KDanae Reads

Tis the season for Christmas movies, music, decorations and books. Specifically for country Christmas music and Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Both of which filled my shift at work today. I work at a fitness gym and after getting my cleaning done I usually have a couple hours of reading time while I sit at the front desk. And so I turned on my country Christmas station on Pandora and sat down with Dickens. It was wonderful. Not to mention the fact that every time I looked out the window I felt like I was in a snow-globe. It was seriously wonderful. Now, after I finished Tolkien's The Silmarillion , I was at a complete loss as to what to read next. So I did the practical thing... I got on Facebook and asked everyone to pick a number between 1 and 4. Whichever number had the most votes would be the title I would read next. A Christmas Carol was number 4 and had the most votes. I had never read A Christmas Carol until today. Granted I knew the story from various Christmas movie...

I know that most people either gasp and hyper-ventilate, run in fear and agony or jump for joy at the thought of reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion. I know that most people have some very distinct opinions and thoughts on the book, as well as it's interpretation and importance in relation to the rest of his writings. I, on the other hand, don't fall into any of those categories of people. I just fall into the general category of Tolkien Lovers who read for the pure pleasure of his stories and characters. And that didn't change when I tackled and conquered The Silmarillion.  I had tried multiple times before to get through The Silmarillion.  However, this was the first time that I was actually able to finish it and follow it for that matter. As with everything I've read about and from Tolkien, I was amazed at his creativity, style, imagination and capability to transport his readers to a whole other world. The various dimensions and the levels of story that he inc...

I am in absolute awe at how fast this year has gone. I sit here by my fire that is now decorated with garland and lights and stockings. And I stare at my twinkling tree and wonder how can it already be December? How can it already be the beginning of the end of another year? I just want time to slow down a little bit. I don't want each day to go by faster than the day before. But yet, I don't have that super-power. So I guess I will just work even harder to enjoy every single minute by the fire with a book or at home on the couch with family or on a car ride with My Love. The last month has been full of travels, reading and illness. My Love was sick for a couple of weeks and then I got sick after him. Then we traveled to the far side of Missouri for a missions conference and then to Indiana for Thanksgiving. And in the middle of all of that we worked and I read a ton, as always.  The majority of what I read this last month was on adoption, foster care, and ministry to at-ri...