2011's books

Most people know that I'm in a book club (I have been for over 2 years now), and as a result, I'm constantly getting asked for book recommendations. I decided to compile a list of books I've read (some with my book club, some without) over the past year. Here goes...

Treasuring God in Our Traditions,  Noel Piper

The New Dare to Discipline,  Dr. Dobson

*Gone With the Wind,  Margaret Mitchell

*The Story of the Trapp Family Singers,  Maria von Trapp

Stay Home, Stay Happy,  Rachel Campos-Duffy

Excuse Me, But I Was Next...,  Peggy Post

*Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul,  John Eldredge

*Bringing Up Girls,  Dr. Dobson

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,  Marc Weissbluth

*Room,  Emma Donoghue

Babywise 2,  Gary Ezzo

Summer and the City,  Candace Bushnell

What Southern Women Know,  Ronda Rich

*Pride and Prejudice,  Jane Austen

*Drowning Ruth,  Christina Schwarz

*Twilight,  Stephanie Meyer

*New Moon,  Stephanie Meyer

A Place of Yes,  Bethenny Frankel

Waiting for Daisy,  Peggy Orenstein

*Eclipse,  Stephanie Meyer

*Breaking Dawn,  Stephanie Meyer

*Freakonomics,  Steven Levitt

Bringing Up Boys,  Dr. Dobson

SuperFreakonomics,  Steven Levitt

*Before I Go to Sleep,  S.J. Watson

*The Hole in Our Gospel,  Richard Stearns

*A Christmas Carol,  Charles Dickens

On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise,  Gary Ezzo

Habits of a Child's Heart:,  Valerie Hess

Looking back over that list, I'm surprised and delighted! 29 books?! Man, I love to read! It's definitely my #1 hobby (as evidenced by the amount of time AND money I spend on it).

The books that stand out as being my top favorites from the year are "Treasuring God in Our Traditions," "The New Dare to Discipline," "Gone With the Wind," "Pride and Prejudice," "Waiting for Daisy," "Superfreakonomics," and "Before I Go to Sleep." I don't want to go into a review of each book on here because it would make the post much too long, but if you have any questions about any of the specific books listed above, feel free to ask and I'll tell you what I thought!

*=books I've read with my book club

The Spofford Christmas Season, 2011

Here is a selection of photos from our 2011 Christmas Season.

First up: pictures from our annual delivery of cookies to everyone on our street.

All the packages of cookies and stack of cards ready to deliver.

3/4s of the Delivery Team. ;-)

2nd: Our broken tree. And it's only 5 years old!

3rd: We went to see The Trains at Northpark. (We forgot the camera so all the photos are from my phone. Sorry for the poor quality!)

 4th: We got THE strangest card in the mail. From Atlanta to Chattanooga and ended up in Dallas. ???

5th: Christmas Eve. Presents Time as a family. This is after service and dinner with Nonnie and Gramps. His main gift is the wagon you see in some of the shots. It wasn't wrapped, so there aren't any pictures of him opening it.

He wasn't feeling very well, so this smile is a bit deceiving of his mood.

little drummer man

I can't remember, now, where Seth and I read this book for the first time, but we HAD to get it for him when we saw it for sale at Costco.

pop-up Noah's ark book

We read this story together right after opening gifts.

 6th: Christmas morning we go to Nonnie and Gramps'. Even Georgia comes with us!

I'm glad I got a smiling picture of him, but he was pretty much a disaster the rest of the day. Georgia is visible on the left side of this picture.

"Board books! My favorite! Thanks Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Spencer."

I think I was more in awe of that outfit than Seth was. And certainly more than Austin was. And I love that Nonnie and Gramps got him "L is for Lonestar." I'd already bought him "B is for Badger."

Little People, Noah's Ark

You know what they say about kids having more fun with the box the toy comes in? Well, does that count for the father and uncle of the gift receiver? ;-) Poor Austin...

Best picture of the whole day!

A Cherry Christmas

One block north of our house, you can find an amazing Christmas Light Show. It's free, all the lights are choreographed to music, and there are enough songs to last about 20 minutes. Come out, it's worth the drive, wherever you're coming from! And it starts once it's dark, so no need to keep the kids out past bedtime!!

Pet Supplies "Plus" WHAT!?

I THINK I finally got this video so that y'all can enjoy it. 

Go HERE.

The Elf, The Pickle, a Guess, and a ...

The first time I saw The Elf on the Shelf, I wanted it. Immediately. I mean, I REALLY wanted it. He's so cute. He's got such a great smile. I just want to cuddle him. And stare at him. I thought he'd make a great addition to our decor. And then I read the back of the box. The part where it tells you the whole point behind the elf sitting on a shelf. And I died a small death. Right there in the store. I obviously couldn't get it, now that I knew what he was all about. And yet my heart kept screaming "But he's so cute! I want him!" (I must have regressed to at least 2nd grade.)

Do you know about The Elf on the Shelf? The whole premise behind him is that he sits somewhere in your home during the day and then goes back to the North Pole to report back to Santa how you (or your children, really) behaved that day. The elf shows up somewhere else the next day (because you moved him after the kids went to bed) and this is 'proof' he left and came back. For some reason, he doesn't come back and sit in the same place again. He doesn't like sitting in the same place twice, I guess. And the kids get to go around looking for him each day. Doesn't that sound like fun? It does. But we don't celebrate Santa in the Spofford household. We celebrate Christ's Mass (aka Christmas). So, no Elves on Shelves in this house. (But he is super cute! For a fun read as well as some fun pictures of The Elf, see my friend Rosa's blog.)

Do you play The Elf on the Shelf in your home? Can you come up with a way we could play it without tying it to Santa?

And then there's Hide the Pickle. I love this idea. Seth and I have been doing it for years. There are many variations on the game (if you Google it, you will see what I mean), but this is what we have been doing: we hang the pickle on the tree at the beginning of the month and then take turns hiding and finding it up until Christmas. In doing some 'research' for this post, I found many, many different ways of changing up the game. When we have kids old enough to find it, we will probably incorporate it into our Christmas festivities differently than we do now. Maybe on Christmas morning.

Our Christmas morning is currently pretty light on activity because we've already opened presents the night before (we don't do Santa, remember). We get up, eat breakfast, and head to Seth's parents' house. This could be something we add to the list, giving a bit of cash to the person who finds it. Or that person gets to eat first. Or doesn't have to clean up dishes. Or something. (Having typed that, it seems fairly likely we'd have to give everyone something or the losing kids would have a bad start to Christmas day. Hmm... Plenty of time to figure that out.) Anyways, that could be something we do. Or, we could continue to hide/find each day like we do now. Or, we could do it during the Christmas Eve dinner, and have it be the winner that gets to start opening gifts first. 

Do you play Hide the Pickle? If so, how do you play your version of the game?

As I previously posted, we have an Advent Calendar that we began using this year. I LOVE it. It's another fun "game" you can play during this time of year and it actually centers on what this holiday is all about: God and His story. During dinner, we read the appointed scripture portion for the day, and then guess what the ornament might look like. The ornaments are all different representations of what was just read aloud and sometimes it's easy to guess what it'll be, but not always. It's a fun, quick way to make decorating that tree an activity (rather than simply pulling out the new one each day and hanging it) and helps to spur conversation about the scripture passage. Adding the guessing component has made it exciting too. There's something about the element of surprise, it makes it almost game-like. But a game that has real meaning. I imagine changing this too as our family changes over the years, perhaps giving each person one guess/night or maybe making it a competition somehow.

Do you use an Advent Calendar (one involving scripture/God/Jesus)? How does it work in your family?

I'm interested in what other families do around this time of year. My friend Beth recently posted this idea on her blog. I LOVE it. I think that when we have kids that can understand the concept of searching the house for hidden, wrapped books, I'll probably start doing this too! It seems like a fun, healthy, inexpensive activity. All it will cost is some time and some wrapping paper! She also posted this idea, and I loved it as well. We do currently do a Christmas Countdown Calendar, but the representation of it is much more boring/ugly than a fun paper chain like she did. It would also serve as some fun decoration for the mantle (until the chain is all used up, anyways). I think I'll do both of her ideas next year.

Do you have holiday season traditions/games that you're comfortable sharing with me? I'd love to add more to our list!