Twas the Night Before Christmas!

Every year growing up my dad would read all five of us, "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore on Christmas Eve.

Dad reading to my little girl and 2 of her cousins!

This had to be my favorite tradition...EVER!!!!! I love books, well, we all did, and my dad always reads things a little silly. If you were looking for a story to be well read with the words well articulated and every syllable to be correctly stated and emphasized just as the author intended, you asked my mom to read. She read like a valedictorian...oh wait she was! (Sorry, at some time had to throw that brag in about my mom.) If you were looking for every voice to be completely exaggerated and poetic license to be taken (and a little abused) you would have Dad read to you! He does the best, "HO HO HO!"
As we grew we became too old for a lot of things, but I've never gotten too old for this tradition! Now, whenever possible my dad will read to the grandkids he has around on Christmas Eve. It's fun to watch my kiddos enjoy this as much as I did!
What Christmas Tradition did you enjoy so much that you had to pass it on to your little one??

Oh, and

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Jane Austen Books: Northanger Abbey

If you love Jane Austen you may have read Northanger Abbey. If you, as I am, are fully devoted to the genius of her works then you definitely have read Northanger Abbey many times.
I'm planning on doing a series on six of Jane Austen's seven completed novels. You may catch me writing that every book is my favorite and, on some level, that's true. It's almost as if all her books combine in my brain into one great work. I'm excited to share my passion for her works with you. If you're a die-hard Austenite then, you'll probably enjoy hearing another perspective. If you're relatively new to Austen, perhaps you'll get bitten by the bug!
Catherine Morland, the main character, is a young lady to whom, at the time I first read this novel, I could fully relate. She's the daughter of a vicar and from a large family. Check. Check. She had an active imagination and allowed her reading to carry her off into the world of fancy. Check. Check. She's naive about the ways of the world. Big check here. She's ready for an adventure. Okay, here I depart from her, I enjoyed my quiet life and was content to read of others' adventures.
When our story opens young Catherine is quietly living with her family in the country, enjoying novels, and day dreaming. She's given the opportunity to finally live out the adventures she's been imagining by a neighbor couple, the Allens, when they ask her to accompany them to Bath.
While there Catherine meets many people: < br> Henry Tilney
Eleanor Tilney
Isabella Thorpe
John Thorpe
General Tilney
Mrs. Thorpe
And, she's reunited with her brother James, who has been away at Oxford.
I'm going to examine a few of these characters.
Isabella Thorpe: Isabella is the typical self-absorbed type. She's very pretty, and boy does she know it! She's incapable of having empathy for another, and has no need for a friendship that isn't centered around her.
Eleanor Tilney: Eleanor serves as a contrast to Miss Thorpe. She's kind hearted and affectionate. She is a genuine friend who enjoys being a supportive friend.
John Thorpe: Mr. Thorpe is the only character Austen ever wrote, including the infamous Mr. Wickham, that annoys me to no end. This is on purpose of course, but I have trouble getting over every scene in which there is a mention of John Thorpe! He's crass, rude and morally gray. Catherine does not like him, but her desire to be kind to her brother and her friend, Isabella overpowers her own preferences. Mr. Thorpe was proud and that perhaps is his most annoying attribute.
Henry Tilney: My favorite Austen hero! I'm genuine about this and I won't say that any other Austen hero! Henry is a happy young man with a good sense of humor. Good nature, amiable, just the things he ought to be. He stands in stark contrast to the annoyance that is Mr. Thorpe. Henry isn't a proud person, but his initial interest in Catherine is brought on solely by her obvious preference for him! Henry can laugh at a lot of situations, which is probably why I like him the most. My favorite of his attributes is his joy in mocking! He teases Catherine through the whole book! (My husband picks on me all the time and I love it.)
Back to the plot.
It doesn't take Catherine long after becoming acquainted with Henry Tilney to develop a bit of a crush on him. She's unsure of how Mr. Tilney feels for her, but she like a schoolgirl does very little to hide that she thoroughly enjoys his company.
Not long after she arrives in Bath she also meets a family by the name of Thorpe. Mrs. Allen was at school with Mrs. Thorpe and Catherine's brother friends with Mrs. Thorpe's son, John. The eldest of the Thorpe daughters, Isabella, befriends Catherine immediately and they bond over their mutual love of novels.
When Catherine's brother, James and John Thorpe arrive in Bath it's obvious to the reader, but not to Catherine that Miss Thorpe has intentions toward him. The two eventually become engaged. Soon after the engagement with her brother gone, and being able to witness that Isabella in her brother's absence she realized that Isabella does not have as faithful a heart as she'd originally believed.
She receives inexplicable kindness from General Tilney, Eleeanor and Henry's father, and when the family departs from Bath he extends an invitation to Catherine, or rather encourages Eleanor to invite Catherine, to Northanger Abbey, they're country home. Catherine passes many happy days at Northanger Abbey solidifying her friendship with Eleanor and spending time in the company of Mr. Tilney. But, while there she receives a letter that devastates her and then, General Tilney makes a discovery that shatters the happiness she'd been experiencing.
There are so many reasons that I love this book. I love how Catherine is educated in worldly knowledge all the while keeping her sweet and unaffected nature. One of my favorite aspects of this novel are the conversations between Mr. Tilney and Catherine! They're so humorous! But, you'll laugh through the whole book, I promise.

Update

The past two or three days I've been blogging a little less, but, don't worry, my keys are not lonely!
I've written the forward to a book and the beginning of the first chapter (appx 500 words.) While it's not very much to have written, I think this might be the hardest part. Trying to climb the mountain to develop the story has been so hard for me. I have a fairly original idea and the plot well developed in my head. But diving into it is so difficult. I think another difficult aspect for me will be communicating the complex nature of the relationships involved. (Time to read some Jane Austen!)
I'm excited to share this with you. I want to thank you who have been reading, it's definitely helped me to feel less embarrassed. More than that, it's made me feel accountable for my writing. Please when/if I see you in person, ask me about it. That will give me a hand as I continue on this path.
The worst that can happen is that I can write a story I enjoy and my family enjoys and I'm rejected by agents and publishers. Then, I'll be an unpublished wannabe author...which is what I am now. Nothing to lose, right?

The Road Not Taken

Don't you hate flowery poetry? I do. My mother loves all poetry, and when a person in charge of your literature class is a big fan of poetry, you spend a little extra time studying it. I hated the unit until we came to Robert Frost. What a refreshing change of pace. He isn't redundant just for the sake of increasing the length of a poem and he doesn't write nonsense line after line until finally coming to the point, but along the way confusing the reader.
The poem by Robert Frost that spoke to my heart the most was "The Road Not Taken." This, of course, is his most popular poem and I think that almost everyone can relate to this poem. There is some aspect in almost everyone's life where they have made the less popular choice.
My teen years were filled with making the less popular choice. Nothing will make you "fit-in" less than being a conservative Christian. When I was with my friends I always felt the responsibility to be the "good" one.
While at the time that wasn't the most fun experience, I appreciated it even then. I knew that when I saw other adolescents making poor choices I saw how good God had been to me. I heard someone once say that being born again as a young child meant that he didn't have a riveting testimony to recount how the Lord had saved him from a life riddled with sin, but that his testimony was that the Lord saved him from ever committing those sins. Truly, those of us who have the same testimony can appreciate God's grace even more! Not only did Christ's blood cover ours sins, but He prevented us from many unpleasant regrets!


The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


So what's your Road Not Taken? Can I ask you to take the road I have taken and follow Christ?
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." - Matthew 16:24

My Name is Bekah and I'm an Austenholic!

Ahhh! Jane Austen!
There are few things on this planet that I love so well as a novel by Jane Austen. I love so much about her books:
Regency England
For some reason this time period is bewitching to modern women. Maybe it's that during this time period a lady's main purpose was to move socially. Who wouldn't want to live a life of comfort, leisure and social engagements? I think, though, that the best thing of that time period is most definitely the clothes. Empire style dresses are flattering on everyone, no matter your figure. And, the hair. Wouldn't it be fun to wear a fancy up do everyday, whether going to a picnic or a ball? A ball! In fact, I think I can just leave it at "a ball." We women know what that means.
Plot lines
Jane Austen had a gift for writing everyday lives and making them more interesting than a twisted soap opera. She wrote about quiet girls living ordinary lives and who suffered ordinary problems. I, personally, like this more than unbelievable conflict filled plots. I can relate to Elizabeth Bennet and Catherine Morland.
Relationships
I think this appeals to women, maybe even, more than the clothes. She captures how people interact and how they interact differently with different sorts of people. My favorite relationships are the sister relationships even those of Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove of Persuasion, and Maria and Julia Bertram of Mansfield Park.
The Bertram sisters are so interesting that they have such affection, jealousy, and then, closeness again. Such a complex relationship. I think I shall blog more about that some other time!
Character Development
This is where Jane Austen leaves all other writers behind. She can write characters so real that when you lay down one of her novels, you immediately forget that the characters were, actually, characters and begin to think of them as real people. I believe her characters to be far superior to any other characters ever penned.
Perhaps my favorite character is Fanny Price of Mansfield Park. She is meek and eager to please others, even if it requires sacrificing her own comforts. Yet, she is firm when it comes to the issue of right and wrong. She protects the reputation of her abusers, but does not allow them to degrade her character as well. She's the most respectable of all Jane Austen's characters, in my humble opinion that is.
In short, it's this blogger's belief that Jane Austen surpasses all other authors!
Good night, I have some reading to do!