"Stuff"

January 6, 2007

Feast of the Three Kings. Little Christmas. When I was a kid the Christmas manger was much more prominent in my home than it has been as an adult. It had its own table and I can remember the figures so well. One of us always hid the baby Jesus until Christmas morning and the three kings started their trek across the living room from the opposite end of where the manger was set up. Someone always moved them a little each day until they arrived on January 6.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to and attended a "Ladies’ Brunch" at the home of one of Liz’s friends. She had a beautiful manger set and there were the wise men off by themselves on another table. I didn’t get a chance to talk to the hostess about it but found it amusing.
The Three Kings. The Three Wise Men. Strange. To use both words to mean the same men. Maybe everyone assumed that all kings were wise men? I wonder if there might have even been a woman in the trio. I doubt it as women still knew their place then.

The other day I heard Hillary and Obama and Romney referred to as "The Mod Squad"-the white dude, the black guy and the blonde.

The work on the sweaters is coming along. I started the sleeves last night but I think I have to tear out what I did and redo it today some time. I have been looking forward to the sleeves since I started as they look like the fun part.

I went to Border’s on Friday. Big mistake. Sort of like going to a yarn shop. I have always been a big reader and when Liz worked at Border’s I was surrounded by more and more books all the time. When she quit and moved on to a nicer job I was determined to read the books I had before I bought any new ones. I had made significant progress, was down to only 13 books on the "to read" shelf although I was reading two others simultaneously. But I was pretty good on Friday and only bought five and with a $25 gift certificate, my Border’s rewards card and a coupon I d/l from their site, I only spent $34 on five books. That is practically stealing them any more.
Speaking of books, Chris Matthews’ is coming along. I gave it one more day and I am still reading it but have to admit that it is going quite slowly and every single night I fall sound asleep reading it. The Great Lakes book hasn’t been picked up for a couple of days. It is really interesting once I get into it each time but I don’t find myself feeling like I can’t wait to read it.
Have to go to the library this week and pick up the book for our book chat. My sisters and nieces and I have been doing an online book chat for almost ten years now (yup, April of 1998). It is good fun as we are spread all over the country. About 5% of the time is spent chatting about the book and the rest of the time it is about everything else. It is fun to see how different everyone’s taste in reading is. I have read books I would never think of picking up and starting on my own. It is like so many other things in life, not trying something new is just so limiting.