18 December 2020

Book Beginnings for Friday / #Friday56 / Five Things for Friday

Welcome to a very Friday Friday!

Today I'm joining in with RoseCityReader.com for Book Beginnings on Friday and FredasVoice.com for the Friday56. At the end of this post I'll share my Five Things for Friday.

The book I just started reading last night is my last holiday read. I found Dear Santa by Nancy Naigle in my pile of personal to-be-read books. My mom says we gifted it to her for a previous Christmas, and after she read it she passed it back to me. It sounds like a Hallmark movie in print form - yay!

Book Beginnings:
Dear Santa,
It's me, Chrissy, again. I'm still being good. I'm going to have a Christmas tree in my room. You can put my presents there so I don't have to wait until Daddy wakes up Christmas morning. He sleeps way too late. Be careful on the stairs.
                                                                    Chrissy

Each chapter starts out with a cute little letter from young Chrissy to Santa. Chrissy is the niece of the main character, Angela.

from Page 56:

A lump formed in his throat, and his mouth went dry as he noticed a woman standing near the edge of the sidewalk wearing a black sweater. She looked like...almost had the same coloring as...the womannn at the coffee shop. Her dark hair fell in waves past her shoulders.

 



Five Things for Friday
  1. Well. This week's big news is that the school superintendent has brought a new proposal to the school board. Essentially, when we return to classes in mid-January, everyone will have half-days (eliminating the need for mask removal and impossible-to-implement social distancing at lunch). Middle school and high school will only attend half of the students at a time (alternating days for everyone), and elementary kids will do their specials via zoom (so they don't have to walk around the building when they're there). During non-attending days and afternoons, they'll have remote/online stuff. 
  2. Which brings us around to the fact that kitchen jobs will probably be cut back again. While all buildings will be handing out lunch and breakfast for the next day to kids as they leave, that will never require 10 hours (in the elementary buildings, at least) to accomplish. This will also eliminate the staff associate position - these people previously supervised the lunch room, any classrooms where kids were eating lunch, and recess. There were seven staff associates per elementary building. Our district has six elementary schools. You can do the math. And that's just the elementaries. 
  3. But in brighter news - my holiday shopping is pretty much done. I'm still waiting on one box from Scholastic books, and a gift sent to me for a Secret Santa swap we're doing online on Sunday. I think it means I'm officially old since I'm excited to hang out in the party online, but don't 'need' a gift. I hope the person I sent to likes what I sent them! My package is just having Amazon issues. I get it. NBD - no big deal ;)
  4. My kids are so happy to have the next two weeks off!! Hubs also took vacation time for the entire holiday break. While I'm happy not having to report to hand out meals (I did a few shifts previously, but I'm just not scheduled on the two days or so they're handing out over break), I may be updating my resume and poking around at other options in case my job is one of the ones eliminated. Wish me luck!
  5. Don't tell anyone, but the snow does look kind of pretty as long as I don't need to go anywhere. And I will be braving the cold this afternoon to fill my bird-feeders. I love seeing happy birdies!



    10 comments:

    fredamans said...

    Sounds like a story that might get you choked up a couple of times! Happy weekend!

    Liz Parker said...

    I haven't left my house since Tuesday, for takeout, so the snow looks nice ... but today is TV Day (hopefully; rescheduled from yesterday) and I will have to drive in it, lol. I've been CRAVING some bubble tea, and since we'll be in Madison Heights anyways, I may stop by somewhere to pick some up.

    Laurel-Rain Snow said...

    Cute excerpts! Thanks for sharing, and here's mine: “DIRT”

    Ashley Sapp said...

    Great snippets. I love reading books like this during the holidays. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have an awesome weekend! :)

    Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

    Hi Becki,

    I am not really a 'seasonal' reader, so you will often find me reading Christmas books in the middle of summer, and vice versa. I really like those teaser extracts you shared, so of course I had to cheat and take a sneak peek at the premise. I am liking the sound of this one, so it will be heading for my list!

    I just can't bear to talk about anything else Covid, as the ineptitude of our government is driving me insane and making me so angry!

    Let's just say that we are having an isolated Christmas a deux, just to avoid any risks, so I am hoping that the TV comes up trumps (excuse the pun!)with some good programmes, or the 'scrabble' set is going to get dug out of the cupboard!

    Needless to say, I hope that your job is safe, or that the school can find some way to keep you on their books until this is all over. I am thinking of you!

    Thanks for sharing and Stay Safe :)

    Yvonne Xx

    Bonnie Jacobs said...

    Dear Santa sounds like a fun book. I'm going to go take a look for it right now. Thanks for visiting my blog.

    Yvonne said...

    This sounds wonderful! I do enjoy this author's books. Great choice for this time of year!

    Literary Feline said...

    I love that opening. It sounds like something my daughter would want to do. LOL Dear Santa sounds like something I would enjoy. I do enjoy those Hallmark movies. LOL

    I hope your job isn't one of the ones eliminated, but if it is, I hope you are able to find something else. I hope you all enjoy your break. My daughter is excited about the two week break too. I only have this week off, but have to work the second week. At least it will be a short week. My poor husband doesn't get any time off.

    I hope you have a great weekend.

    Lauren Stoolfire said...

    Sounds like a great seasonal read. Thanks for sharing!

    Cheryl said...

    Sorry to hear you might have to update your resume. I truly hope it doesn't come to that.

    Thanks for sharing this neat book. It sounds like a fun story.

    Hope you enjoyed your Secret Santa swap party tonight.