Holiday Traditions and more NOOKcolor

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, our first celebration of the holiday in our new home.



(And I'll have a little more on my NOOKcolor at the end of this post)

Hanukkah is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, but because of its proximity to Christmas, it's become a gift-giving occasion. For Hubster and me, this year is more of a 'we're spending enough money on house stuff and new cold-weather gear, so we don't really need specific presents.' But since we're close enough to celebrate with two of our kids, we'll have a get-together on Sunday.

I'll make latkes, and we'll exchange gifts. Instead of tags, I've put pictures of the recipients on the packages, and we'll let our almost 3-year-old grandson distribute them.

One of the positive by-products of having our basement remodel underway was that we had to move all the boxes we'd stored there out of their way. In the process, the box housing our Hanukkah decorations surfaced. Of course, our environment is totally different, which means finding places for the traditional (and very limited now that it's just the two of us) pieces. But, since we had a fireplace in our Florida home, and we have one here, it seemed logical to put most of our ornamentation in similar places.





One other thing we've noticed is that we're no longer living anywhere near a more diversified population. At Walmart, I wanted wrapping paper, and had to tell the clerk I didn't want their Christmas paper. He was very polite, and asked if I was a Jehovah's Witness. I don't think any other alternative occurred to him. I was pleasantly surprised to find chocolate gelt at the City Market. Haven't checked the Safeway yet to see what they offer.

So, how do you deal with 'non-traditional' traditions when you're reading or writing? I don't read Christmas stories because I don't connect with that holiday and those family traditions, yet I tend to have a lot more characters who aren't Jewish when I write. Maybe I'm afraid of stereotyping. Or maybe I'm afraid my relatives would think I'm writing about them!

As for another NOOKcolor update. One of the issues is battery life. This is definitely a factor if you plan to take your e-book reader when you travel, especially if you're in places with no power to recharge it. The manual says that it's good for 8 hours of reading with WiFi turned on. However, I haven't noticed any significant drain on the battery in my reading. First, I don't turn on WiFi if I don't need it.

(And speaking of WiFi vs 3G, it's true that you have to be in a Wi-Fi connected location to use it. Since we live with a WiFi connection, it's not an issue, but you can also hook up the NC to your computer and shop on line, then move your purchases to your device. If I go to my B&N account, I can see everything in my NC library.)

Since my main use of my NC is to read in bed, I usually have the brightness turned WAY down. I don't turn it off when I'm done reading, because powering it up takes a while and it goes through several screens which are very bright--at least at 2 AM in a dark room. This way, if I want to resume reading, I just wake up the NC. In the morning, I've checked battery usage, and it's dropped under 10%. And, if I'm not using it, I simply plug it into the charger. I spent about 2 days at our son's for Thanksgiving without needed a recharge. Should I have the opportunity to take a longer trip, I'll be sure to report on that.