It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what I and the rest of the family have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing, and some weeks I share what I am listening to. This week I am a day late since Christmas was yesterday and I was too busy to finish the post, which I actually started Christmas Eve.

What’s Been Occurring

I rambled more about what happened last week in my blog post on Saturday. I included some photos of the kids playing in the snow we received and also shared about the arctic temps we received. You can find that post HERE.  

Today I will share that I’ve been in a cocoon of Christmas for the last two weeks and I really am not ready to crawl out of it. It’s been nice watching happy movies and reading fluffy Christmas books.

Yesterday, we visited my parents for Christmas. I only received a couple of gifts this year and that’s the way I wanted it because I was more excited for the children to receive gifts. I was especially excited because my son was receiving a bass guitar, which he’s been wanting to learn for a while now. I wanted to go back to bed after Little Miss woke us up early but I was too excited to see how The Boy would react to the gift, which we had stored at my parents.

I wasn’t sure he’d want me to share the video I recorded here on the blog, so I won’t, but his grin was huge. He was so excited to get home and try it out, but finally went upstairs at my parents’ and tried it, even without the amp. When we arrived home, he went straight upstairs and started practicing.

My dad joked that our neighbors won’t bring us Christmas cookies anymore because we gave The Boy this loud instrument. For now, though, the windows will be closed since it is so cold, so the guitar shouldn’t bother them.

The Husband did buy me the five-DVD set of the original Anne of Green Gables series by Sullivan Entertainment (the Canadian produced one from the 80s) but it hasn’t arrived yet. I am very excited to start watching it when it does since that movie series was part of my childhood.

What I/we’ve been Reading

This past weekend I finished Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon.

It reminded me I really like Jan Karon books but I also get a little annoyed by how she writes them in short bursts of information with tons of section breaks and quite a few points of view changes that sometimes make my head spin. I still enjoy the overall message of them, however, and will continue to read them as comfort reading.

Last week I started The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper Basham and am listening to it on Audible, which we have at a reduced monthly rate as part of a special deal, for four months. I am enjoying it so far. I’m only on Chapter 4 because every time I try to listen to it, I get interrupted or fall asleep (if I try to listen at night).

Quite frankly, I am overwhelmed with book choices right now. I truly feel like I have some form of ADHD because I can’t focus on one book at a time.

I am reading a book called A Mark of Grace by Kimberly Woodhouse right now because it releases next Tuesday (January 3).

I also got back into Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery, but then a Bookstagrammer I follow on Instagram invited readers to join her in reading The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery so I may try to tackle that this week instead. We will see how far I get. She actually suggested readers read it in a weekend. A weekend?! I’ve never read a book in a weekend.

I’m such a slow reader. My brain seems to dart away to other things I need to do. For example, I have blog posts to share or write and social media pages to maintain and homeschool lessons to plan and … blah, blah, blah.

This week I plan to listen to the chapters I assigned The Boy in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn last week for school. I’ll probably do that as soon as I finish this post.

In the new year, I have a whole list of books I hope to tackle, but I’ll ramble about that another day.

The Boy is not reading anything this week that I know of. He’s simply enjoying talking with friends online, making plans to meet them in person, and practicing on his new guitar.

Little Miss and I are reading Paddington At Large at night still and have taken a break on our book for school but may pick it up again this week.

The Husband is reading Game On by Janet Evanovich.

What We watched/are Watching

I watched quite a few movies last week, a few of them with family.

Two we finished up when we were interrupted watching them the week before. One of those was A Christmas Story Christmas, which was a sequel to a Christmas story. It had a slow start but got much better as it went on and we enjoyed it.

I also watched It Happened on Fifth Avenue, which I stumbled on on HBO Max (via our Roku) and The Husband said he had watched it before when he used to work a night shift as a switchboard operator at the local hospital.

It was very good. If you are interested here is the plot:

On Christmas, The Husband started Miracle on 34^th Street at our house and then we finished it later in the day at my parents.

We also watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas at my parents at my dad’s request, even though I had watched it earlier in the week.

On my own, I watched A Walton’s Christmas, which was actually the pilot for the television show. It was a very, very melodramatic and a bit over the top, much like the show could be at times, but still sweet. I don’t know if I’d necessarily watch it again.

I also watched A Little House on the Prairie Christmas special from season eight, which Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs recommended for me and I really enjoyed it. It was very wholesome and heartwarming. Each adult character shared a Christmas memory and Laura’s memory of Mr. Edwards bringing gifts to her family one Christmas when there was a blizzard was my favorite because it is a story that Laura shared in one of her books, which, if you remember, I read a couple of times to Little Miss last year.

On Christmas Eve we watched The Rankin/Bass claymation/animated special Santa Claus is Coming to Town (the one with Mickey Rooney and Fred Astaire) and then really got into the Christmas spirit by watching…. Top Gun Maverick.

What I’m Writing

I am writing nothing right now. Is that proper English. No, probably not, but I’ll roll with it.

I’m on a bit of a fiction writing hiatus after finishing up my Christmas novella, Beyond the Season (which incidentally is free on Amazon this week and via the link at the top of the page). Shores of Mercy is with advanced readers and my editor so I’ll be making corrections on that before long.

On the blog this week I shared:

• The Tussle
• Saturday Afternoon Tea and a Chat: Merry Christmas Eve
• Beyond the Season Available for Download
• Get in the spirit of Christmas: Five Christmas Music Specials, Five Christmas Songs, and Three Christmas-themed programs to help you do just that.
• ‘Book review, recommendation: Abiding in Him: A Life Together in Ministry by Bettie and Barry Gilbert

What I’m Listening To

Last week I listened to a ton of Christmas music. I am not currently listening to any specific music this week. I am, however, listening to audio versions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Mistletoe Countess this week.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I hope to share some of my favorite blog posts on this post each week. I’ve been saving posts to share for months but haven’t actually sat down and put them together in one post so I thought I’d share at least a few here today.

• Mama’s Empty Nest: Catch A Falling Star

• Fuel for the Race – What Child Is This?

• Jenny Knipfer, author — Drink And Be Satisifed. A Prayer and A Vision

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.