Dec. 22: My Favorite Pre-Christmas Date

Not sure why I like the 22nd so much, but the date just appeals to me. I still have shopping and projecting to do, and there's a huge and extremely dreary rain/ice storm reigning outside, but am feeling happy and content. So. There we go.

Andy and I had to usher at church today, so we headed down and enjoyed a small and select congregational viewing of the pageant, a perfect way to handle the bleak weather and low turn out. Fun to see the kids I remember as babies playing lanky Mary and Joseph, blushing angels, flustered shepherds. . . . Really nice. Home now and trying to decide what to do next. Gotta do something!


The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. . . "As close as this painting behind me, which as the flash popped, I reached a hand back towards, suddenly knowing what it was I'd seen on it earlier" (435). Editing much? Yikes!

Much as I enjoy Sarah Dessen, the book is nearly as muddled as that sentence. Is the plot about Emaline's relationship with her father? with Luke and/or Theo? with her half-brother? Her "dad's" obsession with remodeling? Her mom's lack of boundaries? Her own plans for the future? Her strangely-undeveloped friend Morris's inability to do anything right?

Well, yes. And it remains just that muddled throughout. Waaaaaay too much detail tossed in, wasting characters and plots that could've been interesting and thought-provoking otherwise. There are possibly 4 novels sloshing around in this one. I finished this on the basis of the name on the cover. That said, I really hope she slows down the rate of production and ups the quality of her writing, or she'll lose that vote of confidence.

View all my reviews

Well. It's nearly bed time (10 pm just struck) and it's been raining and freezing all day. Hard to tell how really bad it is, but Camilla, Andy, Nate, Zeus and I walked down town for some errands around 2:30 today and we were slipping all over. Lyle claims the driving is not so bad, but many places have lost power, so I am happy to stay put! I am nearly done with Camilla's stocking, and we watched "The Hobbit, Part I" today, so that was fun. I also did some great vacation tasks. I'll keep a list, because I'm oriented that way. So:

Great Vacation Tasks
read Life of Pi 12/26
clean out dryer so house doesn't burn down
clean my shower drain 12/22
clean my bathroom's fan vent (so dusty!)  12/22
take family picture 12/25
send said family pic out as New Year's card in process
make self a warm hat with either skein of lovely yarn I got for Christmas 12/31
have some people over for some reason 1/3: AFS kids for games!
go bowling, tubing, skating, or sliding: did not do it! COLD and/or stormy. 
go to the movies: Saving Mr. Banks or The Hobbit, II 12/23 Still want to see "Mr. Banks," but the weather did not cooperate. 

Will update as things go!