“Holiday Thoughts – Little Women and Why It Matters”: 

“One of the most famous holiday lines in a novel may be this one, ‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any present,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

In this 150th anniversary year of the publication of what has been described as equal parts thinly disguised family memoir, complex social chronicle, and young adult novel. we will look at its American Christmas holiday messages, what is said and still says about growing up female– and whether it will survive the 21st century as a popular classic book.”

Marti still ranks Little Women among her favorite books, and arguably her first favorite book, has seen most if not all of the film adaptations, and is eagerly awaiting Greta Gerwig’s much anticipated remake with Meryl Streep, Saoirse Roman, and Timothee Chlamet, scheduled for a Christmas 2019 release.

Marti Keller graduated from David Starr Jordan Junior High in Palo Alto, California, and went on to degrees in journalism and theology. This is her 20th year as a Unitarian Universalist parish and social justice minister. She is the consulting minister for the UU Fellowship of Auburn, Alabama and the minister with the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation for whom she carries the gender equity and justice portfolio. She is a published poet and creative non-fiction author, and the project director for Decatur Haiku, a year of focus on this Japanese micro verse form.

Facilitator:  Jan Lister

Musician:  Alan Dynin