My dad stopped over yesterday with gifts. He asked me to wrap or hide my husband's present until Christmas. Then he handed me a reused gift card envelope, the Christmas kind where you stick the store gift card envelope inside of it. He had resealed it with duct tape. That's so my dad, and my kids laughed out loud when they saw it.
Inside was the most awesome gift...a two hundred dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble with two ten dollar after-Christmas bonus cards included. That's fifty dollars of book happiness for my three kids and me. *bliss*
The last time he gave us a large gift card, my kids and I had a wonderful time at the book store. We started at the coffee shop and ended up with a huge stack of books at the cash register after attacking the store like a swarm of locusts.
My teen handled the checkout while I attempted to manage the toddler. The cashier told my daughter, "Honey, there's no way this card will cover all of this," and later took back her words when she realized there was more than enough. I suspect tonight's check out will be more of the same.
My kids and I discussed the potential to use the card to buy a Nook, maybe two. I have an old school Sony eReader that I like but don't use a lot. I'm not sure if we're ready for an eReader for the kids. My pre-teen wants one because it might have games - as if we don't have enough devices with games. My daughter agreed with me - we still like paper.
We spent an hour talking about our game plan. My preteen wants to buy Star Wars books. My daughter and I love the classics, many of which you can get for maybe $6.00 in B&N editions. The problem is we need to inventory our books and ebooks so we don't end up with duplicates, not that duplicates would be the end of the world - then we could read them together. I thought about getting journals with my portion of the money, the cardboard covered kind. I like to use them for outlining my novels and sometimes use them to write first drafts of individual chapters.
On our last book store shopping spree, we found that a lot of the books on our list, especially my husband's sci-fi list, weren't in the store. I know we can buy paper copies online, but I want them in the store. I want to hold a book and look at it to see if the font size works for my aging eyes. If the print is tiny, I'm not going to read it. (Yes, I have granny glasses, but I hate being in granny mode before I have grandchildren.)
The cool thing for me is the reaction from my kids. They were as excited as they would be if they got a gift card to GameStop. I'm definitely doing something right.
That is fantastic and who wouldn't be happy with a gift like that? Yep, you are definitely doing something right if you can still manage to get your children to read books, even with all the modern technology out there, congratulations to you.
ReplyDeleteMurees - Each of my kids have at least one bookshelf packed with books. My babes has most awesome collection since he got the hand-me-downs from his siblings plus new ones. They all read every night.
ReplyDeleteI love how all three kids love the bookstore. Tonja and the kids - even the 3-year-old - are literally formulating a plan of attack, like who goes to which sector of the bookstore, how to handle the youngest, etc. :)
ReplyDeleteGet a Nook with part of the money and then buy physical books with the rest. The new Nooks are really amazing and feature so much more than your Sony eReader. Of course, this is coming from an eBook junkie with an iPad...
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely doing the right thing. I would get a Nook. They're so good.
ReplyDeleteYay, what a great gift! I'm not sure if your Sony eReader does this, but with the Nook you can adjust the font size to suit your preference, which is a nice benefit. Have fun shopping :)
ReplyDeleteMr. Fenderson - Sweetie, actually you get the babes. We got his order - he wants ALL of the Thomas the Tank Engine books. :)
ReplyDeleteAlex - Hmmm. I looked at the Nook online. It looks a lot like my Sony - I have a fancy pants one with my name on the back and an awesome leather cover - it's a touch screen and keeps my place. My only problem with it, besides the thing where it isn't a book, is the battery life.
Michael - I think I'll look at one at the store. I dunno.
Joanne - My Sony does adjust the font size and page orientation. The battery life is terrible. Like I burn through it in a day. It's anti-glare and has a backlight, but my migraine issue makes the light unbearable.
I was just thinking how much I would love to get a gift card to a bookstore for the holidays. There are so many books I want to get. And as an English teacher, thank you for raising kids who love to read!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great gift. And how fun to take your kids to the store and indulge in some book buying. Sounds perfect to me. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're an amazing Mom! I LOVE B & N too. It's almost magical just being there among all the stories people have created :0)
ReplyDeleteYes, you are doing something right. I get very excited when going to the bookstore with freedom to get whatever I want as well. Although my sense of value has been all screwed up by the prices I was paying for books at the Border's fire sale a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteMissed Periods - You're welcome. :)
ReplyDeleteLG - It really was fun!
Elisabeth - Thanks. It is incredible the books that are there ... and how many aren't. Like there was only one book by my son's favorite writer (and about 12 on Amazon).
Rusty - I bought one really expensive history book with my share, one I would never buy with my own money. I took it home and petted it.