Six Days To Year's End, The Guardians Rose

Two big presents for me on Christmas Day, I remember … our big celebration is Christmas Eve (which was Monday this year) when after five o'clock worship service we return to one family member's house, enjoy Christmas dinner, and unwrap presents. We were not quite as ceremonial as we have been in past years, after dinner at mine and Martha's house letting the youngest unwrap presents (who would have been our nephew Trevor at one and a half) followed by the next youngest (our son Jeffrey who's five) and the next youngest, etc.

Bayard, Louis. Mr. Timothy. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 2003. ISBN 0060534214 Tiny Tim from “A Christmas Carol” has grown up and in this novel set twenty-three years later investigates a string of murders in London's East End.

As our nephew Mathew handed out the presents at mine and Martha's house, the fourteen of us there were unwrapping gifts (persons fifteen and sixteen arrived later because for certain reasons two people can't be in the same room with each other) and while not blessed with a lot materially, we were blessed with each other and that was enough. Martha's oldest sister Malesa is the best cook and we each got a variety of homemade goodies, from Martha's mom I got this awesome flat board you can set on the arms of your easy chair and use as a desk, the kids got some do-it-yourself painting projects …

Gibson, John. The War On Christmas. New York: Penguin Group, 2005. ISBN 1595230165 Not only the religious meaning but the cultural definition of Christmas seems under threat – “seems” because I'm not convinced by one or two case studies – in U.S. States considered strongholds for the holyday.

I'd go on, but going on about Christmas no matter who does it or why sounds shamefully material. (And between paragraphs I'm citing books I've read as well as a blurb about them because my reading list is long.) Christmas Day after our nine o'clock service the family and I indulged our sense of the absurd – well, I think in a way it is – watching “Match Game” on the Game Show Network. Apparently that show has been on continuously for fifty years this year, and it's almost as funny to watch that, and the original “Press Your Luck”, “Card Sharks”, and “What's My Line?” for the fashions!

Sloan, Robin. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. ISBN 9780374214913 A laid-off Web page designer gets hired as the night shift clerk in the title bookstore and finds a lot more behind the old books than even modern technology can solve. Good for Val.

Upon finishing my latest novel (see above; writing a novel and finishing one – actually, several – DOES need to be a priority of mine next year) and after nodding off and on along with the kids and the spouse, we elected to take in the movie Rise of the Guardians, an awesome story that we didn't end up paying as much as we expected to go see. Though I was surprised that it takes the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the like one time they don't show up to convince kids to stop believing in them, according to the movie … but still see it, it's done great!

Stay awesome, David