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Health & Fitness

Holiday Reading

A reading countdown to the big day, December 25th!

News to strike fear in your heart: Counting today you have only nine shopping days until Christmas. Nine.

Maybe you are lucky and did all your shopping on Amazon like me. (OK, not all my shopping, it just seems like it.) This still means that if you are attempting to go anywhere near Central Park this weekend you need to expect delays. 

Someone invent me a teleporter, please?

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My personal plan is to hide in a hole and read. Except I really wanted to go to that live Nativity on Bragg Road tomorrow night and some girl friends invited me to lunch this weekend. So much for that plan!

I have a friend that does a reading Advent calendar. Each year she wraps 24 books and her family opens one a night and reads it together. Cute idea, and it puts presents under the tree before Santa arrives.

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In case you feel a little Grinch-y, here's a list of books you can read over the next few days to make your heart grow three sizes larger. Or whatever. (I'm fairly Grinch-y over the Grinch. Fah who for-aze this.)

Nine Days and Counting Christmas Reading List:

  • 9: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Doctor Seuss: Yeah, I'm Grinch-y about this and avoid anything to do with it like the plague, but I get that the rest of you like this. For the record, you people can have that A Christmas Story movie, too. If you aren't familiar with either, save yourself and skip today. Why ruin a good thing?
  • 8: The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere: Like the sappy song that makes grown men cry. Did you expect less from me than a tale about a child wanting to buy his dying mom a pair of shoes? Read it and weep. (Jealous, someone at my book club just got this in our holiday book exchange!)
  • 7: The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans: Seven million people can't be wrong. Ailing widow, young family, the true meaning of Christmas - it will get you every time. 
  • 6: The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: Classic and it beats the pants off Scrooge. Better yet, it's free on Kindle. Meet John, he's frugal and wise and does his best at everything. Until he learns where his mansion really is.
  • 5: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Lloyd Newell and Karmel Newell: This book tells about the writing of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I love Longfellow, I love this song, and this story touched me. Edward Hermann told the story at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert in 2008 and a DVD of the presentation comes with the book. (Hint, Hermann is best known for his portrayal as FDR or Rory Gilmore's grandfather.)
  • 4: In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story by David McCullough: I have two things to say about this; David McCullough and I saw him present this story live after scoring amazing tickets that took me across the country in winter to sit just a few rows behind Edward Hermann. Oh, the story is set just days after Pearl Harbor and features FDR (the real one) and Winston Churchill at the White House on Christmas Eve. Amazing. 
  • 3: Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus by Francis Pharcellus Church: Because Santa is real. Enough said.
  • 2: The Nutcracker by you pick: There's about a billion different books out there for this classic ballet. Pick your poison, but read the classic story of Clara and her Nutcracker Prince. 
  • 1: It's Christmas Eve, what else? The Zombie Night Before Christmas by Craig Dorfman: Ha! Made you look! I love this book, especially the beast Santa packing the zombie punch. However, if zombies aren't your thing, check out the classic The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore. 

 

What kind of lame countdown only has nine items? (Not counting that bonus book just now.) I watch Letterman, so here you go. A tenth tale - one for Christmas Day:

  • Luke 2: It's the story of the birth of Jesus. Even if you aren't Christian, if Santa came you should at least teach your children what other people believe. (Feel free to read Maccabees in the Apocrypha for the Jewish festival of the lights. I'm an equal opportunity celebrater and reader here. If you're a Festivus person, add me to your list of grievances for next year.)

 

Happy holidays, whatever you celebrate this month, and happy reading!

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