Tag: Christmas

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

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

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

Christmas Recap

I thought I would have a lot more pictures from Christmas, but I didn’t take a lot. We spent Christmas Eve Eve with my parents at their place for a pretty excellent dinner. My brothers weren’t able to be there so it was just the four of us. I also scored some sweet Delft pottery from my parents’ Dutch adventures. I think it was my grandparents’ that they bought on a trip, but I’m not actually sure.

Christmas Eve I woke up at 6 am to help my mother in law (and Shane, to be fair) get ready for the party. I made Bread Pudding with Bourbon sauce, which is apparently my ‘thing’ now. People showed up around 4ish and there were a bunch. Shane’s cousin has 4 kids plus several of my MIL’s siblings and attendant spouses as well as Shane’s brother and his kids. Oh, all 6 kids are very, very girly girls, by the way. Also loud. So loud.

But I had a great time – my oldest niece is a month from 13 and she’s hilarious and genuinely fun to be around. My 9 year old niece is a sweet bundle of love. The other 4 girls are a bunch of energy, too. The youngest is about a year old (but is developmentally younger) and I got to hang out with her a bit. I love a baby…that I can give back.

Good food, good company, and my MIL’s cat letting me pet him a bunch (he’s a bit standoffish) made for an excellent Christmas 2018. The few pictures I took are below – some are from my parents, some from Christmas Eve.

Ten Books I Hope to Find Under the Tree!

Merry Christmas! This week’s topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is a list of the books I want to find under the tree today. I love this idea! I actually got a ton of the books I really really wanted from my Secret Santa done by The Broke and The Bookish blog, but I always have more on the list!

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter ~ Karin Slaughter is one of my favorite authors. This is the only novel of hers that I haven’t read yet. I’m on the Holds list for it, but it’s going to take for-ev-er.
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James ~ This is the only book of Simone St. James I don’t own, and I loved it as much as the others so I’d like to own it as well.
Force of Nature by Jane Harper ~ I liked the first Aaron Falk book, and would love to give the sequel a try.

So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know by Retta ~ I follow Retta on Twitter, and loved her in Parks and Rec. I’m so interested in knowing more about her.
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King ~ Mr Rogers is the last great American {television} hero…along with Bob Ross, obviously. He’s inspiring and I want to read about what he was like outside of the show.
Becoming by Michelle Obama ~ Speaking of inspiration, who wouldn’t want to read Michelle Obama’s autobiography?

Florence & Giles by John Harding ~ There’s nothing about this book that’s not right up my alley. I can’t wait to read it!
The Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir ~ An ultra-religious family with a pregnant but not married daughter? Sign me up.
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal ~ This seems like an interesting twist on the space race and apocalypse. I’m hooked.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells ~ The series is called The Murderbot Diaries. How could I not want to read this?

~Sarah~

Haystack Cookies

Welcome to my first recipe post! Luckily for y’all, if I keep doing these posts, I have 0 children so I won’t ever talk about sneaking veggies past their super sensitive palates. Also, Shane eats everything except sweets so I won’t have to talk about how picky of an eater he is.

On to the best, simplest Christmas cookies ever. No pictures, though, since my mom is making them this year & I refuse to go digging for pictures from last year.

Haystack Cookies

Stuff to gather:

3/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup of butterscotch chips
1-2 T creamy peanut butter
- Or any other nut butter, or leave it out.
1 1/2 cups (more or less – you do you) of chow mein noodles.
- You can use peanuts, but that’s an inferior situation 😉

Putting it together:

Put everything except the noodles in a microwave safe bowl or in an improvised double boiler.
Melt it all together (either microwave with lots of breaks or using the boil/bowl method).
Mix it a bit.
Throw those noodles in.
Mix some more.
Line a tray/baking sheet/countertop with wax paper
Use your biggest spoon and scoop spoonfuls of the deliciousness until you’re out of mix.
Throw your tray/baking sheet/slice of wax paper into the fridge for *at least* an hour.
Eat too many & get a sugar headache.
Store the few left in an airtight container on your counter.
- Or get a loved one to hide them from you and dole them out as needed.

Note: Be careful, those noodles are super hard to bite through.

Enjoy!

~Sarah~

What Makes Christmas Christmas

There are a few things that I *have* to have to make Christmas a good Christmas. Two of them I discovered this year, oddly enough.

One of those Terry Oranges. Why? No idea. It’s an institution, though.
Real oranges, because I read Little House on the Prairie as a child.
Haystack Cookies! They’re my favorite Christmas cookie and I adore them. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow. I’m not really set up for recipes, but we’ll figure it out.
Making a Gingerbread House….from a kit. I hate I haven’t made mine yet, but I think I’ll be able to tomorrow or Friday. Even if I’m not home to enjoy it because of Christmas travel, the experience is important.
Christmas movies, obviously.

The two I discovered this year:

Southern Comfort Eggnog – it comes without booze and I mix it with chocolate milk and nutmeg. Delicious.
- If I do feel the need for some adult beverage, I put Kahlua and/or Irish Cream.
Matching pjs – see my roundup from yesterday.

A couple of traditions I might want to start:

Eating pizza with just the lights from the tree. I think I got this from a mommy blog, so if you recognize it please let me know so I can give her credit.
Putting out our shoes for St Nicholas Day (Dec 6th). I spent my first 6 years in the Netherlands and this is something they do there – I did it in Kindergarten and 1st grade. I’m not Dutch, but it’s a super nostalgic thing for me anyway.
Buying an ornament that represents the year. I wish we had gotten an Acadia National Park one last year. I don’t know what we’d get this year.
Holiday fondue on a night that’s just Shane and I. One year my mom and I had a Thanksgiving fondue while my dad was overseas and it was super fun. I think it’d be a nice tradition.

I really love Christmas and want more actual traditions instead of just things that happen to happen in December.

~Sarah~

Christmas Pajama Roundup

I’m into Christmas pjs, y’all. I’ve always been super jealous of people who get Christmas pjs every year. So I made Shane buy matching pjs with me this year. Ok, I didn’t actually *make* him, he was fine with the idea. I’m not going to share a pic, but we have definitely spent an evening in matching pjs on the couch – especially in Nashville. I’m going to post a roundup of the pajamas I considered along with the ones I picked. All images are from Target, because I’m super predictable and only really looked at Target pajamas.

image of a woman, man, dog, and 2 children wearing matching red plaid pajamas. — These are the ones we went with.

An image of a man, woman, and 3 children wearing navy and green plaid pajamas. — Very close 2nd place.

An image of a man, woman, and 3 children wearing navy pajamas with white animals printed on them. — These animal pjs are adorable.

An image of a man, woman, and child wearing beige pjs with snowflakes on them. — If I looked better in beige, these would be more of a contender

A man, woman, and 3 children wearing a slightly different set of plaid pajamas. Red and Navy this time. — I’m really into plaid right now.

An image of a man, woman, teenager, and 2 kids wearing white t-shirts and black buffalo plaid pj pants. — I dunno if these count since they’re only pants, but I love Buffalo Check prints.

This felt like a better idea before I wrote it. But I did write it, and I’m very behind, so it stays!

~Sarah~

My Christmas Movie Marathon

This past Saturday a good friend of mine came down to celebrate Christmaspalooza – a several years old tradition we have of watching Christmas movies (usually bad ones) and making baked goodies. This is the lineup from this year:

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Aldovia is a tremendously poorly run country who should have democratic elections promptly. The movie rarely has the bride and groom in the same room, which was a super weird choice. I didn’t watch this for Count Simon’s redemption arc or the government’s financial failings.

Christmas Inheritance

This was pretty cute, I won’t lie. It was the perfect amount of Hallmark-like shenanigans. The formula worked well, though I found myself liking her original boyfriend more than you’re supposed to like the original man in her life. I’m reasonably sure she has to move back to New York City to run her company (that she inherited from her dad even though she showed no aptitude for leadership), so that’s a nice change. My friend called it ‘A Trump Family Christmas’, but I feel like that’s an unfair comparison. She’s not nearly as spoiled by the end of the movie as she does in the beginning.

The Christmas Chronicles

This is by far my favorite of the four movies! I actually enjoyed all four, to differing degrees, but this is the best. Kurt Russell is so dang good. His Santa Claus is an excellent twist on the usual one. And Oliver Hudson in the beginning made me happy.

This movie is a kids’ Christmas adventure that reminds me of 1990s Christmas movies. It made me nostalgic, though I don’t know how it would stack up to them.

It’s a really cute movie, y’all, and I would definitely recommend it. The older brother sucks for a good bit of the beginning, just so you know.

The Holiday Calendar

This movie is so dang cute. It’s just a feel-good Christmas movie with questionable judgement on her part until she suddenly ‘sees the light’ at the end.

I love a good Advent calendar in real life, so you know I loved seeing a magical one bring love to someone. I love a good trope, too, so the best-friend-is-your-true-love-you-dummy is also right up my alley. A photographer dealing with her parents asking about her life choices feels pretty legit, but then they’re won over by some art at a school auction which makes me wonder if they ever looked at her work. Still cute, though.

I still have a ton of movies that I want to watch, but haven’t had the chance yet and might not get the chance to before Christmas. I have part of next week off (from work *and* family) so I might just declare one of those days to be another movie marathon. I feel like you can watch Christmas movies through to New Year’s.

~Sarah~