Happy Christmas!!

Happy Christmas girlies!  Here's our family Christmas picture at the beach--it was kinda cold that day, but we had a blast anyway.

Hope you have a great holiday season!  We miss you and love you!

Any New Books?

Hey Guys,

Just wondering if you all had any new books in mind?  My book club down here is reading "Pride & Prejudice" for December and January.  I'm down for combining clubs, but it's really up to you guys since I chose the last one.  Let me know!

And I'm totally sad that I'll be missing the Christmas party this year.  Dang.  Thanks for keeping me in the loop and have a Happy Christmas.   

Dan Fairbanks

So have I kept you all on edge enough? Ha! Ha! His name is Dan and he is wonderful and I love him! I hope you all can meet him sometime soon! He is in my ward and actually just lives a street away. I'm friends with his sister and brother and that is how we met essentially. We've been hanging out since May but dating since Sept. - it took some time for me to figure it out. Anyway, he really is great and treats me like a queen! Yippee for me!!! Thanks for being interested and Jess I too love the fall colors in the picture! Jess, remember that one time we dressed up and went down to the movie theater with that one guy that we used to hang out with? Anyway, random sorry!!

Oh ya, I finished this book too

Almost forgot I finished this book. I've moved on to more entertaining things (just finished Redbird Christmas and am now reading Seabiscuit thanks to Nellie's Goodreads, oh and I read Christmas Jars). However, I do think Great Expectations was good for me even though I hated it and will not read it again! If I don't hate a book at least during part of the plot, it probably isn't very engaging. Same goes for movies.

I reiterate that I love Joe. If we could all be kind and faithful and unoffended. I too am so happy for Bitty and Joe, Pip certainly didn't deserve her. I am glad that Pip learned his lesson, though, and that his relationship with Magwich brightened. I was sick for him when Magwich first showed up, even though he deserved whatever came to him at the time.

I don't think Estella deserved such treatment, since no woman does, but she did have it coming.

Miss Havishem (sp?) deserved what she got. Can you believe she was mad that Estella didn't love her?

That's all the additional time I'll devote to this book. Sorry your CD's were lame Lindsey!!

Finally Done!!!

Okay friends, I have finally finished Great Expectations. I had to break down and listen to it on CD because I just couldn't finish it. I really have mixed feelings about the book and the story and how it ends. In general I like the story and if any of you have read The Alchemist, it reminded me of that in the sense that he left in search for something only to find that what was truely important (his treasure) was in the place that he had left from. I love that Joe was so constant and faithful to him, even though Pip despised him at some points in his life.

To me it doesn't seem like Pip and Estella end up together, but that they both end up in situations much lower than their "Great Expectations", which I guess is the irony of the story. I was glad to see that both of them had been humbled and realized what were the really important things in life - family, love, truth and relationships.

I was a little bugged, the CDs that I had from the library were extremely scratched up and so I had to skip through tons of the story and got lost in a few parts. I was saddened at the death of Magwitch, he seemed to have softened so much and changed and I love how much Pip ended up loving Magwitch. I was happy that Magwitch "got the best" of his betrayer, that is cruel and gruesome, but that is how I feel. In general, I think that everyone kind of "got" what they deserved in the end, especially Joe and Biddy - I was so happy for them!!!

Anyway, I guess I liked the book for the most part and now that I am analyzing it more the ending seems suitable for the story.

I hope you all are doing well. I am reading the book "Star Girl" if you are interested in reading that. I want this to be a more regular thing, but I know everyone is super busy - including myself. Here is a picture of what keeps me most busy:

I'm Finished!!

Great Expectations is now finally off of my nightstand and on to the bookshelf where it will stay for a while! I'm moving on to read a book called "Reading Lolita in Tehran", so I'll update you all on that later. Before I leave this book behind, I want to share some of my thoughts on it.

The title, "Great Expectations" has a double meaning for me: First the "Expectation" part means that Pip had some money given to him that raised his social status, but took him out of his home and made him question and resent where he came from and feel disgusted at the 'expectations' of country folk. Secondly, through the loss of the money and the revelation of the benefactor, it reveals Pip's changed character: he finally learns how to love and be grateful. And that is where the "Great" part comes in. To be truly loving and grateful to others usually takes going through a hardship, as in Pip's case with losing the money, having to hide Magwitch, and coming down with a horrible illness. He was humbled and then realized how much he had to be grateful for. That can only lead to loving others more sincerely. That is the most important thing any person can do.

Pip says: "For now my repugnance to him had all melted away, and inthe hunted wounded shackled creature who held my hand in his, I only saw a man who had meant to be my benefactor, and who had felt affectionately, gratefully, and generously, towards me with great constance through a series of years. I only saw in him a much better man than I had been to Joe."

Magwitch was a convict, and totally despisable to Pip, yet in this moment of clarity, Pip sees another side, maybe even a truer side to his benefactor than he once did. As with Pip, so can I see the good in other people, see their good intentions and their good hearts. That's what Christ taught when he said to love one another--see the goodness in them, even when there may be little evidence to support it.

Near the end of the book, Pip says that "I sold all I had, and put aside as much as I could..." To me, this is a reference to the parable of the pearl of great price in the New Testament-the merchant sold all he had to buy the one pearl because it was of so much worth to him. It was priceless--as are Pip's life lessons.

Estella seems to have learned similar lessons through her own choices. She says to Pip, "I have been bent and broken but - I hope - into a better shape." Isn't it true, that with all of life's experiences, we are usually 'bent', 'broken', or reshaped into something better, something more able to love sincerely? Well we hope to be anyway. And with a sincere heart and a desire to be more loving to others, I believe we will be better after all is said and done.

Pip and Estella: The last line of the book says that Pip "saw no shadow of another parting from her." At first I thought it was stupid how Pip ended up being with Estella, but after a few days of reflecting, I think it is great that life led them to be in that spot together, both humbled and matured and wiling to love each other like they deserved. It is redeeming that love finally conquered the past for Pip and that she now is able to love him in return. I think the love they have for eachother is deeper than they would have had at the beginning of the story, and it took them both going through what they did to end up together.

The 'expectations' for both characters was not what they thought in the beginning, and turned out to be the better for both Pip and Estella. As it usually is for me as well.

Waiting for something to happen . . .

I am about half way through the book (had to finish Harry Potter first). I am listening to it on tape, otherwise I think it is moving too slowly for me to stay with it (the beauty of books on tape). I have been curious to see how the criminal experience at the beginning fits in, why did Dickens start the novel this way? Is the specific criminal going to play a role, or will experience affect Pip in his future environment.

I love Jo (no idea if that is how his name is spelled, but he does says "JO Jo" when he is "reading"). Sometimes I start to pity him, and then he does or says something that reminds me he is happy with his situation, and wants nothing else. He should be envied! He is such a good soul, so very honest and optimistic.

Right now I think Miss Havishem (again no idea on the spelling) is making Pip a gentleman just so Estella can break his heart. That is going very out of her way to be cruel, though, so maybe she does have some goodness in her. I'll find out soon.