This is it—the craziest day of the year here at Harvard Book Store. I love coming into the square in the morning on Christmas Eve. It’s so quiet and there’s no traffic. We’re all ready here for the last minute shopping madness.

I’m working most of today while my family does their last minute preparations. Then we’ll sit down to a dinner of California crab and manicotti. Can’t wait. We’re all for trying new things in my family. Tomorrow I’m making Julia Child’s Daube de Boeuf and Dorie Greenspan’s Au Gratin Potatoes for dinner. Wish me luck!

On the reading front, I’ve been doing a lot of light reading lately–I’m too tired and busy for much more. I finished a young adult novel called The Emerald Atlas, the first in a trilogy. It’s about three siblings Kate, Michael, and Emma who have been passed from orphanage to orphanage over the past ten years. Taken away from the parents at a young age for protection from dark forces, they’re no ordinary children, no. At their latest home, they end up on a quest.  It basically follows the same paths as most of these types of books. They discover they’re not ordinary, there’s magic and dwarves and otherworldly stuff, there’s a magic book and a prophecy of course. You get the drift. It’s a fine read but I didn’t find anything new and interesting there. Then again, I’m not the target audience.

Now I’m onto another Scandinavian mystery, this one by Camilla Lackberg called The Ice Princess.  So far, so good.

Happy holidays everyone!