Friday in the Park – A Christmas Stroll Through the Blogosphere 12/23/11

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August McLaughlin, blogging, Christmas, Debra Kristi, Jessica O'Neal, Julie Hedlund, Louise Behiel, Mashup, Myndi Shafer, Static in the Airwaves, Susie Lindau, Tim L O'Brien, Tim O'Brien

As we near the big day I decided to move my Saturday post up a day.  So welcome to my Friday stroll through the park, a collection of blogs from the past week that created static in my airwaves.  My mashup is a buffet of sorts from some of the best blogs and most talented bloggers I follow.  In honor of the Christmas season the following blogs are all holiday theme oriented.

Are you looking to create the ultimate Christmas card to send to family and friends?  You will be amazed at the talents of Susie Lindau in her blog titled  Cutting Up at Christmas.

Searching for the holiday spirit?  Has the overcrowded malls, long lines, and full parking lots have you down?  Check our Louise Behiel’s blog this week  Christmas Music Past and Present.  After watching these videos you will have a smile on your face and regained your Christmas magic!

Are you lost in the commercialization of Christmas?  Have you forgotten the true meaning behind it all?  Leave it to Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas to remind us all in Myndi Shafer’s   The Reason We Celebrate.

Are you or someone close to you struggling to cope during the holidays? Read Debra Kristi’s excellent blog The Elephant in the Room: Dealing With Grief at the Holidays.

Do you still recall the magic of Christmas from your childhood?  Do those feeling come back to you year after year, or have you lost that Christmas feeling?  Check out Jessica O’Neal’s blog this week   Is Christmas Really Just Meant For Children?

Have you ever tried to rewrite a Christmas classic?  Well, that just what Julie Hedlund did!  To see what an amazing job she did, read her blog  ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: Holiday Contest

No holiday recap is complete without a great holiday baking recipe.  The multi talented writer and healthy baking blogger, August McLaughlin shares with us her delicious ideas in Cinnabon’s Healthy Cousins.

Happy Friday everyone and may the joys of this season find you and your family!

Reasons to Read – Your Childhood Favorite

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Bears on Hemlock Mountain, Blog, Children, childrens literature, Courage of Sarah Noble, Jon Scieszka, Julie Hedlund, Lost in a Drunken Banquet of Static, Tim L O'Brien

Time to play the Book that Made a Difference game.

Last Monday’s blog discussed the importance of parents reading to their children.  The blog was a reminder to us all – whether we are a mom, dad, aunt, uncle, brother, sister or grandparent – that it is our job collectively, and not the school systems, to get children to read.  I mentioned best-selling author James Paterson’s superb site: www.readkiddoread.com

Since last Monday’s blog, children’s book author, Julie Hedlund, brought another fantastic web site to my attention.  I mentioned the difficulties of trying to get my son interested in books, and she recommended Jon Scieszka’s site:  www.guysread.com.  The web site is a wonderful resource to use and is full of book titles, broken into many categories, such as Classics that Actually Hold Up; Mysterious Occurrences; Dragons and of course, Sports.

Through Julie’s fabulous blog site – Write Up My Life – I also discovered two other terrific sites to use:  www.bookdads.com and www.the childrensbookreview.com

While browsing through these websites, I thought back to the books I enjoyed reading as a child.  There is no way to remember everything our parents read to us, but one book in particular, truly stands out in my memory – The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesch.  Two of her works of historical fiction, The Courage of Sarah Noble (1954) and The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (1952) won Newberry honors.  I have since bought the book several more times and have read it to my children.  Despite its 1952 publishing date, the story still holds up well, and all my children have thoroughly enjoyed the tale.

Is there  a book from your childhood that you can pinpoint as pivotal to opening the gates of reading joy?  Have you passed that book on to your children, as well?  Was there a particular book that your children read that opened the flood gates and brought your child into the world of words?