Happy Holidays, part 2

Now that you've seen the video of how to survive the holidays [in the previous post], I present to you my holiday movie picks!

[*note - these are in no particular order, and are not ranked from best to worst or anything like that. :p]

Here we go!


1. Jumanji
Okay I know its not entirely 'holiday movie' material, but it opens and closes with a Christmas party, and the movie originally had a Christmas Day theatrical release back in 1995. And the actual board game produced to go along with the movie was the hot christmas gift the following year. :)

2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
This is excellent reassurance that your screwed up family is actually quite normal..... It also reminds you that it doesn't matter that your Christmas bonus isn't as big as the last one - there's someone out there that probably didn't get one even though he spent it already.

3. The Polar Express
I read this book a million times as a kid, and even read it to my class in 3rd grade. Never lose your childlike wonder, as Randy Pausch said. This movie is a good way to do that.

4. Serendipity
Because leaving the greatest night of your life to fate, and then having fate give you what you want in the end... is awesome. Especially on Christmas

5.While You Were Sleeping
All I have to say about this one is five little words. 'I was gonna marry him...'

6. The Family Stone
I'll admit it, when I saw the promo movie poster that had Sarah Jessica Parker's name on it, I didn't even want to bother with this. But it unexpectedly appeared in my DVD player one day, and it has been one of my favorites ever since. A picture is truly the best gift of all for Christmas.

7. Edward Scissorhands
Its creepy, its not nearly as holiday themed as the rest of the movies on this list, and it even has some blood in it... but its still a must see this holiday season. White Christmases take on new meaning once you've seen this one.

8. A Christmas Story
This also goes along the same lines of keeping the childlike wonder. Plus, TBS has a 24-hour marathon of this every year! What other movies can you name that get a 24 hour marathon ever? Oh I don't know... NONE! :)

9. Its a Wonderful Life
Every time a star lights up, an angel gets his wings.

10. A Charie Brown Christmas
Christmas is definitely not about the size of the tree, or how many gifts are under it.

11. The Wizard of Oz
Not Christmas oriented in the least.... but here's a 'Did You Know' tidbit -- ask your parents or grandparents, they'll tell you. Every year this movie used to air extremely close to Christmas, and all across America people would take this day off, gather the family around, and all pile onto the couch to watch The Wizard of Oz. It was a national holiday whenever this came on TV. So its a holiday movie pick in my book!

12. Mickey's Christmas Carol
I should probably list the original one instead of this Disney remake. Or maybe even the Muppets version. Or how about Scrooged, with Bill Murray, since that's the same thing. But I know you agree with me - Mickey Mouse does make the lesson - it's more important to give than to receive at Christmas - more fun.

13. Autumn in New York
Time is precious, and you should make every second of it count.

14. Home Alone 1 & 2
They're both kinda the same movie, and they're not up to today's standards by any means. But they had a comedic magic about them during their time, and they still teach you that no matter how big your family is, it's not complete without the little bastard that causes all the trouble, especially around the holidays.

15. Gremlins
Oh come on.... Gizmo is cute!

16. Miracle on 34th Street
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

17.You've Got Mail
I wanted to put Sleepless in Seattle here instead, but this is more christmas themed [even though Sleepless in Seattle does open with holiday times.] And ta-dah, its Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks so its like the same movie anyway! :)

18. The Nightmare Before Christmas
I've only seen this once actually, and I'm not really a big fan of it.... but I only include it because I know someone who will get mad if I don't, and they'll whine at the fact that I put Edward Scissorhands on here but not this. So there you go. This movie seriously freaks me out and I personally wouldn't go running to see it again. Its scary

19. The Nutcracker
That's not a movie, that's a ballet! Yes I know that but there was a movie style adaptation of it once. And you might not realize why you have a nutcracker somewhere in your house that you take out specifically around christmas. Its because of this.

20. The Nativity Story
Because this is what the true meaning of Christmas is.

Anyhow, happy watching!

Fortune time!

TRAVEL WITH A LIGHT HEART AND HAPPY EXPECTATIONS

It's not shiny or aluminum... nor is it painted pink...

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....



And I'm totally not kidding. That's really our Christmas Tree this year. It's not bad at all really... It just needs a little love. ;)

The funny thing here though is that I actually paid money for it, rather than getting the only thing left on the tree farm... or whatever you call those places.

And the best part is that it took all of 30 seconds to assemble and doesn't require figuring out how to untangle and evenly distribute lights, or climbing on a ladder to stick anything on top. Good Old tree stands a little over 1 foot tall. :)

Not that I'm knocking anyone else's trees or anything like that. I love christmas trees and half the fun of christmas is unpacking the previous year's decor and bringing in the chrismas atmosphere by putting up a tree. This year's just a bit different.

So there you have it!

Fortune time!

THE MOST RIGID TREES ARE THE FIRST TO BE SNAPPED WHEN THE WIND BLOWS

Priceline can't even begin to compete...

In this day and age of high gas prices and old unreliable cars that aren't as good as they once were back in their prime, I'd like to take a moment to show you something that you may find very beneficial.

Google Maps's latest feature...

The poor man's GPS.

*drumroll*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*crash*

Walking directions!

That's right, WALKING directions!

Who needs a car when someone has mapped out a route for you to get from point A to point B on FOOT!

So you want to go visit the loved ones in Dallas for the holidays eh? Well gee, I dunno... 3 hours from Houston in the car adds up to a ridiculously expensive amount of gas...

But wait!

There's no need to fear!!

Google Walking Directions is here! Tell those high gas prices and the clunker gas guzzler that they can forget about even looking at your paycheck this holiday season. With this awesome feature, you can go see Granny on foot for the low low price of ZERO gas dollars!

That's right -- ZERO gas dollars. No money that could have been used on Christmas presents will be spent on any fuel for your vehicle this winter when you take 3 days and 9 hours to walk 249 miles to your holiday destination.

And I'm totally not kidding. Seriously. Go see for yourself. Houston to Dallas on foot.

Take that, you stupid gas station that always tricks me into buying a carwash! MWAHAHAHAHA!

Give the oil companies the boot this year, and make walking the new way to travel.

Just don't forget the suitcase with the wheels.

Anyway, its fortune time.

A JOURNEY OF 1000 MILES BEGINS WITH THE FIRST STEP.