Magic Room Review

This is a Blog Her Book Club paid review of The Magic Room by Jeffery Zaslow. The opinions expressed here, however, are mine.

After being married going on 8 years it seems like forever since I was submerged into the world of weddings. This book was a bit about stirring up emotion and memories of my own wedding planning experience. The author strings together several stories of brides coming to a famous small town bridal salon to find their perfect dress. We get to look back at what has brought them to this point, love stories intermingled with personal tragedies and loss. We grieve for some and cheer on others. Woven throughout is the story of the Becker Bridal salon itself, a thriving family owned business passed down generation to generation. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I appreciated the author's honest look at how our culture has changed and pressured young women over the last several years. The women of Becker's have seen this first hand in the shift in clientele and family dynamics. Entitled and self-centered brides have replaced gracious and respectful daughters. Self-sufficient women buying their own gowns come in with a train of bridesmaids instead of younger girls seeking just to please their mothers. There's something to be said for this perspective given shows like Bridezillas and Say Yes to the Dress on TV now. Some women are fooled into thinking this is the way we want our brides now. It's a one woman show instead of a family event. Of course, there are exceptions and it was really sweet to read such stories in this book. I was touched by the four sisters who took vows of purity despite their parents worry. Not an easy task in this world. My husband and I were abstinent until marriage, so naturally I connected with their 'old-fashioned' notions about romance and honoring God this way.

Pitfalls in the book were with pacing, it felt slow and repetitious at times. I think it could have been about 50 pages shorter and said the same things. Also, the author seemed to shy away from any bold statements he wanted to make. It felt a little like he built cases for a belief, but stopped just short of standing behind them in the end. This left me feeling like the stories lacked some punch and he lacked some conclusions personally.

All in all, a slow, but enjoyable read. It was nice to get back inside the head of a bride and revisit such a special time in my life.

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Christmas Highlights

1. Christmas Eve dinner at my mom's house. She caught Benny in the pantry eating dog treats. What's worse is that he didn't think they were gross and didn't want to spit them out. Such a strange kid. He got peanut butter in his stocking this year since he goes through about a jar a week. ;)


2. I just love this picture of Benny and my niece.


3. Gracie had a long talk with my aunt about Santa, Rudolph and Ernie the elf. It was fun to see her little brain working and explaining it all.


4. Cousins! One of my fav parts of the holidays is watching the cousins play together and make memories like I have of playing on Christmas Eve.


5. Driving home, looking for a sign of the sleigh. Gracie and Benny fell asleep pretty quickly, but Tate was soo excited. He kept his eyes on the sky and saw an airplane with just a blinking red light that he was sure was Rudolph. He was clapping his hands and saying "I think it's him!!" Then he was so worried we wouldn't get home in time to get in bed before Santa got to our house. I have such vivid memories of driving home from my Great Gma's on Christmas Eve's looking for the same thing, so it was fun to watch. When we got home he was the only one awake to put out cookies, milk and carrots. He carefully selected them all and
it was very sweet.

6. Santa Came!




Waking them up, Tate jumped out of bed and said he heard a 'ho ho ho' when he was sleeping. That excited everyone!
Gracie said the doll house wasn't the one she wanted, but after I showed her the lights turn on she changed her tune.

My favorite was when she opened the Cinderella doll I got her. She said "Wow! Thanks!" and kissed me on the cheek. Melt my heart.

7. Christmas day was filled with more family time and more gifts




All I really wanted for Christmas was for everyone to be healthy and happy, we got so much more and I feel very blessed!

Merry Christmas!

NoSpace

Kind.of.a.toddler.appocolypse.around.here.Benny.broke.the.space.bar.by.pouring.coke.on.it.

I.got.food.poisoning.or.the.flu.Thursday.night.and.they.all.have.had.a.cold/flu.since.then.
We.are.up.to.our.eyeballs.in.kleenex.and.dirty.laundry.

Yestersday.Tate.decided.he.can't.walk.We.honestly.can't.tell.if.the.kid.is.faking.or.not.Not.other.symptoms.just.won't.put.weight.on.his.leg.Called.the.nurse.and.we.are.giving.him.ib.profen.but.this.morning.he's.doing.the.same.ugh.

Benny.dunked.our.house.phone.in.the.bath.tub.

As.you.can.see.this.has.put.a.damper.on.our.weekend.and.my.ability.to.blog.
Merry.Christmas.

Gingerbread "House"

and I use the term house loosely. More like gingerbread "ghetto" or perhaps once was a lovely home before the riots.

This was our first attempt as a family, and perhaps should be our last for a few years.


Fun was had though, and that's the point, right?

Let's Not Lick People and Other Lectures I Hadn't Prepared

So I pick the kids up from day care yesterday and she stops me to say "Oh I've meaning to talk to you about a behavior we are having." I immediately glare at Benny, must be hitting the girls again, or no, maybe Gracie, Miss Bossy Pants is probably at it again.

Me: "Oh ok, what is it?"
Her: "Well Tate and Gracie have been licking the furniture and I've asked them repeatedly to stop..."
Me: "Wait, what?"
Her: "Yeah, they've been licking the tables, doors and walls. I've reminded them not to till I'm blue in the face..."
Me (I interrupt a lot): "They've done this more than once?!" *putting on my best teacher face* "You guys! That is SO GROSS! WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!"
Her: "Well I might as well tell you, today, I turned around and they were actually licking Aisha."
Me: "Her face?! The one whose been out sick with the cough and fever?!"
Her: "Yeah...so I just wanted to warn you they will probably get those germs."
Me: "Yeah, I would assume."
*HEAVY SIGH*

I assured her I would squelch the licking. On the way home I lectured, shamed, and bribed them into promising never to lick anything other than food again. Naturally, they had air tight logic. He did it because she did it. She did it because he was doing it. I wanted to tell them not to be a horrible twin cliche, but I'll save that for high school. instead I informed them they would probably get a cough and runny nose and a fever from licking the other girl. That seemed to spook them enough. Luckily, this season we also have the gift of threatening to call Santa.

At least Benny could loudly proclaim from the back seat, "I not lick the table, mama!"
Me: "Good job, Buddy"
Him: "Yeah! My a HERO!"

Still keeping those high standards around here.

Homemade Wrapping Paper

Ingredients:
3 restless on children on a freezing afternoon.
Several Large sheets of paper left over from one parent's art classes in college
3 trays of water colors and cups of water (also possible, in theory, to share)
3 or more large towels to protect carpet

This was easy to do, fun for the kids, and gives us something to do with the "priceless" artwork they create! I'm not ungrateful, I just only have so many refrigerator magnets.




Paint then let dry! Several lucky family members will receive gifts wrapped in one of a kind paper! Voila!