Odds & Ends On A Wednesday

While trolling through blogland earlier this week I stumbled on an event hosted by ReadingAdventures and The Written Word called Blog Advent Tour 2008. These two bloggers are recruiting like-minded people to post about Christmas ~ your favorite memory, what the holiday means to you, a funny story ~ anything Christmas related. Posts start up on December 1 and because I absolutely adore the holiday season, I threw my name into the ring and will now be hosting a Christmas-themed post on December 14th. Do I have any earthly clue what I'll be writing about? Absolutely not. But that's OK, I haven't started shopping yet either so it's fun to pack all the holiday goodies into a few insane weeks.

If you are a blogger too and have interest, head on over to either ReadingAdventures or The Written Word to sign up. I believe they have every day filled (Dec 1 - Dec 24) but they are more than willing to take on several each day. Already I have found a goldmine of interesting blogs just by looking at the scheduled bloggers.

Speaking of the holidays ... 

It seems as though each year the consumer Christmas season starts earlier and earlier (at least most retailers have the sense to wait until after Halloween!). In years past I've resented this tradition greatly. I mean, you have to wait until after Thanksgiving. I am still looking forward to pilgrims and huge feasts, not fat men in red outfits and candy canes. Yet this year, I have found myself drawn into the spirit much sooner than anticipated and it's not bugging me that much. Sure, when I heard Jingle Bells while picking out frozen pizzas at the grocery store this weekend, it was a touch odd. And the Salvation Army bell ringers at the mall weirded me out a lot (plus, call me a Bah Humbug but by the time Dec 24th rolls around I am out of change and the bells start to sound really obnoxious). BUT I did pick up an adorable "marshmallow" snowman at a local crafts store. I had to pick him as my favorite of three. SIGH. I should go back and get the other two. He might get lonely without his buddies.

All right then. Just one more Holiday related odd or end (I should have named this post Christmas Odds and Ends but I couldn't bring myself to do it). An effort has been started by My Friend Amy to save the publishing industry from certain economic doom during the holiday season. Books for the Holidays encourages all book lovers to buy only books this holiday season for those special people on your gift list. I love the idea and hope it actually generates an upturn in book buying but I have to admit, I wouldn't ever buy a book for someone like my brother-in-law for Christmas. He just isn't a reader. Nor is The Husband (though we did read the last Harry Potter book together). Still, I can name at least 7 people on my ever growing list of present needers for whom I could buy books. So, anyway, spread the word and spread the love, buy more books!

Here's the mission statement on the blog:

Our goal is to promote buying books as gifts for the holidays. We hope to share information about different genres and the book publishing industry, as well as help each other find books for even the most reluctant readers!

NaNo Word Count: 7,475