Category: Holidays

Here’s to 36!

35 started out rough, but has become one of my favorite ages. I expect 36 to be one for the record books as well. Personally & professionally. The world is still going to shit, so there will always be that yawning pit of blackness in my stomach. But I want to focus on what I can control.

I hope there is a return to precedented times, that my mellow is not harshed, and that I keep learning, growing, and reaching all year long. I look forward to stepping out of my comfort zone, settling into this life Shane and I are building, and creating relationships that last with people I enjoy.

So here’s to 36! I hope you come along on my journey this year. It’s going to be fun.

-Sarah

Welcome to my Birthday Month

That’s right, my birthday month. Over the years, I’ve scaled back my birthday celebrations, but 2023 is getting a full month of shenanigans. In the last 4ish years, I’ve gone through some of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through. Somehow, I came out the other end happier and healthier than I ever have been. I think that deserves a month of celebrating.

I have always loved my birthday and will probably always love my birthday, but some years are more celebratory than others. This year’s feels like a huge win, and I plan on reveling in it.

Let’s be honest, though. I wasn’t a crazy kid even when I was a kid, so shenanigans will 100% be at the old lady level of shenaniganry.

I’m excited about spending this month celebrating everything I’ve overcome and have become in the past few years. I know the world is still very much shit, but I’m still here.

Happy Valentine’s & Galentine’s Day!

On this Tuesday, I hope you are all exactly where you want to be with whomever you wish to be with. It’s a great day to focus on and spend time with everyone you love.

I spent all of last week in a tent with Shane, so I think we’re counting that as our Valentine’s Day celebration. We have so many occasions between November and May that today isn’t that big of a deal. Especially this year because I’m planning on having a birthday month in March, since I have some birthday joy to catch up on.

I love the idea of Galentine’s Day, as well, but both of my Galentines aren’t local. I’m heading to a gathering of sorts, not Galentine’s Day related, tonight, and I’m looking forward to it as a sort-of celebration.

Enjoy your day, even if it’s just a regular old Tuesday.

Ten Christmastime Romances to Read This Year

You know the drill – Top Ten Tuesday is brought to us by the lovely ThatArtsyReaderGirl.

This week is a freebie, so naturally I had to go with 10 Romances to read around Christmas. Not that you’ll have time to, what with the movie watching, cooking baking, gingerbread house decorating, present wrapping, and so on and so forth. But if you do manage to sneak a book in, and you enjoy a good seasonal romance, you might want to add these to your list. I naturally went for 5 Regency romances in a nod to my reading streak along with 5 contemporary ones. A warning: I haven’t read any of these (a common theme for my Top Ten Tuesday lists), so read at your own risk.

The Earl’s Christmas Bride by Ella Quinn
- This is something like 7th or 7.5 in a series, but I don’t think it’s a series in which you need to read all the others in order to enjoy it. A lady wants to go travel around Europe and a “happy bachelor” is determined to marry her…and take her to Europe (?). It sounds cute and fun, like a Christmas romance should be.
The Holly and the Ivy by Elisabeth Fairchild
- The blurb contains the words “thorny duke” and “scandalous misunderstanding”, and the book has the man-who-hates-Christmas and woman-who-loves-it storyline. Honestly, what else could you ask for?
The Great Christmas Candy Caper by Karen Hall
- There’s Christmas, candy, and a caper. I don’t know what else to tell you in order to sell you on this book. It’s really a short story (less than 100 pages), but has it’s own Goodreads page, so if you’re looking to pad your numbers this December, it’s an option. It’s also only $1.99 on Amazon. I’m talking to myself here. 🙂

A Bride for Christmas by Aileen Fish
- Another novella – this one only 63 pages – and selling for a grand total of $0.00, this still managed to catch my attention. Mainly because the guy enlists his niblings in winning over the lady, to be honest. I enjoy books with kids, and since he has to “slay her dragons”, the addition of wee ones helping him seems right. Also – another one to pad the ol’ Goodreads Reading Challenge numbers.
The Lady’s Guide to Mistletoe and Mayhem by Emmanuelle de Maupassant
- A woman fleeing from a marriage by pretending to be an etiquette teacher, a Texan who is also a Scottish heir, a curse, mysterious deaths, a Scottish setting, and Christmas? Say no more. Add it to the list.
Snowed in at Harper’s Inn by Catelyn Meadows
- Apparently one in a series of clean Christmas romances written by a bunch of different authors (the next one is part of this series as well), this involves a “what if things were different” magical plot device, a cute lil Inn, a sudden breakup, and a “we’ve been friends forever, but maybe we should be in love” storyline. Honestly, it sounds like a Hallmark movie.
Snowed in at the Archive by Ellie Thornton
- I think I like books with snow on the cover because I haven’t seen snow in real life in 5(?) years and I’ve always dreamed of a snowy winter/Christmas. That’s what I get for living in the South, I guess. Anyway, there’s an archive involved so I don’t know what else to say – of course I’m going to want to pick up a book set in an archive while there’s snow everywhere.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
- The heroine here is stuck in a Groundhog Day-esque time loop for at least *some* of the book, and the reviews are quite split on if it works or not. Reading the blurb makes me think it may be cute, but apparently the romance is also hit or miss. I’m so divided on this one. I like the ideas here – time loops, love with the boy you’ve known forever, leaving traditions behind (unwillingly), but the reviews are meh at best. But who knows, it could be my favorite book.
Fool Me Twice at Christmas by Camilla Isley
- Once upon a time, Shane and I broke up over the holidays – and yet I still made him have Thanksgiving (I think it was Thanksgiving) dinner with my parents as if we hadn’t. A decade later, we’re married, so I connect with the idea of “we broke up, but let’s not tell our parents” and then ending up back in a relationship. The book has the added perk of them becoming “accidentally engaged” which is a thing that didn’t happen to me. It’s the first in a series called Christmas Romantic Comedy so I also know it’s my kind of vibe.
Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis
- The first in a 17 book/novella series, it starts with a major life upheaval and claiming an inheritance – both things I really like. I’ve always heard Jill Shalvis is an excellent writer, and I’m tempted to pick up a copy for that reason alone. Also, who doesn’t love a “fall in love with the handyman” story?

Writing this post has made me want to go out and get several of these and spend some evenings reading. I do not need more ebooks. I do not need more ebooks. I do not need more ebooks.

It is Christmas, though.

-S

A Little November Recap

November was a very busy month, and December isn’t looking much slower.

Shane and I went to Atlanta to see Monet Immersive and had a great time. We discovered that Atlanta has several Super H Marts, and a bunch of other fun farmer’s markets that we got to check out. A few days later I headed back to ATL for a couple of days for work reasons. I ended up getting stuck there for an extra night because I would have driven directly into Tropical Storm Nicole and while my car is getting a bit old, I didn’t want to wreck. During my time there, I missed our 16th dating anniversary, but since we don’t celebrate much, it wasn’t terrible.

That same week Shane’s grandma died, which was expected but still very sad, so we packed up and headed to her funeral that weekend. It was nice to see his family, but the circumstances were unfortunate. I did learn that she really liked true crime tv shows, so now I wish we had watched those together.

Shane had a birthday on the 15th but his best birthday present didn’t come until that Friday – his best friend Matthew flew in from Portland for Friendsgiving. When we started our drive upstate, we swung by the airport and picked him up. I made the sacrifice of sitting in the back of the truck so they could have quality time. Friendsgiving was fantastic. There was a BBQ Around the World theme and we took banchan (naturally) and bulgogi. Everything was so delicious and it was so so good to see our friends. The majority of the group has known each other since college, but the additions this year were awesome people, and I hope we made them feel welcome and part of the crew. There was Matthew in from Portland, a couple in from NYC (Queens, to be exact), and one from San Francisco/the Bay Area. More locally, we came up from Savannah, and our other friend drove up from Columbia, so a lot of people made a lot of effort to be there and it was worth it (for me anyway). We dropped Matthew off at his brother’s place, then scooted on home. On Wednesday, we met up with them again to get Matthew, and I took him to the airport on Thanksgiving.

I insisted on a “real” Thanksgiving dinner, so we made some stuffed chicken breasts, devilled eggs, brussel sprouts (for Shane), carrots (for me), and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was super tasty. I think my goal of celebrating all the holidays was definitely met for the Thanksgiving portion.

We spent the rest of the month cleaning, organizing the garage, and decorating for Christmas. His mom and aunt rolled on November 30th (yesterday), since Shane has some days off.

It was an exhausting month, but full of so much happiness and good times. November 2022 was a solidly good month.

-S

Christmas!

I had every intention of writing a Top Ten Tuesday post for today, but I decorated instead. Oops.

We have not truly decorated for Christmas since 2019. We’ve made feeble attempts, but neither of us has been in the Christmas spirit the last few years. As part of my “celebrate all the holidays” push, I decided that we would decorate even if the vibes are off. Luckily for me, the vibes are 100% perfect. Shane is just here for the ride.

I decided to not buy any decorations, and then promptly bought new stockings, so 99% of our ornaments are the ones my grandparents gave me every year growing up. I’m going to try to grow our collection slowly, maybe buy a few on clearance.

Anyway, no one cares about my rambling, here are some pictures. Heavy on the cats, as always.

Bear is absolutely head over heels in love with both the tree and the light up penguin. Klaus tries to eat both the tree and the ornaments.

The mini tree is in the bedroom and the box with candles is in my office.

See you Thursday!

-S

My December Bucket List

Welcome to the least ambitious December Bucket List of 2022. In my defense, I live in Savannah so that removes anything snow or cold weather related, and I don’t have kids so kid-related activities are also out. That leaves a tiny little pool of December/Christmas activities to choose from.

Finish decorating for Christmas! We didn’t really decorate last Christmas…or the Christmas before that and it’s time for a Christmas tree in this apartment. Hopefully the cats won’t try to climb the thing. They are 100% going to try to climb it.
1. Honestly, this one will definitely be done before December 1st, but I’m counting it anyway.
Watch some amount of Christmas Movies. I said something like 20 (started at 45, which is insane) in my Hallmark Christmas Movies post, so that number works. But honestly, 5 will be fine too. Not fussed.
Go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. They’re playing in a bunch of cities within a few hours around us, so that’s definitely on the list.
Make Shane’s coworkers lil not-actually-Christmas-related treat bags. I love baking and December is the best baking month, but I definitely don’t want to eat all, or most, of the cookies, so treat bags it is!
Wrap and send presents with enough time for said presents to get to their destinations before Christmas day. This will be a minor miracle if it happens.
Cook Christmas Brunch/Dinner. It’ll almost certainly be an early dinner in order to work around Shane’s work schedule, but maybe I’ll do a little Egg Benedict for breakfast as well. That was the traditional Christmas breakfast when I was a kid.
Do some Christmas Light viewing – I need to find out if there are any neighborhoods known for their lights or a organization that does a light show in December. I love looking at Christmas lights.
Decorate a gingerbread house, as is traditional. I’m going to try not to cry this year.
Listen to a Christmas audiobook or 2. I think I should probably take a break from podcasts for a month and listen to a few books.
Deep clean the apartment for the new year. Besides not crying over the gingerbread house, this is going to be the toughest one by far.

That’s it, that’s my list of things to get done in December. Nothing too ambitious, except the deep cleaning, and mostly just things that will make me happy. Christmas has been hard for a few years, but 2022 is going to turn it all around. Hopefully. No pressure.

See you Tuesday.

Sarah

Thanksgiving 2022

I was going to make this blog post into a list, since I love lists so very much, but nothing I wrote felt right. I’m not really sure why, but I wrote several versions, and didn’t like any of them. Maybe because 2022 doesn’t feel like it can be reduced into a list – even a long one.

I’ve mentioned before that this year has been the first good one in a long string of pretty awful years. Over everything else, I’m thankful for that. It might be a change in my perspective on things/life, and not a “better” year in general, but my point stands.

My list of things to be thankful for starts with the shitty job I had at the beginning of this year – I had a great time in Vegas and got close to 2 coworkers that I still count as friends. If that man hadn’t cursed me out and made me cry at work, I wouldn’t have quit and wouldn’t have the job I have now. Speaking of my job – it feels like this job is something I can make a career of long term. That remains to be seen, obviously, but the hopeful feeling is really nice after being in a string of jobs that I only applied for because I just needed a job.

Shane has been a major support this year, during the awfulness of Job 1, my unemployment/vacation, and getting prepped for Job 2. It’s really nice to live with my best friend and have that really strong foundation when things go sideways. He’s my favorite person, and I’m glad he’s on my side. Also, that horror movie project would have never gotten done without him.

I feel like the cats should get a shout out here, too. Klaus especially. Bear is a great cat, but he loves anyone who will hand him a treat and gets annoyed with my repeated attempts to keep his coat in some semblance of groomed. Klaus, though. I swear if Laurie was able to send me a cat, it would have been Klaus. Every single afternoon, he comes to visit me in my office & have a snuggle session. He likes to follow me from room to room and every night if I’m not already in bed, he comes to fetch me from the living room when he decides it’s bedtime. He has been a beacon of comfort all year.

There have been so many people giving me support this year that I don’t even want to start naming them because I’ll inevitably forget someone. Luckily, most of them don’t read this blog, so very few people will notice that I’m leaving this section of thanks to this: if you’ve been any kind of support, even if it’s just a thought here or there, I appreciate you. There have been so many small kindnesses this year, both intentional and unintentional, so many times I have been boosted out of a funk, and I’m beyond thankful for all of those moments.

I’m writing this the day I post it – Thanksgiving – and I’m going to cut it short to go make some Tgives dinner in my adequate kitchen with the love of my life in my nice warm apartment.

I Did Not Learn My Movie Challenge Lesson

Having learned nothing from my Halloween Horror Challenge, I have decided to watch as many Hallmark movies as my brain can take over the next two months. Well, I guess I learned my lesson a little bit, since I have enough sense to modify the rules.

Another plus to this Hallmark Shenanigan is that I absolutely love Hallmark movies. They are comforting, predictable, and give me some level of contentment so I don’t think it’ll be a matter of talking myself into watching them. I definitely did have to talk myself into watching the horror movies.

Here’s the setup:

I have Hallmark for the holiday season and I want to see how many Christmas movies I can watch between November 1st and Christmas. I am thinking about going until New Year’s Eve, though. I don’t have a solid goal number, but I do have a sort of target number that would be nice to hit. 60. Which seems like an insane number, now that I’ve typed it out. Maybe I’ll shoot for 45. I guess it doesn’t matter, really.

Hallmark has something like 300 Christmas movies along with a handful of Hanukkah and New Year’s movies. I decided to limit it to movies made in 2020, 2021, and 2022 just to have an arbitrary way to cut down on the movies I have to choose from. There are still 76, by the way.

Here’s the plan:

There isn’t one, really. Just watch movies as often as I can, I guess. That’s not going to be particularly easy, though. My November and December are packed with travel, blogging, getting healthy, work, gatherings, shows, and obviously all the holidays. Plus, since Shane isn’t particularly interested in Hallmark Movies (surprising, eh?), we probably won’t be watching them when we’re hanging out together. Since we enjoy each other, we tend to hang out as much as possible. During October, it was really helpful that he enjoys horror movies and was excited to watch them with me.

Honestly, though, this is just formalizing my already very well documented hobby of Hallmark Christmas movie watching. It’s sort of my seasonal jam.

-S

31 Horror Movies – Part 2

I DID IT!!! 31 MOVIES!!!

I didn’t think I would, but I’m glad I did. No lie, it’s because Shane relentlessly bullied me into cramming in a few at the end. I did 4 movies in one day on a Saturday. Twice. The 4 Purge movies and the last 4 I watched.

I want to state that the 1-10 scale is the horror movie scale, not the all movies scale. Those would be radically different.

The Purge (Rented)
- Loved it. I wish I had watched it back when it first came out, because I think it would have been more impactful in a world that isn’t quite so….the way it currently is. It’s an interesting thought experiment that I truly hope never becomes a real thing.
  - 8 for both of us
The Purge: Anarchy (Rented)
- I was surprised that the sequel was as good, if not slightly better, than the original movie. I think the Purge series are lucky in that there are millions of stories you could tell around Purge Night.
  - My rating: 8
  - Shane’s rating: 9
The Purge: Election Year (Rented)
- My favorite of the 4 Purges we watched, I think this being my favorite came down to the characters. Somehow the actors & their characters turned things that I would generally roll my eyes at into things I believed. And I like explosions.
  - 9 for both of us.
The First Purge (Rented)
- I feel like I was tapped out on Purge movies this day, but I don’t think this is the strongest entry either. Possibly because it’s a prequel and I know what happens in the future. That made the fact that the stakes were if The Purge works or not pointless. It would have been better as a straightforward slash-em-up. Same characters and everything. Still intensely watchable, though.
  - My rating: 7
  - Shane’s rating: 6
Old People (Netflix)
- This was pretty meh for me, but Shane enjoyed it. It turned into a zombie-adjacent movie and it was really disjointed. It also felt preachy in a way, though I don’t really put it past the old folks, honestly, they were very neglected. I took a point off for two unnecessary vomit scenes, by the way. Nasty.
  - My rating: 3
  - Shane’s rating: 5
We Are Still Here (Amazon)
- This one is very much an 8 for the type of movie it is – it’s a slow build, and gets quite silly/cheesy towards the end, but I was delighted by it. It helped that the entire vibe of the movie was very retro, which is always on the pro side of things. Larry Fessenden was amazing, which is to be expected.
  - 8 for both of us
Intruders (Amazon)
- An interesting premise and decent execution – a few of the aspects of the movie felt gimmicky. Having the entire film set in a house was a great idea and the agoraphobia the main character has forces the plot in interesting ways. It wasn’t a groundbreaking movie in any way, but it isn’t one of the movies I regret watching.
  - 6 for both of us
Splinter (Amazon)
- An excellent example of a creature feature, this has some gore and some bad decisions, so naturally I really liked it. The characters were all great and I enjoyed the way all the relationships evolved. Weird note – Jill Wagner, who is now known for Hallmark Movies, is the main character in this.
  - My rating: 7
  - Shane’s rating: 6
The Descent (Amazon)
- I’ve avoided this movie for years because I thought it would be terrifying, and it wasn’t. Quite the disappointment, honestly. There were several moments where I wanted to reach into the screen and shake them. Generally not a fan.
  - 4 for both of us
When a Stranger Calls (Amazon)
- The main character in this one gets a bit of a pass for all her boneheaded choices because she’s in high school, and teenagers are not known for their excellent decision making. It was definitely action packed, though, which was nice. The kids she’s babysitting were excellent at their roles – very good at crying and hiding.
  - My rating: 5
  - Shane didn’t watch this one.
The Tall Man (Amazon)
- The premise here is super interesting and there were parts that I didn’t expect which was nice. Jodelle Ferland is an excellent addition to the cast, as she is in everything she graces with her presence, and Jessica Biel was so believable. I don’t want to say anything else, because my reactions would be immediate spoilers.
  - My rating: 7
  - Shane’s rating: 6
Flight 7500 (Amazon)
- This movie is one of the most claustrophic movies I’ve ever seen, because it takes place entirely inside of a plane. It’s also a compilation of all the terrifying possibilities of a plane trip. Except they don’t have a violent passenger, so there’s that, I guess. What I’m saying is that if you already have a phobia of flying, then don’t watch this one.
  - My rating: 6
  - Shane didn’t watch this one.
Hellraiser (2022) (Hulu)
- I’ve never seen the original Hellraiser (yes, I have missed out on many classic horror movies), but I’m guessing it was better than this one to become such a classic. I only liked and rooted for one character, but there wasn’t anything overly terrible about it, either. It was just slow and something was lacking.
  - My rating: 4
  - Shane’s rating: 6
No Exit (Hulu)
- So good. The main character is flawed yet super likable, and the rest of the characters are interesting. I keep wanting to say what I thought about certain characters and situations, but they’d all be spoilers. I 100% recommend this one.
  - 8 for both
Crawlers (Hulu)
- An alien invasion film that seems to be for teens/young adults, watch this one when you want something that doesn’t make you think too hard and is also entertaining. I really enjoyed the narrator, and I felt like the crew didn’t make too many outstandingly bad decisions which is pretty rare for a horror movie.
  - My rating: 5
  - Shane’s rating: 4
V/H/S 2 (Hulu)
- I didn’t love this, but Shane enjoyed it. It’s made up of 4 short films – about 20 minutes each. One was really good and had a couple of nice jump scares, while the other three ranged from okay to awful. If you’ve never seen it, I just want you to know that the dog dies and it’s not off screen. I may have taken a point off just for that.
  - My rating: 3
  - Shane’s rating: 6