1/2 a Basket of Delights

The Christmas Books are back in my sidebar, where they belong for the month of December.

Only this year it's sort of false advertising, because this year they show the books that were in the Basket of Delights before the flood, not those that remain. Which is about half.

I no longer have Bush Christmas, Little Grey Rabbit's Christmas, Christmas at Longtime, A Bush Christmas, Father Christmas, The Mysterious Toyshop (terrible sob) or The Christmas Mystery. Lots of other lovely titles are gone as well. Including Jemimah's favourite, which we can't remember the name of and so we can't replace. (Funny, I thought all of our Christmas books were included in that list, but I was wrong. There are many titles that don't appear.) She is upset about that. But not as upset as I am. I was really dreading opening the Christmas boxes this year, but I think the losses from the books are worse that ever I dreamed.

Richele somehow knew how heart wrenching unpacking the Basket of Delights was going to be. A few weeks ago she sent me a beautifully wrapped parcel. You can see what was inside it above. Christmas books and music. I was overwhelmed. I am just so blessed to have friends like Richele. Bloggy friends like you that I've never met. Thank you for caring for me.

Tonight we're playing New Orleans Christmas as we decorate our tree. We'll drink Glögg and eat mince pies and shortbread. We'll unpack the Christmas boxes and discover what we still have and what we don't. It's gonna be really hard, I know that already.

I'm putting the Basket of Delights in my sidebar not as some primitive form of torture, but because that's where it belongs. Some of you might even find some new ones amongst them.

I snuck a few of the missing titles onto my Amazon order yesterday. It just ain't Christmas without Jonathan Toomey. Perhaps eventually I'll replace them all.

And thanks to Richele, this year I even have a couple on new ones to read as well.