It’s Christmas time again!
Christmas time is here again. The snickerdoodles are in the oven, and as I sit here on my couch watching Stranger Things, for like the 4th time (okay it’s not like the 4th time, it actually is the 4th time. Don’t judge), I was thinking about what I normally do on Christmas Eve. Thinking back, most years I spend Christmas Eve either wrapping presents or trying to finish a last minute gift. Most of the time, it also involves watching a movie or a show.
I’ve always been a little bit ahead of my time. I like to think of myself as a groundbreaker… In this case, I was binge watching before binge watching was a thing. I like making handmade gifts, but usually it means that I work late into the night for the few days leading up to Christmas in order to finish it on time. To keep myself awake, I would put in a movie, but my VHS movie collection wasn’t huge. I only had a handful or two of movies, so there wasn’t a lot to choose from when selecting the movie to watch while working on the sweater, or stocking, or whatever I was making. I would get tired of most of the movies, so I would end up picking a movie that I didn’t mind watching over and over. Then I would binge watch the movie while working furiously on the gift.
One year, I was making my sister-in-law a sweater, and I think I must have watched Jurassic Park I and II like 3 or 4 times each. See? Ahead of my time. I know! Cool, right?
So anyway, this year, I’m borderline obsessed with Stranger Things. My one complaint is that there aren’t more episodes for each season. It’s just not right!
Anyway… I was thinking, and it seems like certain shows and movies have become Christmas traditions around my house. So here’s my list of movies I usually watch around Christmas time.
- Jurassic Park
- Jurassic Park 2 (but not Jurassic Park 3 because it kind of sucked)
- A Christmas Story
- National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (though the past few years, I’ve been watching this one earlier in the year and not around Christmas)
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (arguably the best musical ever!!!)
- White Christmas (2nd best, but Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is still better)
- Harry Potter (back when the new movies were being released around the holidays)
- Lord of the Rings (also when the new movies were being released)
- James Bond- one of the channels had James Bond marathons several years in a row (much to the dismay of my sister-in-law)
- The Grinch- obviously (the cartoon version and the one with Jim Carey)
- This year’s addition: Stranger Things
My Christmas movie selection isn’t always Christmas related, as you can tell.
On a different note, Stranger Things has made me realize that my kitchen is totally in 
style now.
I was going to get rid of the orange Formica countertops, but they are totally in again. (That’s what I’m telling myself. Leave me my dreams). I’m pretty sure I saw orange counters in Stranger Things. So they have to be in style. I will say though, that there are certain styles from the eighties that I wouldn’t want to bring back. Like wallpaper. I vividly remember the terrible wallpaper we had in our house when I was growing up. My favorite (that should be read in a super sarcastic tone) was the bright orange, green and yellow dinner-plate-size flowers in my bathroom. They coordinated with the avocado green toilet, sink and bathtub. Some styles just shouldn’t come back…
This year, I am starting a new tradition- working on my sailboat. Hopefully it won’t be an ongoing tradition. Maybe by next Christmas it will already be fixed up enough that I can just spend time on it without having to fix anything major.
The galley (boat kitchen) of the Sea Bean. Notice the Christmas Starbucks cups…
So anyway… I wish you all a very Merry Christmas if you celebrate Christmas. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, I wish you peace and good things.
#christmastraditions #christmasonaboat #whydoesntstrangerthingshavemoreepisodes
invisiblecompass 