“When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.”  -Christopher Morley

As a child, I could often be found lost between the pages of a book. I would become Claudia from The Babysitter’s Club, or Jessica (or Elizabeth depending on the day) from Sweet Valley Twins. I could picture myself living on a prairie in rural Nebraska at the turn of the century, or as a youth in the 40′s. I believe my love of acting was born from my love of reading.

When I was in college I started buying books for my future children. I wanted them to have an abundance of books to choose from. I wanted them to have a story at their fingertips at all times.

My goal has become a reality. My children have books, and books, and books. They love to read, be read to, and best of all, act out what they have read.

From the time Seth was about 2, he has used his imagination to make his favorite books come to life. For about six months, he was Roo, I was Kanga, Jeremy was Tigger and Amelia was “Pliget”. That obsession then morped into Toy Story, Star Wars and then How to Train Your Dragon.

While all of those titles are movies, only two of the obsessions came from the movies – Toy Story and Star Wars. Seth fell in love with the How to Train Your Dragon books before he saw the movie…we all did. He loves that we have Norwegian ancestry and is just sure my ancestor, Thor, was a Viking…thus making HIM a Viking!

He still loves Star Wars and How to Train Your Dragon, but now he has fallen under the spell of Hogwarts and is often found wearing his black robes and waving his wand…he is Harry Potter.

My children are regularly seen playing as if they are the characters from their favorite book. They don’t necessarily act out what happened in the book, instead they make up their own stories using those characters they have come to love.

I absolutely adore this. The use of their imaginations! It is one thing to act out what you have seen or read, just as you have seen or read it.  But to create your own stories, plot lines, problems and solutions, that is an entirely different skill, and I love watching it happen.

I love that my children love books. I have always wanted them to love to read and to have the stories come to life.

It has been said the best gift you can give is a book and I wholeheartedly agree. Where else can children escape, become pirates, vikings, princesses, anything their hearts desire. And that is the stuff memories are made of.

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I am so excited to be partnering with Hallmark again this year. Hallmark is not only in the business of celebrating the special occasions, but celebrating Life as a Special Occasion. Hallmark and I will both be at Blissdom this year! Come find me as I am a Community Leader, and go find Hallmark (you might see me there too!!) to learn more about how to make Life a Special Occasion!