Santas and Monsters

This is a very unusual time for me. It's early December, and normally that means I'm in the throes of having two jobs, late dinners, itchy beards, and the general feeling of being run-down. But something is very strange this year. It is December 3rd and I have not been Santa once. So basically I have Christmas season free time for the first time in 4 years.

Call it 'A Series of Fortunate Events' if you will. First, the November schedule moved Santa's arrival back and shortened the season to 7 weeks. Second, there is a new scheduling software that looked at my availability and said, 'nope!' There is another 'Bye' week that sneaked by. Since I have not been scheduled as the big guy, I've been working as an Elf. And I may have done a little too good of a job of it.

Now I'm worried that I've proven myself to be a better elf than a Santa. There are worse things I guess, I wonder if this is how professional backup quarterbacks feel? Am I destined to having the Christmas season equivalent of giving high-fives to the place kicker and fetching Gatorade.

That is legendary Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel . . . oh and Drew Brees is there too.

What have I done with copious amounts of free time? Read fiction, of course. I'm currently in the middle of The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. And I've started reading The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima.

Non-Fiction has been largely absent the past few months. So to swing myself back towards the light, I figured I would need something to satisfy my fiction cravings while still being Non-Fiction. And I think I found it. Meet my next selection, The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelly's Masterpiece by Rosanne Montillo.

Frankenstein holds a very special place for me. I first read it in 6th grade in a very dark and lonely place in my life. I am looking forward to cracking this one open.