Thursday 13

I have a confession -- I absolutely abhor to see a movie before reading the book.  I've tried to explain in great detail to my children the atrocities of giving anyone creative liberty over your imagination by allowing yourself to be sucked into a trailer before giving your imagination a chance to step it up a notch.  

Therefore, I have a list of books I'm wanting to read before the movies come out.  Besides, books are so much better than movies.  Especially since Hollywood is completely impotent when it comes to originatility now as they remake EVERY fucking thing under the sun or create yet ANOTHER sequel rather than... I don't know -- BE ORIGINAL!

So, here are thirteen books on my list.  If you click on the books, they will take you to the Amazon links where you, too, can buy them and enjoy them with me! 

   

   

   

and last, but certainly not least...

Prepping for the ADVENTure of Christmas - Day Two (part 1)

Yep, I'm back with my second installment on how to get your December off to a grand start of memories and fun!  Today we're talking about media.  And, not just any media --Christmas media!  Books and movies!  Oh My!  

But before we jump right in, to review, in this post, you were told to:

1. Get something to write on and to write with
2. Grab your December calendar (one was provided for you!)
3. Plug in the dates you already have plans for (school plays, sports, special gatherings)
4. Jot down the events that happen in your area that you hold an interest in participating in (Santa visits, tree lightings, parades, etc.)
5. Make your list of books and movies
6. Brainstorm crafty ideas
7. List any activities you want to do such as acts of service

Now that you have your foundation completed, you can tweak it to your liking!  

Each day you will PLAN  to view a movie, complete an activity together, read a book, focus on a letter of the alphabet (for those with little ones like me), and address part of the 12 days of Christmas as it parallels to the Bible.  The important thing here is to PLAN.  You can always deviate from the plan but at least HAVE a plan. 

Today, we get to talk about books and movies!  

One thing we love in this house is CHRISTMAS!  I LOVE all things Christmas!  Because of this, I'm a tad of a collector of Christmas books and movies.  I mean, I have a slew of them!  (If you don't know what a "slew" is, it's more than a lot and less than anything that could potentially qualify me as a bonafide hoarder.) If you don't own any Christmas books, have no fear -- the library is your friend!  And, so are your friends!  In a bind?  Do a weekly Christmas book swap with your friends!  What a great way to experience new books for no cost!

So, what books should we read?  When should we schedule them?  That's entirely up to you.  I have a tradition in my home, however, that we read certain books on certain days.  Like movies -- I'm ridiculously OCD in my planning like that.  For instance, Christmas Eve -- every single year we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. I mean, you just have to.   Do you have some favorite Christmas books?  If so, share them in the comments!  I'm always looking for new books to check out!

And here are the books that make the cut at our house:

I will have to add that there are three books that every parent AND grandparent needs.  Period.  I don't care what your children's ages are:

This book is such a treasured heirloom for me and my kids.  This has seven of Jan Brett's works in it:  The Mitten, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Trouble with Trolls, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The Hat, Christmas Trolls, The Night Before Christmas.  The words are timeless.... the illustrations are so detailed, intricate and amazing.  This one book will take up a week's time on your list alone...and it is worth the time!  What's even BETTER is that you can really bring her characters to life because she has printable activities on her website




  The Crippled Lamb is a timeless story by Max Lucado that is read by someone in our family either ON Christmas or on Christmas eve at our family gathering.  It's the story about a little lamb who wants more than nothing to go with his friends to the pasture but being crippled, he can't keep up.  As such, he has to stay behind.  But then, in the night, visitors come to the stable...and he discovers his purpose was one of great importance.  If you can make it through this one with a dry eye -- you've got me beat.  It's a definite for every family in my book!




And, although Jan Brett has The Night Before Christmas in her treasury collection... and it is awesome... I simply LOVE the illustrations in this version as well.  The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore.  While sometimes we read this book (The Night Before Christmas, generically) more than once, I save this one for the big night because the pictures are just THAT GOOD!


To me, one of the fun aspects of including the tradition of READING to your children is that every year you'll discover something new... or think of another way to bring these books and stories to life.  I think the magic of Christmas is completely kept alive in the words we read that fill our hearts.... and minds before bedtime.

If you're a Pinner, you'll find that some people have found a way to make reading a gift by wrapping each book individually.  They label them 1-24 so that each day they have a "present" to open through Christmas Even.  Because, let's face it -- kids love to open stuff!  Treat them to a gift of books every single day!  How fun is that?  I, however, won't waste the paper or my time wrapping each book because I like to leave them laying around as part of my Christmas decor. 

Getting in the spirit!  Yes, I am!

R2 Deeter

Last week at the boy's school was the Scholastic book fair.  We attended it the night of Open House. It was a great distraction for Benji who was pretty much done with the presentation of the 3rd grade's pioneer projects about half a nanosecond after he entered the room.  While I'm not a big proponent of these book fairs (primarily because I am not a fan of paperback books), I *am* a fan of (almost) anything that gets kids excited about reading.  (For instance, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, while it may be a good book, it's more of a comic strip to me.  Drew waited with baited breath for the next book in the series to be released and then the next one and he would devour them in about thirty minutes... but that's not true quality 'reading material' in my opinion -- it's fluff.)

However, by Benji attending the book fair, I was afforded the opportunity to peruse the various displays set up by Drew's classmates and hear their oral presentations on their chosen topics.  It was amazing to see and hear all the hard word they put into these projects.  I heard all kind of reports on life in the early 1800s from being a cowboy to working in a mill and from running a general store to quilting and toys.

That was short lived, however, because soon Benji was back with his loot.  Once we were in the car on the way home, he wanted to read his new books.  Part of his new book bounty was a hardback (yay) book from Lego Star Wars.  [insert geekish mom grin here]

You see, much to my delight, over the last several weeks Benji has eeked into the the Star Wars phase of wonder and amazement.  He is completely enamored with Lord Vader.  So much so that I'm teaching him to say, "Come to the dark side.... we have cookies" to his older brothers.

Photo credit

He has even sat still long enough to enjoy part of Return of the Jedi.  The story line is, obviously, quite over his head, although he does ask questions so it has piqued his interest.  However, right now, I'm just enjoying the fact that he loves it!  Fast forward to last night... he was stalling getting ready for bed at the bookshelf.  He would pull out a book from the two or three shelves containing his books and decide that wasn't "the one" and slowly push it back.  After about the tenth one, as I impatiently stood there waiting for him to find "the one," I remembered that I had moved ALL of our Star Wars books over to another shelf.  I pulled out this little gem... and that was all she wrote!  Bingo!  Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  Winner winner chicken dinner!

Not only did we have a winner, but also, during the course of reading it, he proclaimed "I love this book.  It's my favorite." He flipped through each page stopping only to ask for help identifying characters or words he wasn't familiar with.  Initially, he wanted to read it to me but only "if you cwal up on my bed."  I leaned on the wall by his headboard as he opened the first page of this board book with complete excitement.  He just knew this was going to be a fantastic book.  It was pure delight for me to watch him take in everything on each page as he continued.  "A" is for Anakin.  "B" is for... Boba Fett (he knew this one).  "C" is for C3P0... and we proceeded through the alphabet.  Then you get to C's little buddy and yes, my friends, that is where "R2 Deeter" comes into play.  I love his Benji-isms.  I have to capture this on video, but in the event I'm unable to, I have this little nugget saved right here for eternity.  "W" is for "shew-baka."  We explained he is a wookie but his name is Chewbacca.  

The full genuine smile painted on his face was enough to make my heart burst.  It was a good day.  These are the moments that I truly love the little person he's becoming more and more.