December Book Review

Four books for the busy month of December - not bad if I do say so myself! 

Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand - Another Christmas on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn reflecting on the past year as he writes a holiday letter to friends & family. Though the year has had its share of misfortune & worry, the Quinns have much to celebrate. Kelley, now single, at least is on better terms with his first wife Margaret, who is using her celebrity to lure customers to the inn in record numbers. Their son Kevin has a beautiful new baby, Genevieve, with the Inn's French housekeeper, Isabelle; and their daughter, Ava, is finally dating a nice guy - her devoted colleague, Scott.

Now the Quinns are looking forward to celebrating Genevieve's baptism, welcoming Isabelle to the family & enjoying the cheer of Nantucket's traditional Christmas Stroll. But just when a peaceful family gathering seems within reach, Kelley's estranged second wife, Mitzi, shows up on the island after souring on her relationship with the Inn's former Santa Claus. Soon Kelley isn't the only Quinn entertaining a surprise guest from Christmases past as loved old & new gather beneath the mistletoe. With jealousy, passion, & eggnog consumption at an all-time high, it's going to take a whole lot more than a Christmas miracle to get the Quinns - & the Inn - through the holidays intact.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐of five - I really enjoyed this second book in the series (there are four) - and while it was a lovely, fluffy holiday read - it was just that, a light little holiday read. I read it in about 72 hours and enjoyed it; I'll definitely finish the series. It was good and sweet - just not outstanding!

Three Holidays & A Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin & Marissa Stapley - As strangers & seatmates Maryam Aziz & Anna Gibson fly to Toronto over the holidays - Maryam to her sister's impromptu wedding, & Anna to meet her boyfriend's wealthy family for the first time - neither expect that severe turbulence will scare them into confessing their deepest hopes & fears to one another. At least they'll never see each other again. And the love of Maryam's life, Saif, wasn't sitting two rows behind them hearing it all. Oops. 

An emergency landing finds Anna, Saif, Maryam, & her sister's entire bridal party snowbound at the quirky Snow Falls Inn in a picture-perfect town, where fate has Anna's actor-crush filming a holiday romance. As Maryam finds the courage to open her heart to Saif, & Anna feels the magic of being snowbound with an unexpected new love - both women soon realize there's no place they'd rather be for the holidays.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - I will be the first person to tell you that I don't like Hallmark movies but this was almost like a Hallmark movie on the page, but with a better plot than most Hallmark movies have! The characters were delightful and I loved the way they incorporated three winter holidays into one book and tied all the characters together. Such a fun holiday read!

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney -  Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life. Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there... but his wife has disappeared. 

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can't sleep, and he can't write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible - a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. Wives think their husbands will change but they don't... husbands think their wives won't change but they do. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - This was a great read! It had some twists and turns I didn't expect, it was thrilling and a bit spooky... and it seems this author loves to use Scotland as the backdrop to her books, which I love! Definitely a great read if you like the thriller/suspense genre! 

Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks - Tanner Hughes was raised by his grandparents, following in his grandfather's military footsteps to become an Army Ranger. His whole life has been spent abroad, and he is the proverbial rolling stone ... happiest when off on his next adventure, zero desire to settle down. But when his grandmother passes away, her last words to him are: find where you belong. She also drops a bombshell, telling him the name of the father he never knew - and where he might be found.

Tanner is due at his next posting soon, but his curiosity is piqued, and he sets out for Asheboro, North Carolina to ask around. He's been in town less than twenty-four hours when he meets Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and single mom. They both feel an immediate connection; Tanner knows Kaitlyn has a story to tell and he wants to hear it. For Kaitlyn, Tanner is mysterious, exciting - and possibly leaving in just a few weeks. 

Meanwhile, nearby, eighty-three-year-old Jasper lives along in a cabin bordering on a national forest. With only his old dog Arlo for company, he lives quietly, haunted by a tragic accident that took place decades before. When he hears rumors that a white deer has been spotted in the forest - a creature of legend that inspired his father and grandfather - he becomes obsessed with protecting the deer from poachers. As these characters' fates orbit closer together, none of them is expecting a miracle ... but that may be exactly what is about to alter their futures forever. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five - Another great read by Nicholas Sparks! I wasn't sure how everything would tie together but in the end, it all did... and in a way that tugged at the heart strings, of course! Would it be Sparks if it didn't? I really enjoyed reading this and I'm so glad I squeezed it in at the end of the year!

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I can't believe another year of reading has come and gone! When all is said and done - I read sixty-three books this year, which smashed the goal I'd set for myself of reading fifty books! I'll have to come back here at some point and share favorites - but it's on to a new year and a new list of books to be read!

  “And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." Luke 2: 10-14

It's Christmas Eve Eve

Here we are - less than 48 hours away from Christmas - can you believe it? That means we are a little over a week away from a whole new year - whoa! You know what they say... time flies when you're having fun! And I have to say, the last week/weekend has been pretty fun!

Wednesday night was the Christmas Party with my ladies group from church - and we always have the best time! We went with a plaid theme this year, as you can likely tell! We had pizza and all sorts of Christmas-y treats and played games - I even won a game! It was a lovely time together and so much fun! And I think our plaids all looked lovely!

Friday evening, Ryan and I went to eat at a new favorite for us: Cider Press! It's close to our home and has some of the best food; it's truly delicious and we have yet to have a bad meal or bad service there! Ryan was thrilled when we arrived and the special for the evening was Prime Rib and then he saw they also had asparagus as the veggie of the day, so my hubby was a very happy man while eating his dinner! We crashed pretty early because we were up bright and early on Saturday to head to DC for the day - to do some Christmas things! 

We popped into the DC Holiday Market - which is filled with vendors selling all sorts of things; bath goods, jewelry, home furnishings, art, candy, tea, chocolate and so much more. They also have unique food stalls and musical performances throughout the day. It's a pretty neat market - but man, it gets crowded so quickly! It was a brisk day on Saturday and so after about an hour of perusing the market, we couldn't feel our fingers and toes and headed into Shake Shack for lunch! 

After a delicious lunch of shack burgers and fries, we popped by the Capitol long enough to grab some pictures in front of the Capitol Tree and then headed for the main event of the day - the Museum of the Bible for a Christmas program called Everlasting Light. The show starred Tasha Layton, Anthony Evans and the Indiana Wesleyan University Chorale - and of course, the museum was decorated beautifully!

The program was a combination of scripture readings that lead up and illustrate Jesus' birth, combined with songs that tie in/respond back to the scripture. At times, all of us in the audience were asked to stand and sing along with the chorale and featured singers - it was all so beautiful and wonderful! And man - Tasha Layton and Anthony Evans - they can sing like nobody's business! Wow!

The program was so lovely and the perfect thing to really put our hearts in the right place as the week of Christmas approached! The show lasted about two hours and when it was done, we took some time to peruse the Christmas Market and snap some pictures, before heading home in the very thick DC traffic. Ick! Gotta love that holiday rush!

We had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant in Haymarket called Guiseppe's - it was so tasty and the service was so quick; I was shocked! After a very good night's sleep on Saturday night, we headed to the Christmas service that our church was doing - it was an excellent service - and then made a last minute stop at Wal-Mart for some Christmas Eve and Christmas Day cooking items. I won't be stepping back into Wal-Mart between now and Christmas... because you know it will only get more nuts!

Sweet little Spook enjoyed some cozy time with me last night - he is not usually so snuggly and so I enjoyed soaking in his sleepy snuggles! I got especially tickled by his crossed feet, he is such a little oddball but goodness I love his little oddball self.

This morning the house was quiet, the tree was twinkling and my sister was one flight away from being at home for Christmas. I only have four hours of work today and then my Christmas vacation begins - I am off work through the 30th and looking forward to spending time with my wonderful husband, and our family. Cheers to the Christmas season as it unfolds!

The First Snowfall of the Winter

All things snowflakes - right? I cannot believe we are a week away from Christmas Eve! This past weekend was filled with plenty of Christmas festivities and the first snowfall of the Winter, which was lovely and thankfully didn't cause too much upheaval! Which sadly means that we didn't get a snow day, but that's okay - all in time, right? However, I'm getting a little ahead of myself! 

Friday at my office, the Admin Team had our Winter lunch (we cannot have a Christmas lunch due to religious reasons...) and we all made snowflakes, with varying degrees on skill, ha-ha! No one wanted to keep their snowflake but I asked for them and added them to my office to add some Winter cheer!

Friday was a pretty chill evening - we had pizza and watched the movie Carry On, a new movie on Netflix that was pretty good, if not the most Christmas-y! As you can see, Spook posed for a near perfect picture while we were all watching the movie (the cats didn't really watch - come on now). Saturday morning I somehow woke up before 6 AM and so I ended up watching the sunrise looking out the back doors into our backyard, curled up on the love sear while the cats played on the rug. 

I met my friend Jayne shortly after 9 AM to finish up some Christmas shopping and spend some time together! I managed to get the last few things I needed, and I even ran into Ryan in the Hallmark - talk about great minds think alike! After a little bit of chill time back at the house, I put on my new sequined dress (Belk - Buy One, Get Two Free) and green tights, to head out with Ryan to his office Christmas party at a nearby country club!

ACC usually has some pretty great Christmas parties; at least, the ones I've been to have been great! Last year we went bowling and this year, we had a great dinner and plenty of games that kept everyone cracking up! I missed the Christmas party for year one - they went axe throwing! Ryan and I clean up pretty well - don't you think?

One of the games that was played was the Saran Wrap game - where small prizes are wrapped into a Saran Wrap ball, that must be opened while wearing oven mitts and if the person to your right rolls a double, you have to pass the mitts and the ball along to the next person. Ryan ended up getting $25, a Chick Fil A gift card, small packets of Kleenex, chocolates, Starbursts, bath salts, and more stuff I don't remember! It was pretty hilarious to watch all his co-workers battling the saran wrap ball to get it open! And when the night was over, because of games and door prizes, we headed home $125 richer and Ryan won the centerpiece from our table too!

I had grand plans to sleep in on Sunday - but yet again, I woke up before 7 AM! Since we were both up early, we headed to the early service for church and then made a late breakfast stop at Waffle House before heading home! Shortly after we arrived home, the snow started in earnest and let me tell you - the cats were not sure what to think about the white stuff falling from the sky! Granted - that was when they weren't having a battle royale on my lap! Crazy nuts! 

See what I mean? One minute they were in my lap, throwing down, slapping each other and rustling around... the next minute, they'd hop down and run to the windows to check in on the white stuff falling from the sky! We did learn, once everything was covered and we attempted to open the door and show them the snow - they were terrified! They absolutely panicked when they thought we were going to take them out into the snow!

We got a nice little dusting of snow - when all was said and done we might have had about 2 inches? I'm not sure, but the ground was covered and everything was blanketed in white! It made for a really peaceful evening at home on Sunday evening! We watched football, had some delicious white chicken chili that had been simmering in the crockpot all day and we even walked to the mailboxes just to get out of the house and see some of the white world around us.

It was a great weekend - not too busy and filled with wonderful memories that were made! I cannot believe we are a week and a day away from Christmas and the upcoming weekend is the last weekend before Christmas! Y'all - it's the second to last weekend of the ENTIRE YEAR! Can you believe how quickly this year has gone by? I can't - but then again - I feel like I never can believe how fast time flies! Enjoy the rest of your week and be jolly, ha-ha!