One of my husband’s favorite things to do as Autumn really starts to set in is watch all the Harry Potter movies. We have been making our way through them with the girls the past two weeks. Since we have given our kids such an early bedtime (because it takes them forever to settle for the night, no matter what time they go to bed), we simply stop the movie where it is and pick it up again the next night.
Each year we do this the more the girls get caught up in them. Even our first grader (did I just say first grader?!) is getting into them. I really do enjoy the movies, but there was so much more that I wish had been kept somehow. My husband has never read the books, other than the snippets he catches when I’m reading it to the girls, and is really happy to be a fan solely based on the movies. I have tried to make my peace with that.
I, on the other hand, have been a fan since the third book came out and my two best friends convinced me to give them a try, taking turns lending me their copies, way back in high school. I vividly remember reading late into the night with the one friend while camping with her family in a no frills cabin. It was one of the best weeks of high school.
I have read the first couple books twice and the next several three times and the last one four times. There are very few books I read more than once. Opinions of the author aside, Harry Potter is an amazing tale. And basically I’m trying to say that I’m having a hard time enjoying the movies as much this time around. And that I would rather read the books again. I was reading the first book to the girls again, but they seem to have lost interest. I’m thinking I might just have to read them again, but on my own.
These books are also like a warm blanket. A throw back to another time in my life when I was still just a kid, even if I didn’t think so. When I read these books, it was a couple of late nights, unable to put it down for sleep. Curled up in my safe space, snug under my blankets, on an adventure. So, I guess I’m grateful the movies give us a chance to snuggle up on the couch as a family and share the adventure.
The Accidental Domestic Goddess 