December 15, 2007
Friends, food, books, aloha!
~Dustyflint, JulieBarreto, Purple58, Hyphen8 and Skeeterbess celebrate the holidays~
The Table of Contents had our holiday gathering today. For the uninformed, Table of Contents is a group of local BookCrossers who have been meeting for several years. A couple of our regular members were unable to attend and were sorely missed, but we soldiered on without them and managed to have a good time. It was a special treat to have Julie Barreto with us today. She’s a BookCrosser from the Big Island and had business on Oahu just in time for us all to meet. She and I have exchanged messages at the BookCrossing forums and via pm over the last few years, but this was our first face-to-face meeting. She charmed us all and I’m hoping she’ll make it a regular habit to schedule the rest of her life around our gatherings. 
I made pecan pralines last night for the first time in about twenty years and tucked some into gift bags with some bookmarks and other goodies for my friends. Hyphen8 frequently shares the products of her considerable talent with us. She’s an artist with paper and today she gifted each of us with a dragon who flaps his wings when his tail is pulled and an envelope that opens up into a gift box. I’ve added those to my little collection of H8’s previous gifts, including a pinwheel and a collection of spinning tops. Purple58 had little notebooks made for us with TOC on the cover. I wish I could be as creative as my friends - and organized enough to get things like that done ahead of time instead of staying up until two in the morning when inspiration and a recipe come together. 
I’m proud to say that I behaved myself, clutter-wise, this time. I brought home less books than I took. Some that I brought were taken home by TOC members and others were distributed to cafe patrons and waitstaff. Setting books free, whether by placing them in someone’s hands or releasing them in the wild, is what brought us all together and is still the glue that binds the Table of Contents.
Technorati Tags: BookCrossing, book clubs, books, friends, holiday gatherings
Posted by skeet @ 9:10 pm • Books, Society & culture
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December 15th, 2007 at 9:50 pm, Julie Barreto Says:
Thanks, skeeterbess, for inviting me to the Table of Contents holiday meeting. I felt so comfortable and convivial with all you delightful book-lovers! And the 14 year old has already dived into a couple of the books I brought home (the Zeus comic book and the Middle Earth atlas)!
December 15th, 2007 at 9:51 pm, Julie Barreto Says:
Oh, and the pralines are…just a wonderful memory!
December 16th, 2007 at 6:18 pm, Whim Says:
I’m glad you had a good time.
I really love how you “set the books free”. That is so neat!
December 16th, 2007 at 7:34 pm, skeet Says:
I’m not enough of a fanatic to want one, Julie, but the Middle Earth atlas looked pretty fabulous. Glad your boy is enjoying the books you brought back. And that you enjoyed the pralines!
The only thing wrong with meeting you was that the togetherness was a bit too brief. We’ll do it again one day & spend more time getting better acquainted!