Hi Bookish friends! Today, as I sit here in a red felt dress with a Christmas candle lit and a glass of wine, I wanted to share with you some of my holiday nostalgia - as it relates to books, of course!
So, I come from a family that celebrates Christmas, and although my own religious beliefs may be in flux at the moment, I still have a social and cultural fondness for Christmas. Now, that's not to say that every holiday was perfect, it certainly wasn't, but as years separate me from those less-than-perfect holidays, I do tend to wear rose colored glasses when I think about them.
And the one consistent, always positive, aspect of my Christmas season was...you guessed it...books.
My parents always got me books for Christmas (fostering my love of reading is one thing I'll always be eternally grateful to them for), and I remember sitting behind our Christmas tree, hunched around Wizardology as a child.
But it wasn't just that - I come from a large extended family, and although we're all relatively close, I think I'm the only introvert in the group, and I often got incredibly overwhelmed by large family gatherings. So, I would bring a book, and while holiday chaos reigned around me, I would bury my nose into it. (This might be where my habit developed for bringing a book with me wherever I go.)
Reading was my refuge, and continues to be.
And then last year, Covid happened. It was the first year I didn't get to spend the holidays with my family. I just started working a job that was incredibly high risk for Covid, and I didn't feel comfortable traveling home and possibly exposing my parents to the virus. And so we had Christmas over Facetime.
I should probably mention here that my mental health was not great at the time - I was lonely, exhausted from the pandemic, and suffering through some major imposter syndrome at work.
And - it was right around this time that I started thinking about starting this blog. Because the one thing that was consistently providing me comfort at the time was books (and bookish content from the internet that made me feel a little bit more connected to a wider community at a time where I was feeling incredibly isolated).
Even though I didn't start the blog until much later in the year, it was those Covid holidays that made me start thinking about it. Because I wanted to be a part of that larger bookish community because it brought me comfort and hope in a time where there didn't seem to be a whole lot of either going around.
So, what are you reading these holidays? Share below!
Yorumlar