Reading

December! Time for my annual freaking out post.

Music: Two major (church) and two minor (kid) events; one of each is DONE. The major church event was the big stake recital one, with a combined stake choir and orchestra, and went better than I had expected. I actually had to do very little this year (no organization, as other people took that on (which I feel a bit guilty about, but not actually guilty enough to do anything about it), just show up at rehearsals and recital and boss people around when necessary and maybe some support stuff on the edges, which is how I like it) but it still seemed to take more executive function than I felt it should. Probably partially because I was trying hard to get people from my ward to join, with mixed results, and also partially because I was also sorting two children and five musical instruments for the orchestra -- E intensely dislikes playing anything else but viola, but A might have played either violin or viola this year (he ended up on violin), and I also was floating between violin and "viola" (I don't actually play viola or read alto clef, but I borrowed E's old 14" viola and ended up doubling cello an octave up). The other major church event is our ward Christmas program, so rather smaller, but I have to actually learn these piano parts which I have been super slacking on.

Yuletide: please send help, this is getting out of control. But it will all be okay. I am pretty sure. Maybe not quite as ambitiously okay as I want it to be.

Christmas prep: I finally got family presents sorted today, more or less. And D corralled us to go get a tree. More things to do here. We did get the ornaments on the tree and one of the nativity sets is up but the other one is not (yes, it would take about 5 minutes, I just forgot about it until writing this, lol)

Oh hey it's December now, which means I should get presents for D's nieces. (D's nephews have now all graduated high school, and so they either get gift cards or we might try to figure out a family gift.) Which means I am asking you for help! Nieces are senior in high school and freshman in high school. The freshman isn't as much of a reader. The senior loves to read, so finding something good for her is more important. Senior!Niece also loves fantasy.

Last time I asked for recs, years ago, someone recommended Tiffany Aching, which the nieces were too young for at the time, but now may be the time (if I haven't passed it already). I just started Wee Free Men and am enjoying it a lot so far, and that may be part of the present. (I guess Tiffany is 9? so maybe technically too young for Senior!niece? But the book does read to me as more of a high-school reading level than a 9-year-old reading level.)

Other things: D's sister and brother-in-law are extremely devout and conservatively evangelical Christians and don't read fantasy at all (though they have come to accept their kid reading it). I don't think I could give her anything at this time that, say, has explicit sex scenes, or a gay or trans main character, and I'd also be a bit wary of too much violence/horror-themes. So, for example, Some Desperate Glory, which I already gave to D's nephews, is out.

Extra points for subtext of "here's how you grow up" and "here's how you deal with a flawed parent." (My sense -- which could of course be mistaken -- is that D's sister is an incredible parent that anyone would be lucky to have, and brother-in-law is less so. I do not think that there's anything particularly bad going on (I'm sure I have at least my share of flaws as a parent too), just that I remember at that age books being a helpful way to work through figuring out independence and becoming a different person than my parents.)

(no subject)

(no subject)