Lifestyle + Personal

What to Read, Watch and Listen to this Christmas Season

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With only two weeks left until Christmas Day, you can bet I am squeezing as much Christmas cheer into my life as possible before I have to tuck it all away for another year.  I’m already depressed thinking about it. Wahhh, why does Christmas only come once a year?

If you’re looking for some Christmas themed books, movies or music to enjoy these next two weeks and Christmas season, I’ve rounded up my favorites in each category to share. You can bet that my home is going to be non-stop Christmas from here on out until the 25th!

Watch:

Elf–My favorite holiday movie of all time! I feel like Elf is my generation’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” I adore Will Ferrell as Buddy, but I also LOVE Zooey Deschanel in this film. I always forget she’s in this movie because she has short blonde hair, but she’s just so good. Also, I’m quite prone to saying: “Bye Dustin, hope you find your dad!” every time he leaves for work in the morning. And the message about Christmas Music? The best message of them all!

A Charlie Brown Christmas–I grew up listening to the song “Christmas Time is Here” from this sweet little movie and every time I hear it I get so nostalgic and wistful. This short film is such a classic and is what I watch every December 1st to welcome Christmas time. I love the ultimate message and reminder to put CHRIST in Christmas.

Rise of the Guardians–Okay, so this isn’t exactly a Christmas movie, but I think it should count anyway. This was released a few years ago and I think it’s so underrated: this movie is SO good. It follows Jack Frost (voiced by Chris Pine) who joins up with North (Santa, voiced by Alec Baldwin), Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and the Easter Bunny (voiced by Hugh Jackman) to take down the Boogy Man before all the children stop believing in the magic of the holidays. This movie is so creative, full of wonder, plenty of laughs and leaves you feeling SO warm and fuzzy afterward. I can’t recommend this movie enough.

Read:

The Small One – Growing up, this was the book we read every Christmas morning before we went to open presents. It tells the story about a boy and his old, small donkey, who can no longer do his job to carry wood. The boy is told to sell his donkey and almost resorts to selling him to the butcher when no one else will buy him. When all hope is lost, a man asks if the donkey is strong enough to carry his pregnant wife to Bethlehem and ends up giving Small One a new job and home. I bawl my eyes out every time I read it.

The Crippled Lamb – This story is by one of my favorite children authors, Max Lucado and it’s also a tearjerker. It’s about a small crippled lamb who feels sad that he can’t run and jump and play like the other lambs can. It tells the story of how this special little lamb has a different and important role in his life, to welcome the new baby Jesus. As someone who has struggled with a crippled leg for the last 9 years of her life, this story hits home in so many ways, but ultimately as a powerful reminder that there is a reason for my life, even if it is different than what I thought it would be.

Harry Potter – I don’t know why, but Harry Potter feels so much more of a Christmas time story than Halloween for me. Maybe it’s just the magic of it all, or the beautifully described Christmas scenes in each book, but Dustin and I have been reading a chapter every night and it’s definitely adding some Christmas magic into our home.

Listen:

(click on the titles to listen to the songs!)

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Micheal Buble comes out of his cave around this time of year and I’m not complaining one bit! I love his whole Christmas album, but his version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas takes the cake for me. Buble just croons the heck out of that song.

Mary Did You Know– Pentatonix is SLAYING the Christmas scene this year! I’ve  been following them since they appeared on The Sing-Off and it’s been so awesome to watch them bring Accapella mainstream. This is such a beautiful and contemporary version of Mary Did You Know? and gives me chills every time I listen to it.

Christmas Collage– This was my favorite Christmas song growing up, because I loved that it combined so many Christmas songs seamlessly into one beautiful medley. Definitely

Oh, Holy Night–There are so many versions of this song that I love, but I think the Josh Groban one is my favorite. This is probably my favorite Christmas song of all time; I am constantly belting it around the house (usually very off-key) while doing my chores. I love the message of this song and how powerful the big notes are. I get goosebumps every time!

Christmas Time is Here– Like I mentioned above, I listened to this song (the Charlie Brown Version) a lot growing up and every time I hear it, I get that nostalgic feeling for my home in New England, snow falling outside and the wood stove burning happily by our Christmas tree. All the feels. ALL THE FEELS.

I’m always looking for new movies, music and books to add into my Christmas rotation, so please leave your favorites in the comments below! HAPPY CHRISTMAS!