Godmother & Goddaughter Book Club

I can't believe I haven't written about this yet!  

I am oh so very blessed to be a godmother to three precious children.  One of my godchildren is my niece, Meghan.  

Jane & Meg, looking all fancy on Christmas Eve.  Meg is such a great big cousin to the little guys.

This fall, Meghan and I were chatting about our favorite books.  We talked about how much we like reading and how we are always starting new books.  Then, the idea hit me.  I asked Meg if she would be interested in reading the same book and talking about it over smoothies or a treat during her Christmas vacation.  I said it would be our own Godmother & Goddaughter Book Club.  

Meg excitedly agreed, and we decided on Anne of Green Gables.  Meg had read Anne a few months prior, and she said she wanted to re-read it because she liked it so much.  I, on the other hand, hadn't read it since fourth grade, and I was excited to read it again.  I never would have imagined when I read Anne for the first time that the second time I'd be reading it would be on an iPad--and for a Book Club with my goddaughter!

Eventually, Christmas break rolled around, and we set our date for our first Book Club.  When I picked Meg up, she was soooooooo adorably nervous and excited.  She had a drawstring bag with her and looked raring to go.  I didn't want to make her nervous, so I didn't ask what was inside.  We said goodbye to my nephews, brother, and sister-in-law, and made our way to a local cupcake café for our Book Club date.    

Unfortunately, I went to pay for our delicious treats, I realized that I had left my wallet in the diaper bag when I put together my purse.  Oh, the woes of a young mother!  I apologized to Meg, and we made the trip back to my house to pick up my wallet.  I ended up being glad for this happy accident because the car ride was a nice opportunity for Meg to warm up.  

I suggested that Meg open her card and present for her birthday (which is December 28th).  I wanted to make sure we had a celebration apart from Christmas.  The card had a cute multiple choice quiz (you know, like all of the teeny bopper magazines).  Meg read all of the questions, we shared our answers, and we laughed about why we chose them.  Then, Meg opened her present.  I gave her the DVD of Little Women (the 1994 one with Susan Sarandon & Winona Ryder).  I was tickled pink that she looked genuinely excited about it.  She had told me that read had read it, but she hadn't seen the movie.  Yay!

Eventually, we made it back to the cupcake café, reordered our treats, and made our way to a table.  We both had raspberry chocolate cupcakes.  Meg had a chocolate, and I had a caramel latté.  (Doesn't Godmother & Goddaughter Book Club already sound awesome?!)

I am so glad we had to car ride to warm up our conversation, because Meg adorably jumped right in to Book Club chat.  She pulled out her drawstring bag.  Inside, she had a folder and a paperback copy of Anne.  The folder contained a few pages of paper that Meg had written discussion questions on--in purple marker.  *Sigh*  The cuteness was killing me.

   
"So," Meg asked, "which character did you like the most?"  Isn't she good?  The former teacher in me was so proud!  Meg definitely knew the ins and outs of the book, and she was anxious to share her thoughts about the story.  We applied the story to our own lives.  We talked about bullies.  We asked each other if we had ever been in similar situations.  We asked each other what we would have done about some scenes.  The whole thing was so much fun, and I loved hearing Meg's interpretation of the story from her sweet, innocent view.  

One of my favorite parts of our discussion was when we got to the scene in the story where Anne inadvertently gets her friend Diana drunk.  Anne served Diana currant wine that she thought was raspberry cordial.  Meg said, "When I read that part, I told my mom that I thought this book was inappropriate!"  *Sigh*  I know, isn't she the greatest?

Two hours after I had picked her up, we decided that we should get going, but not before taking a picture capturing our fun day.

I love that she's holding up her copy of the book.  I didn't even notice that until I saw the picture.

On our way back to Meg's house, we decided that our first Godmother & Goddaughter Book Club meeting was such a success that we needed to have a second.  Since I had given Meg the Little Women DVD, she decided she wanted to reread the book.  We are having our second Godmother & Goddaughter Book Club meeting around Easter, and I can't wait!

What fun traditions do you have with your godchildren?  Do you have special outings or keep in touch in a unique way?