Matt and Sarah’s ginormous tree.
Several years ago, I purchased all of my favorite Christmas movies on iTunes and, each year, we watch them all over again. Sometimes two or three times a season! My favorite is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. And, my absolute favorite scene is the dried up turkey dinner fiasco, which you can watch RIGHT HERE.
Oh, that Uncle Eddie!
My second favorite is One Magic Christmas because that one features the REAL Santa! Not sure how they secured him for that gig but he did an excellent job!
I also love The Santa Clause, Elf, A Christmas Story, and Jingle All the Way, as well as many of the classics.
Our son, Matt, and his wife, Sarah, have a new baby so his family can’t come see us in Florida for Christmas anymore. Like most parents, they want to have Christmas in their own home. However, he has carried on the traditions of watching Christmas Vacation…and buying a HUGE tree. He sent a picture, saying Sarah let him buy the biggest one on the lot. I’m so proud!!
My Gimpy Leg – 4 weeks after falling off the boat
This Saturday, our daughter is coming to the satellite office here in town to help me wrap presents since I still have a gimpy leg. If I get up for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time, it starts to swell and ache. I started drawing on it with a Sharpie to see if the size of the clot has diminished. My measuring methods with a cloth measuring tape weren’t very precise. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be getting smaller, meaning it’s not be reabsorbed into my body. I’ve decided to wait until after Christmas to have the doc slice into it. I don’t want to experience any complications that might ruin Christmas for everyone else. The good news is, I’ll get out of doing any Christmas dinner cooking or dishes, just like I did at Thanksgiving. Hooray! 😉
I’d LOVE to read about some of your favorite Christmas movies and traditions! Please share in the Comments box below. Maybe you know of a really good but relatively unknown Christmas movie I may have missed?? 🙂
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Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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My father, and Grandpa to four, loved the movie “Emmet Otter.” When the family would visit the Grandparents for Christmas, we would go out to dinner for Mexican food (I grew up in Albuquerque, NM) on Christmas Eve and then come home to watch “Emmet Otter.” The children thought it was silly, but sat dutifully through the movie to please Grandpa. I had wondered what happened to that video when one year my adult son gave it to me for Christmas. He probably found it on E-Bay. Of course we had to watch it.
Then there’s “Christmas Story” which runs on our TV after presents are opened and we are having lunch.
Take care of that leg, Angela!
Hi Ang,
One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is”Christmas Miracle at Sage Creek.” It stars one of my favorite actors, the late David Carradine. It’s an uplifting story of healing family and racial wounds — appropriate perhaps for our society’s modern struggles.
First of all, YIKES, your poor leg. I can’t believe you are still suffering with this.I don’t blame you for wanting to wait until after the holidays to get it tended to. Favorite Christmas movies? Well 2 favorites are: It’s a Wonderful Life, and Miracle on 34th Street. I like Johnny Townsend’s take on the “Chosen Family.” Even though I come from a huge Italian family, I must say that some of my happiest holidays were spent with my “Chosen Family.”
I enjoy Love Actually and watch it every Christmas. Not all parts of it are great for young children and there are both adult language and situations. If those don’t bother you (they don’t bother me), it’s a great movie. I also love some of the Hallmark Christmas Movies. Some of my favorites: Operation Christmas, A Christmas to Remember, Christmas in Evergreen, Once Upon a Holiday, Switched for Christmas, Christmas Under Wraps, A Heavenly Christmas, A Very Merry Mix-Up, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Enchanted Christmas. I record my favorites, but some are also available on Amazon and iTunes. They might be available on other streaming services, I haven’t checked them all.
Angela,
Don’t forget the power of aspirin as a clot-busting drug. But be sure to take it with food and chew it to avoid a stomach/upper G.I. ulcers.
Absolutely do have that clot removed if it has created a pocket. It appears to be in the tissues (photo does not have enough detail/best angle to give details) but if there is additional swelling when the area is used, it suggests that the clot is interfering (to some degree) with blood flow, lymph drainage, etc… This does need treatment.
I can so identify with your junkie story. Hate drugs and use as few as possible, even OTC. My dad, a combat photographer during WWII and a magazine editor/PR man had severe asthma. In the 1970s they discovered the wonder drug prednisone and massively overdosed him for years. He developed diabetes and congestive heart failure. The one Dr. who helped him get off the steroids later told him prednisone caused the diabetes and CHF. He suffered through many side effects, including vasculitis, severe osteoporosis and other issues. A wonderful man who died too soon thanks to our inept healthcare providers and big pharma.
My husband and I were both Mormon missionaries in Italy decades ago, so we buy a panettone (or four) during the holiday season. It’s an acquired taste, but both taste and smell are strongly associated with memories in the brain, and the moment we put a bite of that cake in our mouths, it brings us back.
I also love to watch the original cartoon version of “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” narrated by Boris Karloff.
Because we’re gay, my husband and I have learned over the years to develop a “chosen family,” friends we’ve been close to for ages, and we spend several hours on Christmas Day with others who don’t celebrate the holiday with their biological family. There are plenty of people who are “outcasts” for one reason or another, and it’s important for us to be as inclusive as possible during this season that can be so stressful for a number of reasons. We listen to music and eat and talk and laugh and feel loved.