Christmas Movies

Now, it's no surprise that I love, love, LOVE Christmas. Seriously - every single thing about it! One of my favorites, though, is Christmas movies! From Lifetime movies to the 25 Days of Christmas on ABCFamily, to movies on Netflix - I'm a lover of all things Christmas movies! And yes, I'm well aware that Christmas has been over for almost two weeks now, but I have still been watching Christmas movies that I recorded. There's just not enough time in the day to get them all watched right at Christmas! So, without further adieu, here are the Christmas movies that I saw and loved this year, whether they be first-timers for me or traditional watches. 
A Christmas Proposal Two lawyers dueling over a proposal to turn a quaint mountain town into a ski resort are former childhood sweethearts. Lisa is fighting to protect Fillmore and big-city attorney Rick represents the developer who wants to plow down part of the town. When car troubles force Rick to stick around a few extra days, the small town and his former beloved begin to work their magic on him. 
This movie is one I've seen every year for the past few years on LMN {that's Lifetime Movie Network for those of you that aren't familiar}. I love the small-town feeling in this movie, and it always reminds me of home! 
Saving Santa A lowly stable elf finds that he is the only one who can stop an invasion of the North Pole by using the secret of Santa's sleigh, a TimeGlobe, to travel back in time to save Santa - twice. 
This is a movie that I found perusing Netflix one night and watched with my hubby while it was freezing outside. It made for a few laughs and a great lazy Saturday night in! Per IMDB, it was newly released this year. 

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.
Okay, so I jumped on the National Lampoon's bandwagon this year! I've seen this movie on many Christmas-lover's movie lists, so I vowed to finally watch it this year {that's right, I was unfamiliar with the Griswold family prior to this movie this year!}. So, the Saturday after Thanksgiving while at Colten's grandparents' house, we watched it on Netflix, and it was hilarious! I'm so glad that I've finally seen this movie! Definitely a must-see for the entire family! 

Twelve Trees of Christmas Cheri Jamison rallies the residents of her beloved Manhattan neighborhood to participate in a Christmas tree contest when her cherished local library is abruptly set for demolition. Cheri finds herself up against an ambitious developer, Tony Shaughnessy. 
This is a new movie on LMN, and I'm so glad that I recorded this one! It revolves entirely around an old, neighborhood library and the joys it brings to not only the employees, but the children and their families as well. As an avid reader myself, I truly enjoyed this film! It's a must for all book lovers alike! Heck, even if you don't love to read, it's still a great story. 

The Santa Clause When a man inadvertently kills Santa on Christmas Eve, he finds himself magically recruited to take his place. 
This one is a classic! I watch it every year, and this year enjoyed it with my husband. I laugh and really get into this movie every single time! It was first released in 2004, and I'm pretty sure I've been in love with it ever since. If you're looking for a good, fun, family Christmas movie - this one's for you! It's hilarious and very well done. Who doesn't want a glimpse inside of the North Pole at Christmastime? 

The Santa Clause 2 Scott Calvin has been a humble Santa for nearly ten years, but it might come to an end if he doesn't find a Mrs. Clause. 
This one is up there, right behind The Santa Clause {duh}. I love the addition of Scott's niece and her joy and love for Christmas! I also am fond of the fact that you really get to see Santa still being a father to Charlie, through all of his problems at school. I know it's what ultimately leads him to the Mrs, but it's nice to see the 'family' aspect of the movie as well as the Christmas one. If you're watching the first film, you might as well settle in for The Santa Clause 2 as well! 

The Mistle-Tones Holly, blessed with an amazing singing voice, is all set to audition for the newly vacated spot in a legendary local Christmas group which was founded by her late mother years ago. Shocked and upset when the spot goes to the barely talented best friend of the group's leader, Marci, Holly sets out to create her own musical group, the Mistle-Tones. Holly finds herself on a journey to the real meaning of Christmas with some new friends and a new love thrown in for good measure. 
This movie is becoming a favorite of mine! It first released on ABC Family in 2012, and I just love it! It's a competitive movie about the love of Christmas and singing carols, with a love interest thrown in the mix. It's a great movie that reminds you of the true meaning of Christmas! A great flick for the whole family! 

Christmas on the Bayou When successful New York marketing executive Katherine discovers her workaholic ways are taking a toll on her eight-year-old son, Zac, she decides to spend Christmas with him and her mother, Lilly, in her home town on the bayou. When Caleb tries to rekindle a childhood romance and convince her to move back home, Katherine is torn between the bright lights of the big city and the quiet, gentler rhythms of her Southern roots. Only a Christmas miracle orchestrated by Papa Noel can steer her heart to her true home. 
This is a newly released movie on Lifetime. It's such an amazing story of a family trying to survive post-divorce at Christmas. Being a southern girl myself, it was refreshing to watch a truly Southern Christmas movie and just fall in love with the small hometown community on the bayou. And the Christmas parade was out of this world! I loved this movie!! 

The Holiday Two women troubled with guy problems swap homes in each other's countries, where they each meet a local guy and fall in love. 
I may be biased on this one, seeing as when I first moved out of my parents' house, I didn't have cable and didn't own any DVD's other than this movie, so I watched it on repeat for weeks and weeks before I finally got cable hooked up. With that being said, this is my all-time favorite movie ever! I love the humor, the romances, the homey feel of England with the large city life of L.A. It's just a great mix all the way around! Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz killed it! It also doesn't hurt to get to stare at Jude Law...just sayin'. :) 


So, there you have it! Christmas movie watchin' is officially over in our home, as sad as it makes me. But I absolutely loved these movies this past Christmas, and I can't wait to see what next Christmas brings! :)  What are some of your go-to Christmas movies? 

{Murder & Cavemen} FFTL

This is my first time linking up with Halie over at Penguins, Pasta, & Polka Dots for the 'From Firsts to Lasts' (FFTL) link-up that happens every {tuesday}! 

Usually, you talk about your first someting, BUT, new rules are in place, which means today (the last Tuesday of the month, and my first time to link up [ha!]) we talk about a few lasts.  If you're totally and utterly confused, go check out the rules!

So, here we go! 

Today's LASTS topics are:

Last book you read

Last movie you saw in a theater

Last Book I Read

I was really, really hoping I was going to be able to talk about the book I'm currently reading, but I didn't get as much time to read this past weekend as I had hoped.  So, that means I will talk a little bit about Walter Walker's Crime of Privilege.  It was our book club's BOTM (book of the month) last month and was a FREE galley offer by Randomhouse Publishing, so we decided to give it a go!  Here's my review via Goodreads. 

Crime of Privilege by Walter Walker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed most of this book. It definitely grabbed my attention from the start; however, it ended so abruptly and didn't really answer "whodunnit?".

I found it a little difficult in the beginning to really follow who all of the characters were, as it just throws you into the middle of a party at the Senator's house - and then the dates jumping around kind of threw me off, too. But I got used to that pretty quickly.

I loved all of the unexpected twists and turns! Just when I thought I had something figured out, WHAM! - another surprise!

I'm glad George ended up with Barbara personally, but I HATED the rest of the ending. A killer was not revealed. Both George and Barbara were stuck at meaningless jobs which they obviously hated ... it just seemed like a lot of drawn out suspense through the book only to end very dully. For this reason, I had to rate it only 3 stars.

And with that ending, I will be honest and say that I would NOT recommend this book to anyone else. It's dissapointing.

View all my reviews


Last Movie I Saw in a Theater
The last movie I saw in the theater, sadly, was The Croods.  The only sad part was that it was mid-April when we saw that one, so it's been a while!  Things have just been so hectic lately and I literally just haven't had any time.  However, The Croods was such a cute movie!  Colten and I went to see it when his dad and step-mom came to visit for a few days.  I was really looking forward to the movie, and it didn't disappoint!  For those that don't know, The Croods is a movie about a family of cavemen that are striving to survive out in the wild amongst other animals.  However, the daughter, Eep (yes, that's her name), is rebellious and is tired of following by the 'rules'.  She wants an adventure!  And boy does she get one!  She ventures out of their cave after dark (which is a giant NO-NO) and meets Guy (that's his name), who is not a caveman, but he's searching for the sun, as he knows that's where he will be happy, etc. etc.  It's a cute storyline of them all trying to reach the sun.  And I'll admit right now, I teared up a little - there are a few sad parts that just pull at your heartstrings! 

This guy was my favorite - 'Belt'.  Because, well, he was a belt!  Haha.  "Dun, dun, DUNNNN!" 

It's definitely a super cute movie that I would recommend to people of all ages!  Seriously, go see it! 

A {WEEK}?!

Wow, has it really been a WEEK since I last posted?! Yep.. I guess so!    Since becoming more 'involved' in the blogging community, I've felt pressured and, well, obligated to keep up with posts and to spend so much time reading others' blogs and so on and so forth.  But do you bloggers ever feel that your blogging sucks a lot of time out of your already 'not-enough-time-in-the-day' day?  I DO!   So, I've accepted that it doesn't matter if I post every day.  It's still my blog and it's still all about ME!  I need to be sure I'm spending adequate time with my husband and our little pup.   

Aren't they just precious?! ♥

I've also been sick this week, so that's had me down in the dumps doing pretty much nothing but sleeping and catching up on some television shows.  I did venture out TWICE this week to the movie theater that's across the wall (seriously, there's a small brick wall ... not even a full wall, more like a 'step' ... from our parking lot to the parking lot of the movie theater).  The first night, Colten and I went with my brother to see the new G.I. Joe movie  Retaliation.  It was great!  Although, I was a little saddened that my man Channing didn't have more screen time... *sigh*.  Oh well, still a great movie!

Then, yesterday, my sister, Colten, and I went to see Olympus Has Fallen.  Oh. My. Goodness!  My heart hurt after that one.  It was definitely a great movie!  But the producers didn't hold back!  It was unpredictable and had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the time.

 Just when I thought they had shown enough of a certain scene, say, a torture scene, they held the cameras on it even longer, and longer - which made it quite intense!  It's very emotional and it draws you in, so KUDOS to those producers and directors!  And Gerard Butler - AMAZING JOB!  The movie definitely would not have been the same without him as the main character.  However, it is also quite scary to imagine that something like that could happen to the White House in D.C - for the U.S.A. to be THAT vulnerable - crazy stuff!  I walked out of the theater thankful to be alive and thankful to live in such a great nation.    Today, I am back at work, and was just informed that I need to come in tomorrow to test our new system in the office ... there goes my Saturday morning!  But I'll be getting paid for it, so it's okay I guess, as I didn't have prior plans or aything...I think it's just the principle of being at work on Saturday!  But it's okay, because I'm reconnecting with a great friend whom I haven't seen in way too long, and, you guessed it, we're going to see a MOVIE!  Haha.  I'm excited.      How has your week been?