Four Christmases

Last night my hubby was working late and the kids were in bed... so I took the opportunity to watch my first Christmas movie of the season.  I hadn't seen this one before and thought it was pretty funny, albeit guiltily so at times!

The film is about a couple who usually ditch their families over the Christmas holidays and head off to amazing destinations like Fiji, etc.  all the while telling their families that they are doing charity work... Well this year they get caught on camera in the airport and are forced to visit all four sets of parents.... all in the same day.

There were some good laughs and some good messages in the end. All in all, a good entertaining film.  Plus, I love Reese!

My favourite Christmas movies: a list

Here are some of my absolute favourite Christmas films.  We will certainly try to watch all these and more in the countdown to Christmas:

1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - a classic holiday must-see
2. The Sound of Music - maybe not necessarily a "Christmas film", yet I watch it each and every year during the holidays.
3. A Christmas Story (my brother in law has an appearance in this film!)
4. The Holiday
5. Love Actually (I own this dvd and watch it throughout the year) - Hugh Grant as the British Prime Minister is so wonderful!  Such an awesome cast.
6. The Polar Express
7. A Miracle on 34th Street (the remake)

A list for Nana

As I mentioned before, my mom a.k.a. Nana will be arriving here in just over a week!  My little guy is so excited and asks about Nana every day.  He says, "Nana coming, Santa Claus coming".  {It seems Nana and Santa are having a romantic affair and are coming out west together...! } 

The other day we were stuck in traffic, something that just doesn't normally happen to us in our small town.  But we were in Vancouver and stuck we were for a good hour.  How did we pass the time, my two year old and I?  By making a mental list of all the things we want to do with Nana while she is visiting us over the holidays!  Here is what I can remember:

• bake cookies (cookie cutters and cookie sprinkles are waiting patiently on the kitchen counter)
• visit Santa Clause at the mall (annual photo - matching sweaters required)
• go to the Aquarium to see Scuba-Claus
• ride the mini-rail train in Stanley Park
• go swimming
• go skating
• go to little sneakers
• make snow angels
• drink hot chocolate with marshmallows
• build a snowman
• go sledding with our new toboggan 
• decorate our Christmas Tree
• sing Christmas Carols
• watch Christmas movies
• go to the "choo-choo train store" (local toy store)

That's all I can think of for now.... but it sounds like a good list and we can't wait for her to get here so we can get started on all the fun!

December

This year has had me in such a state of flux.  I've been up, so very up, with the birth of my second son.  He is the light in my days right now.  And I have been so very, very low - probably from lack of sleep?  There has been so much tension and stress building around here, (or maybe its just me?) compounded by the fact that my mom has been undergoing cancer treatments on the other side of the country.  I really wanted to be there for her during all of this and it just wasn't possible.

Ah, December.

Now that it is the final month of the year I can see a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.  My mom is finishing treatments next week and will be arriving here in about ten days from now.  Bring on the holidays!  I'm so ready for celebrating - so ready for baking cookies, decorating the tree and the house.  I am looking forward to overloading on Christmas carols, cheesy Christmas movies and eating way too many holiday treats.  I am ready for all the stress and bad times from this year to just go away and I'm ready to spend time with my family and have a perfectly "un-perfect" Christmas!

Books I loved as a child (and can't wait to read to my boys!)

Okay, here they are in no particular order:

1. Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White
2. The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis  (particularly The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)
3. The Little Prince, by Antoine Saint-Exupery
4. Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling (these are waiting patiently on the bookshelves for the boys to grow up a bit... as they are 2 and 7 months respectively)  As an aside, I didn't read these as a child (obviously) but cannot wait to read these with the boys.
5. James and the Giant Peach, by Raold Dahl
6. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
7. Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak  (we do actually have this one already - it had a serious run for a few weeks in our house where we read it about 10 times a day... I'm including it on the list because it was seriously one of my favourites)
8. The Velveteen Rabit
9. Alice in Wonderland

I found these books to be so magical - and they were no doubt responsible for kick starting a life-long love of reading (particularly fantasy and sci-fi genres).

I am really looking forward to re-reading these books and rediscovering the magic with my boys!

Any other suggestions?  What were your favourites as a child?