Carols about peace on earth and goodwill towards men still lingerng in the air, with the Christmas season not even over, our “Peace President” bombed Venezuela, reportedly killing both military personnel and civilians.
This morning, I downloaded a focusing app to help me avoid the news and social media for progressively longer periods of time each day and break my bad habit of checking my phone so often. (It’s only a 7-day free trial, which might not be long enough to break a habit and reduce stress, but maybe will give me a jumpstart so I can continue on my own or find another app.)
Current events keep intruding on my thoughts, though, despite my detox efforts! As we plan and pack for our 2026 cruise — the Caribbean in February – and 2027 European cruise – Athens to Venice, we know flights and cruises in the Caribbean are all currently canceled, and who even knows what travel from the U.S. to Europe will be like two years from now? As we celebrate the birth of our third grandchild, I’m worried for their parents as cost of living continues to rise with no relief in sight. Etc., etc.
Protests in the big cities this weekend revive my hope that change is coming in 2026. I just hope it’s not too late. Our local Indivisible group’s next protest against fascism (or, “authoritarianism”as I prefer to think of it, under the tutelage of Heather Cox Richardson) is planned for January 17th.
I’m really happy with my choice for First Book of the Year, and am already about halfway through Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger.
I shared this photo with Sheila at Book Journey for her 13th annual First Book of the Year photo collages, where I recognized a few familiar faces among the multitude of book bloggers, including Sue Jackson of Book by Book and our very own Sunday Salon host, Deb Nance of Readerbuzz.
Sheila’s chosen first book of 2026 was Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, which I had never heard of.
After reading Sheila’s post about it yesterday, I have it on my TBR list.
My Christmas Day bookish haul:
A nice mix of books and bookish games! Check out the Author Clock with a literary quote for every minute of the day, plus the box becomes a hiding spot for valuables that blends in with the books in your bookshelf! I’m going to bring it to my office at work, because that’s (unfortunately) where I end up spending most of my time.
I received two copies of Like Mother, Like Mother from my wish list, but otherwise, no duplicates. The two cozy mysteries were stocking stuffers and the two Caribbean mysteries are for cruise ship reading. (I had the same idea, and also gave my husband A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie, though a different edition with a different cover at least. haha). We can leave one of them in the ship’s library!
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner came from our family used book swap, which I was quite happy about, as it’s a contemporary classic which I’ve meant to read for a long time!
Batch Cocktails had been on my wish list for a few years, and since then several friends and family members have gone alcohol-free. Luckily, there is a section at the end of alcohol-free batch cocktails to try!
I got sick after our busy family Christmas, so I missed all the New Year’s parties and staying up till midnight, etc. Still spent most of today on the couch, but that’s better than the first few days spent entirely in bed! I’ll be heading back to work tomorrow.
Wishing everybody reading this a happy and healthy (as possible) New Year! (Still working on the whole positivity thing…)
Sunday Salon is to encourage conversations about books and book-ish things. The weekly link-up and Facebook group are hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz.