Discussion: Holiday Romance ~ Movies

The other day I posted about Holiday Romance ~ Books and I promised that a post would be coming to talk about movies - this is that post! I sadly haven't been able to watch as many Christmas romances as I normally do since I've been working my normal day job as well working part time about 16 hours a week at Bath & Body Works in the evenings and weekends. Between two jobs and trying to keep up on reading and my blog, there just hasn't been much time for movies. I know, it kind of makes me want to go all Disney princess and throw myself on the nearest object and dramatically sob. However! There's no time for that! We've got a bunch of Christmas romance movies to talk about! In no particular order:

A Cinderella Christmas

2016 TV Movie. Angie works hard to run her uncle's events business while her cousin Candace takes the credit. When Angie takes a night off to have fun at the Christmasquerade Ball, the mask and gown allow her to let loose, and she quickly catches the eye of Nicholas, a wealthy local bachelor. But then Angie has to go before revealing her identity, leaving Nicholas searching for his mystery woman in this modern take on the classic fairytale.

 I just love this movie. Then again, I have a major lady-crush on Emma Rigby and will basically watch anything she's in. *swoon* This is a really cute Cinderella retelling (which I'm a sucker for) with a Christmas twist, and I just adore it. I watch it even when it's not Christmas time, but I especially make time to watch it at this time of year (and yes, even though I have no time, I've made the time to watch this one - twice.) (A note because the next two I talk about aren't anywhere - you can purchase or rent this movie on Amazon.)

A Christmas Kiss

2011 TV Movie. Wendy has left work with the local theatre to take a job as an assistant to Priscilla Hall. Ms. Hall works Wendy around the clock, which is how Wendy finds herself trapped in an elevator late one night with an incredibly handsome stranger. // After a spontaneous kiss, a struggling designer ends up falling in love with her demanding boss's boyfriend as she decorates his home for a Christmas party.

I love this movie so much, but sadly it looks like the only way to watch it right now is if you have a subscription to UP faith & family through Amazon - you can't even just outright buy the movie. That's such a bummer! Now I wish I'd just purchased it when I still had the chance. It used to be included in Amazon Prime, so I'm hoping it will come back sometime. The connection between Wendy and whatever-the-guy's-name-is is really cute, and I love all the beautiful decorations. There's also a follow-up/sequel about another couple getting caught in the temperamental elevator (and in which a much happier Ms. Hall makes a cameo as a side character) called Another Christmas Kiss that's also a really cute movie.

Holiday in Handcuffs

2007 TV Movie. A struggling artist working as waitress kidnaps one of her customers to bring home and meet her parents at Christmas.

So apparently you can't find any of these movies anywhere anymore, so I'll try to put movies that are actually findable for the rest of these... This one does still play on Freeform's 25 Day of Christmas, though (...once... at midnight... but still...) Anyway, what's not to love about Melissa Joan Hart clubbing Mario Lopez over the head, kidnapping him, and bringing him home to pose as her fake fiance? Then her family is so wacky that he tells them that she's kidnapped him and she's all "it's this game he likes to play, he thinks he's so funny," and they just go with it. ...Now that I think about it, this movie is actually probably really problematic on a lot of levels. It's been several years since I've seen it so now I wonder if it actually holds up... NOW I REALLY NEED TO REWATCH IT SO I KNOW! Anyway, a-few-year-ago-me really enjoyed it.

The Princess Switch

2018 Netflix Movie. A Chicago baker (V.Hudgens) is competing in a Christmas baking competition in Belgravia. There she bumps into the prince's fiancee. They look alike and switch for 2 days. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." 

This is such a cute movie, even if the princess version of Vanessa Hudgens' character has TERRIBLE helmet hair. Also, I have a major crush on Sam Palladio from Nashville and it was super weird to watch him have this British (sorry, Belgravian) accent instead of a Southern one (so weird). I really like that you get a Christmas romance and a Princess and the Pauper sort of retelling with this one, and not one but *TWO* romances as well! HOORAY! Netflix continues to just smash them out of the park with their original content as well, because this movie was great. As promised, this one is actually available to watch right now on Netflix!

The Holiday Calendar

2018 Netflix Movie. A struggling but talented photographer inherits an antique holiday advent calendar, the contents of which seem to predict the future. Will this magical calendar lead her to love this holiday season?

This was another great original movie by Netflix, and I basically need to see Kat Graham star in all the movies now. I also really like that I was kept guessing in this one as to who the romantic lead actually was - if it was the friend character or the guy she met who it seemed like the calendar was leading her towards. And I watch enough Korean dramas where I get a major case of the Second Lead Syndrome (where you REALLY WANT the leading lady to end up with the second lead guy who she does *not* end up with) that I honestly thought she wasn't going to end up with the guy I wanted her to be with in the end. Emotional roller coaster for sure (but in the best way). Also, her gramps is basically the best character in this whole movie. ♥ Available on Netflix.

A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale

2015 When spoiled, 21-year old college student Luce Lockhart is forced to take a job over the holidays walking a rich developer's dog, she is thrilled to discover they are going to build a salon and spa over the quaint local dog park nearby. But when Luce meets Dean, an irritating yet handsome dogwalker actively trying to stop them, Luce is forced to question what the park means to her newfound friends, and whether she can put aside her selfish ways to help save the park before Christmas. Available on Netflix.

Jonathan Bennett *dreamy sigh* He's just so nerdy, I don't know why I like him so much, I just do. Plus, who doesn't love a Christmas movie full of cute doggos?! This one's got a bit of an A Christmas Carol vibe to it, as Luce realizes there's a lot more to life than the shallow and selfish existence she'd been living so far.

Christmas Crush

2012 TV Movie. When a woman learns of her high school reunion a week before Christmas, she's ecstatic to finally have her chance to win back the one "that got away". Available on Netflix.

There's that Jonathan Bennett again. I also just really like Rachel Boston. And poor Georgia, she goes back to her high school reunion feeling a bit like a failure and then kind of tries to relive her glory days... and sort of fails at it. Good thing her best friend Ben is still SUPER AWESOME. I just ADORE all the wacky hijinks in this movie, because Georgia gets herself into the craziest situations. Every year I'm like "Meh, I don't really need to watch this one again," but then I for some reason I do (probably I remember I'm a little in love with Jonathan Bennett) and then I'm always glad I did.

Merry Kissmas

2015 TV Movie. A woman engaged to marry a self-centered film and stage director/choreographer falls for a caterer whom she kisses, as does he for her. Available on Netflix.

Boy, some of these summaries from IMDB really suck... This is such a cute holiday romance, which (like A Christmas Kiss and Another Christmas Kiss) involves a kiss under the mistletoe on a malfunctioning elevator. Like I thought maybe it was part of the series/franchise when I first saw it - it has a similar feel. And then they have all these tiny connections and coincidences and connections. "It's the friendship that turns that happily ever after into the beginning of a love story and not the ending."

Here are a couple I haven't seen yet, but that I'm hoping to watch before Christmas this year. (I know, I'm running out of time!)

Mr. 365

2018 Passionflix Movie. When workaholic reality TV producer Sophie starts working on a holiday-season show about Will, a wildly sexy guy who celebrates Christmas every day of the year, she finds herself falling for her mysterious, unlikely new star, renewing her long-lost faith in Xmas in the process.

A Holiday Engagement

2011 TV Movie. Afraid to tell her family she's been dumped, Hillary hires an actor to play her fiancé during a four-day Thanksgiving weekend at her parents' house. Available on Amazon Prime

Naughty & Nice

2014 TV Movie. A cynical radio host is banished to Colorado, where he has an on-air spat with a hopeless romantic. Soon, their antagonistic relationship sparks the interest of the whole town. Available on Amazon Prime.

What are your favorite holiday romance movies? Have you seen any on this list? Are there any I'm missing that I MUST WATCH this year?

DIY: Children's Book Tree Advent Calendar

OK, so I've wanted to do a Christmas advent calendar type of thing since before I ever even conceived my first child. (For those of you that know me and know that I had a bookcase filled with children's books in the nursery before I had any other furniture or before we'd even conceived our son, this likely does not surprise you.)

I decided that this is the year I fully commit and finally do some of the bookish Christmas things I've wanted to do forever. Since today is December 1st, I started with a book-a-day advent calendar.

 

The idea is to wrap up 24 books (I went with all Christmas/winter themed Children's books) and starting December 1st you open one book each day. When you open the final one, you know that tomorrow Christmas is finally here! I've seen several posts on Facebook and the rest of the interwebs that have a whole plethora of ways of doing this. I went with wrapping them in shades of green paper and stacking them into a "Christmas tree" (which you may or may not be able to tell from the photos, haha!) My plan is to let my sons (James age 3 and Link age 1) open one book each night at bedtime, and we'll all read the story together as a family. 

 

 

I think it's pretty cute, and since we don't have an actual tree up yet the boys think it's pretty neat too!

 

Some other cute ideas are to wrap the books (in the same paper or many colors) and put them in a cute basket. Either number each book, or let the kids pick out which one to read.

 

 

Rebecca over at Here Come the Girls made this cute advent Snowman out of books and DVDs:

 

 

This person kept it classy by just stacking the books and tying them with a ribbon so they look like one big present! 

 

 

For this next one you'd need a lot of space on your mantel. This would not work with my boys! But maybe if you have older children (who are better listeners) this would work for you!

 

Are there any other fun ways you like to give the gift of books all season long?

 

 

 



 

 



Book Review: Have Yourself a Crazy Little Christmas by Megan Crane

Book Review: Have Yourself a Crazy Little Christmas (The Greys of Montana #5) by Megan Crane

Rating: 4 Stars

 

Expected publication: November 15th 2017 by Tule Publishing
Summary: Dependable Devyn Voss is no stranger to cleaning up her mother’s messes, but this one’s gone supernova. In search of love, her flighty mom has invited all of her exes to celebrate her Christmastime 50th birthday. Which is trouble enough, but only gets worse when Devyn’s former stepbrother shows up to the party. His dark brown eyes and lazy smile still setting sparks off inside of Devyn that she’s desperate to ignore.

Nashville songwriter Vaughn Taylor only came to the party to support his dad. And if he happens to see his pretty ex-stepsister there, that’s just fine. But the minute he lays eyes on her, he’s gripped by all his old desires--to undo all her uptight and get past that guarded exterior.

They were never supposed to see each other again, but now that they have--all those sparks have become a bonfire. But will this little bit of Christmas crazy last... or will it end with the season?
(from Goodreads)


Review: I love the dynamic between Devyn and Vaughn. And I love Vaughn, period. I love his sexy Cowboy-ness, his honey whiskey voice with its southern drawl that I can practically hear as I read the pages, his casual throwin' around of southern slang and the word darlin'… Yum. Him being 6'4" seems a little excessively tall though. I have a brother-in-law who is about that tall and he's TALL. And I suppose I relate to Devyn as well, as someone who was always a "good girl" and never really did anything wild (though thankfully my Mom is NOT like Melody AT ALL! Dad is a tattooed biker dude though… Hmm…)

Partway through the book Devyn meets up with her cousins and there is way too much of what I assume is recap from the first four books in the series. I found myself skimming through this waiting to get back to what I thought of as the "real" storyline. I suppose there are spoilers there for the first four books, but it's all thrown at you in such a big blob of word-vomit that I honestly couldn't tell you what the other storylines are, other than that they seem to have little to no bearing on the storyline for this book. So while this is the 5th book in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone with possible spoilers for the earlier books, but you're not missing anything by not reading them.

Aside from the little chapter and a half where Devyn is catching up with her cousins and the author feels the need to bash the reader over the head with the history of all the Grey Cousins, Have Yourself A Crazy Little Christmas is really well written, in a style that's fun and flirty. It's a quick read with lots of holiday family craziness against the festive backdrop of a Montana ski town at Christmas. It also has several poignant moments, several beautiful ones, and several the glisten like snowflakes falling in the twinkling Christmas lights. I originally deducted two stars for all the Grey Family Saga stuff that cluttered up the story, but gave one back for all the beautiful moments that followed and tugged at something deep in my chest. (See what this book did to me? It got me waxing all poetic. Dang.)

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.