Bookmas comes not once a year but four times! Last night was Bookmas Eve and I could hardly sleep. I was so excited for today. I set my alarm for 8am and ended up not even needing it. I was up two hours early ready and excited to go get my books.
It was one of those mornings where you're just happy to be alive and all is right with the world. I'm sure that sounds a little superficial because it all centers around books, but it's truly how I felt.
This morning was the Bag Day book sale put on by our public library. For a measly $5 dollars you can fill your brown paper sack to the brim.
It's been a dream of mine to live in a house with a large library. I have always envied those who have them. This sale is making it possible, one bag at a time. Soon we'll need a bigger house to hold all our bookshelves! I love it!
The first set of books, I chose for a friend of ours. He wanted to be there himself, but got called in to work this morning. It was quite a challenge to find books he might like as he gave me nothing to work with. His only suggestion was adventure. Talk about difficult to come up with! I wanted to make sure to get him clean books, but also interesting to him. I hope he enjoys what we (me, my daughter, and a friend) came up with.
Here's my treasure trove of books:
Mary Higgins Clark - She writes murder mystery! She is not a Christian author, but writes very clean. There is never sexual content, and normally the swear words are at a small minimum.
I'm making good headway into collecting all of John Grisham's novels. I have always been fascinated by his stories, and now I have two more I haven't read yet.
When you browse the Bag Day sale you grab first and then think later. You don't want to waste too much time looking at what number in a series they are, or if you even own it. I brought a cheat sheet with me this time that had all the books I own on it. After you've read so many books, it's hard to remember if it's a book you actually own, or if it's just a book you borrowed from the library. I had to laugh when I was done. I thought I had found two books by Beverly Lewis that were part of one series, but in fact I found book number three of two different series.
I'm really excited about these books. There is such an overwhelming amount of books at the sale you can't be too choosy at what you find. I'm very picky about what I'll watch and read so normally I end up just getting books I've already read in the past. I don't usually find too many new ones that I haven't read yet, and that are Christian.
I'm taking a chance on these two. Last book sale I found My Sister's Keeper and found it to be pretty interesting, and for the most part clean. The great thing about this sale, you're literally only paying cents for each book, so it doesn't hurt too badly if you have to throw out a book or two. (I have done this on a few occasions. I refuse to read trash.)
I'm probably most excited about this book by Patsy Clairmont. I went to Women of Faith a few months back and Patsy was one of the speakers. I loved her. She has such a way with words and left me very inspired. I can't wait to read these books of hers.
Some more chance books... the first one, Linux Pocket Guide, was a gift for my husband. He does programming for a living so this really is beneath him but I wanted to get it just the same. I thought it would be nice to give him something that let him know I was thinking of him, and he could have a good laugh at it. I was pleased to find out he actually has a guy at his work that could use this book. I told him by all means, pass it on.
Three Cups of Tea struck me because of the name. I have only had two cups of tea in the past month and I'm craving my third cup. The day will come soon I believe. When I read the back of the book it sounded pretty inspiring so I'm taking another chance on it. This Bookmas seems to be one full of chances...
I almost bought myself a crock-pot cookbook a few weeks ago so I was especially pleased to find this among the piles of books. I've already staked out a couple recipes I'll be trying in the next few weeks!
And lastly, I loved the idea behind this Family Traditions books. It's full of practical things. I already know I'm going to be reading it cover to cover. It's full of ideas for each holiday and ways to celebrate together.
Since Valentine's Day is coming up, here's a small sample of their ideas:
The Book of Love:
Who wrote the book of love? You did. Buy an inexpensive blank book with a heart on the cover, or glue one there. Call it "The Book of (your last name) Love", and each year have every family member write one loving thing about every other member.
Valentine Tree:
Trees are a great centerpiece of ritual action because they grow and change like families do, symbolize life and hope, and can be easily but beautifully decorated for any occasion. Every year, the Dodge family buys a small tree in a pot, and decorates it with a string of tiny while lights. They buy red craft paper and cut out teddy bears and hearts, poke holes in their tops, and use thin ribbon to tie them onto the tree in their yard. If you do this every year, you could designate a special Valentine Grove on your property.
Red Food Night:
At the Straw household in Plano, TX, all the food for Valentines dinner is red. Sue Straw serves beets or red cabbage, mashed potatoes mixed with red food coloring, and either ham(pink) or pasta with red sauce. Red fruit might include grapes, raspberries, or strawberries. Even the milk is red. Dessert can be brown as long as it's chocolate and it's shaped like a heart.
Have-A-Heart Awards
Each member of the family gives an award to each other member for a special act of love or kindness. Buy round, fuzzy, ping-pong-ball sized pom-poms at your local craft store, to which you can glue little eyes and mouths and feet. Cut hearts from a piece of construction paper 4 inches square, and glue the feet to the paper heart. Write on the heart the name of the person getting the award and what they did. Perhaps one child helped a younger sibling learn to tie his shoes. Perhaps Dad earned his award coaching Little League last summer.
This book is full of ideas! It has everything from holiday traditions to fun things so you won't go crazy. It has daily, weekly, monthly rituals, and coming of age rituals. Bet time rituals, family night rituals, to pet rituals. Hello and Good-bye rituals. It's going to be fun reading through all the ideas!
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