When I was initially thinking of a title for this week’s blog, I thought of “Winter Weading” with weading implying reading. Our son used to say W for R when he was a little guy, so cute. Then I thought, well maybe weeding as in “weeding out” is what I can actually work with.

A lot of us are trying to simplify and clean out during these cold winter months….which can often lead to the traditional spring cleaning later.  We clean out clothes and closets, we organize the junk drawer (why?) and under the kitchen sink. We refold linens in the closet and donate some of the holiday decor that we rarely use. We may organize the toys, games, and “stuff” that we’ve accumulated over the years. 

What about re-organizing our books and our reading materials? This can make a difference in our reading time and even our content. We have moved twice in the last year and a half. Then, just after we moved into our dream home, I unexpectedly lost my husband of 40 years. He always joked about me having too many books in the house. Well, since his passing, I have decided to move back home to my village….so I am moving yet again! Boy, have I been weeding out! Yes, I love all of my books, but I am finally acknowledging that I need to “share” some of these gems with others who may not have access to books and reading material.

I bought some of those stackable crates from Lowes, and I have organized all of my books: picture books, toddler books, children’s books, young adult books, and books for grown ups. This weeding process was like a walk down memory lane. I have books from my children’s childhood and some even from my own childhood! Admittedly, most I wanted to keep. But, there were some duplicates and some that I didn’t think had messages that were pure or noble enough to keep.

The best part of this process though, was finding impactful books that I had forgotten about …. and would love to read again. I pulled out the Jan Karon series (At Home in Mitford) and am planning to dive into those once more. I pulled out special toddler books that I absolutely MUST READ to Leo and the new baby boy arriving in March!  I got excited about the treasures I had within my very home and had forgotten about. Laying the books out across the floor made we want to read many of them over again.

When I read with Leo, I lay some of his books out and let him choose which ones he wants me to read to him. He already has favorites at 14 months old. Knight Owl by Christopher Denise is his first pick these days. Through the winter weeding out of books came the finding of some old treasures. I will certainly use them to BOOK TIME WITH MY GRANDKIDS, using content that is good, pure and sometimes just plain funny.

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