St, Nicholas Day.
“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic his giving, by grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves.” ~Nicholas of Myra, c.288-354 AD.
Today’s gifts:
A song: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
A booklist: Mother Reader’s 105 Ways to Give a Book
A birthday: Joyce Kilmer, b.1886.
I’ve just been reading the newly published edition of Maud Hart Lovlace’s Deep Valley, Minnesota novel, Carney’s House Party in which a group of college girlfriends, old and new, come together in the midwestern epitome of style and fashion for a house party, a month long sleepover with lots of picnics and teas and parties and dances and sight-seeing and good wholesome fun. Of course there’s romance, and lots of singing.
The house party sing and dance to this lovely tribute to the “flying machine.”
And these are two more songs that the orchestra plays at the “dance party” that the Crowd enjoys.
Sam, one of Carney’s two love interests, plays this song on his saxophone.
Besides the music, the other things I noticed while reading this book:
Carney is appalled and embarrassed that a boy that likes her dares to kiss her BEFORE they have an understanding or an engagement:
When they reached an elm tree so large and thickly leaved that its shadows defeated even Japanese lanterns, he stopped and kissed her.
Carney broke away from him. She was really angry now. It was possible to forgive what had happened the night before . . . they had both been wrought up. But this was different. It was inexcusable.
Wow! We’ve come a long way, baby, since 1912, and not in the right direction. Nowadays if the guy doesn’t make a pass at a girl, she might have a suspicion that he’s gay, or at last uninterested.
Carney’s House Party ends with Carney engaged to be married to the love of her life, but also returning to Vassar to finish her college degree before getting married. Back then, it seemed as if women definitely could “have it all.” And why not? Education, career (?), family, marriage. Just because it’s difficult to juggle everything doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.
I am so fond of these new editions of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Deep Valley books that I’m planning to save them to give to a special daughter as Christmas presents. I may even buy some more copies so that I can give each of my lovely daughters their own set. (It’s OK. I don’t think they read the blog very thoroughly, if at all.)
Sermon delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 20, 1857, by the Rev. C.H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens:
And oh, if thou hast anything on thy conscience, anything that prevents thy having peace of mind, keep thy Christmas in thy chamber, praying to God to give thee peace; for it is peace on earth, mind, peace in thyself, peace with thyself, peace with thy fellow men, peace with thy God. And do not think thou hast well celebrated that day till thou canst say,
“O God,
’With the world, myself, and thee
I ere I sleep at peace will be. â€
And when the Lord Jesus has become your peace, remember, there is another thing, good will towards men. Do not try to keep Christmas without keeping good will towards men. You are a gentleman, and have servants. Well, try and set their chimneys on fire with a large piece of good, substantial beef for them. If you are men of wealth, you have poor in your neighborhood. Find something wherewith to clothe the naked, and feed the hungry, and make glad the mourner. Remember, it is good will towards men. Try, if you can, to show them good will at this special season; and if you will do that, the poor will say with me, that indeed they wish there were six Christmases in the year.
Let each one of us go from this place determined, that if we are angry all the year round, this next week shall be an exception; that if we have snarled at everybody last year, this Christmas time we will strive to be kindly affectionate to others; and if we have lived all this year at enmity with God, I pray that by his Spirit he may this week give us peace with him; and then, indeed, my brother, it will be the merriest Christmas we ever had in all our lives. You are going home to your father and mother, young men; many of you are going from your shops to your homes. You remember what I preached on last Christmas time. Go home to thy friends, and tell them what the Lord hath done for thy soul, and that will make a blessed round of stories at the Christmas fire. If you will each of you tell your parents how the Lord met with you in the house of prayer; how, when you left home, you were a gay, wild blade, but have now come back to love your mother’s God, and read your father’s Bible. Oh, what a happy Christmas that will make! What more shall I say? May God give you peace with yourselves; may he give you good will towards all your friends, your enemies, and your neighbors; and may he give you grace to give glory to God in the highest. I will say no more, except at the close of this sermon to wish every one of you, when the day shall come, the happiest Christmas you ever had in your lives.
The words in italics are my particular prayer for a certain young man I know this Christmas. Will you pray them with me for that prodigal whose name is known already to the waiting, loving and forgiving Father?
I read about the $10 Challenge and then linked to it here. Then, I thought my family should do this: take $10 and find someone in need to whom to give the money. Then, I had an expensive thought. What if I gave ten dollars to each of my eight children, ages 24 down to 8, and asked them to give away their ten dollar bill before Christmas to someone who could use a Christmas blessing? Ummm, 8 x 10 is more than ten dollars. Everything ends up costing a lot more than it seems it will at first when you multiply by eight—or even ten (including Engineer Husband and me, too). Oh, well, it would be a good Christmas experiment.
I kept waiting and waiting until I could get everyone together at the same time. This feat is difficult when you have three twenty-somethings, two teens, and a twelve year old, all with active social and work lives. I ended up having six out of the eight here when I told them about the $10 Challenge. The other two would just have to hear about it later. I gave out the tens, and everyone’s eyes lit up. Then, I told them that the deal was that they had to give it away. First, some of them tried trading ten dollar bills: “You give me yours, and I’ll give you mine.” I told them that there were no rules, but that trading money was against the rules. I also suggested that they pray and ask God to show them the person or group to whom they should give their money.
So, now each of my children (except the two missing links) has a ten dollar bill to give away. We’ll see what they do with it.
I told them they had to report back on Christmas morning.
Who wrote The Night Before Christmas? I knew there was some dispute over the authorship of this traditional Christmas poem, but I didn’t know The Rest of the Story, as Paul Harvey would have said.
Dear Congress, Please go home for Christmas. Now. Please. Sincerely, The Anchoress (and me and lots of us).
Christmas Change and the $10 Challenge: won’t you consider tucking $10 into your pocket or billfold or purse just for the express purpose of blessing somebody else this Christmas?
Or here’s another idea for blessing others at Christmas: For the Man Who Hated Christmas
Twas about two weeks before Christmas and all through the blogosphere, bloggers were recommending books for holiday gifts:
Semicolon Suggested Audiobooks for Kids.
For Tween Adventure Seekers
For Tween Romantics
For Tween Dystopian Fiction Readers
For Tween Mythology BuffsTween Fiction/Nonfiction Pairs
For Tween Sports Fanatics
Nine series for nine year old boys.
Books for wannabe architects, engineers, veterinarians, doctors, dancers, artists, writers and entrepreneurs.
Tween Graphic Novels
For Tween Baseball fans.
Mother Reader’s 105 Ways to Give a Book.
Semicolon’s Addendum to the Mother Reader list.
Books for eight and twelve year old girls.
Survival stories for adults and teens.
Ten Books on Scientific subjects for the scientist in our midst.
Picture Books for little boys.
More picture books for little boys.
Poetic Gift Giving.
For Teenage Drama Queens.
For Young Musicians.
Books for Boys, old and young
More books for Twilight fans
Children’s books paired with movies.
Nonfiction picture books.
For spirited and precocious kindergartners.
Classic books and movies for boys.
Books for teenaged girls.
Books for people with pets.
For little dancers.
Cool cookbooks for kids.
Horrible horror books.
For Christian readers
Buying poems for the holidays.
Crime fiction.
Books about books for booklovers.
Bookish gifts from Etsy.
Semicolon’s 100 68 Best Fiction Books of all Time.
Check out this website: Books for Soldiers. You can send books and other materials to U.S. soldiers around the world by signing up at this website and following the instructions.
Operation Paperback is another organization that gives you an address to which you can send a box of books for soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Notes of thanks or holiday greetings for soldiers can be posted at this Department of Defense website.
AnySoldier.com gives addresses for soldier contacts requesting care packages. You can sign up to get one or more addresses and then send the care package with specific stuff that the soldiers have requested.
At HomefrontHugs USA you can adopt a service person for a six month committment and agree to “send 2 packages a month- they can be small…accompanied by 2 cards or letters.”
You can also sponsor a care package through the USO for $25.00.
The American Red Cross sponsors Holiday Mail for Heroes, but cards must be postmarked by tomorrow, December 7, 2009. Send cards to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
Any of these would be a great Christmas project, and even if the package or card doesn’t get there until after Christmas, don’t you think it will be greatly appreciated?
Photo: U.S. Army Pfc. Harry Lewis reads a book between missions at a patrol base in As Sadah, Iraq, April 8, 2007. Lewis is from 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment (Airborne Recon), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. JoAnn S. Makinano) (Released)
Mother Reader has a list of 105 Ways to Give a Book, and I think it’s a great list. All book-givers should check it out. I am shamelessly copying her idea, but I’d like to give you some ideas about some stuff you could pair with one of the Cybils books that I’ve read for this year’s judging.
1. Mother Reader herself had this one on her list: Pair Operation YES! with green army men. I just read Operation YES! by Sara Lewis Holmes, and I haven’t managed to review it yet. But it’s a great book about art and drama and soldiers and those who love them. Perfect for anyone who has a friend or loved one in the armed services.
More Cybils books featuring members of the armed forces and their families.
2. Give The Beast of Blackslope (Sherlock Files) by Tracy Barrett (Semicolon review here) with the 221B Baker Street Mystery Game. We have this game, and my kids have enjoyed playing it and trying to figure out the mysteries.
3. Dani Noir by Nova Ben Suma (Semicolon review here) would go great with a DVD of this movie or this one. Or any noir film that you love and want to share with a film fan.
4. Some of the Cybils nominated books just go with other books:
William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Semicolon review here) plus The Complete Works of Shakespeare. (Only for a kid who already likes Shakespeare)
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Semicolon review here) plus A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
Callie’s Rules by Naomi Zucker (Semicolon review here) plus Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
If the child you’re giving to already loves the second book in one of these pairs, he or she will probably like the first one, too, since the protagonist in each story really likes the second book in the pairing.
5. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez (Semicolon review here) could be a hit with aspiring astronomers if it were given with an inexpensive telescope. (Last year’s Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass would also go well with the telescope idea.)
6. Extra Credit by Andrew Clements plus a box of stationery, boy-themed or girl themed, or offer to help your gift recipient go online and find his or her own pen pal, just like the kids in the book.
ePals: the Internet’s largest global community of connected classrooms.
Student Letter Exchange.
Kids’ Space Connection.
7. Born to Fly by MIchael Ferrari (Semicolon review here) would be a perfect match with this InAir E-Z Build Model Kit of a P-40 Warhawk, the same WW II plane that’s featured in the book.
8. Give a baseball and maybe a bat with any of the following baseball stories:
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta. Semicolon review here.
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane. Semicolon review here.
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg. Semicolon review here.
The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz.
9. Make the Double Decker Chocolate Bars recipe in the back of the book and give a dozen of them along with Hallie Durand’s Dessert First. Semicolon review here.
10. If you know a girl who loves funky socks, either or both of these books would go well with a gift of some special socks.
Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez. Semicolon review here.
Standing for Socks by Elissa Brent Weissman.
11. Give My Life in Pink and Greenby Lisa Greenwald (Semicolon review here) with a gift certificate for a makeover or a make-up session at a local boutique or department store. Or you could just buy some appropriate-for-the-age makeup for your favorite pre-teen to go with this story about growing up and taking responsibility.
12. Eleven Birthdays by Wendy Mass seems to me to be a remake of the movie Groundhog Day. Well, sort of a remake, similar premise. Anyway the movie and the book together would make a good gift for an eleven year old, maybe even one who’s celebrating a birthday at Christmas time. Brown Bear Daughter was born two days before Christmas, and it’s hard to figure out what to get her for her birthday and for Christmas at the same time.
So there you go: ten+ gift ideas from me and one from Mother Reader, and you can check out Mother Reader’s list for 104 more ideas. Give a book to every child on your Christmas list. Books are cool!
Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover or a link here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.
I’ve added a couple of new products to my Cafe Press store. The artwork is by Artiste Daughter, Heidi.
From now through Thanksgiving Day, Audible.com is giving away one FREE audiobook (no credit card required). This event ends November 26, 2009, at 11:59 PM.
I downloaded Alice in Wonderland for Z-baby; I’m planning to burn it to a CD and add it to her Christmas present. Scroll down about three posts for more audiobook giving suggestions.
To get your free audiobook, try this link and let me know if it works.