What I'm Reading: Christmas edition

Over the past couple of weeks we've had a recurring conversation in my family. As Caleb has started to work and has been buckling down these past few weeks at school, we've been talking about purpose and calling and work.

It's hard to know at the age of sixteen what you want to do with your life.

I'm almost 40 and I still struggle somedays.

I made the comment to him that we each have something that we are good at, and we should figure out our strengths and focus on them. It's important to work on our weaknesses and try to develop them, but we should also key in on strengths and capitalize on them.

Sometimes it's hard to know what we are good at.

Caleb really boosted my self-esteem when he said, "You're really good at reading."

And I am. I love to read...

Always have.

I think it can be a positive thing, but it can also be a negative coping strategy. I try to hide from my problems by getting lost in a story line.

I can also get lost in planning what I'm going to read.

I can lose hours at a time scrolling on Amazon...

There's two times a year that I can allow myself to do that.

One of them is when we go on vacation if we go to the beach.

The other is Christmas vacation.

I've always been the kind of reader who reads more than one book at a time. I read biographies and history books and books focusing on medical issues. I read literature and contemporary fiction. I'm always reading more than on Bible study at a time...

But in December, all those books go on pause, and I indulge...

in sappy Christmas stories. In advent books about the coming of the Messiah. In devotional books about how to not lose yourself in the rush of the holidays.

I'm not a Hallmark movie gal, but I sure am a sucker for a Christmas love story.

After all, Christmas miracles are all about happily ever afters, right?

What I'm reading now (Christmas wise):

1. Behold the Lamb of God- The True Tall Tell of the Coming of Christ- daily devotions that begin in the Old Testament and show the story of Christ throughout the Bible
2. Dearest Dorothy: Merry Everything- A charming series of books focused on aging Dorothy and her small-town host of friends. This is the 5th book in the series and I thoroughly enjoyed the first 4.
3. Christmas in Smallville- Another charming book set in small-town America.
4. 40 Days of Christmas- another devotional book
5. Unwrapping the Names of Jesus- a devotional book that focuses on the four weeks of Advent and brings out a different name of Jesus each day

I'd love to hear your Christmas reads!!