21 hours ago
January is a time for evaluating and tweaking. I’m not so much for making grand New Year’s resolutions, but I do think the New Year is a good time to take stock and see what things need adjusting. I saw this post format on A Gentle Defiance, and I liked the idea of thinking through what I’d like to continue from the previous year (it’s important to acknowledge successes), and what things I wish would have been better.
What Worked
Adding a little more to my proverbial plate.
When my kids were little, it was all I could do to take care of them and my home. I found myself overwhelmed and stressed with too many outside commitments, and I came to the realization that I needed to ruthlessly cut them out. It was the best thing I could have done for my own mental state and my family in that stage of life, and I regret nothing. However, over the last couple years I found myself with more space to take on new projects - and as I’ve added more work to my metaphorical plate, it hasn’t seemed overwhelming, but motivating. Overall, my being ready to take on a little bit more has meant more meaningful community and experiences for myself and the kids. I think it’s so important to know your limits - and that involves knowing when to cut back as well as knowing when to add things in.
Waking up early.
This year I bumped my wake-up time back another hour, and I’ve been more consistent than ever in having quiet coffee and reading time before my kids wake up. It’s been a game changer for me in providing time for meaningful Bible study and letting me get through some tougher books. It is definitely something that I will be continuing in 2025.
Changing our homeschool history curriculum.
This school year I decided to jump into a Charlotte Mason style with both feet, especially when it comes to teaching history, geography, and literature to my kids. I am by no means a purist, but I have always loved the idea of teaching history through living books, as opposed to textbooks. With my oldest starting 8th grade, this seemed like the year to figure out if this style of education was for us, and it has been a rousing success so far! I will give a more complete opinion once we have finished the school year, but we are doing this curriculum (with some adaptations), and everyone is enjoying it.
Being more aware of how I’m spending our money.
I wrote last year about starting a short no-buy project, and even though I don’t feel it was a total success, it kicked off a full year of being more conscious of my spending. I watched Youtube channels about no-buy journeys and no-buy advice, I am slowly reading books about contentment and shopping habits, and I’ve set various limits on my shopping and spending from month to month. Developing better habits isn’t a one-year project but something I’ll need to continually tweak. Just keeping these topics in mind has changed the way I think about the things I buy, and it’s been positive. I’m excited to keep working on this and hope to write more in 2025.
Figuring out my own style again.
I’ve always enjoyed clothes and taken enjoyment out of developing my style, but after taking a nearly 8 year break from normal clothes when I was pregnant and postpartum, I started floundering when it came to shopping and getting dressed. Somewhere along the way my style had become merely buying whatever I thought looked good on someone else - I had lost my own sense of style. I spent this year sorting through my closet and cleared out many things that don’t make me feel my best, considering what makes a certain outfit or item of clothing feel like “me”. Putting the effort into this has helped me avoid buying trendy items or being influenced to buy things because I saw it on social media. This process is just starting for me, but I’m more excited about my closet and more satisfied with my purchases since trying to figure this out.
Satisfaction in the kitchen and learning new things.
This year I was much more consistent in my bread-baking. I bake bread in a bread machine with fresh ground grains, and it took me years to perfect the recipe for my particular altitude. I made bread nearly bi-weekly for much of the year, and it is wonderful to be using a skill I’ve worked on for so long to benefit my family.
The new thing I learned was how to water-bath can - as in preserving food. I have a generous friend from our church who took me under her wing this last summer and taught me how to safely can at home. I’m thankful to her for giving me the courage to try something new! On her recommendation I’ve read the safety guidelines from this book, and I’ve made and canned blueberry jam, apple pie in-a-jar, apple butter, and candied jalapeños. Hearing the pop of the safety lid on my jars is so satisfying.
What Didn’t Work
My reading was all over the place.
I found myself in a reading rut multiple times this year, and it’s going to take some evaluating to figure out exactly way. I read barely anything in the first quarter of 2024, and I was disappointed in my progress in the books I was reading. I suspect I was trying to read too many “stiff” books at once. Stiff books are challenging books, and I learned from personal experience that reading all challenging books means that when I am lacking the mental energy for that kind of book I just won’t read at all. Karen Andreola recommends having one “stiff” book, one moderately easy book, and one novel going at a time, and I think this balance is something I’d like to incorporate into my reading life in 2025.
I lacked the consistency to complete projects, especially in the summer.
My goal for the summer was to organize the ridiculous stack of papers stuffed into my nightstand shelf, and to print photos from previous years and get them into albums. I did neither of those things, and it was out of pure laziness. I need to figure out a way to consistently work on these multi-part projects in a manageable way. My current pattern is to spend one or two exhaustingly tedious days trying to complete everything at once, not finishing, and then avoiding continuing that project for months because the last time I worked on it was so tiring.
I didn’t save enough money.
In 2024 my focus was on being more aware of my spending habits, but toward the end of the year I decided to translate that into also saving more money. I have done much better at designating money for savings in the last couple months, but I could have helped the family out with various expenses if that had been a focus for more of my year. So in 2025, I am intentionally saving for some very specific things, and doing that will help me not only with shopping habits, but will bring more tangible benefits to my family as well.
I wasn’t consistent enough with vitamins and drinking water.
There are a few supplements that I need to be taking, per my doctor, but my consistency leaves something to be desired. I also have a tendency to reach for the coffee pot more than my water bottle, and I’d like to be better about hydrating in 2025.
Wasting too much time consuming media.
I often find myself turning on a Youtube video or a podcast “just while I clean the kitchen”, and before I know it I’ve wasted a couple hours fiddling around the house while I listen. That time could be used reading, or learning to crochet, or writing here. And don’t even get me started on scrolling on Instagram - I’m much better at controlling my consumption of social media than in the past, but there is still much improvement to be had. My goal is to spend more time creatively producing, and to have that outweigh time spent consuming this year.
As I look at this list, I’m excited to see what 2025 will bring. I hope this will be a year of more meaningful reading, getting myself organized, managing money more wisely, and enjoying my time with loved ones and friends. And I hope the same for you!
Leave me a comment!
What is one thing that worked for you last year, and one thing that needs to change?
I’m typing this on New Year’s Eve. The Christmas decorations are starting to feel like clutter, and there are still a few opened presents piled into random corners. I am choosing to ignore all of that, and I’m sitting next to our wood stove with a cheap mechanical paper and a list of New Year’s Eve questions.
I don’t think I’ve ever taken such intentional time on New Year’s Eve to reflect on the previous year, but if I’ve needed it any year, it’s this one. “Pick three words to describe this past year,” the paper commands me. My three words combined give an impression of the year that feels more negative than it actually was, but I don’t think I can change any of them.
Quiet. So many years can be described this way, but this is how the year felt internally for me. Not alot happened this year that was life-changing, there were no major events. We didn’t do anything very grand. We made outings of local sights, we played alot of games, we hung around here. We visited family, had dinners with friends, went to the pool, went roller skating, went on hikes. No huge vacations or parties or weekend trips. Just quiet. There is a subtle difference between “quiet” and “peace”, but I found this year that the first can lead to the second if you have the right perspective.
Disappointments. Alot of things did not go to plan this year. We had to cancel plans, shell out savings money for broken appliances, and subsequently rework our budget. We weren’t able to take a trip to see our dear out-of-state friends as planned, and that one hurt. We had some unexpected challenges that made me slow down and appreciate the time I have with my loved ones, because each day is a gift, but we don’t always notice that. Many things that happened this past year have reminded me that death can come for us at any time - and having that in mind shouldn’t be morbid, but should fix my eyes on things that really matter. Knowing God more, loving Him better, living “before the face of God” - coram Deo, something I learned from R. C. Sproul - these are pursuits that are never wasted. Disappointments remind us Christians that this world isn’t our ultimate home. We are just passing through.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”
-Augustine
Togetherness. Even though we didn’t get to do all the grand things this year, in the end, I think it was a good thing. We had to get a little more creative to plan fun things to do, and those things ended up being fun because of the people we were with, not the thing we were doing. I’ve appreciated more than ever having a happy, healthy family life, having friends we love, having extended family relationships that are a peaceful joy in our lives. Not everyone can say those things. These are true riches.
“Create a statement that describes this past year for you,” the paper prompts me.
I tap my pencil against my teeth, and hesitate. Creating a phrase to represent a whole year is no small task.
This is what I scribble down.
Disappointments are inevitable, but time is a treasure I can’t take for granted.
Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.
Note: I've decided to start including affiliate links again, mainly because it does sometimes lead to a tiny bit of spending money for me on Amazon - which I will most likely be using to buy more books to read. So the links in the post are affiliate links, and hopefully that's not too annoying!
Between Christmas break, cozy fires, and Christmas lights gleaming, December always ends up being a decent reading month for me. I read several winners this month, and I’m wrapping up the 2024 reading year quite satisfied overall.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for a list of my favorite reads from the year, and please leave a comment and let me know your best book of the year too!
Live Not By Lies by Rob Dreher
This book was an interesting exploration of how people, and specifically Christians, handled oppression under communism in Eastern Europe. I thought he made alot of interesting points about ways to stay connected and keep your spirits up in the midst of a tyrannical governmental system. I enjoyed the first half, and started to get bogged down in too many names and stories in the second half - some of his points got a little muddy for me. However, the title of the book really sums up the best advice of this book and all the people that Dreher interviewed - to be careful not to let an oppressive government or culture cause you to "live by lies" - that is, to fall into the easy path of going along to get along and act in a way that is against the things you believe in just to avoid conflict. Overall, an interesting read.
The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks On Graham Street by Jeanne Birdsall
These were re-reads for me as I listened to them with the kids. My kids found them hilarious and delightful. These books follow the girls of the Penderwick family as they go on vacation and meet a new friend (Book 1), and then try to foil their father's attempts at starting to date again (Book 2). Content Notes: In Book 2, one of the more dramatic characters gets very into the Aztecs, and unseriously "prays" to a false god. It's a brief scene, so the kids and I talked about it, but we throughly enjoyed the rest of the books. Can't wait to start the third book together!
Halloween Party by Agatha Christie
I have long been a fan of Hercule Poirot books, and this is one I am not sure I ever read. A girl is killed at a Halloween Party, and Hercule Poirot suspects this event may be tied to seemingly unrelated crimes from years before. The ending of this book was not totally satisfying to me, since the criminal died before he could face justice. The ending was a little more twisted than some of Agatha Christie's earlier books. It's long been a goal of mine to read the Hercule Poirot series in order, and I think I may have to do that and see how Christie's writings and endings develop. Content Notes: There was more talk about there possible being a sexual abuse aspect to the crime in this book than in Christie's other books.
Pitchin’ A Fit: Overcoming Angry And Stressed Out Parenting by Israel Wayne
This is a book I've picked up here and there over a couple years now, and I finally completed it. Wayne gives alot of wise advice for Christians on how to not let stress and anger seep into their parenting. It will probably be one I read again at some point, because there were so many tips I've probably forgotten by now. One thought that stands out to me from when I recently picked it up is that it takes alot of strength to be gentle, and I've been pondering on that.
How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
I picked this book up on a whim when I saw it at the library, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Annie Adams just finds out that her great Aunt Frances intends to change her will to let Annie inherit, but when Annie arrives for the meeting with Frances, they find her murdered in her mansion. We find out that Frances received a prediction of her murder from a fortune teller as a teenager, and she has been determined to prevent her own murder for years before her ultimate demise. Annie finds Frances's diary, and we flash back and forth between Annie in the current day and Frances's teenage self, learning more about Frances's troubled friendships while Annie tries to solve her murder. This felt like an old-school murder mystery book, with all the charm that implies. At the end of the book, Annie finds more of Frances's journals - and I immediately googled to see if there will be another book, and there will be in 2025! So I'm looking forward to that. Content Notes: Scattered cursing, two of the characters start to "fool around" before getting interrupted, fornication is part of the conflict in the book but not described, one of the side characters is in a lesbian relationship (but it's not a big part of the plot).
A Lot Like Christmas by Connie Willis
This was a collection of Christmas, science fiction short stories. That sounds weird, but it really worked! I had some moral, ethical, and/or theological issues with two of the stories in particular - “Epiphany”, which was playing off some of the symbolic language in Revelation in a non-biblical way, and the ending of “Cat’s Paw”, which made a point that an animal had more value than an insane human being. I had minor quibbles in other chapters, but those two stories were the main ones I took issue with. But overall, I was willing to overlook a couple story elements or statements I didn’t appreciate because I so thoroughly enjoyed the rest of these stories. If you want a different type of Christmas fiction book, this is a fun one! Content Notes: Some minor cussing, a couple vague references to physical relationships between characters, and the aforementioned moral/theological issues with some of the stories.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
This is my second year in a row reading this book to my older kids, and I highly recommend the experience, but you must do the voices while reading. It's a requirement.
Merry Ex-mas by Courtney Walsh
I overall liked this book. It was a cute Christmas romance story - Marin finally comes home for Christmas, only to discover that her ex boyfriend, Max, is staying at her parents’ house. Marin and her producer decide to play up the chemistry with Max to help Marin gain viewers and win her a promotion, but in the process Marin and Max end up sorting through their feelings and rekindling the romance. I liked the atmosphere of this novel was fun and Christmas, and I appreciated it was mostly clean.
There were a few things I wasn’t crazy about in the book, so I’ll just mention a couple - my biggest complaint is that Max’s character was too perfect. Marin was very bratty at times, and in response he did and said all the right things, with nary an annoyance or hurt feeling in sight. That felt unrealistic to me, and didn’t bring real stakes to the question of whether they would work things out, because it was very clear Max was willing to put up with anything. I think it would have worked better for me if we only saw Marin’s perspective instead of the dual perspectives, because it would have left us more in doubt about where Max stood.
Also, even though this is billed as a clean romance, there was a lot of lust on both sides, but especially for Marin, who was constantly noticing Max’s physique and even touched his rear end and commented on its firmness while she was drunk. I don’t like when female OR make characters are treated like a piece of meat, and it kind of felt like that at times.
As The Darkness Clears Away by Thomas Ascol
Loved this advent book - had a good amount of depth, biblically sound, and touched on several aspects of the birth of Jesus that are not usually covered in devotional books. Probably in my top five advent devotionals! Reading this also led me to learn the hymn that the title is referencing, and it was a nice addition to our Christmas season.
2024 Reading In Sum
Since this is my last book post of 2024, I want to share a reading summary for the year! Here are my favorite books, in no particular order...
My Top Non-Fiction Books:
Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shrier
Bread Of Life: Savoring The All-Satisfying Goodness Of Jesus Through Breadmaking by Abigail Dodds
Sound Worship: A Guide To Making Musical Choices In A Noisy World by Scott Aniol
My Top Fiction Books:
Pages Read: 14,007Books Read: 55Average Book Length: 254 pages
---Other book posts from 2024:
Please see these posts for reviews of all the books I mentioned above, plus many more.
Note: I wrote this newsletter to send with my Christmas cards, and I decided to share a modified version here as a nice little summary of our year. I'm sure you are all busy with your families on Christmas Eve, but maybe sometime in the next week you'll have time to read this, and you'll know I was wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
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As I sit down to write this, our house is dark. There are no twinkly lights, no ornaments or garland. After throwing together our Christmas cards at the last possible moment last year, I thought I better get an early start if a newsletter would happen in 2024, so no Christmas decor graces our home just yet. But my oldest is building up a fire in our woodstove, it’s the week before Thanksgiving, and our speaker is playing Psalm 100 put to music. Gratitude is our atmosphere this evening, and despite a year that had it’s share of disappointments, there are so many things for which to thank God.
Our year started off rather dreadfully, but also with a spontaneous bit of fun. For me, this will ever be known as the year that I had the worst dental procedure known to man, aka: a gum graft. The fact that I have previously worked as a dental hygienist made the procedure especially excruciating, since I knew exactly what they were doing each moment! I lost the ability to smile for two weeks (literally, couldn’t move my muscles properly all through January), but a new little puppy brought a smile to my heart at least.
Yes, Derek talked me into another dachshund, the full sister or our other dog, Lulu. We named the new puppy Dot, and she’s been a ton of fun, and also trouble, for the whole of 2024. Thankfully she is turning out to be a “kid dog”, and she loves snuggling with any of the kids before we tuck her in each night.
Our five kids have grown so much this year, not just physically, but in all the other ways you can think of as well. Our oldest three signed up for 4H in the spring - for woodworking, sewing, and leather-working. They each submitted projects to our county fair and won various ribbons, and two of them even got to send projects to the state fair and won ribbons there! I am so proud of the diligent work they put in, and for how well they each did. My little girls have another year or two before joining 4H, but in their spare time they keep each other busy with imaginative games, forts, baby dolls, and drawings that I find all over the house.
In May we took our annual vacation to Arizona - mainly to see the Saguaro cacti in Saguaro National Park, which were just as impressive as I thought they would be. Apparently Phoenix is not a popular destination so close to summer, but the weather ended up being just perfect for our warmth-starved selves. We took a side trip to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs - it was the first time I’ve ever been in California. The wind and solar farms in the desert were a little jarring, but our destinations ended up being well worth venturing into the land of $7 gas, just for a day. Of course the hotel pool will always be the kids’ favorite part of vacation. We could take them to see the wonders of the world, but it wouldn’t be vacation without a fun pool.
Our favorite summer experience was a day trip to a small mountain town to see wildflowers. While we hiked around the trails, we counted 21 different varieties of wildflowers, and seeing the colors bursting over the hills was glorious. God is so creative, isn’t He? We are casual hikers; we never were the type to backpack our toddlers into the mountains, so it’s fun to be able to get into nature more as the kids grow.
As a summer project, Derek and our oldest son rigged up a makeshift greenhouse and started a garden. We have grown things in a small porch greenhouse before, but it was exciting to have a more substantial vegetable garden, and we enjoyed a crop of squash and tomatoes as the summer stretched into fall.
I am still homeschooling the kids, and they each have been progressing very well. It’s such a blessing to have them home with me and to get to see them learning and growing, not just academically, but in their knowledge of the Lord. I am still involved with several other ladies in running a homeschool support group at our church, and this fall we also joined a co-op one day a week that has been a blessing for all of us.
Derek is working for the same government organization, most of the time from home. Even though he is locked away in his office, there is something special about having him under the same roof as us each day.
Time and space fail me, and newsletters that try to cover everything get tedious. I will only briefly mention that many books were read, many hikes were taken, kids jumped off diving boards for the first time, we went to the movies, we went on field trips, we taught all the kids how to roller skate. We had more doctor (and orthodontist) appointments than typical, plans were cancelled because of the cost of broken appliances, we had to buy a new (to us) car. We attended the state homeschool conference together, we spent time with both sides of the family, we saw our dear friends from out of town, and enjoyed weekly fellowship with other believers at church. Somewhere along the way, Derek and I passed our 16th anniversary with not a ton of fanfare, but with the quiet, solid kind of love that makes this stage of life so special.
So it’s been a good year. Any trials seem minor, and the blessings glitter like the Christmas lights that will be going up this weekend. It’s a lovely thing that each year ends with Thanksgiving and Christmas - what better way to close the year than by remembering all our gifts, and then contemplating the greatest gift of all, our Savior Jesus Christ!
There’s an old hymn line that describes Jesus as the “Light of light” coming to earth “as the darkness clears away”, and I’ve been contemplating that phrase as we approach the Christmas season. The Light of the world was born to us, clearing the darkness of sin and death away for all those who repent and trust in Him for their salvation. That God our Savior would be born a little child is a mystery too great to comprehend, but He was. He came to defeat our sin and the curse of death on the cross. So as I close this letter, I pray that you would know Him, and that in knowing Him, the light of Christ will shine on you and your family this Christmas season and always.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:12, 14
(Note: Affiliate links are used for the books in this post. Thanks for supporting my book habit.)
On The Page {Anything I Read}
{Old-school blogs} I'm trying to get back into reading blogs this month. I've been thinking about that fact that sometimes the only reading we tend to count are books, but many other types of reading are valuable. Shouldn't I be able to count an interesting magazine article, or a short story as part of my reading for the year? And yes, perhaps even blogs? There are other forms of writing we can learn from, be challenged by, and find encouragement within, and I want to honor the time I spend on reading those sorts of things as well. I've especially enjoyed reading The Big White Farmhouse blog, and her "This Week Around The Farmhouse" posts have prompted me to try this new format. I would like to write more in 2025, and sometimes amidst this busier season of life, I make writing too hard on myself. A set format helps.
In My Armchair {Projects I'm Working On}
{Wrapping presents} I actually finished most of my wrapping before December began, but we have a few straggling presents that need to be finished.
{Birthday cards} I started out 2024 very strong on sending out birthday cards to my friends and family, and then I totally dropped the ball over the last 2-3 months. I already sent out my Christmas cards this year, but I would like to attempt to catch up on birthday cards.
In The Kitchen {Things We Made}
{Cinnamon rolls} I made cinnamon rolls from scratch recently, from the recipe in "the red book" as a friend once called it. This is the third time I've made cinnamon rolls - the first time they turned out amazing, the second time they were heavy and dense, the third time was a success again. I have no explanation for this.
{Canning apple butter and apple syrup} A friend from church taught me how to water-bath can this summer, and this is the third time I've tried it. All my jar lids popped within seconds of taking them out of the canner, and I took that as a sign that I am getting better at this. I was fairly freaked out the first time I tried canning, but I'm becoming more and more comfortable with it! Pick up this book if you want to learn how to can preserves safely - it is so helpful, will help you understand the process, and set your mind at ease
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In The Accounts Book {Money We Have Saved}
{Less coffees out} At the end of November, I dropped my kids off at Awana and decided to grab a Starbucks and do a little browsing. I pulled up to the drive through window, and the barista announced the total. It was seven dollars, for a medium-sized coffee. I think the realization suddenly hit me that this is way too many dollars to be dropping on coffee. I could buy a book with seven dollars! I could make the same thing at home for less than a dollar! We've bought far less coffee since.
{Using old wrapping paper} I used to buy new Christmas wrapping paper each year, until I realized that the half-used rolls of wrapping paper were starting to pile up. I decided to not buy any new wrapping paper until I used up our “scraps” - we are now on the third year of wrapping paper scraps! And I think we honestly could get another year out of the wrapping paper we already have. I’m honestly getting a little sick of the same wrapping paper every year. This is what I get for always buying the rolls with the highest square footage, but monotony aside, it does save us money.
Out My Window {Beauty I Noticed}
{Crunchy snow in the trees} We've had more snow than usual this fall, and alot of crunch snow is hanging on back in the trees. Sometimes the "brown months" feel dreary, but it's amazing how even a few patches of snow can make the entire landscape feel cozier.
On My Person {Things I've Worn}
{All the sweaters} Winter is probably my favorite season to dress for - I'm just a sweaters and boots and cozy coats type of girl. These are just a couple outfits I've worn this month - the Santa sweater was for a Christmas sweater contest with my family! I knew I wouldn't win, because my Christmas sweater isn't crazy enough. I first purchased it for a crazy sweater party we hosted years ago, and I thought the Santa's on it were so outrageous back then...but as I get older, I look at that sweater and think, "Is this actually kind of...cute?" My dad says that's a sure sign I'm getting old. But I do kind of like it. I might wear it non-ironically one of these days
Out And About {Places We Went}
{Christmas lights drive-through} We always see this huge Christmas light display on the side of the interstate, and this year we decided to check it out. I let the kids open new Christmas jammies, and after they changed we all piled in the car with some hot chocolate and drove through the display (for a fee). The music that the lights were synced to was nearly unbearable, but it was still pretty cool. We played our own music and enjoyed the experience. I was sure I would get a migraine from all the flashing lights, but I'm happy to report that I didn't.
{Trail of lights} Every year we go to a Christmas "trail of lights" with my family for my dad's birthday, and this year we all wore ugly Christmas sweaters for fun. It was a great time as always. I was appreciating recently how in-sync we are with our extended family - it is a blessing to not have to stress about serious conflict when we get together because we all think alike on so many things
On My Mind {Thoughts I Want To Share}
{A Christmas tradition} I have to mention a tradition we just started a couple years ago. We were in a Christmas picture book phase, and we picked up a book my aunt gave us years ago called "The Last Straw" - it's story about a family that draws names to do special things for each other in secret. My kids decided we needed to try this, so every week of Advent we drew names, and we had a "secret pal" for a week. We each had to do something nice for our secret pal each day (though we nearly always figured out who our secret person was before the week ended). I thought this would be a one-year activity, but my kids have not let us forget it. Every December they look forward to drawing names and secretly doing things for each other. It brings a smile to my face every time I find a cup of hot chocolate precariously balanced on my bed, a baggy of pretzels on my nightstand, or a plate of toast covertly left where I normally sit with my coffee (yes, there is a general trend toward food gifts). I might say that it teaches my kids to appreciate the joy of giving or something, but I'm not going to make it so didactic. It's just a fun little thing we do.
In My Heart {Things I'm Treasuring}
{1} The glow of the Christmas trees, with pajama-clad sillouettes staring up at the branches.
{2} The warmth coming from the wood stove.
{3} Little dogs that must always sit right down next to me.
{4} Christmas packages from friends.
{5} The way the light shines in our windows first thing in the morning.
{6} A healthy amount of outside commitments.
{7} Time just to be.
After months of a slight reading rut, I am back in a reading mood, and it's high time I caught up in sharing books I've read lately. This is more of a "quarter three plus two months" round up. I will share the books I finish in December in a different post.
Books I Liked
The Nature Of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant - I read These Silent Woods by Grant earlier this year, and was excited to pick up her next book. In this book, our main character, Emlyn, is hiding from her ex-boyfriend Tyler, who left her for dead three years before. But when their mutual friend turns up missing, they work together to find out what happened to her. I love the picture Grant draws in this book of the wilderness, and the treacherous nature of backpacking. There is a sweet love story that is drawn out by the end of the book, but not overdone. I am looking forward to seeing the next book Grant writes. Content Notes: The characters talk at one point about how Emlyn was found naked when she almost freezes to death. It's a weird phenomenon, but people who are on the verge of death from hypothermia actually do often undress as they suddenly feel very warm - often without realizing what they are doing.
Daughter Of Mine by Megan Miranda - Hazel returns home for her father's funeral, and finds out that he has left her the house - but her brothers are not happy about it. From the start of the book we get the feeling that something is off with this family, and as the tensions in the relationships start to rise, we wonder who to trust. I find Megan Miranda's books just the right mix of mystery and suspense - she knows how to instill that uneasiness in the reader in a really subtle way that I find interesting. This book's ending was more hopeful than some of Miranda's other books, and I enjoyed it. Content Notes: Some curse words, vague references to a sexual relationship between two characters in the past, murder.
True Grit by Charles Portis - If you have ever seen the old John Wayne True Grit movie, you will enjoy this book. The book has the same flavor as the movie, but even more enjoyable. Mattie narrates the entire book, and her independent spirit comes through in her frequent diatribes as she's narrating - I thought it was very funny and also fun! The plot and characters are very similar between the movie and the book, and there was even some Christian content that you wouldn't expect. I also loved that we got more details about what happened to all the characters after the adventure they had together. Highly Recommend!
Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt - It honestly took me forever to get through this book. I think it is because the subject of death was hanging over me a bit this summer, and then I started this book without realizing that grief was a huge theme. Meryl Lee is sent to boarding school as she is morning the death of her friend Holling, and later the divorce of her parents. She wants to become "accomplished" at something, and along the way she learns how to connect to others and see the grief they are dealing with as well. She also connects with an orphan boy named Matt, who is running from a gangster who wants to kill him as he is also morning the death of his own friend. This book felt heavy, and it took me months to get through it. I did find it interesting how Schmidt connected separate worlds that he built in his other books - The Wednesday Wars world, and Lizze Bright And The Buckminster Boy (which is actually my least favorite of his books that I've read - I didn't like that one). Just Like That had the same flavor as his other books, just sadder, and I probably read it at the wrong time, but I'd still recommend it if you've read his other books. I'll probably have my kids skip it unless they're ready to be sad though.
The Full Cupboard Of Life by Alexander McCall Smith - This is part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which is like a cozy mystery series set in Botswana. McCall paints such a lovely picture of Africa in these books, and all the characters are lovable, with friendly little mysteries to solve. These are my bedtime, comfort-reading books, and I recommend them!
Bread Of Life by Abigail Dodds - I've been reading this book as part of my devotions lately, and Dodds' reflections on spiritual topics related to bread are very inspiring. I found myself with alot to ponder as I read this book, and each chapter ends with a bread recipe that Dodds has developed. Recipes are not a main feature of this book, the focus is on pointing you to Jesus, the Bread of Life - so even if you can't eat wheat, you will find plenty to love about this book. Highly recommend.
Cinderella and Other Stories From The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang - I read this book with my girls for literature in our homeschool. Fairy tales are weird, but we enjoyed most of these. The Bronze Ring we found to be the weirdest story, but the rest were a little more enjoyable with happy endings.
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater - I read this one with my little girls for school. Some books are not enjoyable to read aloud, and some books are written in a way that makes reading aloud just flow - this one is the latter. I enjoyed every chapter with my girls, and they were very invested in it. We all thought the ending was a little absurd, but my daughter wrote an alternate ending as a school writing assignment, and I quite enjoyed what she came up with!
Transformed By Truth by Katherine Forster - Full review of this book here.
I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge - This is a sweet, short Christmas book. A little girl who is being raised by her elderly aunts begs to leave the doors unlocked on Christmas Eve so the Wise Men can visit. The aunts tell her they definitely will not leave the door unlocked, but when the window is left open, wonderful things do happen.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson - This was a re-read - I read it again to the kids before we went to see the movie! My kids find this book very funny because of how awful the Herdman's are, but their change of heart at the end of the book is so heartwarming. Content Notes: A few uses of God's name in vain (by the Herdman's), and one (humorous, because it was ridiculous) mention of sex - I kind of skipped over those for the sake of my little girls. This book is a good one to read aloud.
The War On Children by John MacArthur - I received this book a while back and finally picked it up to read this month - MacArthur outlines all the ways the culture is currently attacking the family and especially children, and how Christian parents can respond. I always love how MacArthur says it like it is, and this book was full of good reminders for me.
A Little Book On The Christian Life by John Calvin - This is the first time I've picked up any of Calvin's writings, and I was so pleasantly surprised. Since John Calvin is so often discussed in the context of Calvinism, you start to get the idea that it's all he ever talked about. This little book will cure you of that notion. I found Calvin's advice for living a Christian life so compelling and encouraging, and I looked forward to reading this book after my Bible each morning. So much of this book was timely for me, and providentially spoke to things I was currently working through. I know I will be reading it again.
Books That Were Okay, With Some Content Warnings
The Hot Zone : The Terrifying True Story Of The Origins Of The Ebola Virus by Richard Preston - This book tells the story of the first Ebola outbreak in history. It is nonfiction, but it is written in the style of fiction, and I could not put it down. I was equal parts horrified and fascinated. Ebola is a brutal virus, and its effects on the human body are horrific. I learned so much from this book, and it indulged my slight tendency toward germaphobia. If you are even a little interested in infectious micro-organisms, give this one a go. Content Notes: Very graphic descriptions of the effects of ebola on the body, mentions of prostitutes as a way the virus might have spread, some curse words. Not recommended for youth or the squeamish.
Crisis In The Red Zone by Richard Preston - This book is a follow-up to The Hot Zone, as it was written after the Ebola outbreak that happened in 2014. I remember that outbreak as I was pregnant and still working as a dental hygienist, and feeling relieved when they contained the outbreak in the U.S. An interesting aspect of this book was the ethics of handling the limited number of ebola treatments that were developed at this time. It also made me not trust NGOs. Content Notes: Same as the previous book. These books are not for weak stomachs.
The Rom Commers by Katherine Center - In this one, Emma, a floundering screenwriter, gets the chance to work with screenwriting celebrity Charlie Yates - unfortunately, he doesn't realize what he's agreed to until Emma shows up on his doorstep. Tensions are high, but sparks start to fly between the two as they learn to work together. Old-school rom-com vibes throughout the plot, with a happy ending, so I enjoyed it, even though some of the content I wish was left out. Content Notes: It's been a while between reading and writing this summary, but I remember a smattering of curse words, some involved kissing scenes, references to sexual relationships or thoughts about those sorts of things (I don't remember it being too explicit). I enjoy Center's books, but there is always the sort of thing that I have to skip past a bit. I usually equate it to what you'd get in a PG-13 movie, maybe pushing it a little more than that. I wish it wasn't in there so I could recommend her more generally, because her characters and plots are always so fun.
Books I Wouldn't Recommend
I was trying to decide whether to mention these books, since I wouldn't actually recommend them. Usually if inappropriate content pops up in a book, I'll just quit it, since I don't like to waste time on books I can't even recommend. This is one of those situations where the scenes or content I didn't appreciate came up further along in the book, and by then I was invested in seeing how the story turned out, so I skimmed past and finished them anyway. Sunk cost fallacy, I suppose. I've heard feedback that people still appreciate knowing my content notes anyway, so here they are.
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware - I was intrigued by this book since I heard that it was inspired by And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Admittedly that is one of Christie's more disturbing novels, so I should have been expecting this book to be disturbing - it definitely was more twisted than I thought going in. It was filled with twists and turns, abusive behavior from one of the characters, lots of murder (if you're not familiar with And Then There Were None - spoiler alert - everyone dies in that book). I didn't like the ending and how morally twisted it was. Not my favorite. I should have realized what I was getting into, honestly, but sometimes people mention Agatha Christie and I lose my better judgement for a minute. Content Notes: Lots of violence and murder, quite a bit of cursing, some feminist ideology, no good male characters at all, morally twisted ending.
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty - A mysterious lady who appears to be a psychic boards a plane - she starts having some sort of episode and handing out "age and cause of death" predictions for all the passengers. The rest of the book is about how the passengers deal with the predictions they've been handed. I went into this book not really knowing much, and I don't love that so much of the plot of this one centers around psychics - it's a little more central than I anticipated, though in the end the lady doesn't actually end up being a psychic but an insurance actuary. Content Notes: References to psychic abilities and visiting psychics. References to sexual relationships. One scene briefly describing a man's private parts that was too much, and might have made me quit if it hadn't occurred so far into the book, since I was pretty invested in how it turned out by then.
I am reading several books currently that I am quite enjoying, so come back at the end of December to read about those. If you would like to know which Christmas-themed books I liked, I'll share them on Instagram as I finish them.
What books have you loved recently?
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