Rosie, We only do crackers when with others over the holidays. Group parties before the actual day. I suspect that your dd will have a few tries over the coming years to be "properly" exposed. I wouldn't worry. Not sure if the article said but many people make their own crackers. Not sure what they do about the pop part. But those tend to be the ones with the really good stuff like Jenn's whistles. One of our friends makes his own, gives his main family gifts in the crackers at Christmas dinner every year. Probably wouldn't work well with our group. ;) I suspect most of us would prefer books to more jewellery (I have a few pieces that I love and tend to just wear those) which is what he seems to give all the women in his life. :lol: His gifts have to fit inside a paper roll which he finds a bit limiting but he started the tradition....

We just got home from the Bell Ringing Team's Christmas meal. They had their meal late in the season because of school. We had http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30576982crackers. Anyway each cracker contains a paper crown, a joke, and a small cracker jack type prize. I thought I would share my joke with you all...... What does a hedgehog eat for lunch? Just wait for it...... Prickled onions!!!!! Really bad jokes are traditional apparently. We had a lovely evening with nice people but so good to be home laying down. We finally bought a real dining room table that all four of us fit around comfortably and it was delivered today. This led to rearranging dd's room because the really small table is now her craft table. I started a new book called Blast From the Past by Ben Elton. I was doing a mass return of ebooks and decided to read a few pages of this before returning it and was hooked. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8831.Blast_from_the_Past.

one the discussion of the five best books.....I only allowed myself to pick from my five stars on Goodreads. I am sure you will be amazed to know I only gave roughly 10 percent of my books that rating. :lol: I reserved 5 stars for books that I felt achieved all the elements that the genre they represented really well. Because of those requirements a couple of chic lit romances even made it on. The next test was how memorable the story was.....chic lit has been basically forgotten. Anyway when I finished those tests I was literally left with my five and several of the books in my top five series. Someone mentioned Lost upthread....the dcs and I are currently watching the series. I watched occasional episodes back when it first was shown. I keep hoping to understand by watching it again, not sure it is ever going to happen. I finished the Christmas Blackshear family book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23303983-a-christmas-gone-perfectly-wrong yesterday. This one was free for kindles and PG rated. I also finished the first in a new Amish cozy series. Falling to Pieceshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10631698-falling-to-pieceswas an entertaining book. Light and fluffy.

:grouphug: Dh had that a few months ago. It was probably that most worried I have ever been about him. On the plus side no one else caught it so I will think positive thoughts that the lysol will work.

As of today I have read 311 books. I didn't have a specific goal and will finish a few more before year end. Favorite Books in 2015 Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett Tigerman by Nick Harkaway One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore Colorless Tsukuru by Murakami Since I read several series this year, my Five Favorite Series St. Cyr Series by CS Harris Julian Kestral by Kate Ross Giordiano Bruno by SJ Parris Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French Ruth Galloway by Elly Griffiths I visited at least 35 countries according to my rather poor records. I also completed at least 18 challenges. With book by location being my favorite. My least favorite book was A Reliable Wife By Robert Goolrick. Goals.....another day

I have a couple fluffy Cristmas themed books that I hope to read in the next couple days. We are taking the kids on a surprise outing tomorrow that should be great fun but we will be travelling for 6 hours. Lots of reading time. I finished my first Christmas book, Ho Ho Homicide. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/kaitlyn-dunnett/ho-ho-homicide.htmIt is the latest in a cozy series which I have read a few of. Not wonderful but in terms of an easy read it was fine.

I am so glad everyone's big kids are returning. Enjoy! :) As you all know I love my kindles. On my reader I notice little difference in the quality of my read except for positives......light weight chunksters, my binding isn't falling apart, and probably most important proper sized print! On my fire I tend to purposely read things I want to move quickly through. Fluffy, fun things or the latest in a series I wish I could make myself stop reading. Quick read to see what happens. The latest Alex Cross/ James Patterson was returned before I even could accomplish that--horrifying first few pages, could not stand it. No more Alex Cross for me! The fire is perfect for those.

I actually have it sitting in my stack. Would love to join you! :)

Stacia, Dd thinks your ds might like Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes better than the Erye Affair. Her only reason is she thinks her brother might not like the Eyre Affair but would like Nursery Crimes because he wouldn't like the Jane Eyre humour. Ds did just finish the Dirk Gentley books and liked them. He is a huge Hitchhiker's fan.

Congratulations!!!!!

Shukriyya, Congratulations on 52! Just finished Charlie Lovett's First Impressions and really enjoyed it. Definitely flowed far more smoothly than his Bookman's Tale did.

Nan, Back in August there was quite a conversation regarding what order to read Prachett's books in. I think Kim is the one that originally linked this charthttp://io9.com/how-to-read-terry-pratchetts-discworld-series-in-one-h-1567312812which dd is in love with. That week we had discovered that all the Discworld books were in our overdrive library. Dd has been happily working through the chart, rereading the couple that she had previously read. She recently told me she has read 20 so far..... Remember dd is definitely my daughter in terms of preferring books in order. ;) I don't think the chart is required but since it exists thought you might like!

Kareni, I can't find the thread you started regarding books for your dd so will just post here because I know you will see it. I just put in a request for the latest in this serieshttps://www.goodreads.com/series/51937-peter-grantwhich made me think of you. Not sure that they are exactly what you are looking for but I really like them!

I am still working on First Impressions by Charlie Lovett. Onceuponatime's post that I tried to quote and lost ??? Got me wondering if I should have read Mansfield Park first. I have never read it and didn't like the Billie Piper version on TV so don't even know the story! Anyway went hunting and learned that the Rev. Mansfield in this book is fictional. Enjoyed this article alsohttp://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/books/2014/11/06/writer-lovett-visits-asheville-first-impressions/18623699/. Finished knitting the baby gift this morning. Perfect timing because we are expecting word of the baby being born sometime soon!

Great news!

Since we seem to be stocking up for Christmas library closures and the conversation has definitely turned to Jane Austen I thought I would mention one of the books I am currently readinghttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6352576-first-impressions?ref=ru_lihp_up_rs_1_mclk-exp71cell165_exp69cell156-up2045307121First Impressions by Charlie Lovett. Some of you (Jenn, maybe Onceuponatime) read his Bookman's Tale earlier this year and the structure of this one is similar but I like it better so far. There are still two separate timelines but the story seems to be moving forward without flashbacks in both stories. One story takes place with Jane Austen as the main character, she is writing and revising with her friend Rev. Mansfield. The current storyline involves a really nice recent Oxford graduate who loves books and book collecting. I am only 10percent done so who knows how I will feel about it at the end! :lol:

I remember BBC4 doing Castle.....the sad thing is I think you told me! ;) Snort at your geography lesson. I think some upper and lower/ north and souths need to be added. Dh and I have lived in the same place for 7 years and spent 5 minutes trying to remember which nearby village beginning with Sta...... has free parking at the station per a friend. No not a memory loss issue we just don't use the train system much and tons of Sta places with common endings. The sad thing is we gave up, will catch the train from the mall if we go. So many unusual names to be confused with similar names that all go back to the Vikings, Saxons, and Romans.

Double post, Sorry!

I would go and did move away from my birth country with dh. My good friend moved lived in Seoul for several years and access to a Costco made her life much easier. It took over an hour to get there but she could get her basics for the kids. I just looked and there is one somewhere near Kobe. Get a card in the US before you go, cards are reciprocal worldwide. I use Costco here for things like proper peanut butter. Not so important now that everyone is totally adjusted foodwise but a lifesaver when the kids were little and only ate peanut butter sandwiches on picnics. As a side note my friend and her kids have been back in the US for a few years now. No one regrets the experience.

Thought some here might enjoy this article about the origins of Gothic Literature.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313775It is a quick one!

:grouphug:

Just a quick note before I start working on my knitting project. The baby will be born Tusday so I need to finish because tiny size. I hope everyone feels better soon. So glad Wee Girl is looking forward to her big sister coming home! I did finish another book that was well in progress.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12427899-return-to-grace. Return to Grace by Karen Harper, which is part of one of her Amish series. It was fine and I did enjoy it but she wrote an earlier Amish series which I loved that started withhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/373455.Dark_Road_Home.

This post is because some of you will probably enjoy learning about a British Christmas tradition that I have seen mentioned in a couple of Cozy Mysteries lately. Our Church is doing the community Christingle Service this afternoon. http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-you-can-do/fundraising-and-events/christingle/what-christingle. This service is really popular. For many this is the only service they attend during the year. Individual schools have been using our church this week having their own. Raises lots of money and kids love it. The songs are different. This is one we use http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-2/christingle%20hymn%20the%20christingle%20begins%20with%20an%20orange.htm

We have the same time difference issues. MIT is definately being used but we have also done some Coursera offerings. For instance Stanford is offering Cryptography 1 through Coursera in January. It is a challenging one that both dc's did a year ago. Dd is working her way through a Statistics book waiting for something interesting on Coursera. Ds is doing an MIT calc class.

I used multiple math curriculum from day 1 with both kids. We did the whole Singapore and Abeka sequences. I used a couple MCP books along the way. Many other curriculum s also. My experience was obviously with my dc's who both loved math and math games. Both preferred math to any other subject. Math was our fun stuff. With that in mind, multiple curricula was the way to go. My kids moved fast and I offered a variety each day. If they encountered something they found hard in one book I could set that book aside for a couple of weeks and bring it back out after another curriculum had introduced the topic in a more friendly to that child manner. Since they are close in age it was interesting to see what dd found difficult ds sailed through and vice versa. When they were little we never worked in one book for more than 15 minutes. They always worked in one of the books each day but frequently did a page in each. I would never force this on any child but for both of mine it was right. I just want to note both of my dc's are teens and are planning careers in math. I definitely did not kill their interest. I wouldn't require a strict timeline on these books as you go through them. You will likely finish the books at different times and introduce different books as needed. Flexibility is key.