Dream Christmas Movie Memorabilia!

A few weeks ago, Ryan over at Invaluable sent me a little email inviting me to join in to share my favorite movie memorabilia.  I took a quick look over at Invaluable.com and they are an auction website with many items spanning from movie memorabilia and props to fine art and even Asian antiquities. Classy stuff, my friends. I love movies but while this is very much probably the highlight being Star Wars items being requested the most, I decided to take a different angle. After all, we are in December and Christmas is right around the corner so how about talking about some Christmas movie memorabilia? I do love me some Christmas/holiday movies!

At first thought, it took me a little while to get together something because I LOVE animated Christmas movies so props are hard to think of for that, as is memorabilia.  So lets say, the movie is in real life and these were models of what created the item they had, then it’d be easier but this is a “dream” Christmas movie memorabilia so anything could work, right? If I had the money and the space, these items are what I’d want based on Christmas movies.  They might exist and I just didn’t know about them before…

Arthur Christmas — Reindeer Slippers with Glowing Eyes

I love cutesy things like this.  Arthur running around to deliver a kid their gift in his goofy slippers which causes a ton of crazy that goes down is awesome fun. Those slippers are legit adorable with the googly eyes that are lit up and the furry texture.  It feels cozy and cute.

Polar Express — Bell and Believe Golden Ticket

I love Polar Express.  The animation and the message is just brilliant.  There’s never enough Christmas spirit to spread around.  That ticket punched with the word “Believe” and the bell which only rings for those who believe is one of the most magical moment I’ve experienced in Christmas movies.

A Charlie Brown Christmas – Droopy Christmas Tree

If you venture on this site when I first started, I talk about Charlie Brown a lot.  I love it to bits.  My favorite part of A Charlie Brown Christmas is the sad-looking Christmas Tree.  Its symbolizes so much about Christmas spirit and the holiday being more than the appearance of everything.  While I might not want a real tree that looked like that, I would love to have an actual decoration of it.  It would be so adorable.

The Holiday – Magical Tent

Let’s take a break from animation for a second and hit a holiday movie.  One of my favorites is The Holiday.  I watch it ALL THE TIME. One of the best moments was when they open the door to look at their little magical tent.  I’m sure it can be recreated with some cloth and decorations with some effort and all that but how great would it be to have one of these? This tent is so beautiful and its like having a fort where you can dream and kind of escape reality a little.  But then, if I had one of these, I’d just sit in there and read all day long and then nap when my eyes get tired.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol – Concept Art

I’m going a little different with the last choice.  I’m kind of an artsy sort of person.  I can’t draw to save my life unless you want a lovely picture of stick people but Mickey’s Christmas Carol (and How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Garfield Christmas) hold a special place in my heart and its a must-see every single year for the Christmas holidays. All that to say, Disney concept art or production sketches or whatnot would be absolutely cool to have.  Like just recreating even the beginning credits scene on top, something simple like that would be awesome or like a memorable heartwarming family scene like the second one up there.  Imagine hanging that up on the wall, it would be so pretty! 🙂

What do you think about these Dream Christmas/Holiday movie memorabilia? What would be your choices?

My 5 Christmas Day Must-Watch! :)

Netflix has been rather slim pickings for a motivating holidays marathon.  I will probably get a few belated reviews up if I get to watch them today.

Christmas Day is a laid back stay at home in my PJs and hang out with my family day.  Cook a good meal, bake a dessert or two, turn on the fireplace and pop in our must-see movies!

AND, thats why I’m here! Most of those movies I’ve already reviewed in 2012 for my super motivated December month. Not so much these last two years.

Still, while I get my thoughts in order during my time off from work (FINALLY!) and get this blog organized and back on my game, I present to you my Christmas Day movie rundown 🙂

As I put this together, we’ve already started Elf.

1) How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

2) Mickey’s Christmas Carol

3) A Charlie Brown Christmas

4) Elf

5) The Holiday

Runner ups that I tend to watch every other year: Love Actually, Polar Express, A Garfield Christmas, While You Were Sleeping, Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street

I’m keeping short and sweet for this post! I’m going to work a little more on the blog and the next  year and try to get a few things up everyday. I have 5 more books to read and a ton of movies about to expire on Netflix so I’ll be rather occupied.  Along with family and friends and Boxing Day!

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! 🙂

Christmas Marathon: My Christmas Must-See Flicks!

Yesterday was pretty much a snow day.  Everything was called off and other than shoveling snow, doing chores and drafting blogs, its the best time to snuggle up with some hot tea/water and watch some Christmas classics.  I may not have gone through this whole list but it did spark the inspiration for a Christmas must-see list! Its pretty much movies I watch every year during Christmas 🙂 Last year, I reviewed them all so I’ll just link them all back to their respective reviews so you can just click through and read it if you’d like.

1) A GARFIELD CHRISTMAS

I love Garfield and I love Odie.  This little short animated flick is fun and all about family love during Christmas.  Its meaningful and totally great.  I tend to kick off my Christmas marathon with this one. If you’d like the review, you can check it out HERE!

2) DISNEY CLASSIC HOLIDAY STORIES/MICKEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

Classic Holiday Stories is a pretty cool one with 3 features: The Small One, Pluto’s Christmas Tree and Mickey’s Christmas Carol. If I have no time, usually I always watch Mickey’s Christmas Carol.  Its a great Disney version of A Christmas Carol all Disney-fied.  I love it! It has the whole Disney crew and just so much fun to watch 🙂

You can see my review HERE!

3) DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!

I’m a HUGE Dr. Seuss fan.  I’ve written a few posts related to it already, you could search it up if you’re interested.  So, it goes without saying that my go-to Christmas movie has to be How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  I don’t read it as much as say, Green Eggs and Ham or The Lorax but this animated flick is one of my faves.  It has some catchy songs and pretty fun to watch with the awesome narrator and all 🙂

Check out the full review HERE!

4) A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

Who doesn’t watch this for Christmas? Its a classic! Thats really all I have to say.  Every single time I watch this I want to sing O Christmas Tree.  And then I have a blast when Schroeder and Lucy talk about Beethoven 🙂

You can check out my review HERE!

5) MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1994)

I haven’t watched the original but I promise that I will this year so expect it probably some time soon 🙂 But this one seriously rocks. Why? Mara Wilson is adorable. She’s one of my most fave child actresses.  She doesn’t act anymore now that she’s older but still, she was fantastic.  Plus, Richard Attenborough is fantastic as Kriss Kringle. I totally buy that he is Santa Claus! Watching this one warms my heart 🙂

Check out my review HERE!

6) WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

While You Were Sleeping is one of my feel good Christmas movies.  Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman are amazing together.  The chemistry is fantastic and the whole family they used is great.  Warm moments, happy moments, mixed in with some funny ones as well. Love it SO MUCH!

You can check out my review HERE!

7) LOVE ACTUALLY

Love Actually was the first movie that had these multiple rom-com storyline and probably the only one that was actually great.  It had a really great cast and it was a nice balance between funny, cute, happy, weird (*ahem* Bill Nighy’s character) and just the whole deal.  Its just so great! Lots of wonderful moments and just pure awesomeness! 🙂

Check out last year’s review HERE!

8) ELF

Elf is a must-see mostly because its my boyfriend’s most favorite.  Why its so low on the list is because this is somewhat the order I watch my movies and we always watch Elf on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve depending on work and holidays that year and in between our family parties and all.  I’m not normally a Will Ferrell fan but I am one when I watch Elf and plus, there’s Zooey Deschanel and I have the biggest girl crush on her, especially now that I love her as Jess in New Girl 🙂

Check out my review HERE!

9) POLAR EXPRESS

Polar Express is a fave for both me and my boyfriend so we usually put either this (or Elf) on Christmas day/eve.  Similar to the deal with Elf.  Just depends how we feel.  Polar Express has a great story about believing, a fantastic job by Tom Hanks and has beautiful animation, packed with some fun and sweet songs.  Its one of the ultimate Christmas movies that I always find time to watch. 🙂

FINALLY…

I still have one more but I have opted to do a separate post for it which should be up later this week.  How about a few honorable mentions which rotate every other year: Alvin and the Chipmunks  (REVIEW), Serendipity(REVIEW), and Home Alone (REVIEW).  This year, I decided to put in Rise of the Guardians (REVIEW) into the mix.  Not sure if I’ll get to it but its a pretty festive one as well 🙂

What are your must-see flicks on Christmas? Did I cover some of them? Are there others you would add?

Christmas Marathon: Disney Classic Holiday Stories

This is a Disney compilation of 3 short Christmas movies: The Small One, Pluto’s Christmas Tree and Mickey’s Christmas Carol.  Its one of my absolute favorite in all my collection because one of my favorite Christmas animation from ever since I was a child is Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

First Feature: The Small One (1978)

Its about a little boy who is forced to give up his donkey who can no longer be supported by his family.  He ends up spending the day in town searching for a person to buy his donkey and will take care of it as well as he has in the past.

Its a nice, short and cute feature.  Its extremely heartwarming and part of me always gets addicted to the song.  My boyfriend has the same problem because he’ll spend the rest of the night (and the day after sometimes) singing, “Small one, small one, small one for sale…” Its very enjoyable and if you haven’t seen it, you definitely should.  Small One (the name of the donkey) does find the perfect home.

Second Feature: Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952)

This one features Mickey and Pluto who goes out to chop down a tree to bring home to turn into their Christmas tree.  They accidentally end up bringing up Chip ‘n Dale who start exploring their new environment and when Pluto finds out, he starts trying to catch them.

As usual with more Mickey short animations, we get a lot of fun and lighthearted moments.  Its perfect for the Christmas season and a few laughs of Pluto chasing down Chip ‘n Dale.

Third Feature: Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

This is adapted from Christmas Carol, the classic by Charles Dickens but with Mickey and other characters from assorted Disney animations.  We meet Ebenezer Scrooge who now runs a business alone since his partner, Bob Marley died a few years ago.  Scrooge is very careful and stingy with his money.  He treats everyone badly and always wants to use them to their max, especially with Bob Cratchett who is his employee.  On Christmas eve, he goes home and is surprised to be visited by Bob Marley, now a ghost carrying chains, who is there to warn him that he has sinned and will carry heavier chains than he is now unless he makes amends.  He tells him that 3 ghosts will visit him at night and then goes away.  We see Scrooge embark on his revelation as he meets with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present and Ghost of Christmas Future.

This is my most favorite feature of all.  I have no idea why I like it so much.  Maybe its because its with Disney characters so it adds a little funny and cute mood to it, less dramatic perhaps.  Maybe its the actual A Christmas Carol story that I truly enjoy.  It could even be the message that I enjoy a lot, how money isn’t all that important but rather Christmas is about the season to care about others like your family and your friends.  To remember that a simple gesture is better than none.  A lot of wonderful messages that sometimes a lot of people forget and need to be reminded.

So everyone, this always makes me happy to watch it and this morning, it was my version of morning cartoons.  Its a pretty awesome feeling.  Fun, lighthearted, heartwarming…all feelings that really positive.

Have you ever seen any of these features? Do you like them? Maybe you like the actual human versions of A Christmas Carol more?