A Year with C.S.Lewis

So I actually finished a day early. I’ve loved this book of daily quotes from the first page – Supposing we really found Him? My favorite lines from that first quote are “There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (‘Man’s search for God!’) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?”
Starting each day with a short quote to ponder from the writings of the great Christian theologian helped this year to stay on track for me. It was interesting how many of the subjects seemed to come up at times when I really needed them. Along with the quotes, dates of importance in Lewis’s life are notated with just a sentence or two. Following the notation about the death of his wife, Joy, the subject of grief comes up and I couldn’t help but wonder if he only had known that we can be with our loved ones forever after this life would his grief have been lessened. Spending this year encouraged me to pick up a new inspirational book for 2006 – A Lamp unto my Feet.

The Christmas Shoes

Another Christmas Book, this one based on the song. It's a quick easy read and a sappy book but it is another one that reminds people that family means more than money and time is more important than things. Relationships are based on trust not on trinkets and it pays to know what the other person equates with love. It's probably not what you think it is.

Santa's New Job by Michael McLelland

Do you think that Santa gets tired of people always asking for long lists of things? Do you think he ever thinks about quitting and choosing a different career? What kind of career do you think that Santa would pick as his mid-life crisis job change? Why do you think he would pick that job?

Thank goodness for people whose long lists don't contain anything for themselves... those are the people that make Santa happy that he's doing what he's doing.

Santa's New Job
(The illustrations are pretty amazing.)

Some Christmas Books that I enjoy every year...

The Fourth Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke
That Thine Alms may be in Secret by George Durrant
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The Night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore
The Polar Express by Chris Van Alsburg
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Christmas Oranges by Linda Bethers

Broken Dishes by Earlene Fowler

Continuing on the Benni Harper mystery series, Benni finds a body on a trail while helping a friend get her dude ranch started. Ford Hudson is back and still annoying Benni’s husband Gabe by hitting on her. This time though Benni admits that Hud is a distraction and a temptation but Gabe is still the number one man in her life. The mystery takes 2nd place to the interpersonal relationships in this book but it’s great to see Benni and Gabe develop into stronger characters.

Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Christmas

I had to get and read these books when I heard Caralyn and Mark Buehner on AM820 talking about the day that they came out in the yard and found that their snowman had moved across the yard and obtained a can of soup from somewhere. The incident stuck with them and the subject of what Snowmen do when its night and no one is looking stuck with them. Caralyn does the storylines and Mark illustrates the books. All of the illustrations are also picture searches. So the books are fun every time you look at them. The box set that the link takes you too contains both books.

Christmas Jars by Jason Wright

What if you could do something for Christmas that would keep Christmas in your heart all year long and would help teach charity and you wouldn’t miss the money each year?
Jason Wright wrote an intriguing Christmas mystery that has a great message and a great moral. You never know when what you do to help will end up helping you in the end.
I think I may start a Christmas Jar this year.

The Four Agreements

Okay, if you are into 1st peoples mysticism this book is for you. If you want a motivational book that will tell you the same thing in English instead of mysticism. Read Dr. Wayne Dyer's Gifts from Eykis or How to Be a No Limit Person. Same stuff, different packaging.
Another version would be some of the How to stop being a victim books.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

You’ll notice that I don’t read that much non-fiction. This one was a recommendation as the October book of the month from AM820. You would think as a CSI junkie I would read more crime stories too. However, in my industry, I get more details on horrific things than I care to remember and many are details I would love to forget ever learning. Larson does a wonderful job of tempering the horrid details by using the documents of the time which considered some readers to have “tender feelings” and reported accordingly. The information on the building and administration of the fair would seem boring if it hadn’t been interspersed with the details of the serial killer. At that time, the term psychopath was just being invented and the only serial killer of record was Jack the Ripper. It was hard to remember that this was a history and my husband was sure it was fiction. However, the sources are well documented and as a history it is interesting, intriguing and informative. I loved the history of Ferris’s wheel and the side marketing by Buffalo Bill. I didn’t realize that the mayor of Chicago had been assassinated during the 1893 World’s Fair. I wouldn’t have picked this on my own but I’m glad I read it.