Since Friday, like the rest of the world, I keep asking.

Why?

Why did 26 souls enter an elementary school one morning, never to leave?

Why are military style semi-automatic weapons easily available?

Why is our mental health care system broken and the mentally ill marginalized?

Why are there 26 families that will never ever again see Christmas lights without being blinded by pain?

Why were 8 people killed by hand guns last year in Great Britain while 10,728 people were killed by hand guns last year in the United States?

Why have states been forced to cut at least $4.35 billion in public mental health spending from 2009 to 2012 (according to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors)?

Why?

I can’t answer these questions.

Or any of the questions that my girls have asked or will ask as they continue to process this tragedy that took children and teachers from this earth.

All I can do is remind my girls and myself that we have today. We have this moment. We have now. Today, this moment and now are guaranteed to us. Embrace these moments and live them for it is these moments that are our lives.

 

 

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“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading,

to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs,

is good for him.”

                                        -Richard McKenna

Image courtesy of Carol Hampton Rasco via Pinterest

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I tried to cut back on a tradition this year, to simplify and it didn’t work.

We have been celebrating the 12 Books of Christmas for years now. Once I discovered that even my devoted readers tended to throw the books under the tree in search of more toys on Christmas morning, I decided to give the books their own days. I give the girls one book for each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

Except this year, I decided our bookshelves were really sagging under the weight of all their books. I thought maybe we could hold off on the 12 Books of Christmas this year. When I told the girls what I was thinking, they were appalled and confused. “What!? Why?!”

Figuring that I couldn’t argue with girls who love their books we are forging forward- bookshelves beware.

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I’ve written here before about one of Gretchen Rubin’s (of The Happiness Project) precepts…

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

I have always envied families who make gingerbread houses as part of their holiday tradition but the very thought of doing it myself, made me break in to a sweat. I can’t roll out dough and I had terrible visions of beautifully decorated houses falling in on themselves because of shoddy construction. I have made the kind with milk cartons and they are fine, but they look like they have been made out of, well, milk cartons.

This year, I found the perfect solution. Around here we call it the ‘plastic bread house.’ It is indeed a plastic house. I found The Candy Cottage in the amazing Chinaberry catalog and it truly lives up to it’s description.

Do we have a homemade gingerbread house? No. But did we have a great time being together, being creative and eating too much candy?  By not letting the perfect get in the way of the good, we sure did.

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The other day I wrote an article called “Delightful Reads for Frightful Weather”. As I searched for great books with a winter theme I started as I often do by searching the amazing Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. On my search, I was reminded of  a perfect winter book, The Reader.

The Reader celebrates snow, fun, friendship, books, words and reading. Take away the snow, add family and that’s my list of the world’s most wonderful things.

Here is just a snippet of the wonderfulness (which I don’t think is word but should be)…

When there is nothing left to crunch or sip, they curl up close. “And now,” says the reader to the do, “it’s time.” Slowly, he opens the suitcase. Click, click. A book. The very best book. “Two Good Friends,” says the reader to the dog, and he opens the book to the very first paste. The dog waits. It is hard, but he is good at waiting. And then at last the reader reads.

And the only sound in the world is the sound of the reader reading to the very last page… the very last word.

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Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
“It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
“Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

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It’s been a long time since I’ve written about a Read Together Book because Katherine and I have been spending a lot of time reading chapter books these days. We’ve read the Ramona and Clementine series and briefly attempted the Little House books until an entire chapter was focused on the care and keeping of a rifle but that’s a post for another day…

Tonight we read Baby Bear Sees Blue and we are in love. In the story Baby Bear is introduced to the world around him and all the colors in it. He asks his mother question after question and with her answers come his experiences with color. There are alternating pages full of text, perfect for a grown up reader, followed by simple repetitive text, perfect for an emergent reader.

Mama and Baby climb into the meadow. Baby Bear sniffs. “What smells so good, Mama?” asks Baby Bear. “Those are strawberries,” Mama says.

Baby Bear sees red.

Mama Bear rests in the grass while Baby Bear explores. Bright wings flutter by. “Who tickled me, Mama?” asks Baby Bear. “That is a butterfly,” Mama says.

Baby Bear sees orange.

And as if the easy reader-ness and the sweet story aren’t enough, the illustrations are so gorgeous that Katherine literally reached out to pet the bear’s fur saying, “It looks so soft!”

What a wonderful find…

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Is there anything better than a book fair?

Really, I didn’t think so before tonight.

But now I know there is. It’s a book fair with a principal who supports reading aloud and reading for the fun of it.

Tonight our school hosted the first night time event at our book fair. There were tons of kids and families there and our principal was front and center, reading to groups of kids. She even got teary eyed during the best part of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. 

There are schools where children love to read and there are schools where reading isn’t such a big deal.

There is a reason that the children at our school are readers. It starts at the top…

 

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Inspired as I often am by Lindsey at A Design so Vast, here is my life in numbers.

39- the number of years I’ve lived on this earth

1991- the year I graduated from high school

4- the number of colleges I attended (1 bachelor degree, 1 post bach degree, 2 masters)

1- the number of times I’ve been married

11- the number of years I’ve been married

2- the number of times I’ve been in labor

0- the number of epidurals I had

9- the age of my oldest

6- the age of my youngest

2- the number of pets we have now

3- the total number of pets we’ve had as a family

0- the number of siblings I have

10- the number of magazine subscriptions I have (between me and the girls!)

7- the number of times per week I wonder what to make for my least favorite meal- lunch

10- the number of lunches I pack each week for the girls

0- the number of living grandparents I have

3- the number of living grandparents Rob has

4- the number of pictures I take each day (thank goodness for camera phones)

1- the number of cups of coffee I have every morning

1- the number of cups of tea I have every afternoon

9:30pm- the time I get into bed

5- the number of books I read in a month

 

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Our holiday season begins with our town’s tree lighting. Friday night, we went in to town, bundled up against the cold and stood with friends and neighbors as the tree was lit.

As with so many things this year, I was taken again by the passage of time.

Caroline brought a friend with her and trying to keep the two of them within eye sight was a struggle. It seems to be common knowledge that the tree lighting is a perfect first time to let you child go off on their own. After all, it is hard to turn a corner without seeing someone you know. But, I felt like this year was too soon. So, the constant struggle of giving Caroline both the independence and the safety she needs was the back drop of the night.

Then there was Katherine who met up with a friend and had a truly delightful time. Jumping between her friend and my arms, just in the midst of loving her family and friends in each measure.

Only the look in the picture above leads me to think that Katherine too knows that our time at the tree lighting as a family is coming to a close…

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