Sunday, November 13, 2011

Sunday Salon - A week off...sort of!

Around this time of year, I tend to feel like I blinked and lost a month or something because it always surprises me when Thanksgiving is almost here and Christmas is less than two months away. It sneaks up on me! I realized how close Christmas is when I watched a segment on the Today Show recently, about the tree - where it came from and how it was found - that will soon be put up in Rockefeller Center and lit on November 30th.


Macy's is unveiling their Christmas windows this Thursday the 17th!  Personally, I think Macy's should wait another week. I hate when retailers rush the season. I prefer to make December all about Christmas rather than starting all kinds of Christmas-related things in November or earlier. Of course Macys is trying to encourage people to come to the store in hopes they'll go inside and shop after viewing the decorated windows. I stay as far from the stores as possible in the weeks before Christmas - on-line and mail order shopping works just fine for me! I don't mind going to some stores to walk around and browse but I prefer not to be shopping for anything, it adds pressure and stress and the lines are so long! My favorite time to see the holiday-themestore windows in NYC is late at night: 9 or 10 p.m., even later if they're still lit up.  It's not crowded and for some reason it's more exciting, almost magical!


I didn't get a lot of reading done this week. Everyday it seemed like little things kept coming up that had to be taken care of...little things that take a lot of I had to work on, too. So I'm still reading The Lotus Reader by Tajana Soli. I could have rushed through it just to finish it but I decided I didn't want to do that because it's too good a book. I was only able to read a little bit of it this past week. I'm hoping this week I'll get a chance to sit down and really put some time into it! I'm really enjoying The Easter Parade by Richard Yates. His writing is phenomenal. It's one of those books that feels a little weird to say I'm enjoying it because it's not a happy book but it's so very good. I'm also reading Volt by Alan Heathcock. This book is a collection of short stories involving themes such as civilization vs. wilderness, grief, tragedy, remorse, law and lawlessness, forgiveness, judgment and loyalty. Some of the stories are intense and very emotional. They're all intriging so far.


This week I'm participating in Reclaim You Reader, an idea Molly of The Bumbles Blog came up with. Molly came up with this idea due to her frustration with not having the time to both write posts on her blog and visit other blogs to read the posts of other bloggers. This week is, therefore, dedicated to visiting other blogs and commenting on posts! I'm looking forward to the chance to catch up on many of the blogs that I don't often have the opportunity to read as often as I'd like! For all of you who entered The Winters in Bloom giveaway, I will be announcing the winners on Saturday the 19th!


Tonight the Jets are playing the New England Patriots...again. I'm hoping for a different outcome this game!


I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday and have a great week!
Happy Reading!

13 comments:

  1. I hate when retailers push the season too. We went to the mall yesterday and it was PACKED. My husband was looking for shoes and I was buying a baby gift, but I think most of the people there were Christmas shopping. We have really pared down our holiday spending, so it seems ridiculous to me.

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  2. The Macy's where I work has been in the swing of Christmas for the past few weeks now. They started butting up Christmas trees and selling ornaments within a week or two of Labor Day! The decorations around the rest of the store probably went up about two weeks ago and to be honest, I have to keep reminding myself that Christmas is not *that* close. I am constantly bombarded with Christmas so I start to think it's just days away!

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  3. I can't stand when stores (and people) rush Christmas to get here. AFTER THANKSGIVING people!!

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  4. I really can't start shopping for Xmas until after Thanksgiving. I just can't. It is enough that I get my cards out. Reclaim Your Reader Snuck up on me. I'm hoping I can get caught up on all that, as last week was a disaster for me. I always have hope for another week!

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  5. New York decorates for Christmas so beautifully. I haven't been there at Christmastime for a few years now, but when I have been, wow, can you feel the Christmas spirit ...

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  6. I also wish that Christmas decorations didn't go up so soon! It pushes me into anxiety when that happens and I see that I've got so much to do and not enough time to do it in! I hope you have a better reading week this week. I know what you mean about things coming in to steal your reading time!

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  7. When stores decorate for Christmas too early, everything is stale and worn looking when Christmas finally arrives. I prefer to put off all Christmas celebrating until the last couple of weeks before the big day.

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  8. Hi I am new follower to your blog. Lovely to read. I like Richard Yates' writing too.
    Lindsay
    http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.com/

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  9. I definitely agree with you about Richard Yates - his writing IS phenomenal. The Easter Parade will definitely be one f my favorites this year.

    As for the Christmas decorations, I wish they would hold off just a little longer. Hope you're having a good week, Amy.

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  10. I love this time of year, but yes, it is coming too fast! The snow we had a couple of weeks ago really pushed me past Halloween and into the Christmas spirit!

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  11. Add me to the list of those who hate to see the Christmas decorations go up right after Halloween :)

    Now that my daughter is in college, the holiday shopping thing has gotten much less intense for us, as even our extended family is small.

    Sounds like you are in the middle of quite a few good reads right now. I am envious of those who can read more than one book at a time successfully; it's something I just can't seem to manage. The most I can do is have one book I'm reading, and one that I'm listening to on my ipod.

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  12. I'm looking forward to your review of Soli's book. It's not a book to rush through, I agree.

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  13. It looks like you are reading some fantastic books!
    Not one of our many trips to NYC have we ever goine during the Christmas season. I would love to see the windows and the tree. One of these days we'll have to do it.

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