"Crosby Penhallow and Erasmus spent the evening with their flutes--on the whole happily, although Crosby had to put up with some sly digs from Erasmus about old Becky's being in love with him."

The Tangled Web by L. M. Montgomery

Crosmus is the purest ship of the entire book, I swear! They are just so wholesome and lovely! They are like an old married couple, sitting by the fireplace, playing music and bantering good-naturedly. Good for them!

The ship is SAILING!

Snugged up (courtesy of @ladybadasskillington bitchin Xmas gift) with some nog on a Saturday, picture taken moments before Natsume Yuujinchou made me sob. 🥲

EXCEEDINGLY thrilled about the Tangled Web book club! I remember loving this the first time I read it but never found the opportunity to give it a reread, so this will be very fun!

Already, LMM lets us out of the gate with a bang. It’s very interesting, personally, to see how her openings evolved over the years—moving from florid description to very dry, direct analyses of character and personality. This beginning, suggesting the courses of events we will follow, reminds me a bit of TBC’s beginning, which also uses the “if this didn’t happen, then…” approach.

I think what’s most unique about Tangled Web is the way that we have a lot of familiar LMM character types (even off the bat in this first part) but the way we’re meant to see them is sharply changed. The point of view is altered radically from the usual and such makes the shape/quality of the story different. Aunt Becky, for example, echoes Aunt Nancy or Mrs. Stirling to a degree—sharp and acerbic, with power in the family, a rather pathetic female companion, and a penchant for gossip. However, we’re not seeing her through a girl’s or young woman’s eyes, but through the POV of a male outcast-figure, Uncle Pippin—of uncertain parentage, advanced age, and precise habits. He has his own echoes elsewhere in the canon (Cousin Jimmy and Uncle Benjamin come to mind), but again, only on the sidelines. This novel feels a bit as though LMM gathered up her favorite supporting cast and threw them into the spotlight for a kind of spin-off.

Other notes: I need to be reminded of Drowned John Penhallow’s lore, but that’s just a fabulous moniker to have attached to your name. You’re the guy who drowned but Didn’t. As @moonlightredfern mentioned, Crosmus forever.

a list of ways my boyf and I have said "merry christmas" in the last three days:

merry crimbo

happy crisson

merry croissant

is crissus

merry crayola

happy holly jolly crimins

mer crosmus

happy crimnis

santi nikoli coming down chimney night time