Tea with Tolkien Book Club: The Silmarillion Winter/Spring 2021 Reading Schedule

Tea with Tolkien Book Club: The Silmarillion Winter/Spring 2021 Reading Schedule

Kaitlyn Facista
Book Club, Reading Tolkien, The Silmarillion

Hello, friends! The Tea with Tolkien community is excited to announce our next book club: a read-along of The Silmarillion, beginning in January! You can find the schedule below.

There are many ways to participate in this free, virtual Book Club! The easiest way to join is signing up with your email address — from there we’ll send a link to our private discord server directly to your inbox, and you’ll also receive weekly emails once the book club begins. I’ll be posting about the book club on social media so if you’d like to join the discussions on twitter or Instagram, look for the hashtag #teawithtolkienbookclub.

"What Have I Got In My Pocket?": A Hobbit Party Game

"What Have I Got In My Pocket?": A Hobbit Party Game

Kaitlyn Facista
Celebrating Tolkien

This little hobbit party game was inspired by Bilbo Baggins’ famous question from Riddles in the Dark: “What have I got in my pocket?” Of course, while this was not a true riddle and Bilbo certainly hadn’t meant it to be one, it won the game for him and he escaped with Gollum’s ring. For this fun little game, participants will take turns choosing a “pocket” box — whoever finds the pocket containing Gollum’s ring first wins!

Beyond The Lord of the Rings: Getting to Know Tolkien through his Shorter Works

Beyond The Lord of the Rings: Getting to Know Tolkien through his Shorter Works

Kaitlyn Facista
Reading Tolkien

While The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings stand out as his most influential works, there is so much more to Tolkien than hobbits, dwarves, and elves! His lesser-known shorter works, including letters, essays, poetry, and short stories, offer a unique glimpse into the way he understood myth, faith, literature, and life. Many of these can be read over the course of an afternoon, and all are thoroughly delightful. If you’re interested in reading more by Tolkien, but don’t have the time to settle into The Lord of the Rings — consider picking up one of these.

Living Like a Hobbit: Making Your Own Beeswax Candles

Living Like a Hobbit: Making Your Own Beeswax Candles

Kaitlyn Facista

A few weeks ago, one of those glorious yet terrifying midwest thunderstorms swept across our town and knocked down our power lines right after dinnertime. After realizing we didn’t own any flashlights aside from the ones on our phones, I was able to find a few candles to light up our room after the storm. (Don’t worry, I also ordered flashlights later, too.)

A few days later, a friend shared that she was making her own ‘emergency candles’ on her instagram story and I thought, yeah, I should do this too! Candle-making is one of those things I had always wanted to try but had just assumed it was impossibly difficult — but I was quite surprised! It wasn’t too bad! If you’re feeling intimidated, don’t be! You can do it!

Living Like a Hobbit: The Art of Bread-Making (For Beginners)

Living Like a Hobbit: The Art of Bread-Making (For Beginners)

Chas Burrell

Today we are welcoming Chas Burrell to the Tea with Tolkien blog! Chas is the incredibly talented woman behind the blog, At Home with Chas. After following her on Instagram for years and learning so much from what she’s had to share, I asked her to write this post for the Tea with Tolkien community. I know many of us are just beginning to learn about the wonderful world of bread-making, so I know you’ll love this introduction. I also recommend subscribing to her youtube channel for helpful how-to’s!

There are few things in this world more comforting or satisfying than making your own bread. Whether it be your first attempt as you watch the yeast activate and your dough come alive. Or as a seasoned cook that bakes most every day to grace your family table with warm, hearty goodness. Bread-making truly is an art form that everyone at any skill level can enjoy.

As a young girl I knew I wanted to know how to make food, REAL food. Not food from jars or cans or boxes. I wanted to know how to make things from scratch and that included breads! As I got older I began dabbling in the bread world. Making the simplest pancakes, sweet breads, muffins, and the like all homemade and from scratch…

How We‘re Celebrating Tolkien Reading Day 2020

How We‘re Celebrating Tolkien Reading Day 2020

Kaitlyn Facista
Reading Tolkien

Happy Tolkien Reading Day, friends! This is one of my favorite days of the year for many reasons and I hope you’ll find some time today to celebrate the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien today. (If you’re reading this and wondering what in the world Tolkien Reading Day even is, you can read all about it here.) I also wrote about why today is important within the Christian community, what it meant to Tolkien, and how March 25th is a sort of bridge between our world and Middle-Earth here.

10 Simple Ways to Live like a Hobbit (While You’re Stuck at Home)

10 Simple Ways to Live like a Hobbit (While You’re Stuck at Home)

Kaitlyn Facista

Last month, I published my first ever eBook — Thirty Days in the Shire — a guide to slowing down, living simply, and becoming more of a Hobbit at Heart. The book includes a list of thirty challenges to complete within the thirty days, along with five hobbity habits to begin putting into practice.

One of the hobbity habits is to stay at home as much as possible, inspired by the tendency of most Hobbits to prefer their cozy chair by the fire over any and all sorts of adventure.