It's the Most Wonderful Time of The Year!!!!!!

I love Christmas time.



I absolutely ADORE this time of year. It's magical. The whole world just seems to take on a different tone. The warmth of good feelings and cheer seep into everyday things- totally making up for the fact that it's stinkin' freezing outside. :-) I love going to the malls and seeing the Christmas decorations up- the snowflakes, the Christmas trees. (Ok, the parking lots have been known to bring out certain Grinch-like behavior from your intrepid blogger, but that's besides the point.)

And the Christmas music! Around these parts, every year, one station magically gets taken over by Christmas music. The Good, the Bad and the Heinous! It's wonderful! Of course, I've been known the listen to Christmas music in July.

And then, there's the movies! Ahh, the movies. No Christmas is complete without the full list of Christmas movies. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Muppet's Christmas Carol, Frosty & the beloved clay-mations; Rudolph, Santa Clause Is Coming to Town & others.

And Family- I think Christmas is my favorite holiday because it's the one time the my entire family is guaranteed to be under the same roof. It's loud, wild and crazy. This year there will be 9 kids running around my mom and dad's house. Add that to the 10 or 11 adults and it makes for quite a group of rowdies. And I love it. No, I look forward to it with a longing that I can't quite explain. I simply adore my family & to have them all together is my absolute favorite present each and every year.

And then, of course, there's the whole reason we have a thing called Christmas.

There's Jesus.

Ah, yes. Him.

So often forgotten. But of so much importance.

This has been a very hard, very crazy, very emotionally draining and challenging year for me. I'm very grateful to be standing at the end of it. Very grateful to be leaning against my Savior.

We get to enjoy all these wonderful Christmas traditions because a baby was born in a stable in Bethlehem. We get to celebrate his birth because of his death. Because he was the sinless Son of God. And He paid our sin debts. That's one heck of an eternal Christmas present... I take back what I said earlier- this is my absolute, all-time favorite present each and every year.

...... my family runs a close second, though! :-)

Merry Christmas!

Let's Go to the Movies, You & Me

I love movies.

I really, really love movies. And I am an equal opportunity movie watcher. It really doesn't matter the genre. I'll give it a whirl. I am the product of two very different movie watching people.

On one side, is my mother. She has very sophisticated movie watching tastes. From her, I have received a) my love of movie watching and b) my ability to tell the difference between a movie and a film. And yes, my friends there is a difference.

A film is something with substance. It's an entity that transforms your 2 hours into something magical. It tells you a story that teaches you or completely transcends everything you thought you knew. A movie... not so much. Movies are great. They are entertaining. But transforming and transcending, they are not.

My mother is more of a film watcher than a movie watcher. My dad, on the other hand, watches movies.... and rarely do the 2 meet. Except in me. It is from this mix of Evian and pond water that I have sprung. (Great visual, huh?) And all this to say that I thought I would list my top 25 favorite Films/Movies.

These are the movies (or films) that I can watch again and again.... and might know all the lines to. What are your favs?

1) The Godfather (It really is the sum of all wisdom.)
2) Lonesome Dove (Gus dies, I cry like a baby.)
3) The Wizard of Oz (all time favorite feel good movie.)
4) Woman of the Year (first Tracy/Hepburn movie I ever watched)
5) Singing in the Rain
6) The Princess Bride
7) Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
8) To Kill a Mockingbird
9) Gone with the Wind
10) Rebecca
11) Die Hard
12) Battlestar Galactica the miniseries
13) The Unsinkable Molly Brown
14) Robin Hood (the Disney version)
15) Giant
16) All that Jazz
17) Star Trek First Contact
18) Star Trek the Undiscovered Country
19) Passion Fish
20) Steel Magnolias (I *might* be able to quote every line from this)
21) The Shawshank Redemption
22) Little Women (the Winona Ryder. version)
23) Chocolat
24) Annie
25) Robin Hood Men in Tights

***Please note that this is not my all-time list of the greatest films/movies ever made. Just ones I can watch over and over again, for various reasons.***

******Bonus points for anyone who can name the movie from where the Blog Title came from. I'll give you a hint. It did make my list!******