Book Chatter

Chloe in her Christmas sweater. — The Otter Pup stole that wrap from Rudolph in case you recognize it.

Look who’s here to bring you a little Christmas cheer! The Otter Pup!! Many of you know we call her that because when she was rescued as a puppy, she spent so much time on her back begging for belly rubs that she resembled an otter. Her formal name is Chloe. You can find her on Instagram!

Chloe isn’t too happy with me at the moment because she had to get her shots yesterday. She is a little sore and I think she thought she was going to the park when I took her which she quickly realized was not the case. Dogs are so smart. We tried a new vet because her old vet suddenly wants to charge for an exam when one is not needed. We walked into a place and got her shots done in five minutes but even though the place is new she STILL knew it was a doctor’s office.

It’s midweek and I finally feel like the stress and anxiety I’ve been carrying around is beginning to wane. I find that I do not tolerate minor irritants all that well now. My threshold was much higher before but now one or two things go south and I am ready to stick my head in a hole like an ostrich. Anyone else feel like that?

We watched A Charlie Brown Christmas the other night and I guess I never paid attention to the details before but what Charlie Brown says about Christmas really hits home this year. Applies to 2020 perfectly!

I have a work Zoom party tonight, a Zoom Happy Hour for book club on Thursday, dental appointments and then I hope we can visit a new park this weekend. My city has a plethora of parks and we decided a couple of weeks ago that we’d pile the pup into the car and visit each one. Some have been really quite nice with walking trails and the like. I wasn’t much of an outdoorsy person before COVID but I am now. I have to be outside each day. The pup does not complain!

Well, I’ve gone on too much. I hope you are finding some happiness in the little things because it’s too easy these days to slip down into depression. Plus, it’s getting colder now. Just be good to yourself and give yourself permission to do things differently this year. I am using 2020 as a free pass to get out of a lot of things that I am just not up to doing and that’s okay.

Keep reading. Light a nice fire or a favorite candle and stay cozy.

Sunday Matters

Good morning! I hope you’ve had, or are enjoying a nice cup of something good. It got a little chilly here after our horrible winds died down. The early morning is when I take The Otter Pup for her walk but she’s been resisting because it’s a little too cold for her even with a sweater. She is a funny little pup pup.

Right Now:

Guys, it’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit these days but I am trying to relish the moments. I am off work until January 11th. I am very grateful for this time every year and this is the one year where my calendar is pretty wide open. I can actually participate in that Icelandic holiday everyone speaks of.

During the festive season, gifts are opened on December 24th and, by tradition, everyone reads the books they have been given straight away, often while drinking hot chocolate or alcohol-free Christmas ale called jólabland.

Doesn’t it sound nice?

It’s not looking like my son will be able to come for Christmas. Possibly a day or two before the New Year but we will leave it flexible. He has that new job plus he is moving into a new house since his lease is up where he is renting a room now. I’m trying to decide what our little three-person Christmas will look like. We normally see a movie in the theatre on Christmas night. Not happening, obviously.

This Week:

I have a work holiday party on Wednesday, a book club Happy Hour on Thursday, both on Zoom. It’s textbook return at the school as their term ends next week and it’s nice because the Girl can drive herself down there to do it. My husband and I have dental appointments this Saturday and my daughter has her PACE audition this Sunday. A busy week!

Reading:

You all know my struggles with reading for the past few weeks. I did finally finish the one book I was stumbling through. I was looking at my reading for the year and I am going to make it easy on myself and read just one more book for the year, Pride and Prejudice. It’s a book that has been on my list for so long. I have picked it up and put it down so many times. How can I be a book blogger without reading it? So, I am going to read it and then review it and be done with 2020. Ha!

Now, to figure out what my first book will be so I can join Sheila’s fun event. Will it be a serious book? A fun book? A classic? I am ending 2020 with a classic so probably not but who knows? I feel like the first book of the year sets the tone for the year. Last year I chose A Good Neighborhood and then all that civil unrest hit. Yep, I must choose wisely.

Watching:

I missed Dolly Parton’s TV special but she has her Christmas musical on Netflix, Christmas on the Square. Everything I’ve read about her indicates that she is a really good human. Don’t we need more of them in the world right now? I plan to watch it this week.

I also plan to watch, one by one, all the holiday movies I listed last week. The ones everyone watches this time of the year and a couple of new to me (classics) like Meet Me in St. Louis. My friends on Facebook said they cannot continue to be friends with me if I do not see that holiday classic.

Grateful for:

Twinkly Christmas lights. Our neighborhood has more lights than it has ever had. I think people needed a little more cheer this year. I love it!
Spiked eggnog. I mean, let’s be real.
Birds. Birdsong, to be more specific. We have a lot of critters in our yard and that includes birds. On any given day I have a chorus of birds singing. It’s like a scene right out of Snow White.

Does it feel like the holidays are less than two weeks away? It feels kind of weird, huh? If you need to inject a little holiday spirit into your routine, try one of these:

Put your jammies on, make or pick up some hot cocoa or hot apple cider (this, plus whipped cream tastes like apple pie) and drive around the neighborhood to check out the Christmas lights. Make sure to create your holiday playlist ahead of time.
No big Christmas cookie baking going on? Then make this one cookie recipe. It’s like Christmas in a cookie.
Put some Christmas potpourri on your stovetop to make your house smell like Christmas!
We are missing Disneyland this Christmas. My local indie bookstore suggested this Main Street play list which kind of feels like we are at Disneyland! Enjoy!