Tonight I’m busy throwing stuff in my suitcase and getting ready for our flight to Germany. I’ve got my scarf, jacket and all sorts of warm clothes. The presents have been packed and now the most important part…. What to read on the plane? We are talking hours of reading time.

The pressure is on to find several books (in case one isn’t good or I finish one on the flight). I’ll take a mystery, maybe a classic and perhaps the latest in literary fiction. I’ve asked my husband if I can put some of my stuff in his suitcase. Little does he know it’s because I’m saving room in mine for the books I’m bound to find in Germany.

I’ll be back early January with tales of new bookstores found and adventures in Deutschland. Oh and pics too.

This holiday I wish you and your families mucho health, peace and happiness.

Today was a fabulous day at work. Why? My group spent all morning at a pre-school dedicated to teaching English and developing language skills for at-risk-children. After spending a month coordinating the event today the pay off was more than I could ever hope for.

Santa and his elves (I was one!) read stories, we sang Christmas carols and the children took pictures with Santa. Of course the best part was seeing their faces light up when they saw all the gift packages lined up waiting to be opened. They got everything from Barbies and Tonka trucks to sweatshirts and coats. And, every child got a book.

The kids were so sweet. Some of them presented us with artwork while others just ran up and gave us big hugs.

As we were leaving the teachers thanked us again for all we had done and reminded us that the kids are doing so well thanks to volunteers. People who donate their time reading to the children year-round. You know, that’s probably the best way this BookGirl can get her message across – that reading matters. So expect to hear more about this next year.

I did finish up In the Bleak Midwinter last night and it was worth losing a bit of sleep over. Granted this morning I was not a very happy camper when the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m.

Tonight I’ve started Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea by Thomas Cahill. I haven’t read any of his other books and might not have picked up this one if it wasn’t that it’s the January selection for one of my book groups. I enjoy history reads but this book just wasn’t at the top of my to-be-read list.

For some reason, I decided to see the reviews for it on Amazon.com. I typically don’t do that because you don’t know if people are going to spoil a book for you or overly-praise it. Either way ruining the reading experience. For me, reading the reviews after I’ve read the book and formed my own opinion works best.

But again, I was sort of looking at the reviews and it seemed that people were upset, not so much at his writing or research, but more about his constant bashing of the current government administration and devoting too many pages to ancient Greeks sexual behavior. I don’t know, but all of a sudden this book sounds a lot more interesting to me.