Days of Christmas: Day 25

A very merry Christmas to you all!! So glad we can celebrate the Reason for the Season!

Days of Christmas: Day 24

After our Christmas service at church yesterday evening, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights! So fun!! I hope each of you is having a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Days of Christmas: Day 23

Reading by the Christmas tree. There's never enough time for one of my favorite Christmas pastimes.

Days of Christmas: Day 22

A handmade ornament that came in the mail! Thank you, Piper! I love it!! :)

Days of Christmas: Day 22

Presents under the tree!

Days of Christmas: Day 21

Christmas goodies!! Baked by my hubby! (Although I DID crush the candy...) ;)

Days of Christmas: Day 20

Well, I had a very busy day today!! So today's picture is from a few weeks ago - before we started Days of Christmas. The last Thursday in November, Mark and I enjoyed the local Christmas parade with our friends Andrew and Clara! Here we are after the official tree lighting! :) (Warning: very grainy cell phone pict to follow... sometimes the memories are more important than quality photos...) ;)

Days of Christmas: Day 19

Story time with Mr. Andrew. We had a Sunday School Christmas party at our house this evening. I'm just a little tired... ;) Mr. Andrew is a great storyteller... He read about Humphrey the Camel.

Feeding a bookworm: A Book list for tweens

As some of you know, I work part time at a local church library. I love recommending books to people, especially when they come back raving about how much they loved a book! :) I know it is just one week until Christmas (REALLY?? How did that happen!?) and some of you may be needing some last minute ideas for gifts. Might I recommend a good book? ;)

Several years ago, I did a blog post listing many of my favorite children's books. However, after looking back at the list, I really don't have a lot of options listed. I've had different people ask about some good books for their kids that they can't keep supplied with books! The kids just read way too fast! A few weeks ago, my sister asked if I could recommend some books for a friend of ours... so Nancy, this list was started with you in mind, but I have expanded it from there. (Hopefully many of these books will be available in your city library, since it sounds like keeping your reader supplied could be a budget breaker!) :) 

There are so many books coming out all the time - in the Christian publishing industry as well as mainstream market. But there are so many good "classics" that aren’t necessarily “mainstream” at the moment. Although I started this list with a preteen girl in mind, many of these books would be just as fun for boys.

I'll start with the ones that I feel would appeal to boys and girls.

Homer Price

• Caddie Woodlawn – Carol Ryrie Brink (Magical Melons is the sequel) 
• The Railway Children – E. Nesbit 
• Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lingren 
• The Peterkin Papers – Lucrecia Hale 
• Homer Price – Robert McCloskey (and Centerburg Tales) Hilarious Books!! 
• The Bronze Bow – Elizabeth George Spear 
• Strawberry Girl - Lois Lenski (She wrote many books about girls from different regions, unfortunately, they have become hard to find. This one is fairly common.) 

 A few books that would more likely appeal to girls:

Betsy, Tacy and Tib

• Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. (The series starts when the girls are 5 and go through the first year of Betsy’s marriage. I've read several of them many times over.) 
• The Pollyanna books – Eleanor Porter (There are several in the series.) Eleanor Porter has written several books, I remember enjoying some of her others, but I don’t remember what age they are geared to. 
• Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lingren 
• What Katy Did – Susan Coolidge (I haven't actually read these yet, but they are favorites of several people.) :) 

Some more "boyish" books:

• The Kingdom Series and the Knights of Arrethtrae Series by Chuck Black. You may remember that I reviewed one of his books a while back and I was very impressed! His books the whole family would enjoy! 
• Rifles for Waite – Harold Keith 
• Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes

 I will say, on all of these books, the enjoyment of them depends on the reading level of the child. And while I feel all these books are excellent, it has been a while since I read some of them. So don't just take my word on them, if you have any questions be sure and check them out yourself before giving them to your child. :)


Also, a couple of words of caution that I give to many mothers of preteen girls: First off, while I loved the American Girls series when I was young (my favorite was Samantha!), be careful when you get outside the main historical series - such as "Meet _____." In some of their other series, I have run into language issues (as in words we don't feel comfortable using), some PG rated content, and even tarot cards. I have written to the company personally to voice my concerns so I have no reservations sharing my concerns with you here.
Also, there is an author in the Christian fiction genre - she writes for children, teens as well as adults - that I have had some major concerns about. In fact, at one point we removed all of her teen books as well as an adult series from our library. It just shows that even in with "Christian" publisher one must use caution, as I'm sure many of you moms already know.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my little list. Maybe it's been an inspiration anyway. :) OR maybe you have some favorites I forgot to add?

Days of Christmas: Day 18

Just some favorite music! What's on you list to listen to each year?

Days of Christmas: Day 17

Wrapping presents with my sis! So glad to have her back from college!!

Days of Christmas: Day 16

Church Christmas program! The kids did so good!!!

Days of Christmas: Day 15

Christmas fudge! Yummy!!!

Days of Christmas: Day 14 and Finished Object Friday

I finished the Christmas star ornament!! :) It was a very quick knit.... you, know... when I actually took the time to do it! :) I used this pattern, and only went to row 9 - I think... after a year of resting, I wasn't sure WHAT row I was on! :) But I'm really glad I stopped when I did, because it was quite big enough already.

I wasn't sure about the "stiffening." I've never used that much starch before, but it turned out really cute!! Hmmm... maybe I should make more of these! ;) I did use some pins to block it nicely. (Instead of just doing it by hand. The yarn has a little sparkle to it... it shows up a little better in the picture below:

Ok, it's your turn! Any little holiday projects that you have been working on??

Days of Christmas: Day 13

Loving my Christmas cards!!!

Days of Christmas: Day 12

Just a little bit of Christmas knitting!! I've hardly knitted at all recently. When I picked it up this evening, it felt so relaxing! I wondered what was keeping me from it?? :) This is a little project I started last year (see, I told you I haven't been knitting much!). It is a small star ornament for an aunt that hosts a family dinner every year. Shhhh... Don't spoil the surprise! (Hmmm... I don't THINK she reads my blog....) ;)

Days of Christmas: Day 11

Our newest Christmas ornament - bought this summer on our trip.

Days of Christmas: Day 10

Christmas in my kitchen!

Days of Christmas: Day 9

A little late... But still blog worthy. ;)

Days of Christmas: Day 8

The tree - the official picture!

Days of Christmas: Day 7

Christmas concert!

Days of Christmas: Day 6

This is not the recommended method of tree decorating. Thankfully the tree is now safely decorated. :)

Days of Christmas: Day 5

Christmas program practice: behind the scenes.

Days of Christmas: Day 4

After reading about how "Ma" fixed Laura, Mary and their cousins pancake men for Christmas breakfast, Hope and I decided we wanted pancakes! She thought the men needed buttons, so we added blueberries! Yummy! So glad she could come visit me for a little while! :)

Days of Christmas: Day 3

Pinterest-y treats!

Days of Christmas: Day 2

Some Christmas-y snuggles with my friend's youngest little one. She is growing fast!! :) (This was taken at our Church Christmas dinner and party yesterday).

Days of Christmas: Day 1

Happy December!! I am excited to join in Melissa's Days of Christmas again this year! And I do intend to enjoy this Christmas season to the fullest! It helps so much to have dear friends in each of you! Your support means so much.

I am going to try something a little different with my Days of Christmas posts this year. Since I use my phone so much for pictures, I am going to be trying out mobile blogging for some of my posts. :)

Without further ado, here is a picture I took yesterday. Have you fed the kettle yet this year? :)