<p>When I opened the side door Wednesday morning before dawn to go fill the bluebird feeder with mealworms, I stumbled over two boxes left overnight in freezing weather.</p>
<p>They were delivered in boxes with the big smile logo and what looks to me like a thrown Australian boomerang on the right side of the smile.</p>
<p>I initially panicked, trying to recall if we had ordered any live leopard geckos, fancy imported wine from the hillsides of France or 12-foot fruited orange trees — the stuff that will die, burst or wilt- to-death when left on a freezing porch overnight.</p>
<p>Grabbing the light-weight boxes, I recognized with immediate relief that these boxes held the “gold, frankincense and myrrh” of my daughter’s Christmas lists every year since they could sit upright: books. To the dismay of porch-stealing thieves — unless they are secretly also bibliophiles, they would be quite disappointed in a Mangas home heist.</p>
<p>Opening these boxes reminded me that every year, whether in a local bookstore or ordering a unique book online, I get to inhale the scent of each of my daughter’s personalities when I open the hard- and softcovers and read a bit from the books that were on their Christmas list.</p>
<p>By peeking into “Shoe Dog,” a memoir by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike, I inhaled that Aly is a lifelong student of business and an encourager of people. Similarly, Austin Kleon’s “Keep Going: Ten Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad” is a fun read, and if dusted for fingerprints could coincidentally contain mine. Aly also asked for “Find The Why,” a workbook by Simon Sinek which is a “practical guide for discovering purpose for you and your team.” I’m fairly certain I will have to wrap this fast for fear I might be tempted to make my own personal color- coded notes in it (Aly has her own personal color-coding system.)</p>
<p>Last year, Chloe requested Fredrik Backman’s “A Man Called Ove.” I unabashedly admit having accidentally read this No. 1 New York Times bestselling novel before wrapping it and giving it to her for Christmas.</p>
<p>This year, Chloe’s list included Backman’s novel “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry.” It was promptly delivered and in case you were wondering before I gift- wrap it ( in a few days), Chapter 1 entitled “Tobacco” begins: “Every seven-year-old deserves a superhero. That’s just how it is. Anyone who doesn’t agree needs their head examined. That’s what Elsa’s granny says, at least.”</p>
<p>Chloe probably won’t have to worry about me pre-reading the book by Travis Christofferson, “Tripping Over the Truth: How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer is Overturning One of Medicine’s Most Entrenched Paradigms” — at least not before Christmas.</p>
<p>One doesn’t need to be a private detective to deduce what our third-born Phoebe has on her mind by reading her book titles: “Enneagram Type 7: The Entertaining Optimist”, by Beth McCord; “Becoming Us: Using the Enneagram to Create a Thriving Gospel-Centered Marriage,” and Henri J. M. Nouwen’s “The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life.”</p>
<p>I wish you a book-filled Christmas season.</p>
<p><em>Janet Hommel Mangas grew up on the east side of Greenwood. The Center Grove area resident and her husband are the parents of three daughters. Send comments to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</em></p>
