Christmas Every Day: Movie Edition

Hey everyone, I am currently out Black Friday shopping right now, that's the great thing about scheduling a post that you wrote a week prior to today. I know I said I was taking a blog break for the Thanksgiving Holiday, and I am, because I wrote this on 11/21 - booyah!

Now that Christmas time is truly here...here's a list for you to enjoy:

Christmas Movie Countdown 

Annually I make lists that revolve around Christmas, more specifically, things to do each night counting down the days until Christmas. I've always enjoyed ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas, however this year I have decided to make my own because there are so many great Christmas movies out there that ABC does not show.

Here is a countdown for me and my family broken down in different categories that I love:

Romantic Christmas Movies

1 - The Holiday

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I was in love with this movie from the first time that I ever saw it. I'm not going to lie, after watching, I seriously did research on swapping homes overseas just like they did in the movie. Obviously that never happened, but I still think it would be an amazing experience!

2 - Three Days

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Three Days is a made for TV movie that (in my personal opinion) could have been a movie in theaters. I look forward to watching this movie every Christmas season. Without giving out too many spoilers, it's about a couple who are on the verge of a divorce when fate intervenes during the Christmas Holiday. This usually comes on Hallmark - so keep a lookout for it and set your DVRs!

3 - The Family Stone

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I will tell you, this movie is not for everyone. One of my sisters loved it, the other one hated it. The hubs cannot stand this movie. I on the other hand love it because it portrays a real life scenario, not everything in this movie is picture perfect, and Dermot Mulroney is easy on the eyes too!

Christmas in New York

If you've followed me for a while now, then you probably know my love for New York. Any film, whether Christmas or not, that is based out of New York I love, however Christmas in New York, those are some great movies!

4 - Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

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5 - Serendipity

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Granted this movie isn't really a Christmas movie, the timing they met and fell in love is Christmas, plus it's in New York. It's on my Christmas movie list!

Vince Vaughn Christmas Movies

Vince Vaughn is both mine and my husband's favorite actor. He is downright hilarious and all our favorite movies have him in it.

6 - Four Christmases

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I will say that I anticipated this movie so much that when I first saw it, it was a bit of a let down. I think that Reese Witherspoon is a great actress, and as stated above I love VV movies. The more that I watch this though, the more I do enjoy this movie and it's definitely got some funny parts worth watching for. If you're a country fan, it has Tim McGraw in it as well - holla!

7 - Fred Clause

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Cadence's Christmas Choice

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8 - Beauty & the Beast: An Enchanted Christmas

It's no secret that Cadence's favorite princess is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She's liked her ever since she was aware of what a princess was and couldn't wait to meet her on our trip to Disney World. I personally thought she'd love Sleeping Beauty due to her long pink ball gown, but nope, Belle it was! She must get it naturally though because I remember Belle being my personal favorite when I was growing up.

This usually airs on the Disney channel closer to Christmas - check your local listings, especially if you have a little Princess of your own. She'll love it!

Family Movies

Family movies are the best because it doesn't matter the age, each member of the family will enjoy watching it!

9 - The Polar Express

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I just watched this movie for the first time last year and oh my tears. So emotional, in a good way. It lifts your spirits and truly shows you the real meaning behind Christmas.

10 / 11 / 12 - Santa Clause 1 / 2 / 3

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I enjoy each and every one of these movies. Obviously the original is the best, but the sequels are just as enjoyable to watch.

13 - A Muppets Christmas Carol

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I have never seen this movie until I started dating the hubs. It's been an annual tradition ever since. This year it's actually going to be played at the famous Lucas Theater in downtown Savannah, so we're definitely going to schedule that into our Christmas calendar!

14 - The Family Man



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Rarely do the hubs and I like similar movies. We can watch and enjoy the same TV shows all day long, but movies are a completely different story, however we both enjoy this movie. It's got such a great message in it. Family is Everything!

15 - Jingle All the Way

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I love this Christmas movie because it's unlike any other out there. It's basically two men who have sons, and their sons want this toy that is sold out everywhere. This pretty much pays tribute to Black Friday lovers everywhere!


Christmas Comedies

16 - National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

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 One of my personal favorites...if you haven't seen this yet, what are you waiting for?!

17 - Deck the Halls

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18 - Christmas with the Kranks

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19 - Elf

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 One of my all time favorites. There are so many parts in this movie that I could focus on and make myself laugh out loud, but I'll let you watch it for yourself. Again, if you haven't seen this...get to a TV now!


Christmas Classics

These are the original movies that started out when our parents were growing up. The ones that if you don't watch, then you don't really feel like it's Christmas!

20 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas

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 First airing in 1966, watching this has become an annual tradition in our household

21 - Frosty the Snowman



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22 - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

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23 - Santa Clause is Coming to Town

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24 - A Charlie Brown Christmas

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My favorite classic. I will put this on my DVR and we will watch it at least 3x during December. By the end of the Christmas I can recite most of the lines...sad but true.

Adding to My List

Between Hallmark, ABC, CBS, and every other station, there are several new Christmas movies each year. Granted this movie isn't new, it's new to me because I have never seen it, but have heard from several people that it's great, plus it has Hugh Grant in it! This is on my list of movies to watch this season...have you seen it?

25 - Love Actually

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There you have it...a list of 25 movies for the 25 days of Christmas.

Here are my top 10 personal favorites:

So what are yours?



Simply Thankgiving

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving...

 



My famous trifle!

I'm the dessert girl in my family. Maybe it's because I worked at a bakery for 5 years, maybe it's because I eat dessert before dinner or just maybe because even though I can't fry a damn chicken, I sure as shit can bake a cake!

Well normally I start from scratch, but when you have 15 different people saying they want 15 different things, yet you only have enough cash for one, you improvise.

One year for Easter different family members wanted different desserts, fruity, cakey, creamy...so I just combined them. Granted this trifle isn't anything special and has been done by many before I'm sure, it's delicious and I'm kinda famous for it in mia famiglia!

You will need:

Sara Lee All Butter Pound Cake (because nobody does it like....you know!) Also, don't get the light and dreamy one either, this is a fattening recipe. You don't do this light, you do this right! And by that I mean buttery everything!

1 Package of Cool Whip - the big one! As mentioned above, get the good stuff, like Kraft, and don't skimp out on the little container, pay the extra 0.86 cents and get the big tub, you know the one that you can bathe in.

Strawberries, or any fruit that you prefer. We're a strawberry family. No one complains when there are strawberries unless there's only one or two left, fighting will ensue.

Cut the pound cake up into bite size squares, line them up in your trifle dish, then add a layer of diced strawberries and a layer of whip cream. Repeat this until the dish is filled. Make it beautiful by piping the top layer with a decorated tip, then add a strawberry...voila!

Alas, I had a glorious picture of my trifle from last year, per usual when it comes to blogging I can't find the pic anywhere...use your imagination!

xo

Olly's Back!

Friday night our local town celebrated it's 1st Annual Holiday Merchant open house, which is basically where all the little shops that normally close at 3 - 4 stayed open until 8, with smores, hot cocoa, decorations and Santa to promote shopping locally. Cadence had a blast and even got to meet the big man with the snow white beard!

The hubs has absolutely no clue what snapchat is and doesn't really understand it, so we played around with my snapchat this weekend and did some emoji fun (yeah, we're nerds!). It was hysterical and so many people screenshotted this image of us!

Olly, our elf, decided to come a little early this year and "zipped" right on in this morning on a candy cane! Cadence was surprised! He even left us a note!

I went shopping this weekend to prepare my Thanksgiving baking, and cleaned out my fridge in the process, there is nothing like a clean fridge!

Baked/Sea Salt Brussel Sprouts

Strawberry/Cream Trifle

Chocolate Cream Pie

Pumpkin Bread

Come on Thanksgiving...

Cadence and I also did a Christmas craft this weekend. Original inspiration derived from a FaceBook post by SantaClausWrites.com, and we actually did NAIL IT!

I'm so ready for the Holidays!



Friday Five



one...Today marks the 50th anniversary since President John F. Kennedy was shot. My mom was in love with that man and said that she cried and cried when she found out about it. One thing you may not know about me is I love conspiracy theories, urban legends, old wives tales, all that jazz...

There are so many conspiracy theories that not only surround JFKs murder, but JFK in general. Example: the tunnels built underneath the White House so he could sneak in Marilyn Monroe, is it true? Who really did kill Kennedy? I could go on and on all day about this stuff, I'm telling you I love this shit, alas, here are 5 FACTS that you might not know about President Kennedy's assassination.

1 - Lee Harvey Oswald was not arrested for killing JFK, he did not get arrested until 45 minutes later for killing a police officer. Obviously he denied both murders, and then got shot himself 2 days later.

2 - In 1963 killing the President was not a federal crime, it did not become a federal crime until 1965.

3 -  The JFK assassination was the longest uninterrupted news event on television until the coverage of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Basically this was the story, obviously, so every single radio and TV station did nothing but broadcast this, which means those Real Housewives would not have been airing, now that is scary!

4 - Federal Judge, Sara Hughes administered the oath to President Lyndon B. Johnson, swearing him in as President in Air Force One, the only woman to ever swear in a President, still to this day.

5 - Eight months prior to killing JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald tried to kill an outspoken, resigned, army general that was a huge JFK critic. Oswald did not succeed in killing him, but I find it suspicious that he was going to kill someone who was against JFK, just to kill JFK himself...weird!

information gathered here

two...Olly, our elf, arrives the Friday after Thanksgiving. This has become a huge thing for our family, because not only does Cadence enjoy it, but so do the husband and I. We will both take turns hiding him that way it's a surprise for us as well. This was an idea I came up with last year and by far my most favorite thus far.

three...I think these nails are just about as precious as they come for the Christmas holiday!

I have so many pictures pinned to my mani/pedi board, do you follow me, if not start, I love me some Pinterest - click!

four...I have a love/hate relationship with candy crush. I used to play it all the time, then got bored with it, now am back to playing it again and have been stuck on level 181 for days. Why do I torture myself with this crap?

five...I am so happy that today is Friday, but I cannot lie, I will be happy to see next week get here to start off the Thanksgiving festivities! My aunt is coming up from Florida along with her sons, my cousins who I haven't seen in years.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pay it Forward

Paying it Forward is a term that has been around for quite some time now. It's simply a good deed that someone has done for you, passing that same generosity along to someone else.

I love this idea, especially around the Holidays. We are so blessed with daily things that we take for granted. Even something as simple as a toothbrush and toothpaste.

I don't want to start a linkup, however I do want to do a Pay It Forward for all us bloggers.

It's as simple as this:

The first person to comment on this post, I will contact them and get their mailing address, and send them a little something special via USPS. The same day they comment below, they are to do a blog post stating the same thing and 'pay it foward' to someone else.

Please keep in mind it does not have to be something expensive or lavish, just a little something special to let them know that you're keeping them in their thoughts and prayers this holiday season!

So go...

P.S. If you're not planning on Paying It Forward do not be the first to comment, I will check :)



A Few of My Favorite Things

Let's face it, I could devote a minimum of 20 blog posts on my favorite things, but here are some currently on my mind:



1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

1 - The Home T - they have t-shirts with your home state and little sayings inside. For South Carolina you can choose Y'all or Home. I'm loving the Home saying...many a celeb has been caught wearing them, but I have been a fan of The Home T prior to all their celeb buzz. If you follow

 Kristin Cavallari on Instagram, she recently posted a pic of her new baby bump while wearing a Home T of her state Illinois.

2 - Erin Condren Gold Edition Pink Life Planner - I'm sure each and every one of you reading this has heard or has an Erin Condren item, most probably a life planner. This has been on my list for quite some time. I can't allow myself to spend $75 on a planner, however, the hubs is more than welcome to take notes from this blog post and add this to my Christmas list!

3 & 4 - You can buy both of these beauties right now at Target. For a limited time they are having a buy one, get one 50% off on select furniture, the above two pieces included. We are in need of a statement chair and ottoman for our master décor, and these would look perfect with the black/white theme we have going.

5 - Also from Target the Philip Lim 3:1 Satchel in Taupe...there are no words for this, each girl should have this on their favorite things list! In love...

P.S. I have some fun Christmas posts planned for when December gets here...if only I had that planner to write them all down! I also wanted to let each of you know I'm taking a blog break for the Holidays. Thursday - Saturday for Thanksgiving and the entire Christmas week...aren't you ready?!



Five on Friday

One...my new sweater I purchased last night from Sears. I've been keeping an eye out for the perfect elbow patch sweater at an even prettier cost and Sears did the trick last night!

I love neutral colors (blacks, greys, whites, nudes) but a pop of pink, or in this case, dark pink, makes this sweater stand out beautifully and with a sale price of $15.00 I was sold. (the bathroom pic does NOT do this sweater justice!) Buy HERE

Two...I'm loving these candid shots of our little gal having fun!

Three...my current polish 'It's All About the Glam' by Nicole/OPI.

I realize there are evident painting mistakes, but if you think my right hand nail painting job is bad, you should see my left!

Four...I'm loving that as of today all of my Christmas shopping for Cadence and the hubs will be finished. That's right people, finished! Only a few gifts left to buy for other family members!

Five...it's Friday and my dad is healing fantastic. God is Good always in all ways!