Familius

What the Cratchits can teach us about family

My mom and I were working late one night last week. As we typed, we listened to a recording of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. You know the characters—the cratchety old Scrooge, the jolly Mr. Fezziwig, the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future. And the Cratchits, the poor, lovable family who, without so much as two farthings to rub together, have inspired generations on the meaning of family.

"They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty; and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a pawnbroker's. But, they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time."

This week, as the leftovers disappear, the Shelf Elf leaves on a welcome vacation (whew!), and the inevitable reality of winter sets in, let the happy glow of family continue to burn. It doesn't take much—just love and time. And as the Cratchits knew better than anyone, those don't have to cost you a penny.

Christmas and everything we have ever loved

"Christmas—that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance—a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved" (August E. Rundell).

Christmas a little at a time

"I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays—let them overtake me unexpectedly—waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: 'Why this is Christmas Day!'" (David Grayson).

A real white Christmas

"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'" (Bing Crosby).

Barbara Walters and Her One Regret

This week on CNN Barbara Walters, one of the worlds' most intelligent women, in my opinion, said when asked by Piers Morgan, "If you could relive one moment in your life, the moment that brought you the greatest satisfaction, thrill, sadness perhaps. I mean, what has been, you think, the moment?":

"I regret not having more children. I would have loved to have had a bigger family."

Children bring joy to the world. They are proof that God believes the world should go on.
As you celebrate this wonderful time of year, when the children around us inspire our childlike selves to emerge, we encourage you to reflect on the wonders of childhood. There is so much to learn by watching children. Enjoy their wonder. 

Happy Holidays from The Robbins

Nelson Mandela and Children

As Nelson Mandela lay dying, his family gathered around him. I have personally witnessed the passing of a parent, held her hand as she slipped from her mortal body with family gathered around. It is a spiritual and life-changing experience.

Our lives have two bookends, birth and death, and both bring family together. 

"The true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children." --Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013

Thanksgiving and Books

Branding is a big deal in business. Companies spend millions developing, marketing, and protecting their brand. At the root of any great brand are the values the organization espouses. We've had some discussion about our brand lately and David Miles, our great partner who leads the digital and design initiatives of Familius, had some important thoughts concerning the root of the Familius brand. 

1. Love--we genuinely try hard to make everyone feel like they're part of our family;
2. Authenticity--we really do care about individual families and about the future of the family as a whole. This isn't just a market for us;
3. Values--everything we do is founded on strong, traditional values, those best practices that make families successful. We want to appeal to as many people as possible, but we're not shy about what we believe. We really do believe that the family is the fundamental unit of society, and society's health is predicated on strong family units.

With this in mind we announce our spring 2014 season. Take a peek here at this online catalog. We hope that you see the authenticity of what we are doing, appreciate that as a family member we love you and try hard by our actions to show that we do love you, and that the great values that help people succeed are embedded in these spring 2014 titles. 

We are grateful for your help in helping families be happy. 

Have a very happy Thanksgiving! 

We Are All Pine Trees

I've enjoyed a few business trips lately, which give me opportunity to catch up on my reading. This last week I read Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and The Art of Battling Giants. It's worth reading even though in some chapters his research is spotty and his examples not as well connected as they could have been.

Toward the end of the book he recounts the story of Andre Trocme, a Huguenot pastor during the second world war. He lived in the small town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in south-central France. The plot of this story is that Trocme brazenly sheltered Jews from the Nazis. At one point Trocme and the town presented a letter to the Vichy Minster who attempted to create HItler Youth camps in their town. The last sentence of the letter read, "We have Jews. You're not getting them." 

Gladwell asks what made this man so determined and so courageous. He suggests it was that Trocme lost his mother at a very young age in a tragic car accicdent and nothing in his life could ever be worse. Trocme's journal reads: 

Are You a Mother?

While reviewing a proof of our spring release Motherhood Realized I read the following: 

The Hope of Results

"Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything." 
― Thomas Merton