December Daily 4 ~ Gifts, Grinch and Rudolph

Ellie and I spend a quiet start of the evening together. Each of us working on presents that we are making while we were listening to my holiday music. Remmie took a while to settle into that groove as he was so excited that the red rug was back on the floor (he loves that rug) and Ellie was working on the floor. It took him a while to realize that it did not mean that it was time to sit on her lap. He is a pretty big dog, so when he sits on your lap, he demands all of your attention and takes up all of the space. Eventually he found that he could hang out with us with out having to be a direct part of what she was doing. I've got several projects that I am working on, so I have to make sure to find the time to do art every day. I am so thankful that we can have that creative time together.

After Kohlton got off of work he came over and we watched a few holiday shows including, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

Much to my amazement, I learned that Kohlton had not seen that entire show, so we were happy to share it with him. Those shows are such a part of my holiday experience from when I was a kid. I've wanted to see "The Little Drummer Boy" for a long time and cannot find it online anywhere, so I ordered it. We have a month of free shipping through Amazon Prime, so it has been fun to be able to order what we want without having that extra cost attached.

I asked the kids what their favorite holiday movies are. They both picked, "Elf" which was not surprise to me. They are planning on doing a holiday movie night with Brandon some time soon. They are going to watch "Elf" and have spaghetti with maple syrup and pop tarts, just like in the movie. They will watch other movies, too.

They also love, "The Christmas Story," just like my mom.

My mother loves, "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street." I tried watching them with my kids when they were younger, but they were not interested. I think it is interesting how tastes in movies changes over the generations.

I also want to make sure I see "A Christmas Carol" sometime before Christmas. I am not sure which version is best. When Eleanor was alive we would go together as a family, all six of us, to see the play down at the Denver Center for Performing Arts.

Ellie and I will also have to watch some of the sappy, predictable holiday romance movies. I love "The Holiday" and another one about a woman who visits the rundown mountain resort that she visited when she was a child. She and the caretaker (whose family owns and lives at the resort)strike up an unlikely, but predictable, romance. I cannot figure out the name of it. Ellie and I both also love "Love Actually," though some parts of the movie make me sad.

What holiday movies do you love?

(I've embedded a holiday music playlist after the Grinch recordings for you to enjoy.)

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