Deciding which pen(s) and notebooks I carry with me day to day has also been a challenge for me. For work, I usually end up throwing every inked pen in my bag so I always have my favourite pens at my side. I know this is overkill, but they don’t take up a lot of room and I use pens most of the day there.
Christmas time is a completely different story. I want to take all of my pens, but I know I will barely use them since most of my time will be spent with family. My fiancé has even told not to take any, hinting that I will be getting a new pen, ink, and notebook for Christmas. How exciting! With this little hint, I will still bring at least one pen, but choosing just one pen is more challenging that you think. Will I cave and just pack a full pen case? I did last year and barely used any of them.
The only thing I use my pens for is keeping score during family card games, the odd doodle, and the occasional note to remember later. My favourite games are Kaiser and dice (not a card game, I know), both of which require a scorekeeper that I always volunteer to be. If anyone else out there plays Kaiser, please reach out to me since it feels like my family is on an island when it comes to playing this game. I have taught the game to players on my hockey team in the past for those long bus rides (we played for 10 straight hours once), so it is quite a fun game.
The first part of my Christmas carry that I will tackle will be the easiest, my notebook, or notebooks I should say. I have recently found the charm in using Field Notes as a knock around pocket notebook, so I will be taking my Snow Blind edition with me as that is what I am using day to day currently. Since the paper is not the most fountain pen friendly, just enough to make it usable for my needs, I will also be taking a pocket Clairefontaine notebook so I can test out my new pen and ink that I get for Christmas and use it to show my family members how nice writing with a fountain pen really is.
Now it is time to decide which pens to take home with me. This is where I am struggling a bit to make a final decision. The front runner right now is either my Kaweco Sport, medium nib, inked with Private Reserve Avacado, or my TWSBI Mini, fine nib, inked with Private Reserve Ebony Blue. Both are pocket pens so there are easy to carry, but I prefer larger pens, so I might have to take a second. Sorry if I am rambling a tad, I did not make my choices before I started typing. You are seeing a decision being made in the flesh!
I took a short break from writing this post to do some running around and after doing some thinking; I believe that I have come to a decision. I will be taking my TWSBI Vac 700, 1.1mm stub nib, with Diamine Sherwood Green (for a classic Christmas green with some flair), my Noodler’s Konrad with J. Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor (for some super flair), and my Kaweco Sport with Avacado. I was going to bring my Submarine pen, an Indian pen, which I just inked up with Sheaffer Skrip Red (to stay festive), but it was leaking on the section and getting on my hands, so I decided against that.
Even with knowing that I won’t be using my pens a lot, I still find myself wanting to take all of them! The only reason why I would need to was if I was doing a show and tell with my family. Maybe I will do some doodles, or just write random words when there is a quiet gap in visiting. Either way, pens will still play a small role in my Christmas and I want to ensure that I am still getting enjoyment out of them when that small role takes place.
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and that you had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I am the founder of this website.
Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of stationery all the time.
I write with my left hand, but can also do the same with my right hand – it just won’t look very pretty.
