Christmas Wish for Families!

May Your Christmas Tree Never Be Pulled Down,
May you never find Ornaments in the Toilet,
Or half-shredded presents under the couch,
May you never find candy cane bits stuck to the walls,
Or decapitated gingerbread men crushed on the floor.




courtesy of Christine Votava, mother of two children under the age of 2.

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls

This book was given to me by my neighbor Stacy with the instructions that I must read it and give it back to her as she had someone else lined up to read this book after I was done with it. I knew then it would be good! We share books across the street quite a bit and she knows my taste in reading very well. She was absolutely correct in that this book was hard to put down from the beginning to the end.

It is about a young girl growing up with her siblings 4 children total, and their dysfunctional parents. The mother is very self-absorbed, and borderline manic depressive, and the father is a brilliant yet hopeless alcoholic. The lives of the children centered around Jeanneatte is amazing, and colorful, yet sorrowful, yet joyful. It takes us from her life at about age 4 until well into her middle age adult hood. More than anything else the book will give you a feeling of how lucky you were to grow up the way you did and with the parents you had no matter how bad you think it may have been! I think of all the hard work from the farm and my growing up, but this is a complete bliss of childhood compared to what Jeanneatte grew up with. Her writing is very easy to read and flows effortlessly from scene to scene and takes you along with on her journey with a wonder and amazement of the child like view. I love the joy, and the outlook she conveys through the entire book. In spite of all the dire circumstances portrayed in the book, she always looks at things from a perspective of hope and complete value of life!

I realized after I gave this back what a good book it was and immediately bought my self a copy for my library and then one as a gift for my sister for Christmas!

Christmas is soon here!

It seems like the rush before Christmas is sometimes not worth it all. It is fun, especially to socialize with everyone, but the pressure to get it all done by the "big day" is intense. This weekend we went to 3 Christmas parties. We enjoyed each and every one of them, but combine that with the pressures of extra work to get things done before the Christmas close at work, the extra time needed for Christmas shopping, and then trying to get all your "normal" things done you need to do and there is scarce little time for much else. I did figure out one way to combine the two, this weekend I rode my bicycle to a party. Yes..you heard me right! I didn't want to go to the gym and do spin class and then shower and get ready and drive to the party. So I got the idea to ride to the party. (an hour and 10 minute ride) It worked out very well. The ride there was very good, and a great workout, and the ride back was even better. It made for a good party, and made be get home before dark. The other benefit is that it kept me from having as much as a beer or any drinks at the party, as driving a bike takes much, much more skill, balance and coordination than driving. Even so, the way it was a car ran a red light on my way home and I would have been smashed on it's hood unless I had been paying very careful attention!

Once Christmas is here...things will calm down a bit, and I think that I will have a much, more relaxed time with it all! I am looking forward to it!