Musings on a winter's day

Hi friends.  I hope everyone is enjoying this quiet time between Christmas and New Years, hopefully with a few more fun get-togethers on the horizon and the snow still something you think looks kind of nice.  Next week this time we'll all be staring the long hard winter in the face while trying to follow through on our New Years resolutions (I traditionally give up on mine on January 18th, which I commemorate by drinking heavily that evening).  Cute husband and I have been traversing the country visiting loved ones left and right.  We were with cute husband's parents (henceforth to be referred to as "cute parents") for what we call "First Christmas" since we do Christmas there a few days early.  Then we hopped a plane to the mountain region to be with my parents, where we enjoyed Christmas Day.  Somewhere along the way my Christmas story got lost inside my word processor and yesterday I finally found it and dusted it off a bit.  I've been writing a little bit each morning and am determined to share this one with you in its entirety, so thank you for giving me a little extra time to make it readable.

In other news, I know it's annoying that I keep changing the blog format, but the purple was making my eyes hurt--something about winter makes me crave the neutral tones.  Speaking of which, come late next week many of us will have fallen into our post-Christmas midwinter depression.  I know that we did book lists just a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to share my January stack with you.  These are the books I'm planning on leaning on to get me through the sad cold months, and I'm hoping a few of you might pick up one or two along with me so we can enjoy them together.

On the right are a few fun ones I got for Christmas:

Wishin' & Hopin' by Wally Lamb (I'm a big fan--I'd rank She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True among my favorite books)


Pictorial Websters -- I've been reading about this one on some of the design blogs I follow and I can tell you that thumbing through the pages looking at old-fashioned woodcuts is surprisingly fun when you're feeling a little low.

American Family -- You might remember my post about this one awhile back.  It lives up to what I imagined and more!  Every time I hand it to one of my family members to thumb through they become instantly captivated.

Now the LIT-RA-TOOR, from bottom to top:

Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls -- Her last book, a memoir called The Glass Castle, blew me away, so I look forward to this one, which is a fictionalized account of her grandmother's crazy life.

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore -- I bought this one in October on the day it came out because I've been a Lorrie Moore fan since I was about seventeen.  It's since made about every best of 09 list out there, so I'm going to dive in come the cold depressing days.

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg -- Read about this one a few months ago and couldn't find it anywhere but found it in the tiny--but fabulous!--local bookstore here in the mountains on Christmas Eve (I called Santa and asked if I could just go ahead and buy it for myself and he promised to reimburse me).  It's a memoir written by a father about his mentally ill daughter and I think it promises to be heart-wrenching (a feeling I enjoy).


Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann -- I'm not even entirely sure what this one's about, but I keep hearing about it so what the heck!

Hope everyone is getting a little time to relax and enjoy the season.  And though I know I make jokes about the New Year, it really is a marvelous time.  It's such a great tradition we have: every 12 months we take a breath and give ourselves a chance to start anew.  I like it.