Book Review: Evergreen by Susan May Warren

Are you ready for books about Christmas yet?  Me neither, but I read Evergreen by Susan May Warren anyways.  I thought a nice,  romantic story about a couple of empty-nesters in love around the holidays would be a great book.  Let's just say I was a little disappointed.   

Ingrid and John Christianson have six grown children who have moved away from home.  (Apparently there is a whole series about them, which I have not read.)  John is excited to have his wife to himself again, and has saved enough extra money to take Ingrid on a trip to Europe over Christmas.  When he tells her, however, Ingrid is angry and quickly informs him that she doesn't want to go to Europe.  She instead wants John to use the money he saved to pay for a five thousand dollar surgery for the family dog.  Then Ingrid agrees to allow her sixteen-year-old nephew, Romeo, to come and  stay for a few months while his mom in is in court-ordered rehab.  John is less than thrilled over this prospect, while Ingrid thinks she can love Romeo enough to "fix him."  John and Ingrid very rarely communicate, and when they do, they do it badly.  Ingrid seems to be constantly angry at John, and he doesn't know why. 

Let me just cut to the chase and say that I disliked Ingrid's character from the very beginning.  She was such a bitter woman towards her husband, and didn't want to be alone with him.  She stamped out every effort he made to make peace with her and make her happy.  When Ingrid had a miscarriage after giving birth to six healthy children, she nearly died.  In  his panic at the thought of losing his wife, John made the decision not to have any more children.  Ingrid was angry at him for taking that chance away from her.  She had let this bitterness grow inside her for over sixteen  years!  This baffled me.  Maybe because I could never conceal feelings like that from my husband for more than a few days.  I found her behavior to be irrational.  And when she finally told John why she was angry, he took the blame!  That baffled me even more.   

I have read Susan May Warren's books before, and have liked them.  She is usually able to throw in some humor that makes her books very enjoyable.  While this story wasn't without it's humor--the fire at the living nativity comes to mind--the rest of the book really fell flat for me.  Maybe I would have liked it better if I had read the rest of the series.  Or maybe I would like it better if I was older and an empty-nester myself.  Either way, I didn't really enjoy this one.

Lyndsie 

I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.  All opinions are my own. 

I'm Thankful For...

I like to think that I'm thankful every day, but in reality, how long do I pause to thank God for things?  I'm glad we have this one special day set aside to say, "Thank you, Lord," for all that He's done for us.  The past couple years I've tried to make myself take a little time to list just a few of the things that I'm thankful for.  I want to go beyond the everyday things like food and clothes (although I am thankful for these things, too) and go a little deeper.  I want to share these things here as a public acknowledgement of how good God has been to me.  Yes, I thank GOD.  I truly feel sorry for people who celebrate Thanksgiving without giving thanks to the One who gives us all things.

 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights..." James 1:17

Some things that I have seen and experienced in the last few months have made me realize that I am extremely grateful for the way I was raised.  My family's situation wasn't ideal, but, looking back, I can see how things could have been so much different.  I'm thankful I was raised in a home with a father who said, "No," but only because he wanted what was best for me.  I'm glad he fought to keep me in a Christian school.  I'm thankful for that school and all the people who helped me to become the person I am today.  I'm thankful that we didn't have a television, and that I wasn't exposed to many things until I was an adult.  Some may see this as a hindrance in life and even resent their parents for it, but I am thankful for it. 
I'm thankful that I was raised to believe the Bible, to read it and memorize it.  I'm thankful I learned at a young age to believe that prayer works, and God can do anything.  I'm also glad I learned that just because God can, doesn't mean He always will, but we have to trust Him anyways.
I'm thankful for my brother and sister, and all the time we spent together.  Now that we're all grown and married, we don't get to be together very often. I remember the nights we would all gather on my bed in our pajamas before going to sleep, just to talk.  I remember the games we made up and played for hours.  We were truly each others' best friends.  I miss those days, and sometimes I wish I could go back to them again, so that I would realize how precious those times were.
I'm thankful for my husband who works hard for his little family.  I have loved him nearly from the moment I laid eyes on him, but I didn't realize how much until our son was born.  He loves our little boy so much.  It makes me so happy to see them together.  I'm thankful that he puts up with me and is always usually willing to take on the projects that I come up with for him.
I am so thankful for my son.  He is the joy of my life.  Nothing makes me happier than to see his little eyes light up when he sees me come into his room.  When he gurgles, when he coos and even when he poops, he is the cutest, best, most wonderful baby in the world, and I'm so thankful to be his mama.
I'm thankful for the life that I have now.  God has given me more than I could have ever hoped for.  Sometimes I'm tempted to complain about something I don't have, or feel that someone else has it better than me.  I find that I'm much happier when I stop looking at other people, and just see how far I've come.  I hope that I take time every day to be thankful for at least one thing, but for those days that I forget, I have this day.  I have this one day to think about it all, and say, "Thank you, God. For everything."

Happy Thanksgiving!
Lyndsie

Christmas Time IS Coming!!

Okay, so I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I'm so excited about Christmas!  I feel like it's so close that I'm almost out of time already!  When I was growing up, my dad refused to have any type of Christmas celebration until Thanksgiving was over.  Now, he's no Scrooge, but we didn't put up the tree or listen to Christmas music until November was almost over.  I've tried to continue this tradition since getting my own home, but I just can't help myself.  It's such a happy time of the year.  It's so short that I want to start celebrating as early as possible.  I'm not one of those people who can leave their tree up until after New Year's.  On December 26 (or very soon thereafter) I'm ready to take it down.  It has lost all of  its magic for me.  The lights don't shine as bright, and it just looks forlorn with no presents underneath.  Yes, for me Christmas is absolutely over at midnight on Christmas Day, so in order to celebrate the season of "peace on earth, good will to men" I need to start as early as possible.  I actually found myself listening to a Christmas CD in my car today, and checking to see if Sirius/XM Radio had put any of their Christmas channels on yet.  Sadly, they have not.
Don't get me wrong.  I love Thanksgiving.  I love the time spent with my family.  I LOVE to eat, so it's the perfect holiday for me.  Sometimes, though, Thanksgiving is just like a prelude to Christmas.  It's like the party that heralds the season.  When Thanksgiving ends life becomes a blur of parties, cookies, gifts, carols and lights. 
I'm already making lists--and checking them twice, of course--to plan what to buy for who, what kind of cookies to bake for my annual cookie party and what to put on the party menu for Billy's Sunday School class party.  I'm ready to put up the tree, set up the nativity and replace my everyday decorations with snowmen, angels and candles.  I feel like I'm already getting caught up in the whirlwind that is the Christmas season, but I love every minute of it.
This year has a new excitement as we pick out gifts to buy for Jaxon for his first Christmas.  I know that he won't remember it, or even understand what's happening, but I will, and I can't wait to share the whole experience with him.
Right now the leaves on the trees are bright orange, yellow and red, and they are beautiful.  Fall is my favorite season, so I can't wish it away.  I think my Christmas decorations would look a little out of place with all the pumpkins and mums still floating around the neighborhood.  As soon as those trees outside are bare, though,  I'm pulling out the evergreen, people!  Let's get this season rolling!