Yesterday, Jarred and I had the opportunity to hear Frank McCourt speak at Mountain View, the high school where Jarred works. What could be more entertaining than a cute, little, old man with an Irish accent? Frank lived up to my expectations as an entertaining speaker. He truly is the same person he is in his memoir. As I listened to Frank speak, I learned many a thing about this little man. He's not afraid to swear in front of high school students (of course, he's a retired teacher with a Pulitzer Prize under his belt), he writes BY HAND, every day and he wrote a children's book. When I heard him say this, I thought to myself, "Gosh, he must really be owned by his publishing company." I just could not envision Frank McCourt writing some cheezy children's book, let alone a CHRISTMAS book. After a short explanation by Frank and further investigation on my part, I found this was no ordinary children's book, it was a Frank McCourt children's book, complete with odd humor and honesty. I recommend checking it out, especially since most of you are now toting babies or young-ins who need to be read to so when they enter school, they will have advanced vocabularies and already be able to read so their teachers will have to do less work.