Book Club

I have to do the book review this week. I am a little nervous... well, actually I am extremely nervous. I chose my favorite Christmas book: Secret Santa by Anne Osborn Poelman. It is a story that I read every year the weekend of Thanksgiving. It puts me in the "right" frame of mind for the holidays. It is just a lovely, lovely book.

I suppose the reason that I love it so, is because it reminds me of the times when Hombre and I had nothing, and I do mean nothing. It was when he was in Law school. I was given this book at Christmas with a $100.00. It just so happened that money was all the money that we had. Our Bishop had announced that there were some families struggling and he was asking for donations to help them out. Hombre told me that we were blessed, and we should give what we had left to those that were less fortunate. (Never did it occur to us that we were one of the ones the Bishop was talking about... but that is another story for another time.) I went to the Salvation Army and signed-up for their Adopt-A-Family Christmas program. And the $100.00 was what Hombre and I used to buy presents for his family and mine. That was all the money that we had. It was an emotionally painful time for us... and I don't ever want to forget it. It helps keep me grounded to what the real meaning of Christmas is about. It's not about presents or stuff... and all too often that is what the focus becomes. I read this book, every single year, to remember those feelings. I think all too often, when one is not on the end of generosity or kindness from others, one can easily forget that there ARE people out there that have less, or nothing at all. I don't ever want to forget. So, I read my book to remember.