It is a chance to recap the previous week, share news, showcase books and/or bookish things we have received, and tell about what is coming up on our blog in the next week. You can view the guidelines, HERE.
On MONDAY I added a third, and final, challenge; THE RE-READ CHALLENGE. You can see the books I hope to re-read: HERE.
I tell you how I was doing with MORE HAPPY THAN NOT and UNWIND, and recap my three challenges.
Wednesday's WEIRD WORD was...
Christmas Eve there was a special holiday edition of KOOKIES & MILK with Kaylee & Mommy on my Children's blog TICKLING DRAGONS.
I had a holiday post all ready to go for Christmas Eve on Thursday, but my son was really making things challenging for our family traditions, so I scrapped it. One thing I uphold on this blog is being honest in my posts, so I couldn't say we decorated our Yule branch on Monday while snacking on fruit and candied nuts, and listening to the soundtrack of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone... because we didn't. He never goes anywhere on Mondays, but for some reason this particular Monday, it was more important to hang with friends than family. I could not say we had our traditional Chinese take-out on Christmas Eve, and played Scrabble because my son was supposed to be picking up the take-out, and also gelato from my favorite Italian place (for Christmas dessert), while I was at the mall getting last minute odds and ends... and he didn't.
Christmas Day went well. We exchanged gifts and stockings, and had our traditional meal of lasagna, green salad with: apple slices, black olives and my house dressing, and breadsticks made from pizza dough. This year we were going to start a new tradition of getting handmade gelato from my favorite Italian restaurant for dessert because I don't feel like fussing with making a cheesecake anymore, but as you know we didn't have any, so I just made do with chocolate from my stocking.
I was in a fabulous mood because his gifts were very thoughtful...
Sebastian gave me THE ILLUSTRATED HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, stuffed my stocking full of all my favorite chocolates, got my fave blackcurrant tea, and handed me an IOU for a bottle of vodka. He also helped make the meal this year and did a few dishes before leaving for his friends' place.
So I started putting together a Boxing Day post for Saturday, in good spirits, and intended to finish it up on Saturday morning. However, when my son didn't bother to call and say he wasn't coming home, and his cell was beeping busy every time I called on Saturday, from about noon to six pm, and he didn't answer any of the Facebook PMs I sent; I deleted that happy post too. I thought he was dead somewhere. He finally called me at seven-ish and said he would be home in an hour and now it is after ten pm. *UPDATE: He rolled in around 1:00am.
Anyway... there was a full moon for Christmas, and there was NO snow here in Upstate New York. It was 67°F (20°C) Christmas Eve and 55°F (13°C) on Christmas Day. People were wearing shorts.
LAST YEAR
THIS YEAR
I took all of the Children's picture books out of my Goodreads challenge and went one below my goal of 104 books, but after finding a few books that I rated and hadn't put a finished date on, I went back up to 106. I just finished MORE HAPPY THAN NOT, so I would have been okay anyway. I still plan to get ILLUMINAE and INKED read before the first, so it looks like I will end up with 109.
Cait from PAPER FURY made it into THE FINALS for EPIC READ'S BOOK SHIMMY AWARDS for Best Book Nerd. Like I said last week, Cait is representing us all as traditional book bloggers because the others are all booktubers, so go vote for our comrade of the printed word: HERE!
And I have to include this ultra-impressive bookmas tree I found while looking for bookish holiday greeting images!
I might be joining a fourth 2016 reading challenge. Hehe. I know I said I was not, but I liked another one that Pili, over at IN LOVE WITH HANDMADE, joined for Netgalley and Edelweiss ARCs. If I do decide to join, that post will be up sometime next week.
TELL ME TUESDAY will be happening as usual.
I am still working on both the ROCK MY TBR CHALLENGE post and my END OF THE YEAR SURVEY, and they will be posted at some point next week, too, along with a review of my top book of the year on New Years Day (hint, it is not a YA).
Here's to a brilliant New Year. Have a wonderful last week of 2015!
Kids... I do hope you smacked Sebastian when he arrived so late and without warning! We offspring can be rather inconsiderate sometimes!
ReplyDeleteI do hope you'll join the NG & EW challenge LaLa! =D But even if you don't, the ladies at Read Sleep Repeat will be doing ARC April & ARC August again too!
Here it finally got cold for Xmas Eve and Xmas Day, no snow, but that's always a rarity here anyways!
For next year I'm gonna lower my GR challenge, instead of going for 200, I'll be aiming for 175...
He apologized, but he is really good at that after the fact. Ha ha. Yes! I plain to do at least ARC April because I have a ton of spring ARCs on my Kindle. Although I am hoping, like with this last summer, that I have zero ARCs on my pile for August. That was such a great feeling. I felt comfortable and not pressured with a Goodreads goal of two books a week, so I am going to stick with that for this year. 175 is still amazing, Pili!
DeleteWhat a fun post, and I love the Bookmas Tree. Thanks for sharing your fun and not so fun events....and have a great week. Here are
ReplyDeleteMY WEEKLY UPDATES
Thank-you. I guess in the end being thankful for any time with family is the way to think about it. :)
DeleteOh the delights of children! And they start out so darn cute, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-cookies-my-secret-santa-box.html
I know! I wishhe was still young enough to take away his privileges for a couple of weeks. Ha ha. :)
DeleteKids these days! That was very inconsiderate of Sebastian. Someone I went to high school with was found in a ditch somewhere by his parents. There are things that are privileges and can be taken away! Your GIFs were hilarious, especially the one for setting for stocking chocolate. I hope you have a great New Year!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think next year I'll go to one of my friend's homes on Christmas Day and let him feel abandoned. Ha!
DeleteI voted for Cait! I love her and her blog!
ReplyDeleteNew follower :)
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings Enter my 2nd Annual Blogoversary Giveaway
Yesssssss! Cait is such a sincere doll. I love her posts so much. Thanks for the follow, I will be returning the favor.:)
DeleteSounds like you had a good Christmas despite a few hickups. Kids can be so inconsiderate some times. I am not a huge HP fan but I really want that illustrated one. :) Hope you have a great New Year!!
ReplyDeleteStormi
Week in Review
You will love it, the images are marvelous. I might be able to hook my sister into reading the books by getting her the illustrated volumes as they come out. :)
DeleteOh how frustrating! Kids can absolutely drive you crazy. I hope you call in that IOU on that vodka very soon and that you didn't let him ruin your day too much. It does sound like you had a lovely Christmas so that's always wonderful. I'm trying to keep my head in the sand about reading challenges! There are so many fantastic ones and I'm trying to avoid them all for 2016 because I've done so bad at them the last few years. It's so tough! Have a great week and a happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThe only other challenge I did this year besides Goodreads was a Fairytale retelling challenge and I failed miserably with one book read! Ha ha. It was a really good book though. :)
DeleteI love your cat GIFs. They're hilarious! Sorry your holiday didn't go the way you planned. That's always a bummer. Hopefully your New Years will be better. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love that cat's moustache. I am wondering if he/she has any non-holiday gifs. :)
DeleteOh man I would have had my head handed to me on a platter if I'd done any if that! My grandmother can be a scary, scary woman, especially when it's around stressful times like Christmas! I'm sorry for all that though :(. Luckily it wasn't all bad, but hopefully this was a one time hiccup :). I love the sound of your Christmas traditions though! It's so interesting how everyone's traditions are different (and holy cow do yours sound delicious!). And congrats on the reading challenge! I didn't take the picture books out of my list this year :p but I think we probably read around the same amount of books so yay us!
ReplyDeleteYou always let people know you read children's books, too, but there was this blogger on Twitter yesterday bragging about reading 365 books; and I mean making a huge deal about it. I knew her blog mostly deals with Children's books, so I called her out on it and she was offended. She said the books read aren't a competition, and that is right, but she was making it a completion, so her argument was invalid. Ha ha! I am going to set the same goal as last year; two books a week. :)
DeleteKids, mine are still too young to go out and worry me but I would have been beside myself. But I was young once and priorities were different, I hope he gave you a huge apology!!!
ReplyDeleteChristmas never goes to plan in our house either, it was memorable though!
Have a great New year when it comes! (And thanks for putting on your side bar!!)
Yes! Bizarre Books is my favorite feature ever! And you are right, Christmas never really goes the way it is planned. Ha ha. :)
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