Days of December Christmas Watch-a-thon Day 5 & 6

I don't even want to count these...I really don't. But, I'm a mommy now, so we're going to go ahead and include them, since they're Christmas themed, and I watched them.

Day 5: Dragons- Gift of the Night Fury

I still haven't shown Little Man How to Train Your Dragon, because I think he is a little young yet. Although, when the time comes, I know he's just going to love Toothless...he reminds me so much of our Sadie (even though she's a girl...and a dog, not a dragon). Anyway, we started to watch this holiday episode...we didn't finish it. It wasn't particularly bad or anything, it just didn't hold LM's attention, and it wasn't particularly Christmas-y. They had a holiday they were celebrating: Snoggletog. Come to think of it, though, I'm not even sure why they celebrated that. Perhaps I would have found out if we'd stuck around to watch the whole thing, haha. Oh well.








Day 6: Curious George- A Very Monkey Christmas

Now, this one, this one we watched in its entirety. Or, at least, it played out to the end. I don't believe LM was actively watching it by the end. I liked the bit where George didn't understand the concept of how many days there were left until Christmas...that felt very real to me, and was a bit of a look at my not-too-distant-future.
I felt like this was a little less typical-George, and I liked that. A little less of the trouble-making-with-no-consequences. A little more just random fun stuff. Even still, it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. It's not a "classic," to be sure.

Days of December Christmas Movie Watch-a-thon - Day 4: The Polar Express

I am now restarting the movie where I left off, as we had to stop it because it was scaring Little Man. I'm still quite taken aback that it did scare him...perhaps startle is a better word?

We made it to a scene where the main boy is on top of the Polar Express, and runs into a hermit of some sort. The part that really disturbed LM was when there was this scene where a train ticket was blowing about in the wind, kind of quietly past wild animals, through woods, etc., and then it landed on the snow. All of a sudden, the Polar Express steamed by, and LM jumped and started to quiver! It was so sad.

Oh  my word, I'm so glad we stopped the movie when we did -- there is a terrifying marionette screaming right now. Sheesh!

Okay, so, I was a huge fan of The Polar Express when I was a kid. I don't remember when I started reading it, or really any of the details surrounding my reading it, other than that I remember it, and I remembered enjoying it.

I remember when they said they were coming out with The Polar Express, the movie. I thought that was a terrible idea. How were they going to turn my beautiful story into a feature-length film?
By adding a whole bunch of weird stuff, contrived plots, and strange twists, that's how. I'm not saying it's the worst movie ever, but it will be a while before we watch it again, and not just because it freaked out LM.

Speaking of, CGI people freak me out pretty badly. There are a lot of those in this movie. The pace of the film is really slow in lots of places. To make up for it, they throw in really dramatic scenes that don't add a lot to the actual story. They also have this very sad little boy character who makes me want to cry just by looking at him. Aside from that, I didn't really "bond" with any of the characters in the movie. I basically felt like everyone was a caricature of a character...if that makes any sense.

I don't know...I hate to give a "bad review," but I just really didn't like the movie. I have to confess that I largely feel that I disliked the movie because of how it varied so drastically from the book. Whether that's fair or not, you can be the judge. I just can't seem to separate the two in my mind. The book is phenomenal and, I'm sure, inspired a bunch of creative ideas...I just prefer the simpler, original, book-version.

Days of December Christmas Movie Watch-a-thon - Day 3: Die Hard

So, as a direct result of my posting about my Days of December Christmas Watch-a-thon plans, a friend informed me that Die Hard was playing at one of our local movie theaters! So, My Love and I got a fabulous opportunity to have a date night (our second this week -- how insane is that?!?!?), and see Die Hard on the big screen!

It was so much fun! I don't know if it was the big screen, if it was the way it all panned out with our life right now (it was such a nice, much-needed distraction), or that it is a "cult classic," and everyone watching already knew and loved the film, but I had a great time. Oh, and the fact that they serve real food at this particular theater...like, chips and queso, and pizza...that probably had something to do with it too.

As for the movie itself, it's not really a Christmas movie. If I'm going to pick on poor Thomas for not having Christmas themes, only Christmas elements, then I have to be fair and acknowledge that Die Hard is a film that takes place during Christmas time. At best, Christmas is a backdrop or minor character in the film -- but, for some reason, it still makes my "Christmas movie" list.

The movie is about a New York City cop, who is visiting his wife (from whom he is separated) in Los Angeles for Christmas. He meets her at her office building, which is besieged by terrorists. He slips away, unnoticed, and spends the remainder of the film thwarting their plans with true 80's action bravado.

It is rather crass, with quite a bit of blood (albeit bright pinkish red), violence, and plenty of swearing. But, really, who couldn't love a good action movie with Bruce Willis as the hero? Ooooh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention Alan Rickman as the dastardly villain! (I do confess that, upon his entrance to the film, I started singing in my head, "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape...")
Again, it's not technically a Christmas movie, but it's going to remain on my list.

Days of December Christmas Movie Watch-a-thon - Days 1 & 2: Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales, and Merry Christmas, Thomas!

Well, Little Man and I decided to start our holiday movie watching today, since it's day three, and I haven't officially started yet ;)

What did we watch, you ask? Excellent question. Honestly, we didn't finish either. They didn't hold Little Man's attention for the duration of the productions. But, we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales and Thomas & Friends: Merry Christmas Thomas!

Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales
This was a short collection of mini-cartoons. The whole thing was only 17 minutes long, and I think Little Man and I only made it like 7 minutes. All the classic characters were back, and some new ones -- when on earth did Lucy and Linus get a brother named Rerun?!?!? While all the old favorites were back, pretty much none of the old charm was. The mini-segments made it feel sort of disjointed, though I don't know that there's much they could have done about that. I felt like the characters were more hostile and whiny than before...not as witty or ironic...which is kind of crucial to Peanuts being Peanuts. It said "written by Charles Shulz" at the beginning - I'm wondering if they just took his actual comic strips and turned them into shorts; that's what it feels like, at any rate. I love Peanuts...I really do, but I wasn't really a fan of this Christmas special.

Thomas & Friends: Merry Christmas, Thomas!
I know this is really cheesy, but I really appreciate the proper usage of the comma in the title of the movie :) That being said, I should also probably mention that I have had my fair share of Thomas the Train as of late. The introduction song is enough to make me twitch at this point. Anyway, we made it almost all the way to the end of this one. Little Man has been enjoying Thomas lately. This, too, is broken up into smaller segments/episodes, but that is standard format for Thomas, and wasn't a surprise. I suppose I didn't feel like it was very Christmas-esque. I mean, there were Christmas elements added in, but it largely felt like a "normal" Thomas series of episodes to me. The lessons were all typical of the show, and weren't related to the Christmas season, other than there were Christmas items included. It's not something I specifically disliked, but it didn't have any sort of "classic" appeal. We will very likely watch it again in the future, but it doesn't have the makings of a Christmas classic.


I am looking forward to continuing the Days of December Christmas Movie Watch-a-thon! Keep an eye out for my post on what we won't be watching this year!

Annual-ish Days of December Christmas Movie Watch-a-thon!

Well, it would appear that this has become a tradition after all. My hubby has been asking me if I was going to do my Days of December Christmas Movie Watch-a-thon, so here I am!

I'm struggling to decide what movies to watch, and in what order. It's particularly tricky since I have a son who is old enough to watch them (or, some of them, at any rate) with us.

I know we'll have to have Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Jingle All the Way, Elf, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Garfield Christmas, Four Christmases, Prancer, While You Were Sleeping, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Santa Clause, The Holiday, White Christmas, The Polar Express, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, The Christmas List, A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Die Hard, Justice League: Comfort & Joy...that's 22. I'll supplement the rest of the list with Christmas episodes from TV shows, as well as some other movies I just didn't put down yet. I might even have to do more than 25, who knows?

I think I'll also repost some of my posts from previous years of the movies/shows that I will definitely NOT be watching this year. There are several "lumps of coal," as I called them...just dreadful.

How about you? Any Christmas movies that are annual must-sees for you that I should add?

Painting Plans

Well, we've already had our first big cold front of the winter. This is extremely unusual, especially for around here. Typically, we're all wearing flip flops and short sleeves well into December. Our first front has passed, we're back into what would be considered "normal," albeit unseasonal, and I have maybe one day left in order to accomplish what I absolutely HAVE to before the cold settles in.

So, here are the THREE things that I HAVE to get done before the cold hits (there are more that I'd like to accomplish, but there's just no way I can do it all...so I have to draw the line):

LITTLE MISS' CRIB

LITTLE MISS' DRESSER

LITTLE MAN'S BATMOBILE

While looking up similar styles of cribs to attempt to show what it looks like assembled, I found one...but it was connected to a recall notice due to danger of collapsing -- so, I've got to do some more research on that make and model before I paint the crib.

So, today, I was only able to start on the Cozy Coupe to Batmobile transformation. I got dish soap, a sponge, and a water hose, and set to rinsing off and scrubbing the thing down. I was pretty surprised at how much dirt I found in there. Ew! My sweet friend ordered a replacement gas cap for me, and I swapped that out too. The old one was brittle, and part of it snapped off inside the car itself, but I figure it won't be that big of a deal. I certainly don't anticipate Little Man being bothered by it.

After letting the Cozy Coupe dry, I got out my yellow and chrome spray paint, and went to work. I sprayed the side panels, seat, steering wheel, gas cap, dash, and front grill yellow. I spray painted the center of the wheels chrome (very messily, I might add, DEFINITELY going to need to touch that up later). I did 3-4 coats of yellow, and plan on doing at least one more tomorrow during the day before I move on to the next color.

I found a Batman logo that I liked online, and saved it. My plan is to take measurements in the morning, email the graphic to myself, then steal my hubby's Photoshop program to print the logos to the sizes that I need for the varying locations I want to put it. Currently, I have ELEVEN places that I'm considering applying the Batman logo!!!! A casual Facebook poll I took indicated that no number of logos was too many, and I do like a good odd number. I might take it down to nine...but we'll just have to see what the light of day brings tomorrow.

I know it will include a lot of painters' tape, a lot of cutting, and a lot of paint! Hopefully it'll all turn out well. And, hopefully I'll have time to do it! Tomorrow is BUSY!

I'm also hoping to get the dresser downstairs (can't do it by myself, doncha know), and get that painted. Though, come to think of it, I need to grab some primer for it. I'll write another post about my plans for that. I'll probably have to hope for an additional warm day to finish all this...

I found it!

Okay, despite much debate, and many different options, including even MORE that I found after my searching before, I have decided on the Batmobile that will be my inspiration for my son's Cozy Coupe transformation! Drumroll, please!

Unfortunately, the pictures I found were from Pinterest, and this particular pin didn't have an origin blog from which they came...only pictures. So, no hints or tutorials for me...though there are plenty from others to go around and be tweaked, I'm sure. I created my own board of "Batmobile" inspiration blogs and tips, and will just have to come up with the actual plans to execute in order to get the results I'm looking for. I'll also have to do some calling around -- the Cozy Coupe we have has a broken gas cap...not sure yet if I can order a replacement, but I intend to find out!

The hard part comes next - how to do it, and when to do it! Of course, I want to drop everything right now, go to the hardware store, pick up the paint I need for this, and get to work on the patterns. BUT (and it's a BIG BUT), I have to get "normal" stuff done first.

I'm currently coming up with a list of things that I need to accomplish in the next 48 hours -- I'll have a tiny bit more free time than usual, and still have just as many things (if not more) to get done! Bleh!

I have a lot of exciting things on my "docket," however, and can't wait to share progress!