While I’m struggling through the holidays, maybe you’d enjoy some of my favorite posts from long enough ago that perhaps you have forgotten them, or have joined the party since they were posted. Check out the Topical Guide in the sideblog to scan for other stories until your boss gives up and closes the office for an early Christmas break.

Tickled by the Fringes – What of the people who have momentary, sometimes repeated, brushes with Mormonism without understanding it in the slightest? Harriet Rogers Grandin, wife of Book of Mormon printed E.B. Grandin, was one such person.

Anaïse Guyot: The Girl They Left Behind – And what of the 19th century converts made in foreign lands who were unable to come to Zion and were left behind when by the missionaries and emigrating members?

The Case of the Missing Pioneer – Surely no group of pioneers has been more heavily studied than the small vanguard company who accompanied Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847. So why don’t we know what happened to one of them?

Tracing Emily – Sometimes Saints made it all the way to Zion, then disappeared from our memory. This is a story of the rediscovery of some valiant women, and the unhappy life of a young girl they loved. All of them are back among us now.

Brigham Invites a Kiss – And for something with no sentiment, no holiday spirit, no whiff of faith promotion, check out this letter written by my friend, Brigham Young.