Tag: Holidays

Holiday Movies – My Favorites

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I never really had many “must-see”s on my holiday viewing lists before now, but these last couple years I’ve loved having a go-to list for the month of December.  I say in the post title these are ‘favorites,’ which is quite a generous term for many of these.  But these are movies I do love to indulge in around the holidays.  Some quick Internet searches of popular holiday movies, and I see that not many of mine match up with most lists (figures), but here are some of the ones of some I really enjoy:

Arthur Christmas (2011)

This one is definitely at the top of the list.  I’m always surprised how few people have heard of this movie.  When people hear its name and that it’s animated, they usually assume it’s the aardvark book character named Arthur, but it definitely is not.  This is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever, if not THE favorite.  Arthur Christmas, son of the current Santa Claus, loves Christmas.  He loves the magic of it, he adores his dad, and he answers children’s letters from all over the world. But everyone, including Arthur, knows that when his dad eventually retires, Arthur’s brother, Steve, will be the one taking over the role.  Steve has Christmas down to a science.  He treats Christmas Eve like a top secret mission, complete with camouflaged troops of elves, fancy communication gadgets, and precise calculations.  But when one present is found undelivered after the Christmas Eve gifts have been distributed, Steve sees this as simply a small margin of error, whereas Arthur can’t bear to think of a child without a present from Santa on Christmas morning.  Arthur joins forces with his granddad and a feisty elf and faces his many fears in order to deliver this one missed gift.

This movie is entertaining and heart-warming, and I love it every time I see it.  I did wait to show it to our oldest until we’d had a certain conversation, only because I had always held such a magical idea of Santa’s village and a workshop of tinkering elves as a child, and this movie definitely turns that on its head with the mission talk and communications. –In a completely clever and hilarious way, of course, but I wanted to hold that magic for my kids.  The idea of the Clauses all being white and British has got its limitations, but there is really so much to love about this extremely well-done, Christmas movie.  It tops the charts for me, and I really think it deserves much more of a place in people’s Christmas movie lists.

 

The Grinch (2018)

I seriously love this version of The Grinch, and it’s one of the only movies that I feel fine with both kids watching, unedited.  I almost, almost gave up on this one when the first sort of loud, beatbox-y (I don’t know what kind of music this is called, honestly) song came on just a couple minutes into the opening.  I’m so glad I didn’t let that deter me.  This is one of the sweetest, funniest movies ever.  It’s a go-to in our house all year, but especially near Christmas.  One of the very few actual family-friendly movies that we all enjoy.  The Grinch in this is still grinch-y, but we also see the hints of sweetness to him before his heart grows three sizes, and it makes it all flow so beautifully.  I love this Grinch so much.

 

Spirited! (2022)

A new one!  A musical (which I do love), but one that pokes fun at musicals.  Will Ferrel and Ryan Reynolds are fantastic, and I love this twist on A Christmas Carol.  I’ve only just seen it, but it’s already on my annual must-see Christmas list. (Definitely an adult movie though)

 

Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (2021)

I know not all adults enjoy kid shows, but I adore Shaun the Sheep.  And while I haven’t seen this particular one nearly as many times as my kids, I always love watching this or other Shauns.

 

How to Train Your Dragon: Gift of the Night Fury (2019), Homecoming(2011), and even the Snoggletog Log

I love the HtTYD movies!  But the scarier bits have prevented me from sharing them with my kids just yet, so I was thrilled to find these holiday shorts.  I always confuse which plot is which on these, but they have my stamp-of-approval for unedited watching and they’re just so great.  Each of the shorts is 22 minutes, and even though I’m not always a fan of the background fireplace-on-TV thing, the Snoggletog Log is super cute.

 

I Hate Christmas (2022 and 2023)

Definitely R-rated.  (This Netflix mini-series has two seasons now!)  It’s based in Venice; you can watch it dubbed or with subtitles.  (I chose dubbed)  Such a fun watch about a young woman who is frustrated by outside pressure from family and friends to have a boyfriend and be on the road to marriage.  A kick-back-in-your-slippers-sort-of-watch, and I totally binge the whole thing every time, staying up way too late.

 

Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas (2021)

I had Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist on my show queue for so long without ever watching it.  It wasn’t until I noticed and wanted to watch this Christmas special that I realized it would be helpful to have the background knowledge of the show first  (which I watched and binged and totally loved).  And while I didn’t make it through the series and onto this one exactly in time for Christmas day itself, I still got to it in the window of Christmas.  And, of course, it was great.

 

Love Hard (2021)

I love this Netflix movie.  It is so flippin funny and has some truly great lines.  Definitely on our annual Christmas watch list, but enjoyable throughout the year as well!  (Teen and up)

 

Dash and Lily (2020)

More of a mini-series, rather than a movie, but I really like this one!  (A teen-and-up watch)  Dash and Lily are teens in NYC who haven’t actually met but share thoughts and dares back and forth in a notebook they hide for each other throughout the city.  Spoiler: Sadly, I did love Dash and Lily apart more than when they actually get together, but, ah well.

 

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)

Another new one!  I had no idea this was coming.  I had, of course, seen the original as a kid.  It terrified me, especially the bit with Santa.  So, even though I’d watch the reruns of it on TBS when it was on, I never really sought it out since then.  But, I really loved the take on this one.  Super sweet, and so many of the outfits and decorations and details of this 70s setting took me back to my childhood.  (There was only one scene that was a little too unrealistic for my liking – almost every one of those sledders would be seriously injured or dead.). (Although some would show this to their kids, I would consider it a teen-and-up movie.)

 

A Christmas to Remember (2016)

I only just saw my first Hallmark movie a few weeks ago, when I noticed there were some on our library’s Hoopla channel.  This one has Mira Sorvino in it, so I figured, Academy Award winner… couldn’t be all that bad.  Despite some things you just have to accept as you go, I thought it was super sweet.  Again, a cozy-up, mama-by-herself movie.

 

12 Dates of Christmas (2011)

This one is definitely an indulgence – one of those, I’ve-got-the-TV-to-myself-and-my-bunny-slippers-and-popcorn kinda movies, but I dig it.  I almost gave up on it with the opening song originally, but I’m glad I hung in.  Just for fun, but cute.

Other movies to mention: 

<Not that any of these rank differently, I just don’t personally watch them during the holidays, even though they are holiday movies.>

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

One of my favorites from my teen and young adult days!  This one is very much set at the holidays, but, again, I just tend to watch it at random times during the year.

Holiday in the Wild (2019)

Helping elephants in Africa?  Yes, please.  This is such a chill, sweet movie, and it helps gain awareness around elephant conservation.

The Holiday (2006)

Can I please live in Kate Winslet’s character’s little English cottage for the holidays?

Magazine Gift Wrap

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I’m a big fan of finding alternative ways to wrap gifts. Wrapping paper must go through a lot of manufacturing and transportation to get to us, only to be thrown away in a matter of seconds. And even for those who want to recycle their mounds of wrapping paper, the sad news is that many papers contain gold bits or glitter that make them impossible to recycle.

I love using fabric wrap, but if you don’t prefer that option, wrapping gifts can be super simple by reimagining your old magazines!

MAGAZINES!

Step 1: Reduce
(I say magazines here, but I think of these interchangeably with catalogs, at least for the purpose of gift wrap.)

To reduce magazines, consider whether you’re reading them regularly.  Can you share with a friend or family member?  Can you read the magazine at a library?  Can you read it online instead?

To reduce catalogs, consider whether you need a catalog to view the shop items.  Could you look online instead?  Getting on catalog mailing lists seems mysterious sometimes, but canceling a catalog is easy.  There’s (usually) a phone number on the back and the process takes less than two minutes.  Consider canceling your own unwanted catalogs and maybe those that arrive at your place of work as well.  The less printing, pages, and transportation, the better.

Step 2:  Reuse!
Can you donate your magazine to a friend, family member, or local library?  Sometimes even thrift shops will take magazines, especially if there’s a set.

Step 3:  Reimagine!
There are SO many wonderful projects that use old paper pages; I can’t wait to share more!  But, this post is about gift wrap.  And using magazine/catalog pages as gift wrap is so simple.  It’s eco-friendly, affordable, and, best of all, looks super cute and creative.  If your gift is bigger than a page, no problem.  Just tape several pages together.  I love picking out special images for future wrapping and having them on hand.

This gift wrap idea works great with so many other types of paper – catalogs, old coloring pages, newspapers, phone book pages, old maps, pages from damaged books, and more!

Step 4:  Recycle
Just like you would with any of these pages, recycle when done.

Dia de los Muertos

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I have to admit that I held zero interest in this holiday for years, simply because I was not a fan of seeing skulls and skeletons.  (I know, I know.  That’s me, freaked out to see the skeleton in science class when I was growing up.)  While other people were getting super trendy with their colorful skull decorations on patches and shirts and mugs in recent years, I didn’t even think to explore what this holiday was about.

So, thank goodness for a few things.  Love, Sugar, Magic has been a favorite book series around here for the past year.  And because of it, our daughter really took to the idea of Dia de los Muertos.  She set up a mini ofrenda of photographs of our loved ones and sprinkled flower petals outside leading to our door.  As I learned more about this holiday from the books and research (and Coco, of course), I realized just how much I LOVE love love this celebration.

As we reflected on some of the symbols of this holiday, we realized that although Halloween and Dia de los Muertos may share things like skeletons, cemeteries, candles and so on, Halloween tends to take a spooky twist, whereas Dia de los Muertos is about honoring and respecting these things.

I think we’ll be adding to our own traditions for Dia de los Muertos as the years pass, but I was excited to try some new things this year.

Some of what we’ve already done to celebrate as newbies to this holiday:

–Putting up photos of the loved ones who have passed away.
–Lighting a candle for them.
–My daughter also wanted to put out a food offering.
–Sprinkling rose petals outside in a path to our door.  (Traditionally, the flowers for this holiday are marigolds, but we made do.)
–Buying Pan de Muerto at the local bakery (The panaderia was closed all weekend, so I’m glad we went ahead of time and froze the bread for today.)
–Running in a Dia de los Muertos race.  (I’m NOT a runner.  At all.  But I loved the idea of working towards something and dedicating a run to a loved one who has passed.  There are virtual options, but check for local ones too!)
–Visiting a cemetery.  (Maybe this sounds odd, but we weren’t visiting to be creepy or disrespectful.  We visited to show our children what a cemetery and headstones look like.  We read some markers and talked about some of the traditions of burials and so on.  It was a beautiful fall day and an enjoyable visit.)
—Making churros (Not sure these are a traditional food for the holiday, but, any excuse for churros sounds good to me!)
–Reading some books that tied in with the holiday.

Some traditions I hope to add:

–Making bottle cap candles like these, so each of our deceased loved ones has a candle we can light.
–Collecting stories, quotes, favorite memories from other family members throughout the year about those who have passed, so I can compile these and we can watch or listen to them on the holiday.
–Having a bigger fire, whether in our fireplace or around a fire pit.  (One family I talked to has a fire in their fire pit.  This would be a great opportunity to share stories and memories.)
–Face painting!

 

Obviously, Dia de Los Muertos isn’t the only celebration of deceased loved ones.  There’s the Obon Festival in Japan (in August), Qingming in China (in the spring), fantasy coffins in Ghana, Jazz funerals in New Orleans, and more!

Bunnies from Upcycled Spools

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I saw this idea years back and fell in love with it!  How darling are these bunnies!

The idea couldn’t be simpler:

–Use an empty spool (If you don’t sew, ask friends/neighbors/family/Freecycle, etc.  If you DO sew, you have PLENTY of these.)

–Wrap a small piece of decorative paper around.  (Scraps of paper, upcycled magazines or catalogs, old maps, damaged books, etc.)

–Draw a bunny face.

–Add ears (I don’t love the thought of people buying new pipe cleaners for these, but we had some on hand (I un-do old projects from the kids to reuse these).  You could also use paper clips, as seen in one bunny above.  Get creative!  I’m sure this is a great opportunity for reuse!

–We happened to have pom-poms on hand as well (from old projects, etc.), but you could also make bunny tails from crumpled scrap paper or any number of upcycled items.

 

I LOVE that these reuse spools!!

I LOVE that these are a homemade decoration instead of a store-bought one (New, store-bought items have transportation, manufacturing, packaging waste, financial cost, afterlife of the items, and more to consider.)

I LOVE that my kids can be involved in making these!  My daughter made a collection of these this year, and my 3-year old made at least a couple of them too! (see below)

Upcycled spool bunnies could make a super-cute gift as well!  Even a ‘kit’ to make these would be a fun little spring present!

 

Upcycled Paper Stockings

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Stockings from UPcycled Paper

I was inspired to make these during the COVID shutdowns.  I’ve been a reusable bag person long before it was law in many places.  When grocery stores were scrambling to find their own safety policies at an unprecedented time, some stores let us continue to bring our bags, but one of them didn’t.  We started limiting our trips to that particular store, but we still ended up with way too many tragic paper bags.  I began brainstorming uses for them, and this is one project I particularly love.

These homemade stockings are darling!  I love that they can be customized to the size you’d like.  You can leave the bag designs on the outside or turn the bags inside out for a blank canvas.

You can use these as actual stockings, decoration, or as very creative gift bags.

This is such a fun way to upcycle any paper product, whether it’s paper grocery bags, catalog pages, magazine pages, calendar pages, reused gift wrap, old maps, damaged book pages, or even coloring pages.

 

It’s quite simple:

–Cut the shape of a stocking on two bits of a paper –  Remember, if you’d like a specific side facing out on both sides, you may have to flip your template for the second cut out.

–Punch holes all along the edges.  The closer they are, the more secure the stocking will be for smaller objects, but the longer the threading will take.  Then just weave a piece of string, yarn, or t-shirt yarn through.  I’ve also used my machine to stitch these closed.

–Make a bunch at once to have them on hand for future gifts or to share with friends who might like to use them.

–Try making a bunch of tiny ones and number them for a decorative advent calendar.

Have fun with it!

What are your own creative ideas you’ll add to this project idea?

Your actions can and will make a difference.