Thank you, Harry Potter

So, we did it! When Zachary asked if I would read him the Harry Potter series, I thought he was nuts. I mean, that would take years, right? But he bugged me until I finally conceded. We started in August and have moved our way through the books.

I don't think I realized how much I'd enjoy reading them again. After about the third or fourth book, I read each one in just a couple of days after they came out. I read very quickly just wanting to know what happened. This time, reading them out loud made me read them slower (obviously), and I just read them amazed and fascinated.

How does someone create a pseudo world that seems so completely believable and real? She has names of spells that do various things; witches and wizards are good in different areas (some are better at potions, others at herbology, others at transfiguration, etc.); animals that we've never heard of; games that apply only to the wizarding world; etc. I seriously was just in awe at the awesomeness of this series!

Needless to say, a couple of weeks before Christmas we finished book 7:

Tyler had just gone to a Harry Potter birthday party (where he got this new wand he's holding), and Zachary hadn't known for sure exactly how the details worked themselves out in the end. Neither of them have seen all the movies -- they have to wait to 13 to watch the PG-13 ones -- and it was fun for them to notice differences in the books of the movies they have seen.

For Christmas Eve we have a tradition of getting a new game for the family to help the day go by faster. This year we got "Scene it -- Harry Potter" edition with all eight movies. Becca has watched the movies soooo many times that she used to be our resident expert. However, Tyler has overtaken this title, and he does better than any of us even though he hasn't seen all the movies. All of us (excluding Shayla) had a lot of fun playing. (Her reaction was to start crying when they opened the game, "Why does it have to be Harry Potter?" She got over it quickly enough, though. :)

Now we've got to find a new series to read, because my boys love it. Zachary wants Percy Jackson, but nothing is going to compare to Hogwarts and Harry.