12 Christmas movies to watch this December

whether you celebrate Christmas or not, December is the season for watching holiday films. in a past life, I would curl up in my big chair in front of the fireplace, snuggle in with my cat and some spiked cider or cocoa and watch one of these films. now... well there's no cats or cocoa or fireplace, but I have to get my spirits in holiday mode somehow.

this year I decided that to combat the expat holiday blues, I wanted to watch every Christmas movie that we own. obviously, we own a lot of our favorites. but this is not necessarily a list of "the best Christmas movies ever." I think you can tell by this list that we grew up in the 80s/90s and also that we don't always go for the traditional holiday movies. but I hope that some of these are on your favorites list too.

and because I'm not doing a full-on tree post this year, here's your obligatory photo of my $8 tree in all its glory:

A Christmas Story

I'll be honest, I was never into this movie growing up. but we watched it the other night and I realized the appeal. it's a fantastic depiction of life as a kid, and everything was SO DRAMATIC that it was funny. and the part where the little brother hides in the cabinet is pretty much how I still behave from time to time when upset. [only Husband usually brings me coffee or water, not milk.]

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

this was always my Dad's favorite, and my holiday doesn't feel complete without this tradition. just don't even try confusing the animated original with the live action [which I refuse to watch.] short and sweet, no one can feel grinchy after watching the "you're a mean one" montage and seeing Max with his antler.

Love Actually

if you don't cry while watching this movie, you might not be human. is it completely cheesy and unrealistic and possibly anti-feminist according to some people on the internet? yes. but if you are in need of a good happy cry and some feel-good fluff, this movie has got you covered with at least one of its 57 storylines.

Gremlins

my siblings and I loved this movie when we were kids. watching it as an adult, I realize it's actually more of a scary film that takes place during the holiday season... but it still counts. as a bonus, we also watched Gremlins 2: the new batch, because it's even better than the original. even if it has nothing to do with Christmas.

Nightmare Before Christmas

it's a stop-motion musical, love story, horror and holiday film all in one. I admit it's a little wierd. a singing skeleton who dresses up as Santa Claus? definitely not traditional. but this one is good for easing yourself into the season after Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Die Hard

wait, hear me out. this is a Christmas movie. sure it's a hostage situation cop-gone-bad action film full of snappy one-liners... but it takes place during a Christmas party. besides, watching Snape I mean Alan Rickman as the bad guy bantering with Bruce Willis [back when he had hair] would get anyone's spirits up.

A Muppet Christmas Carol

yet another favorite from my childhood - the heartwarming musical Muppet interpretation of a [kindof dark] classic story. we used to watch this every year while assembling and decorating our Christmas tree. this is another I-have-to-watch-or-it's-not-Christmas film for me. a warning though: you'll be singing these songs until March.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

this is the slapstick exaggeration of the all-American Christmas experience: crazy family, uninvited guests, and over the top decorations. I'm not always into this brand of humor. but. it can be good to laugh at the myriad of disasters that befall the Griswolds, and realize that whatever goes wrong with our own holidays can't really be all that bad.

Bad Santa

what does a mall Santa do after hours? some really terrible things, actually. this one is not for kids. in fact, this one is not for people who are easily offended. but if you're into inappropriate humor, Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls, or sandwiches... you might enjoy Bad Santa.

The Holiday

ok. I really don't like Cameren Diaz and I even more do not like her character in this film. BUT somehow I own this on DVD. Kate Winslet gives a less-than-Titanic performance, but she's still relatable for anyone who has been in a heartbreak around the holidays. the story is a cute idea and it's good for a light and sappy feel-good ending romance.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

a classic. Charlie Brown is sick of all the holiday commercialism, and decides to search for the true meaning of Christmas. and if you can't get behind that idea, at the least you can enjoy Snoopy's antics and feel better about the state of your own tiny expat Christmas tree.

Home Alone

let's just ignore the bad parenting by the adults and the bratty behavior by the kids and appreciate the moral of the story: no one's family is perfect, but if you can't all get along then you miss out on spending an amazing Christmas in Paris. this movie is full of cheesy but quotable one-liners you can't help but love. and admit it - as a kid you tried setting up some kind of booby trap obstacle course in your house after seeing this movie.

what holiday movies do you watch each year? did I miss any of your favorites?

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12 photos of Christmas

I wanted to open this post with a picture of an almost-but-not-quite holiday sign, like I did last year. that one said "MERRI XMIS" and the one I found this year said "MARRY XAMS." but. it appears the store in which the sign was hanging discovered their mistake and fixed it by the time I went back to snap a photo. so instead, Christmas roses. [the school sells them as a fundraiser, and Husband brought some home for me again this year.]

even though Husband had to work and all our family was far away, we still had a fantastic Christmas. we decided to keep it low-key and stay in this year, and have a couple friends over to join us.

I was skeptical about the pre-cooked turkey dinner we ordered from the import grocery store. the sales person described it to us as "turkey, with vegetable, pizza, and red wine juice sauce." Taiwan's take on American food follows the almost-but-not-quite rule, so just in case it turned out to be inedible, I prepared some appetizers and sides.

[side note: my inner food photographer is cringing at the lighting in these photos. but I can't make the sun shine inside my apartment on a December night, so I'm letting it go.]

we started with Mexican layer dip [beans, salsa, cheese, olives, green onion... no sour cream or guacamole but I'll take it] and this baked spinach artichoke dip. I almost cried this dip was so good. soooo, so good. so good that I just had to get up and have some leftovers because I was thinking about it.

I'll be sharing the recipe with you all soon, because it's too amazing not to share.

the boys brought home the boxed meal [apparently it came from a hotel in Taichung] and we opened it up to investigate. I think the most hilarious part was the shrimp and corn pizzas... which we did not eat. we also skipped on the vegetable. but the gravy, stuffing, and turkey were fair game.

we had ourselves a feast. the turkey was quite tasty, and we have leftovers for making soup. the "red wine juice sauce" that the sales person had described to us... was cranberry sauce. I made green bean casserole from scratch [another recipe I'll have to share,] and we had plenty of wine and whiskey on hand. it was a delicious meal, and I think the start of a new tradition.

our holiday outside of the food was pretty amazing as well. I know presents aren't the point of Christmas, but I'm excited about what I got: Husband ordered me a box of camera gadget goodies from Photojojo, and I got plenty of gluten-free food items, candy, and even some beauty booty!

I hope you all had a great holiday, and I can't wait to see how you celebrated.

[PS: ad spots are still on sale until tomorrow with the code HOLLYJOLLY25!]

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my Taiwanese dinosaur disco Christmas tree

it's December. I'm pretty sure you all have realized that. if not from your calendars, then from the overwhelming amount of holiday being blogged and pinned and instagrammed all over the place.

living in a country that is not predominantly Christian has had some serious effects on how I celebrate the holidays. one major way - my ability to find Christmas decorations. I have found them. but not the selection I was used to in the states. and certainly not always the quality or style that I would prefer.

seeing everyone else's perfectly styled and color-coordinated trees on the internet has made me feel a little Charlie Brown. it's hard not to compare. but even though my tree is skimpy on the branches, heavy on the lights, and has no theme other than "here's the best I could do" or maybe "dinosaurs and disco balls"... I love it. in all its lopsided glory.

partially because it only cost me $8 US. but mostly because... it's mine.

and just so you know: under the presents is a Transformers pillowcase we use for a tree skirt. we have a beautiful handmade one that my mother-in-law gave us... but it's back in the states in a rubbermaid bin along with all of my christmas cookie cutters and our beautiful glass ornaments [the ones that wren't broken by the cats, at least.]

we have ornaments that were sent to us by family [the grinch was handmade by my nephews] along with that giant pile of presents sent to us by loved ones. yeah, we've got it pretty good.

last year I made yarn pom pom ornaments to decorate out tree, and created these dino ornaments from keychains we picked up at the Taichung science museum. this year, I found some plastic rainbow disco balls. I think they go better with the dinosaurs.

celebrating holidays while living abroad can be hard, but we do the best we can to keep the expat holiday blues away. Christmas in Taiwan isn't what we grew up on, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. I think our tree is the perfect representation of the blending of "home" and "here" that our traditions have become.

[linking up with Belinda and Bailie for the Expat Q&A]

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weekly wishes #6

since it's getting all festive up in here and this week's photo theme is animals, I have an excuse to trot this gem out once again. my cat Beaumont, looking grumpy in reindeer antlers circa 2010. because who doesn't love grumpy cat photos, or photos of cats in costume, or really just cat photos in general?

I'm going to keep myself from entering into a I-miss-my-kittens ramble, and instead assure you that Beau is plenty fat + happy living with my parents back in Michigan. [I'm pretty sure my parents are just glad that he hasn't tried to climb the tree this year... yet.] and our other fur baby Rocky is living the country life with my Mother-in-law, busy chasing mice and attacking her sewing projects.

but I said I wasn't going to ramble about cats...

which brings us to to weekly wishes. I crushed all 3 of last week's goals:
1. hang up the new curtains. 3M hooks got the trick done! I swear, I'm not sponsored by them.
2. have an awesome time at the Thanksgiving potluck. so much so, that I didn't take any pictures.
3. start decorating for Christmas. note tiny snowflake tree + mini ornaments above.

and this next week I want to:

1. transfer my life to Husband's old iPhone. a sad thing happened this morning. I dropped my iPhone [which doesn't get service in Taiwan but I still use with wi-fi] and the screen shattered. I've dropped this thing a billion times and for the past year have been living with one small crack. but this morning I was [as usual] trying to carry too many things at once and bam. thankfully Husband will let me use his [also now-defunct] phone so I can still instagram. because let's be honest, I might not survive otherwise.

2. post a new font download. you see the text on my weekly wishes photo? that's the latest font I've been cooking up. I think I've decided on a name, and you can expect a post with the download later this week. it's not strictly a holiday font, but I'm totally envisioning using it on my Christmas cards. and maybe a blog redesign. I'm really excited for this one!

3. have a tree decorating/Christmas movie date. growing up, we always used to put up our tree while watching the Muppet's Christmas Carol. while that is still on my to-watch list I would settle for Love Actually or even Die Hard [totally a Christmas movie] so long as there's a Husband and hot chocolate involved.

happy monday!

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