• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact
Sunday, December 10, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
San Clemente Times
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • San Clemente Trolley Route Map
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • San Clemente Trolley Route Map
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
San Clemente Times
No Result
View All Result

Life’s a Beach: Celebrating the Season—A Storied Tradition

Staff by Staff
December 20, 2018 5:15AM
in SC LIVING, SC Living Headlines
Life’s a Beach: Graduation, a Time to Celebrate and Reflect

Life's a Beach By Shelley Murphy

0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Life's a Beach By Shelley Murphy
Life’s a Beach
By Shelley Murphy

By Shelley Murphy

Taking a break from the hustle and bustle of seasonal shopping, I stopped by the salon for a holiday haircut. Moments after arriving, a young assistant appeared, and she led me to the shampoo station.

She applied toners and tonics to my scalp, requiring me to sit still for 20 minutes. The assistant asked if she could bring me something to help pass the time. I pointed to my book on the counter and requested she hand it to me.

She gave the book to me and said, “It’s so cool that you still read.”

What? My thoughts raced. What does that mean?

Was she judging my wisps of grey hair? My ashen strands are well-earned; I consider them a badge of courage and proof I survived my sons’ teenage years.

As she walked away, I sat contemplating her words: “You still read.”

I decided to chalk up her statement to a generation gap. In the millennial world of social media, she chooses FaceTiming on her phone instead of sticking her nose in a book.

I felt sorry for her, and not only because she wasn’t getting a tip. She doesn’t know the pure joy of getting lost in the pages of a spellbinding book or the thrill of reading enlightening words that expand the mind.

The book I took with me to the salon is a memoir, but I read a mix of genres year-round.

I always carry a book in my car. It’s an old habit I picked up during my boys’ pre-driver’s license period. Back then, as a taxi driver on the go, I never knew how long I’d wait in the car for my passengers, so I relied on books for company.

It wouldn’t be a summer vacation without sitting along the sunny shore, digging deep into the bottom of my beach bag to find the sand-smudged and sunscreen-stained pages of my paperback.

Years ago, I furnished each of my boys’ bedrooms with a bookcase, hoping they’d inherit my passion for reading. My grown-and-flown sons still have bedrooms in our home to which they occasionally return, and in each bedroom sits an overflowing bookcase.

Their bookshelves are stuffed with both books and keepsakes collected throughout their youth. Among the books that remain, some spines are broken, and some aren’t cracked; the shelves display reading selections ranging from The Adventures of Captain Underpants to A Tale of Two Cities.

This time of year, books share a special chapter in our family’s holiday history.

When my boys were tots, we began celebrating the spirit of the season by reading classic holiday stories together. Today, I cherish the tattered, timeworn tales and keep my stockpile tucked into storage boxes alongside our wreaths, stockings and ornaments.

Each year, as I sort through the seasonal containers, I pause to peek at the books’ enchanting illustrations and savor the moments spent temporarily turning back the hands of time.

Some of my most treasured holiday memories are of reading yuletide stories to my sons as they nestled snugly in their beds for long winter naps.

Of course, my kids outgrew the bedtime tradition, so we missed out on the naughty-and-nice, cat-and-mouse game of The Elf on the Shelf. As much as I enjoy a good book, I am thankful I escaped the seasonal stress of tracking the diminutive spy.

Every December, I include several books on my holiday wish list. I forgo asking Santa for a Kindle and eBooks, because I prefer the weight of the words in my hands. As a result, my bookshelves are bursting, and I have books tucked into corners, cabinets and closets.

So, yes, I still read. I celebrate the magic of reading at the holidays and throughout the year.

You really can’t judge a book by its cover.

Shelley Murphy has lived in San Clemente with her husband for the past 20 years, where she raised her two sons. She’s a freelance writer and has been a contributor to the San Clemente Times since 2006.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: BookcolumnHolidayLiteracyOpinionReadingSan ClementeShelley Murphy
ShareTweetPin
Staff

Staff

Related Posts

2023 San Clemente Winter Sports Showcase

2023 San Clemente Winter Sports Showcase

December 8, 2023
Local Business Owners Host Toy Drive for Charity

Better Buzz Opens San Clemente Location

December 8, 2023
Local Business Owners Host Toy Drive for Charity

Local Business Owners Host Toy Drive for Charity

December 8, 2023
Hundreds Gather to Protest Stay-at-Home Orders

Hostetter Sentenced to 135 Months for Role in Jan. 6 Capitol Attack

December 7, 2023
Next Post
Historical Happenings: Sometimes, History Repeats Itself

Historical Happenings: Sometimes, History Repeats Itself

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

SC Times Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get the SC Times delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Dana Point Times
  • The Capistrano Dispatch
  • Terms of Use
  • About Us

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Good Eats
    • Graduation Special
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide 2023
    • Money Matters
    • San Clemente Trolley Route Map
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
    • WSL Rip Curl Guide 2023
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media