and now for my final TRICK: A Tale of Two Christmases

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A Tale of Two Christmases

I know, it has been FOREVER since I've posted! We were so busy with the Hanou Christmas, Ev's birthday, our trip to Pennsylvania, Christmas and New Year's....that it is too much to write about everything. Here is the highlight reel....

Frank, Marsha, Great Grandpa, Sev, Colleen, and Uncle Tom all came to Colorado to celebrate an early Christmas. We were too busy having fun and forgot to take many pics. We had pretend Christmas eve at our house on Friday night and Holden enjoyed helping everyone open their presents!

On Sataurday we headed to the Botanic Gardens to enjoy the beautiful lights. It was super cold and super crowded. It was amazing. We even tried the 3-d glasses which turned all of the lights into tiny little snowmen! It was fun for for twenty minutes, then the kids freaked out and it wasn't so fun till we got back to Casey and Rob's for Oma's famous meatballs!

Then on Sunday, we pretended it was Christmas and watched football and ate chili at Courtney and Mike's. Holden was very proud to give Great Grandpa his present.

We TRIED to get a good family pic....

oh well

Since we had the date of our trip to Pennsylvania wrong (it's still up for debate as to who is at fault...) we got to attend Holden's Holiday program. She was front and center, singing so loud, and doing all the movements. Here is a clip for your enjoyment!

Then we headed to PA for another Christmas celebration with my family. We had 11 days to spend with tons of family and lots of my high school friends and their kids. Mostly we were REALLY excited to get our hands on my nephew, Blake.

He is scrumptious!

He is 9 months old now and Holden is completely enamored with him.

Ev was super excited for his new truck from Grandpa!

My Christmas eve cuties in their new Christmas PJ"s

Christmas morning brought lots of fun gifts including a Buzz Lightyear

And the "princess makeup" Holden has been asking Santa for for the last 3 months.

Even though he had a nap, Ev could not handle all of the Christmas excitement.

Here are ALL of the pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/KimHanou/20110101#

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Recent Reads

Honolulu by Alan Brennert- 4 Stars
A lovely tale told by a Korean woman who came to America as a "picture bride." We learn of her challenging and oppressive childhood in Korea, her journey away from all she knew, learning the new culture in Hawaii, escaping an abusive husband, becoming an entrepreneur, finding love, becoming a mother, and living a fulfilling life. I previously read Molokai by the same author and loved it, which is why I snatched this one up as soon as I heard of it. I think I enjoyed this one even more! The writing is smooth and easy, the tales are gripping, and the experiences are harrowing which keep you wanting more of this woman's incredible story.

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha- 2 1/2 stars
This book is a collection of vignettes celebrating the awesome things in life. The cold side of your pillow on a hot night, finding money in your coat pocket, popping bubble wrap, when cashiers open up a new line at the grocery store, and watching Price is Right when you were home sick from school. This guy also has a blog where people can submit more awesomness. It was fun to read, but not as great as I was hoping. I will probably read his blog though, because he is pretty witty and definitely made me chuckle and remember to appreciate the small things in life.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson- 3 stars
PAGE TURNER! I read this in 1 1/2 days. The story begins with a woman waking up in a bed, next to a man, in a house and she recognizes none of it. Over the next few minutes she learns that she has amnesia and every night when she goes to be she forgets most of her life. She begins working with a psychiatrist who convinces her to write in a journal, so she can reread it each morning and hopefully begin to build memories. The mysteries of how she ended up in this condition and her relationships with friends and loved ones kept me on the edge of my seat.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - 4 1/2 Stars
Another winner here folks. This book was AWESOME (and a bit shorter than Cutting for Stone). This was a new perspective on World War II for me. The story follows a boy growing up in a Chinese household in Seattle during the war. He befriends a Japanese girl, which is STRICTLY forbidden by his domineering and emotionless father. He realizes he is in love with her just as her family is removed to a Japanese Internment camp for the remainder of the war. The stay in touch through letters and his enormous risks to visit her . I don't want to give away any more, but you simply HAVE to read this book. The relationships between the children and their families and even the public during these war years was an interesting perspective for me. The twists and turns kept me up till midnight and the ending was wonderful!

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese- 5 Stars
Oh my! I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. It was long and delicious and I did not want it to end. The premise is a nun working at a clinic in Ethiopia dies while giving birth to twin boys. The story explores the people and relationships in these boys' lives through the eyes of Marion, one of the twins. He grows up in the clinic in Ethiopia with amazing adoptive parents who were friends with his parents and gives us a taste of the culture, food, and everyday life of an Ethiopian. He heads to America to pursue a medical career and his birth father. We read this for book club and had wonderful and rich discussions...I wish there was a part 2!

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton- 3 stars
This was pretty darn good. It took me about 100 pages to really get into it and the ending was a bit too quick, neat, and tidy. But not nearly as terrible as the ending of Handle with Care by Jodi Piccoult (I threw that book across the room and into a wall as I read the last word). I was hooked and couldn't stop myself once I was into it. It was a book club choice and there was more discussion than I remember in 3 years of book club. We were talking over each other and jumping into other conversations. I couldn't even keep up. This story centered around the lives of three sisters who grew up in a castle in England from World War II to the present. They had an eccentric family and extremely odd and famous author father. The mysteries weave through history and the walls of the castle, revealing themselves to the woman chosen to write a piece about the famed play written by the father. It was very good and I would highly recommend it.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A Tale of Two Christmases

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