Christmas Movies

Once December started, I was totally into Christmas movies.  I was finding all kinds of random holiday movies on Netflix to entertain me.  I was a bit surprised at myself, especially with some of these cheesy movies.  I also set to collecting a few more Christmas movies for my DVD stack.  I figured that since I made a Halloween movie list, I'd go for a Christmas one too!

• Elf - still one of my favorite Christmas movies, and also a favorite to quote!
• The Family Stone - awkward dysfunctional family movie, but for some reason I really enjoy it!
• Love Actually - the stories of multiple British people going through the holidays.  Rated R, so tread carefully, but I love it!  Plus there are tons of famous people.
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas - The one with Jim Carrey.  Although parts of this are just way too cheesy for me to really enjoy.
• The Santa Clause - another old one I found in the Christmas section this year, but it's got Tim Allen.
• The Holiday - a romantic, feel-good comedy that happens with some Christmas stuff.
• Home Alone - Classic.  Also the other two are pretty good.
• I'll be home for Christmas - a bit nostalgic.  I just had to watch this one because JTT participates in a Santa 5k, and that was literally all I could think of when I did my Santa run!

• Jingle All the Way - that's right, it's Arnold Schwartzenegger in a Christmas movie!
• Iron Man 3 - I put this in because Tony Stark tests out his newest Iron creation to a funky "Jingle Bells," and he buys Pepper a giant rabbit for Christmas.  Plus, Iron Man is awesome!
• Holiday Engagement - Cheesy Netflix find.  Enjoyed it, but acting is pretty low-grade.
• Christmas Kiss - Another Netflix, thin plot and sub-par acting, but still kept me entertained.
• Lord of the Rings - This one is because I traditionally will marathon these during the holidays.  However, with the new Hobbit movie coming out, I decided to marathon the Hobbit instead!

Okay, I know there are tons more out there, but these are the ones I found this year.  I swear I do things other than watch movies!  Most of this was happening while I was putting up my Christmas trees.  It was fabulous!

Drivin in Style

Recently (okay, like back in July) I had a pretty major change in my life.  I'll give you a hint:

Other hint.  I didn't have a major career change.

That's right, I'm the proud owner of a fabulous new Dodge Charger, or cop car (if you must)!  There are some people who drive really nice cars at my gym, and I thought this was too cute.  I couldn't pass up this photo opportunity!

Anyway, I decided to say farewell to my last vehicle for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because it was getting on in years and mileage.  It was a sexy little slider, but after a couple flat tires (one in the middle of the California desert), a new set of wheels and tires, a fear of snow on the road of any kind, and an obsession with checking the oil, I decided to go for a trade-in.

I don't know if I ever posted a pic of my last car.  A 2005 Cadillac.

Besides, I really wanted a Charger.  I had been ogling any Charger, or Challenger on the road for the past year, so that really made my decision pretty easy!  I went for several test drives, and looked through countless online postings while slowly putting away some money.  I actually spotted a Challenger and a Charger waiting side by side at a dealership in Cedar last June, but I didn't go for a test drive till a month later.  Honestly, I liked the Challenger a lot, but I the moment I saw it, I knew the Charger was mine!

That's right, it really was a love story between me and Bruce.  (Bruce seems like a good working name for the time being.)  Funny story, my family and I were at Lake Powell that morning, and we got back to Cedar around noon.  I recruited my brother to come with as I was only going to drive by the dealer to see if the Charger was still there.  Anyway, I noticed the cost had dropped, so I went for a few test drives.  I took both the Charger and the Challenger out for a little spin 'round town while they looked over my Caddie.  Long story short, I traded in my title and a big check for a brand new Charger!  It may have seemed a little hasty as I really hadn't planned to buy that particular day, but I had been looking for several months by then.  It was a huge step for me because I paid the entire thing in cash, which gave me a little bit of a discount, and I think surprised the sales guy a little.  Either way, it became a happily ever after story, and I drove my new friend back to Salt Lake that night!

My test-driving buddy, and car guru Calvin!  He seems to like it.

But seriously.  It's been a fabulous car, and I'm so glad I picked this one!  I love my "aggressive looking" car, and I hope to keep it around for a long time.

Fest of Trees

I have a rule with myself that Christmas isn't really allowed to start until after Thanksgiving.  Sometimes I break this rule and put up my Christmas before, especially if I'm headed to Cedar for Thanksgiving weekend.  However, I'm pretty strict about this, meaning no holiday music, no lights, and definitely no Christmas movies until then!  I get the definite impression that this makes me seem like a total Christmas Scrooge for the month of Thanksgiving, and for that I guess I need to send my apologies!  Whatever.

Despite the lack of snow which actually put a damper on my Christmas mood, I actually was a bit overzealous with my Christmas spirit.  (Don't worry, the lack of snow made everything else pretty much awesome for me!)  Let's start with my Fest of Trees.  Not to be mistaken for the Primary Children's Festival of Trees event (which I missed this year), my own home played host to a fest of trees.  For some reason I got a wild hair, and decided I wanted a real tree this year.  Honestly, I couldn't tell you why.  Maybe it's because I didn't have something to do one weekend, and that seemed like a good way to occupy several hours.  Haha.

I don't have a truck, but my new car actually has the ability to lower the back seats, so I can stuff something quite large into the trunk.  Believe me, the guy at the tree stand definitely looked at me a little funny when he saw which car I was planning to put a live tree into!  I'm pretty proud of the fact that I got my lovely tree home, out of the trunk, carried into my house, and set up in a stand all by myself!

That's my trunk.  I don't think the picture really did it justice!  The tree trunk is sitting up between the two front seats.

Just waiting in the kitchen for me to figure out how to set up a tree stand!

I already set up my fake tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and it was all decorated in University of Utah style with red, black, and gold.  Also, because I participated in the Santa Run down in Provo, I had a Santa hat and beard that David Tennant was able proudly wear for the season!

University of Utah with a golden crown on top.  Go Utes!!

I'm pretty sure that Santa and the Doctor are the same person anyway.

As a random side note, the Provo Santa Run was on December 6th.  This was a fun little 5k where everyone received a Santa suit.  It was so much fun to run with hundreds of other Santas!  They were handing out milk and cookies at the water stations, which actually turned out to be a lousy plan.  I took an Oreo from a cute little boy handing them out, then proceeded to choke it down while still trying to run.  Haha!  Very fun, but not exactly a good enough reason to drive down to Provo...

Yes, I'm one of those lame-os that actually took a selfie during a run.  (Also, I hate the word selfie!)

At the end of the race.  It was a pretty nice little run, but a bit warmer than I was really expecting.

Anyway, back to Dec 8th.  Now that my real tree had made it home, it needed some stuff.  Thanks to my previous home in the Islands, and some Pinterest inspiration, I turned this into a Beach tree!  This little guy sat right on my landing, and was a lot of fun for the season.

Using items I literally had lying around the house, I created sea shell and sand ornaments.

At the top of my landing.  Fun for people coming in my front door.

Sea shells, sand, starfish, and blue colors.  Plus, this tree smelled amazing!

I'm not sure if this activity will have a repeat next year, mainly because this little tree was a bear to clean up after.  I'm pretty sure I'll be vacuuming needles up for weeks, not to mention the ones that get stuck in my socks.