Hello Post Christmas World

We made a conscious decision NOT to celebrate Christmas with presents this year. By the time the season is complete, I will have spent hours baking Christmas goodies, but not hundreds in the stores looking to cash in on a season that shouldn’t be about $ at all.
Dh saw a show on the History channel that said our founding fathers didn’t even celebrate Christmas and certainly didn’t have days off for the holiday.
I like the days off, but I’m not sure in all the hustle, bustle and credit card commercials we haven’t lost the real reason for the season Christian or not, Christmas is about family and rebirth and hope.
It’s easier to remember that when we’re not using the plastic to buy gifts.

Teenreads.com

Other than Desert Isle Keepers at the aar boards, I haven’t had much luck with review sites. Until I found teenreads.com.
The Young Adult market has changed significantly since I was a teenager. Few of the YAs I’ve read recently have been YA only. The ones I’ve checked out because of teenreads have all been bigger than the YA label.
So far this break I’ve read two that are asily going to find their way on my favorites of the year list.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a “box of Kleenex” book. It’s a book about self discovery, parenting, siblings, love, friendship and life. It’s up there with Jellicoe Road on my all-time favorite list.
Looking for Alaska by John Green was a great read. The lessons learned by the protagonist are lessons we can all use.
If you get a chance check out both.

Faith

“Don’t freak out.”
When your kid starts a story with those words, you know freaking out is going to be the least of your worries.
At least I know this.
And when DD told me she’d taken a stranger across town to his work, I about lost it.
He’d approached her in the bookstore parking lot and asked for a ride, and she said yes.
She said she’d planned on saying no, but yes came out, and she felt like it was the right thing to do, so she did it.
She said it was like God put the words in her mouth.
She knows I’m right about serial killers and rapists and robbers and all the horrible people in the world. And she knows we live in a prison town.
And she tells me I should know she’s the biggest scaredy cat in the world, so no way was she even the one in control there.
And my response is the same: No. Never. Not for any reason. Even if it is a God thing. Which gives me pause, but only a second’s worth.
Because the world is filled with horrible people, and I never want her to take a risk like that again.

Snowbound for Christmas!

We were supposed to have family over, but the roads are closed because of the blizzard. It’s crazy out there.

My house aftr the blizzard that dropped a foot of snow

neighbor's house after blizzard 2009

Merry Christmas

Remember the reason for the season.
Remember this little light of mine.
Remember, you’re the only Christ some people will ever see.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Gift

“Christmas Eve Gift.”
She said the words every year, starting early in the morning before the sun even rose. Often while she stood over the stove stirring her chocolate gravy and baking her homemade biscuits, our request.
An we’d always say it back.
“Chirstmas Eve Gift, Grandma.”
And she’d give us a kiss and a smile, and we’d know that Christmas Eve Gift was better than anything we might unwrap under the tree.

Tick Tock

The clock is constantly moving, and if I’m not careful, that moving clock is going to keep right on going until I miss half of life.
I need to remember this:
“Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like it’s heaven on Earth.”
— Mark Twain

Books in a Series

Used to, not really all that long ago, I loved the Stephanie Plum series. My friends and I even had Plum Parties on the June release date. We’d dress up in Stephanie clothes, tease our hair, eat brownies and drink wine and read from our new copies of the hardback.
I fell in love with the Dark Hunters way back when the second book came out. I inhaled those books. And then one day, I didn’t. I still haven’t read the last one.
Susan Elizabeth Phillips says she’s done with the Chicago Stars. If she really is, bravo to her. But if she’s not, you better believe I’ll be in line for the new book on release day.
I’m in the middle of the latest JD Robb Eve Dallas book. I love it. I did take over a year off before reading the last two, but I don’t think the time off matters. I thoroughly enjoy reading about Eve and Roarke and the whole supporting cast Robb has built. Even though the romantic conflict is barely there, I love the books.
Stephanie Plum bores me now. It’s the same old same old over and over. Now if there was a new Ranger series, I’d be there in a heartbeat.
I don’t know what it is about series. What keeps me reading or what makes me stop. Maybe it’s the whole book budget thing. Maybe if there are so many great books, some get lost in my lists. And maybe I’ll see a difference there now that I’m using the library more. But I don’t know.
I’ve always loved series. The first romances I remember buying were Johanna Lindsay’s Malory books. I couldn’t get enough of those books. But just like Stephanie Plum, one day, I quit. I can’t remember the last Lindsay book I read.
I know I quit reading Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series when Anita became more of a monster and the books more an erotic exploration. I loved that character, and then, quite suddenly, I didn’t.
I was sad when Diana Peterfreund’s Secret Society Girl series ended, but it was the perfect end.
I can’t imagine Robb wrapping the Eve Dallas series. Crime never stops in 2053 NYC, so Eve is always going to be on the job.
Maybe the fact that the Eve Dallas books are mysteries is what keeps them going. I know it’s the romance in the Stephanie Plum books that bores me.
Whatever it is, I love series, but I love it more when the author wraps a series that’s run its course.

Christmas Shopping When You’re Living Debt Free

We’re only buying presents for the kids this year. The rest of the family gets yummy homemade goodies. We’re living debt-free and MAN has it made a difference. Going to Sams was fast and easy. We ran in, got the three things we needed, and left. Sure there were lots of displays to grab the attention of the unsuspecting shopper, but we weren’t interested. We didn’t need any of it. We didn’t want any of it. And that’s the big difference.

What I Need

I read a lot. Dh thinks it’s a little crazy, but then, he doesn’t read much at all, so he doesn’t get it.
Living debt free has changed my reading habit significantly. The library is my new best friend. I just can’t afford to go buy a bunch of new books. I’ve also discovered review sites that help before I go to the library. Because of those review sites, I’ve read some pretty good books: Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal

And Melina Marchetta’s Jellicoe Road

Books I generally wouldn’t read for a lot of different reasons.
This time I picked up a big award winner and I spent two days reading it. Only to have almost everyone die in the end.
I HATE books like that, and the review site that sent me to the book didn’t give any warning at all. Bummer.
Fortunately, I have two JD Robb’s to read to make it all better. And I started with Adios to My Old Life. Cute book.

Not what I was expecting, but cute.