What I'm reading: On Strike for Christmas

I read On Strike for Christmas last year, but I decided to read it again after I saw the Lifetime movie based on this book.

I picked this book up for some fun, easy holiday reading for the airplane last year, and it definitely fit the bill. The premise of the book is just what the title suggests - women of the small town of Holly go on strike at Christmas because they feel unappreciated by their husbands and families, overwhelmed by the holiday preparations, and/or misunderstood by their husbands.

Each woman has a different reason for going on strike, and each husband has a different approach for handling the strike. For example, Joy wants to show her husband Bob, or Bob Humbug as she calls him, how sad and lonely Christmas would be if they did things his way. Laura wishes her husband Glen would understand how difficult it is to do everything by herself at Christmas and hopes that by making him do it all by himself, he'll appreciate how challenging it is and help her in the future. Of course, not every woman goes on strike. For example, Carol's husband and son died, and resents the women for not appreciating how lucky they are to have family to celebrate with this year. Jerri is undergoing chemotherapy and desperately wants to give her family a memorable Christmas, but simply doesn't have the strength to do anything.

The story unfolds as these women experience the holidays via their husbands' hapless and sometimes vengeful execution, and they share these experiences with each other. The women and the men learn about what is important to them, and both sexes learn they need to make compromises around the holidays. The story wraps up quite nicely, but perhaps a little too conveniently. However, Roberts' writing flows easily and allows for a quick read, and the story is relatable and funny.

Re-reading the book this year made me think a little bit about our Christmas drama, and my own need to do things "just so" around the holidays. I love the way my family celebrates Christmas, and I sometimes feel like I've forced my type of family Christmas on my husband, though he doesn't seem to mind and actually seems to enjoy it. Still, I was reminded that everything doesn't have to be done my way, and that holidays after marriage involve a great deal of compromise, but it's also my love and care that truly make Christmas special.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

I confess - I'm obsessed with Harry Potter. It's not a surprise to anyone who has spent any time with me, but I feel I must confess it in order for anyone who hasn't met me to understand this blog.

I enjoy reading a lot and always have. I don't read for fun very often, and I definitely do not have sophisticated taste in books, but I love to immerse myself in a well-written story. That's what I love about Harry Potter. The books are written so well, and tell such an interesting and detailed story, that I easily become lost in the stories of the young wizard and his friends.

I also love how the books matured as Harry matured. The first book was absolutely a children's story, and each one became more sophisticated, nuanced, and mature as the main character and the assumed reader grew up. Instead of outgrowing the books, which happens with most series, the books grow with the reader, creating a fictional friend along for the ride to adulthood.

I think this is what attracted me to the series. A friend of mine, who does have sophisticated literary tastes, recommended the books to me. Her first story as a newspaper reporter was to cover the release of the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She read the first few books as research and thoroughly enjoyed them, and convinced me to read them too. I fell in love with them. I bought the first two and read them on the L around Chicago as I commuted between school, my social work internship, and my student affairs internship. I told myself I would wait to read the third and fourth books later. I think I lasted a week before I read the third book because I was so eager to know what happened. I just fell in love with this innocent, orphaned wizard who had been treated so poorly in the Muggle world, but who was so remarkable in the wizarding world.

By the time books five through seven came out, I was one of the people at Borders waiting for my book at midnight. In fact, I lived in the Eastern time zone for the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so I was home with my book before they even went on sale for my sister in Iowa. I admit it, I felt a great deal of satisfaction at having my book first. I might be a little competitive. That's another blog.

The books became movies of course, and I love those as well. I'm particularly fascinated with the behind the scenes features that come on the special edition DVDs. I feel like those give great insight into the story being told which adds to my enjoyment and appreciation of the movie. Yes, I know I'm a dork.


Naturally, I love to share my obsession with others. I convinced my sister to read the books and she became obsessed too and my husband has read them too. However, I've been impatiently waiting to pass along this magical world to someone else and I finally had the opportunity last week when my nephew turned six.


I wasn't sure what the appropriate age was to start reading the Harry Potter books, but I did some research and found that age six is generally accepted as a good age to read aloud. I decided months ago that I was going to get my nephew the book to read aloud. Then I found out about the Harry Potter Lego video game. My nephew is obsessed with the Lego video games so I was pretty sure that he'd be interested in the Harry Potter one. Sure enough, a couple months before his birthday, he called me (well, my Harry Potter fan sister who was visiting him called me) and asked for the Harry Potter Lego Wii game for his birthday. I knew I could accommodate that request.

However, it was important to me that he be introduced to the book first and hopefully engage with the wizarding world in his imagination, not just in the video game. We read a few chapters before his birthday. I think it was difficult for him to process without any pictures to guide him, but he seemed to enjoy the story, especially when strange things happened that couldn't be explained rationally. I enjoyed asking him "How do you think Harry did that?" and waiting for him to whisper, "Magic" in response. We also drew our own pictures to help him visualize all the different scenes we read about, and that seemed to help as well. After a few days, he seemed to grasp the story more and was eager to find out what happened to Harry.

Reading is a fundamental skill that all kids need to learn and can therefore seem like a chore. I hope that by introducing my nephew to this amazing, magical world that he can visit whenever he wants, he'll develop a love and appreciation of books. It's a gift I was given as a child, and the one I hope to pass along to all the kids in my life.