MERRY CHRISTMAS!! - 25 Days of Christmas #24 and #25 and other photos

 

25 Days of Christmas 

The Stockings Were Hung

#24

Merry Christmas

#25

Other Christmas Pictures

Me on my way to sing in the Christmas Eve Concert and Midnight Mass

The Priests during the service gather on the altar

After the service we, the choir, are invited back to the Rectory for a little nosh.

Clarissa's Favorite Gift

Playstation 4

And for all you book lovers...Yup! one of my gifts.

Christmas Movie #15 and #16 / 25 Days of Christmas #23

Christmas Movie #15

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The original movie is usually the best.  I've seen other versions (there are 2, the latest version and a TV version).  This is still the winner. 













Christmas Movie #16


Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
I am a fan of both 1 and 2.  I usually only watch 1 during the Christmas Season, but this year, I decided to watch 2 instead.  This trio is the best and I don't think any of the subsequent movies were nearly as good.

25 Days of Christmas

Christmas Angel 

#23

Christmas Reading Challenge Complete / 25 Days of Christmas #22

I have read 11 Christmas books for the challenge.  I will not read any more this season.  This is the most I've read in any year.  I read 2 prior to this, so that means I've read a total of 13 Christmas books this year.

Read Specifically For Challenge

1. The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn
2. The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
3. Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett
4. How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas by Jeff Guinn
5. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
6. 'Tis the Season by Ann M. Martin 
7. Let It Snow by John Green
8. The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans 
9. The Ghost of Christmas Present: A Novel by Scott Abbott & Amy Maude Swinton
10. Christmas Poems by J.D. McClatchy (Editor)
11. The Christmas Candle by Richard Paul Evans


Read Earlier in the season

Santa Claus in Oz by Frank Baum
The Christmas Pearl by Dorothea Benton Frank

I'm still watching movies, although I haven't watched as many movies as I usually do, and I've been re-watching a lot of my favorites this year.

25 Days of Christmas

The Holy Family minus one

#22

Christmas Book #11 / Christmas Movie #13 & 14 / 25 Days of Christmas #20 & #21

Christmas Book #11

The Christmas Candle by Richard Paul Evans - On his way home for Christmas, Thomas needs a light for his lantern. He stops in an old candlemaker's shop and is dismissive of all of the old man's intricate and beautiful candles, buying an inexpensive one. However, as he continues his journey, this simple candle takes on some unbelievable power. By the light of the candle, he mistakes a beggar woman for his mother and gives her his cloak and he thinks a man lying in the streets with no place to go is his brother and gives everything he has to put him in an inn for the night. Though he loses all his material items, he finally arrives home with a new found sense of what family can be.

Very short picture book.  Though it seems like a children's book, it is rather dark, but the message is for all ages.  I am a Richard Paul Evan's fan, so I found enjoyment in this short story.  4 / 5 Stars.

Christmas Movie #13

Max Lucado's - The Christmas Candle (2013)

This movie is based on the book The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado.  

Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies the enchanting village of Gladbury. Legend has it every 25 years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights this candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve. But in 1890, at the dawn of the electric age, this centuries old legend may come to an end. When David Richmond (Hans Matheson), a progressive young minister, arrives in Gladbury, the villagers discover a new formula for miracles: good deeds and acts of kindness. While David's quest to modernize Gladbury sets him at odds with the old world candlemaker, he finds an unlikely ally in the lovely skeptic, Emily Barstow (Samantha Barks). Now, the fiery candlemaker must fight to preserve the legacy of the Christmas Candle. But when the candle goes missing, the miraculous and human collide in the most astonishing Christmas the village of Gladbury has ever seen.

Though this didn't seem to get very many stars, I enjoyed it and the message behind it.  It is a very Christian movie.  This is the 2nd Lucado movie I watched this season and I've enjoyed them both.


Christmas Movie #14

Scrooge (1951) - This is the Alastair Sim's version, in my opinion the best of them all.  Of course no synopsis is needed and you don't need me to sing its praises either.

God Bless Us Everyone!

5 / 5 STARS!!

 25 Days of Christmas

On my Mantle

#20

Leaving Church During Advent

#21

Christmas Book #10 / 25 Days of Christmas #18 and #19 / Ice Skating

Christmas Poems - This book is filled with classic and newer poems. Lots of favorites such as, "A Visit From St. Nicholas" as well as little known poems such as, "The Christmas Robin".

I didn't spend too much time on the Christmas Carols since I know them backwards and forwards, but it was nice to read things I never have before.

3/5 Christmas Stars!!

25 Days of Christmas

Reindeer #18

Santa's Corner #19

My daughter went ice skating with her class. It was at Bryant Park in Manhattan.

Christmas Book #9 / 25 Days of Christmas #16 and #17

Christmas Book #9

Here is the very long synopsis
The Ghost of Christmas Present

After reading a lot of Christmas books back to back, I feel that some of them are just bad, and I wonder if people write Christmas book just to say they've written one.

This was an unbelievable story of a man who is being threatened with the removal of his son from his custody.  The son has a genetic heart condition.  Patrick (the MC) has to find a way to make some money, so he takes to the street and panhandles as The Ghost of Christmas Present.

The idea was not a bad one, I don't think it was carried out well.
I give it 2.5 / Stars out of 5.

25 Days of Christmas

Pine Cones & Holly

16 /25

Christmas in New York

17 / 25

Christmas Book #7 & #8, 25 Days of Christmas #15

Christmas Book #7

Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances - John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle.  This book is a compilation novel comprising three separate stories that intertwine with one another. The stories are The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson,A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green, and The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle. The book follows three different teenagers as they experience a huge snow storm in the town of Gracetown during the Christmas season. (Wikepedia)

Though these stories intertwine, the story I enjoyed the most was Maureen Johnson's The Jubilee Express.  Like many people, I wanted to read this book because of John Green the author of The Fault in Our Stars.  But I felt his story was mediocre, as was Lauren Myracle's.  I am not sure if it was because Johnson's story is the lead story and she set the tone.  The other stories are not bad, I just personally didn't enjoy them as much.  3/5 stars.

Christmas Book #8

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans -

Elise Dutton does not like the Christmas season, she has been divorced for three years and it has left her broken.  A stranger comes along and asks her to be his “girlfriend” for the Christmas season.  She agrees and a contract is drawn up.  What will happen?

I discovered RPE through his Christmas books, and I’ve usually adored them.  Although this book was pretty good, I felt it lacked that special something his books usually have.  I think it was because I was not choked up or blurry eyed when reading this.  By the end of this book, I was saying to myself, “Oh isn’t that….” But it was not as satisfying as usual.  However, it is a good, solid story. 3 out of 5 stars.

25 Days of Christmas

Holly Planter in Bryant Park, New York City

#15

Christmas Movie #12 / 25 Days of Christmas #14

One Magic Christmas (1985) A young mother disillusioned with Christmas finds her holiday spirit rekindled through a miraculous yuletide experience.      

It didn't dawn on me until almost the end of this film, that I've seen it before; however, I didn't remember most of it, so I am glad I watched it again. Very sweet story.  A good Christmas staple.  4/5 stars.

25 Days of Christmas

Officer, do you have directions to the North Pole?

#14

Christmas Movie #11 / 25 Days of Christmas #13

Christmas Movie #11

Max Lucado's: Christmas Child (2003)- Nine months after the death of his adoptive father, Jack Davenport, a Chicago journalist, obtains some of his possessions which lead Jack to discover his past. Jack receives an assignment to do a story in Dallas, Texas. Jack leaves days before Christmas Eve and decides to stay in Clearwater, Texas, his birthplace. One of the possessions left by his adoptive father was a mysterious photograph of Clearwater's oldest churches, taken in 1963.    My Thoughts:  Pretty good Christmas film, typical acting, but nice story.  Max Lucado is a Christian, but this movie isn't an overly knock you on the head Christian film.  Sort of an interesting mystery aspect as well.  3.5 / 5 stars.

WREATH  #13

25 Days of Christmas

Christmas Book #6 / 25 Days of Christmas #11, #12

 Christmas Book # 6

'Tis the Season (Main Street #3) - Christmas is coming to Camden Falls, and Flora and Ruby don't know how to feel about it; it's their first Christmas without their parents, and the memories are both happy and sad. Luckily, Flora and Ruby are surrounded by people who care about them -- from their grandmother Min to their friends Olivia and Nikki, who are dealing with challenges of their own. There's also an unexpected visitor: Flora and Ruby's aunt, whose presence promises to shake things up. It's going to be a Christmas that nobody ever forgets....                                                      I tend to read a lot of Children's Books at Christmas time, I think they are cute.  I have never read another book from this series, but I thought this one was pretty nice.  Not a tear jerker, which I like because I often cry reading Christmas books.   3 / 5 Stars.

Brooks Bears (In the widow of Brooks Brothers)

#11

One Tin Soldier

#12

Christmas Book #5 / 25 Days of Christmas #9, #10

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris:  I listened to the audio version of this and I am glad I did. I think it translate much funnier in spoken form. This book is hilarious. I understand Sedaris has a different type of humor, sometimes it leans toward the macabre, but oh my, what a fun read/listen. 

I'm used to Christmas stories having a formula, but there is none here. It is just filled with reality checks and some things that make you go ooooh and ewwww.

I don't know if it is in the print version, but the audio version has a section where he does a little stand up. I thought that was the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. That story (section) is entitled 6 to 8 Black Men. 

I don't usually laugh at outright disregard for political correctness, but my goodness, this man is too funny.  4/5 Stars


The weather here has been pretty bad. We had a Noreaster, so I haven't been able to take any outdoor pictures.  So for the last 2 days, my pictures have been indoors.  

25 Days of Christmas

Day 9

Holiday Greetings

 Day 10

Lantern