Today, I saw A Very Merry Mix-Up. It was sweetly romantic, exhibiting the value of family, love, romance, memories, and traditions. It was nice to see the two main characters share those values and realize that they belong together. I also really enjoyed the family tradition game they played - Notes. There was one cup per person, and each person had to write something nice about each other person and put that NOTE in that person's cup. Then, the person whose cup it is, would read each NOTE and guess who wrote it to them. I think that could be very encouraging and memorable. The only thing is that family members would probably recognize each other's handwriting. Still, it would be a special "game" to play with loved ones. Overall, I personally wouldn't mind too much if I had one of those kind of "mix-up"s in my life.
20-Dec: Fir Crazy was another one of those sweetly cute movies of a career-minded childhood-avoiding person who rediscovers the more important things in life as reflected in Christmas. And, I've always liked Sarah Lancaster as an actress.
As for The Christmas Spirit, I was not so sure when I first learned about the cast; but, it turned out to be an enjoyable movie that reflected the general Christmas spirit.
Holiday Road Trip was a little slow, but the main characters grew on me; and I was glad to see them end up together at the end.
Christmas Belle reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. Some of the things that Belle did, I didn't really agree with; and found myself being much more sympathetic with Hunter. But, it was not a bad Christmas movie.
For Let It Snow, I'm sorry to say that the acting was not so great; and the movie was predictable. Yet, I didn't really dislike it. It was fine.
Holidaze was another one of those movies that didn't have a particularly new plot and was somewhat predictable. However, I actually liked Cameron Mathison's character in the movie and I'm glad it had a happy ending.
Christmas for a Dollar is the best Christmas movie I've watched this year. It was so touching to watch the love of this family who lost their mom but worked with each other make it through. The Christmas spirit is really embodied in this movie.
Looking at this list, I sure do watch quite a bit of Christmas movies, don't I? I think that it is because Christmas movies generally do try to reflect some of the Christmas spirit; so that in general, they are more family-oriented and will show good values in a positive light. And, I like romantic movies with happy endings - like modern day fairy tales.
2-Jan: Continuing to watch Christmas movies even after the New Year demonstrates the appeal of Christmas movies. I just finished watching Christmas in Conway. It was a tear-jerker of a movie, as expected since one of the main characters was facing death. The acting was convincing, and the story was touching, truly demonstrating loving and caring.
Angels Sing was a nice movie showing how a father overcomes his aversion to Christmas in order to help his son handle a loss he similar to what he had gone through. It was also a musician-studded show.
Guess Who's Coming to Christmas was a nice romantic movie that also shows how the main character rediscovers the more important things in life. I have found that movies by UP are truly uplifting family movies.
Living Proof is not a Christmas movie, but demonstrates the same spirit. I'm also a fan of Harry Connick Jr, whose good nature comes across. It was a really touching movie on life and death, where one can't help but root for hope. It's also a reminder of how important it is to find someone that I truly respect and support.
Silver Bells had a clear message on faith, and showed a change in the life of the father who changed his aggressively competitive ways to see the more important values in life.
8-Jan: It's more than a week into the New Year and I'm still watching Christmas movies.... I just watched "Catch a Christmas Star". It was sweetly romantic, and I liked the main characters and their relationship. Now I'm watching "Finding Christmas". It's similar to "The Holiday", in that two of the main characters swap homes for the holidays. I liked the characters in the movie and it was enjoyable. Only, there was just a comment in the movie along the lines of us all being connected through the stars which was questionable.
