and how they interact. Also, in New Moon is where we get the beginnings of the soul-crushingly important and teen-girl obsession of Edward v. Jacob for the heart of Bella.   I hate to admit that I am far more invested in this love triangle then I reasonably should be. (As mentioned below.) Jacob is far too hot-headed and dangerous to be worthy of Bella. Edward, on the other hand, has much more self-control and a better sense of Bella's well-being than Jacob. Jacob thinks he knows what is best for Bella but he is too easily swayed by his "friends" to know for sure what is best for Bella. That's why I think that Edward is the best choice for Bella. And that is too honest and candid and embarrassing a confession than should be aired in public, but there you go. These books really are horribly addictive. "Literary Crack," as I said in my review of Twilight.   Also, New Moon introduces some very compelling new characters that were only hinted at in Twilight: a coven of ancient vampires in Italy known as the Volturi. I can only hope that we see more of the Volturi in Eclipse and then in Breaking Dawn. Tomorrow I'll be returning New Moon to the teacher I work with and beg her to borrow her copy of Eclipse because, as was the case in reading Twilight, the teaser chapter for Eclipse contained at the end of New Moon has just whetted my appetite for more. I don't know what I'm going to do when I finish Eclipse and have to wait for Breaking Dawn to be released in Fall 2008. Sigh... I really need help...   Posted by Bryan R. Terry at 10/28/2007 Reposted with his permission

GIFTS UNDER !! $15.00 !!  Travel Mugs      Keychains   Luggage Tags   Stash Tins   Coasters   Magnets

Upcoming movies we look forward to seeing:     New Moon (11/20/09; based on Stephenie Meyer's novel)    Avatar (12/18/09; stars: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, Wes Studi) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel  (12/25/09; stars: Justin Long)   The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (12/25/09; stars: Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell)    List maintained by S.N. Isaak and Bryan R. Terry

About Us In business since 2005, our mission is to provide the best. We personally choose each item we sell, focusing on quality and uniqueness. Each order is carefully hand-packed, and shipped to arrive at you safely. We've gone treasure hunting for these fantasy finds and enjoy sharing them with you. We will be adding extra features and amazing products over the next few months, so come back regularly. Contact Us order@justanothersunset.com   Add Us As A Friend!   Are you a blogger? Do you love MySpace or The Fairy Society?   We are now in the blogosphere and would love to add you as a friend!   Visit our pages at:    Facebook    Enchanted FolkThe Fairy Society   LiveJournal   MySpace     We can't wait to see you there!