Feeling The Spirit of Christmas

I just finished reading Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle. This is a perfect book to read to get into the holiday mood. The 3 short stories are cutey cute and light and fun. The characters are totally adorable, and the situations are hilarious. All 3 stories take place in a small town during a blizzard on Christmas Eve. Each story stands alone, yet they are all tied together by the characters and settings that they have in common. This was a really fast read and I loved every page! Highly recommended to get you in the Christmas mood!

I have a thing for Christmas movies this year. I try to watch one every day. There are so many that I haven't seen before! And new ones too! New this year is the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie “Christmas With Holly”. Oh my. Let me put this out there before I tell you about the movie. When I first saw previews for this, I immediately jumped to attention because the male lead totally reminded me of Rafael Nadal. I have had a serious lack of Rafa in the past 6 months, so now I am conjuring him up in a Christmas movie! Above is the movie picture, and below is Rafa. See what I mean?

So I just pretended it was Rafa while I watched the movie. I'm serious. It does my poor little heart good to see him again. The movie was pretty darn sweet - almost too icky sweet, but very heartwarming. The story is about a little girl, Holly, who's mother dies. The mother's wishes were for the youngest of her 3 brothers, Mark, to get custody of Holly. Holly is traumatized and not speaking, so Mark decides to move with her back to his hometown and into the house where his 2 older brothers live. The 3 uncles were the best part of this movie. They were too adorable. Loved them! Then Mark and Holly meet a woman, Maggie, who runs a toy shop. The 'romance' that developed between Mark and Maggie was lacking any oomph. I thought Maggie was bland and boring and had no sparkle. Overall, I enjoyed this movie. I didn't like the romance, but I really enjoyed Holly with her 3 uncles.

I watched A Bride For Christmas on the Hallmark Channel. Here is the official synopsis:

After Jessie calls off her third engagement, she swears off serious relationships until she finds the one. That is, until charming but chronically single Aiden comes along. But unbeknownst to Jessie, Aiden has bet his friends that he can convince a woman to marry him by Christmas, which is only four weeks away.

This was cute, but quite silly. Within 2 weeks of literally running up the aisle, past her waiting fiance, and out the back door of the church, Jessie is ready to get married again. Even though her first 3 engagements happened only because she couldn't tell them 'No', Jessie was still determined to get married. So to me she came off as a little too desperate to find someone - anyone - who she actually WANTED to marry. Aiden pissed me off because he knew Jessie's history, yet when his friends bet him he couldn't find a woman to agree to marry him within 4 weeks, he chose to pursue Jessie. That's just all kinds of wrong. I like that he came to his senses and called off the bet when he realized he really did like her, but overall the story just wasn't romantic.

I watched Christmas Cupid over the weekend. Chad Michael Murray was the best thing about this movie, but he was barely in it! So disappointing. Christina Milian was really good, but her character was so shallow and unlikable!

Netflix gave me Holiday in Handcuffs with Mario Lopez and Melissa Joan Hart. A bit silly and unbelievable, but quite hilarious at times. 'Grandma' was a hoot! I have to admit that this is the best holiday movie I have watched this year.

Holiday Engagement is another 'fake fiance' Christmas movie. When Hillary's lawyer boyfriend suddenly dumps her, she is forced to hire an out of work actor to be her fiance for the holidays. Because, obviously, Hillary has to out do her sisters in the husband department, and her mother would never be sympathetic and understanding if Hillary showed up alone at Christmas. So fake fiance it is. You can imagine how well things turned out. Even though this was implausible, it was funny at times, but not very Christmasy.

All About Christmas Eve. Good lord, I should have skipped this one. The story was just all over the place, and it really didn't come together very well. The movie switches back and forth between 2 parallel storylines. In the first one, Eve makes her flight and goes to L.A. to plan a Christmas party for a VIP client. If she pulls it off it would mean a huge promotion for Eve, not to mention the romance she strikes up with the client. In the second storyline, Eve misses her plane, gets fired, and walks in on her boyfriend having sex with some blonde bimbo. Eve's friend convinces her to pursue her real passion - art. Eve's future depends solely on whether or not she makes it on the plane, and you don't find out what really happened until the very end. I didn't mind the acting - Haylie Duff and Chris Carmack were fine. I just really didn't enjoy the storyline.

12 Dates of Christmas was cute. Kate is given the chance to re-live Christmas Eve twelve times. Each time she does something a little bit different and thinks she has finally gotten things 'right', but then the clock strikes midnight and Kate must live Christmas Eve once again.

I watched Dear Santa a few nights ago. PLOT: "Shopaholic Crystal's wealthy parents give her an ultimatum: change her irresponsible ways by Christmas or they will cut her off without a cent. With no job or romantic prospects, what's a party girl to do? Fate intervenes when she finds seven year-old Olivia's letter to Santa asking for a new wife for her widowed dad Derek. Crystal tracks them down and vows to win over father and daughter before the fast-approaching holiday deadline. Only Derek's jealous and calculating girlfriend stands between her and her newfound happiness."

Not that Crystal is too stalkerish or anything, following the girl and her dad all around town. That was a little yucky to watch. The dad is just worried about finding a mother for his daughter. So he is dating his high school girlfriend, thinking she would make a perfect mom for his daughter, and not noticing that his daughter hates her - and vice versa. He smartens up at the very end when he tells Crystal from now on he will let his heart lead the way, instead of what's in his pants his head.

I *sort of* watched Come Dance With Me. But only because Andrew McCarthy was in it. It turned out to be an okay Christmas movie.

My daughter recorded The Mistle-Tones, so we will probably watch that together this weekend.

I may have forgotten a movie or two in my recap, but there are just so many movies that I can't keep track of them all!

Now I just need to catch up on the holiday movies that I watch every year. Like Serendipity, The Bishop's Wife, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.

If you have any holiday movie recommendations, be sure to let me know!