Currently Obsessed With: All Things Christmas

Currently Obsessed With is a monthly (but sometimes more) feature where I talk about my favorite things and what’s going on in my life.

Tomorrow is Christmas!  I love Christmas, and thought I’d share some of my favorite Christmas things- movies and music, mostly, but a few other things too.  It might not be snowy or rainy at Christmas where I live (it tends to be sunny on Christmas here in San Diego) but I still love how festive everything is, and I still manage to get into the Christmas spirit!

Movies:

  • A Charlie Brown Christmas is something I look forward to watching every year.  Because it’s not Christmas without it. I’ll probably be saying that a lot in this post.
  • Same thing with Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, and all of the other stop-motion movies that air every year.  It’s not Christmas without them either!
  • Love, Actually is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever.  Seriously, it is.  Two words: Alan Rickman.
  • And we can’t forget about The Nightmare Before Christmas!  I only watch it at Christmas, and not Halloween.  I’ve tried, but for some reason, it’s not the same.
  • I always associate this time of year with watching Harry Potter.  I think it’s because for the longest time, the movies came out this time of year, and I don’t know why but Harry Potter is always something I really like watching (and reading) this time of year. Harry Potter is great any time of the year, but this time of year especially.
  • Home Alone!  I love Home Alone…and that reminds I have yet to watch it this holiday season.

Food:

I haven’t done any holiday baking this year, which is weird for me, but I really like all of the cookies and fun things that I seem to eat only during this time of year!  Rum balls, fudge, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, molasses cookies, peanut brittle, chocolate covered pretzels…they’re all so good!  Trader Joe’s has this really good chocolate cheddar cheese that’s only available this time of year.  I know it sounds totally bizarre, but it’s actually really good and not as weird or as horrible as it sounds.  I love hot apple cider in the crockpot, and I’ve made it on Christmas the last few years.  I’ve also made some sort of holiday punch the last few years too.  I don’t know why I don’t make punch throughout the year.  I really should start a Pinterest board for holiday treats.

An Assortment Of Christmas Randomness:

  • Every Christmas, I wish I had more Christmas hats!  I have a Santa Hat that I always seem to have to go looking for every year, but I really want to crochet a few different hats- I know there are elf hat patterns, and I am pretty sure that there are Santa hat patterns too.  It was actually hard to find an elf hat crochet pattern for adults- I know that I could change up the pattern a bit to make it fit, but I am not confident in my ability to do that, or in my ability to come up with my own pattern for it.  I could with so many different colors- red, white, green…I have some bright pink and bright green that aren’t Christmas-y, but would still be awesome for an elf hat.
  • And speaking of crafts, there are a ton of Christmas crafts that would be so fun to make.  I’ll have to do some Christmas crafting one of these days.  Like, maybe I should find some I want to make, and if there’s something Christmas-y involved, get it after Christmas?  Because that’s when it all goes on clearance.
  • Christmas decorations!  I love seeing how people decorate their houses.  It’s so fun to just go out at night, drive around and see all of the lights.  I really miss Candy Cane Lane, which was this one really cool neighborhood that went all out with Christmas decorations, but I think there’s a newer version (with a different name, of course).  I may have to go see it one year.

Music:

I love Christmas music so, so much!  Once Thanksgiving is done, it’s Christmas music almost all of the time. Christmas music is one of my favorite things about Christmas, and I really could listen to the same songs, done by different people.  I love hearing how different artists do the songs, but I have a soft spot for the classic Christmas songs by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and anything from that time in music.  I put together a small playlist of some of my favorites.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas & holiday season, no matter what holiday you celebrate!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely folks over at The Broke And The Bookish. Every week, bloggers from all over are invited to share their own Top Ten List based on the topic of the week. You can find all Top Ten Tuesdays here.

Top Ten Tuesday Header

Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Bringing Me

I can’t believe Christmas is tomorrow!  These are the books I’m hoping to find under the tree tomorrow morning…

  1. Any of Brian Froud’s books.  I love fairies, and yet, I don’t have any of his books.  So you can’t go wrong with him!
  2. Fruits Basket.  I have the first 15, but I have yet to finish off the rest of the series, so it would be nice to have them so I could finish them!
  3. Harry Potter Page To Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey by Bob McCabe.  It’s Harry Potter-related and what better book to give to a Harry Potter fan than this book?
  4. The Great Encyclopedia Of Fairies by Pierre DuBois.  Again, it’s a great book for someone who loves fairies!
  5. Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  I’ve wanted this one for a while, and I’ve been too lazy to get it. Besides, if someone gets it for me, I will totally bake them things from the book.  So, there’s extra incentive to get it for me!
  6. The Feud by Dean King.  I know the Hatfields and McCoys had this big feud, but I don’t know the story behind it, and I don’t know anything about them, other than the feud they had.  So this book would be a really good choice!
  7. The Complete Book Of Crochet Border Designs by Linda Schapper.  Well, any book on crochet border designs would be nice, as I am going to crochet a blanket one of these days, and it might be nice to have something on borders.
  8. Anne Of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Discarded Bride by Elizabeth Norton.  I haven’t read anything by her yet, but Anne Of Cleves is fascinating, and I’d really like to know more about her.
  9. Bessie Blount: The Story Of Henry VIII’s Longtime Mistress by Elizabeth Norton.  Because I know nothing about her, other than she had an affair with Henry VIII and had an illegitimate son by him, so it would be nice to learn more about her.
  10. Katherine Of Aragon: The Spanish Queen Of Henry VIII by Giles Tremlett.  Okay, third book in a row focusing on the Tudors.  I love this period of history a lot, and given Katherine of Aragon is the wife that we know the most about, this book is a no-brainer!