More books -- someone (Mario? Carolyn? Jayna?) recommended News of the World and I put it on my wish list. I also asked for Gaiman's Instructions -- which I'd had briefly and given away. And I look forward to learning about Pratchett's Discworld from the beginning in The Color of Magic. Baby Signs was a gift to Josie's staff so I'll have a go at teaching the two of us some simple signing.
But all the post Christmas reading has been put on hold briefly. Yesterday John announced that it was going to be Very Cold by Saturday and, as the Christmas tree was blocking the heater in the living room, perhaps we ought to take it down rather than wait for my traditional New Year's Eve breaking up Christmas.
I always enjoy the leisurely putting away of the ornaments, taking time to remember the origin of each -- the little wooden angel the homeroom mothers gave us in 8th grade, the glass ornaments that were my mother's, the little porcelain bells from John's grandparents, the garish pink and blue ball that is the sole survivor of a set John sold my parents back in our senior year of high school. (One of those 'projects' undertaken by the service club he belonged to.) There are the ornaments we made for my grandparent's last tree, ornaments made by our boys and by other children's hands, ornaments that were special gifts, ornaments that remind me of those gone . . .
I lingered over one in particular this year -- made back when my Girl Scout troop personalized ornaments with glue and glitter -- a faded blue glass ball with straggling letters that say SKIP.
