Saturday Celebration: Christmas Books

 My celebration this week has to be about Christmas!  There is just so much to celebrate when you spend time with friends and family. A tradition I have started with our grandkids is that I give each of them a book.  It might be something they have asked for since they know I will be giving them one. Or it might be a book I think they will enjoy! Here are a few out of the twelve books I gave as gifts:

Graham comes to my house for a Playdate once a month after preschool. One of the things we do is to read a book. I have There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and also the old lady with all the things she swallowed. Graham loves to put them in her mouth as I read the book. Now he can read his own book!

Bam also comes once a month after preschool for a Gramma Playdate. Bam is a lover of horses. On the way to my house he counts the horses and horse trailers he sees. So naturally, I got him a new book about horses. He had to have his mom read it to him as soon as he got the book. I am sure he will be telling me new facts that he has learned from listening to this book being read to him!

Meron is now in first grade. Before she went to school I got to have her come to my house for Gramma Preschool twice a month for the whole morning. We did writing, math, science and cooked! But one of the things she loved was to read. I had the book Silly Sally by Audrey Wood in the large kindergarten size. We would get on the floor and I would read it to her. After awhile she was reading along with me. So, this year I got her Silly Sally for her own. She just had to read it to everyone that day. I told her how much she had grown because now she was reading it to me!

What a wonderful day to celebrate! We love our times together and especially as we celebrate the real reason for the season, the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours as you celebrate your own traditions!

Slice of Life Tuesday: A Book Club Christmas

 

I love my book club.  I know I have said that before, but I really do love my book club! We met on Monday for lunch at our special place: Cebollas. The first thing we noticed as we shuffled back to the last booth, was the stocking hanging above our seats.  Juan was welcoming us!

We always tease Juan and ask him to join our club and discuss the book.  He grabs the book and seriously looks at the cover. Then with a serious voice he says, "Yes, this book has a title. It is a good title.  Okay, back to the gossip talk!"  He tells us that we talk about the book just a little and everything else a lot. 





Well, this time we had lots to say about Still Life by Louise Penny. We discussed the characters and how they interacted with each other. We discussed the setting and how we all would love to live in Twin Pines. We discussed the way the author used red herrings to throw us off the track. We talked about who had figured out the villain and who had been fooled. We loved the book so much, many of us want to read the whole series.

Yes, I love my book club for challenging me, for entertaining me and for always being there for me! These gals are the BEST. We have already picked our books for the next four months. We like to know what's coming!

 

Hope you have someone to share your reading thoughts with as you go through your reading times. Hope you also have a very Merry Christmas and that you get time to just sit back and enjoy a good book! (with candy and a cup of novel tea is perfect!)

Slice of Life Tuesday: A Step Back in Time:

Our home is fifteen years old. We knew this day would come, but not at this time of year. The issue: a new dishwasher!

The week before Thanksgiving, we realized our old dishwasher, which we purchased when we built our house, was not doing the job it used to do.  We made the trip to a local store and after much deliberation, we purchased a new, top of the line, dishwasher! How exciting! It was to be delivered the day before Thanksgiving. We were hosting the big meal for my sister and her husband and my son and his family.  We NEEDED that dishwasher!

As promised, the installer came early on Wednesday morning and spent an hour hooking it up. Then he loaded the old one and took off. We loaded the machine and surprise...no noise!  It did an amazing job. We were so happy.

Thanksgiving came and went with the usual joys of the season. Lots of food, great conversation and fun with two of the grandchildren. The dishwasher did its job and we felt the day was a success.

Fast forward to the following week. On Saturday morning, after a long walk with our dog, we came home to start a nice big breakfast. I checked the dishwasher, since I had done a load the night before. I wanted to unload it before I began cooking. What a shock when I saw the soap was still in the little container on the washer door. We tried all kinds of things to get it to work. Nothing!

Finally, we called the repair service of the store where we had purchased the washer. We were thrilled that they would come on Monday morning to repair it. Yes, we had a weekend of doing dishes by hand. We actually kind of enjoyed it.

On Monday, the service man came. He checked a few things and then gave us the news! The computer in the machine was not working. He ordered the part which will come this week in the mail. Then next Saturday he will come back and install it.

We are back to doing dishes by hand. I'm thinking of giving in to going out to eat all week. Then I started thinking of all the times I washed dishes by hand over the years. I remember fighting with my sister about who would wash and who would dry. I remember doing dishes as my son sat in the kitchen doing homework. I guess it is time to make more memories!