It's a Wonderful Life

It's great fun to watch holiday movies with family and friends this time of year.  What are some of your favorites?

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Holiday Wishes

In the movie and book, A Christmas Story, Ralphie dreams of getting a "Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time."





When I was about 8-years-old, I desperately wanted a tennis racket for Christmas.  My parents thought that I was too young and would never really use a tennis racket.  I was so sad because  I didn't think any gift-giving person in my family would respond to my tennis obsession---and so I made sure that Santa knew how much I wanted it.  To my delight, I DID receive a tennis racket for Christmas.  I would hit tennis balls against the side of our house for hours with that much-wanted racket.  As I got older, I played tennis every chance I got.  To this day, I love to play tennis and I obsessively watch tennis on television.


What is one of your happy memories of a gift given or received?

Giving

This past weekend the Atwood family went out to buy our Christmas tree.  (We always buy a tree that looks similar to the Charlie Brown Christmas tree).  We spent some time looking for the perfect tree and finally found it.   As we were waiting to pay for our tree, we began chatting with a family that was purchasing their tree ahead of us.  We joked with them and laughed.  The mom even made a wise crack about our tree and how it was kind of "funny looking."  We watched as this family with many children loaded their tree onto their suburban and left.  Then we loaded our tree onto our car and tied it down.  I handed Chelsea $60 and told her to pay for our tree.  She asked the person who owned the Christmas tree lot how much we owed for our tree.  He smiled and said that we didn't owe him anything.  He told us that the family before us had paid for our Christmas tree!  He had a big smile on his face and tears in his eyes.  I burst into tears and threw my arms around the poor Christmas tree lot owner.  He was a little bit stunned.  Then my girls gave the poor guy a hug too.  We left the Christmas tree lot with tears in our eyes after truly experiencing the "gift of giving!"

We are now trying to decide a fun way to share our experience by doing a "random act of kindness" for someone else.  Do you have any ideas of ways the Atwoods can "pay it forward" and help someone this Christmas season?

November Winners!

For the weeks of November 13th to November 27th, our Grand Prize Blog Winners are:
Dawn Ann 
Mary H.
They have each won a $50.00 gift card to iTunes that they can use to put educational apps on their iPads.  



Additional winners are:

Margo
Jill
Tamara
Marilyn
Janice

Watch for your prizes to arrive through district mail.

Thanks to all of you for your contributions to our Connect Collaborate Share Blog!

iPad Fun

What fun things have you done with your new iPads now that you've had them for a week? 

I've used my iPad to check my email while at the doctor's office, taken a picture of the snow at my house, played a few games, looked up a movie schedule for my daughter, read a library article, and loaded two fun spelling apps.

Feast

Feast is such a great word----a large, elaborately prepared meal.

In One is a Feast for Mouse by Judy Cox, the little mouse finds the leftovers of the Thanksgiving feast: one pea, one cranberry, one tiny bit of mashed potato, one tiny morsel of turkey----and he must figure out how to get his feast back to his mouse house.  (Jean Brown talked about this fun book in one of her comments).

What is your favorite part of your family's Thanksgiving feast? Who usually prepares this favorite part?  My favorite is the delicious dressing/stuffing that my mother prepares each year.  No one else in my family cares much for turkey dressing, but I love it!

Thanksgiving Books

When I was a librarian, it was always easy to find plenty of great Halloween books to read to students.  But I sometimes had a hard time finding fun Thanksgiving books.

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving books that you read with your classes?

Newbery and Caldecott 2013

The Newbery and Caldecott winners are always announced at the Midwinter ALA Conference in January.  Are there any books that you've read this year that you think might be contenders?

I read that the book, Green, by Laura Vacarro Seeger is being touted as a possible Caldecott winner.  Have you seen this lovely book?   

Donene's Birthday

Today is Donene's happy birthday!  Donene is such a creative librarian who always goes the extra mile.  She even dresses up like Harry Potter!

Janet's Birthday

Today is Janet Petersen's birthday!  She has had a difficult year with her knee and back surgeries.  We are certainly glad to have her back with us!  The students at Mountain View are glad, too!

Public Libraries

I am so excited that Farmington, Utah just opened a brand new public library! 

Our little community has needed a new library for such a long time.

I occasionally get to attend meetings at the Salt Lake Public Library.  I love this stunningly beautiful library!  I stopped and took this photo on my phone just a few weeks ago while I was attending a literacy meeting. 

How do you feel about our public libraries?   If you use one of our public libraries, which one is it and what services do you use?