Wrapping Up Holiday Reading & Watching!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I thought I’d combine my December Blind Spot with my holiday reading and wrap it all up at once. I didn’t finish my Christmas reading list. But I still had some fun with it. And years ago I once promised myself I would never watch A Christmas story mainly because TBS was running it constantly at Christmas but hey, I enjoyed it anyway.

A Christmas Story

Directed By: Bob Walsh

Grade: B

I’m sure everyone knows the plot to this one- Ralph wants a Red Rider BB Gun for Christmas.

It was a fun, fast film though it also feels a little dated especially the ending. The acting was good. The kids were cute.

But no way would I have given that kid a gun of any kind 🙂

I first read The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig. (Adorable cover!) Amelia is the girl whose belief helped launch the first Christmas so when her life goes to hell she hangs onto the belief that she began with waiting for Father Christmas to give her some hope and light.

And why are so many Christmas stories depressing? Poor Amelia.

Meanwhile Father Christmas has a whole lot of problems of his own not the least of which a troll attack and a severe downswing in magic. But overall its a really sweet story. Good for kids and I appreciated the author cameo!

Recommend: Yes. But it’s definitely a middle-grade and not one where you think oh, this reads older.

Definitely sold on this graphic novel when I heard Harley Quinn in the North Pole.

Santa’s bad girl daughter Belle causes all kinds of trouble and having crazy adventures with her friends, chasing men and causing her father no end of stress. Of course I couldn’t help but think Jingle had a reason to be mad since even when she tried she only got coal and her Father never acknowledged her.

I usually love the full bind-ups but this one, while fun, got a little tiring at times. I also much preferred the colored stories to the black and white in Jingle Belle.

Recommend: Eh. I still prefer Harley. But if you’re going to pick up Jingle Belle keep in mind you may want to spread it out a bit more.

The Man Who Invented Christmas is about Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol and the history of Christmas itself- it’s past and how the story changed the future of the season.

I was really glad I picked this one up and I actually learned quiet a few things. Seems crazy to say considering how much I love Christmas how little I know about it. Now I had some fun information to annoy my family with at Christmas dinners.

The ease of the read might depend because there’s also a lot about Dickens and publishing but I found that fascinating as well.

Recommend: Yes. Definitely an interesting one.

I also watched A Midwinter’s Tale the holiday Sabrina special. (And seriously- I think more shows should do holiday specials. Not just single episodes like some shows do.) I thought this was great and I haven’t even seen the whole season.

Technically their celebrating Winter’s Solstice. Loved the myths they pulled in including scary Santa.

I love the look of Sabrina- the production, the clothes and especially the musical choices. A Midwinter’s Tale definitely made me want to go and watch the series.

I finished 12 Stories and 12 Feasts on Christmas Day. Though I admit I didn’t make any of the feasts. I’m not much of a cook but I do think the recipes had a pretty nice range from seemingly easy to yeah, I’m not going to even attempt this.

As to the stories I can’t think of a single one that I didn’t like- though a few were a bit weird in a very Christmas way. The ghost story Dark Christmas stands out and The Silver Frog put me in mind a bit of The Girl Who Saved Christmas.

Overall another enjoyable read.

And thanks to this one I now know what mince pie actually is.

Recommend: Yes. I especially liked the short story aspect for the busy holidays.