Daily Read #38: Santa's Bag of Books

Did you miss me? Probably the hustle and bustle of the holiday hasn't left you much time to visit as it hasn't left me much time to write. But never fear we'll both get caught up as there is much to say, good reads to be read and good deeds to be doned.

If you've been following us for long enough you'll know that we just completed our second Good Reads Mission. It's hard to say if we were even more successful the second time around. Giving the gift of sight is a pretty high bar, but I think we did quite admirable nonetheless.

As a recap, our mission was to raise money for books for families that are part of the Sub for Santa program. They might not be the most glamorous gift but you'd be hard pressed to convince me there was a better way for a Christmas present to have a lasting impact on a child than giving them a book. [If you have a real problem with the money going to something as 'boring' as books start your own blog next year maybe you could call it WiiWiiWii all the way home:]

So the grand total of money raised via good reads was:

........Drum Roll........

or if you are the little drummer boy:

pahrumpabumbum rumpabumbum

$345.91

That's a lot of books. Unless one of them is a first edition Great Expectations...but it's not.

Special thanks to all of our donors all of whom inspired me with their generosity. I know how quickly a budget can be maxed out this time of year and so for you to find a way to put any amount to this very worthwhile additional cause is commendable to say the least.

I hope you thought it was worth it.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on how and where the money went.

For now the plan is to surprise our families with bundles of books on the 28th of December. This was done strategically for a couple of reasons.

1. Any kid is going to think that a Nintendo DSi is better than Pippi Longstocking. But given a few days a second helping of Santa is going to pretty exciting.
2. Money goes further when it's not spent at the last minute. We've been able to expand the area we're spreading joy to by ordering the books on line and not trying to get them here before the 24th.
3. Santa has all year to get ready for the big day, I didn't realize how much time it takes to try and fill his shoes and we only had a week.
4. Other Countries don't try to cram Christmas into a single morning. Think Deutschland rumor has it they have 1st day of Christmas, 2nd day of Christmas and 3rd day of Christmas.
5. This will maximize the number of posts I can make without having to divulge further embarrassing stories of myself.

I'll keep you posted with prose and pics about the culmination of this very good deed. Also stay tuned in: Good Deed #3 is coming right up. As well as some backblogging for the daily reads missed while I was over the river and through the woods.

Merry Christmas Alles.

Daily Read #37: ReGifting of the Magi Part 4.

"Don't make any mistake, Jan," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a pawn or a trade or a barter that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."

White fingers, nimbly tore at the curling ribbon and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.

For there lay The BOSE noise cancelling headphones, that Jan had worshipped long in a Skymall catalogue. Beautiful headphones, with a soft cushioned around the earfit, in sleek black plastic and brushed aluminum side controls. They were expensive headphones, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the music player that should have employed the coveted peripheral was gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My discman will sound lovely with these, Juddie!"

And them Judson leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Judson had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly with her outstretched palm. The soft cowhide seemed to glow with the reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.

"Isn't it a dandy, Juddie? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to check your email a hundred times a day now. Give me your laptop. I want to see how it looks in it."

Instead of obeying, Judson tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

"Love," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the laptop to get the money to buy your headphones. And now suppose you turn Chopped on."

The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

Daily Read #37: ReGifting of the Magi Part 3.

At 7 o'clock dinner was microwaved and the TV was on with the DVR set and ready to watch Chopped.

Judson was nearly never late. Jan rested the calf hide brief case in her lap and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stairway down the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I haven’t gone nutty."

The door opened and Judson stepped in and closed it. He looked worn and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-six--and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new softshell and he was without gloves.

Judson stopped inside the door, ears pricked at the sound of Kenny G, which he generously tolerated through the month of December. His eyes flit between Jan, the pocket where the musicman once lived and the discman, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Jan wriggled off the table and went for him.

"Juddie, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had the old thing sold because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. I’ll live with out it; you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. I’ve still got the library on the computer I can burn to discs. Say `Merry Christmas!' Judson, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-- what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

"You've sold your iPod?" asked Judson, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.

"Took it off and sold it," said Jan. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my earbuds, ain't I?"

Judson looked about the room curiously. "You say your iPod is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

"You needn't look for it," said Jan. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the turns of my favorite playlist were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I push play on Chopped, Judson?"

Out of his trance Judson seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Love. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. One hundred eighty eight dollars a week or 23 billion a year--what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

Judson drew a package from his strikingly limp backpack and threw it upon the table.