Getting in the Christmas spirit

But you start to talk about the movies that your family watches every single Christmas

This year I’m getting in the Christmas mood way earlier than usual and I’m determined to fully appreciate it and be ready when the season hits. I’m going to walk you through everything you need to do to prepare for the holidays!!

💌 As always, if you have any recommendation please comment it! I always like to hear other people’s opinion and have a chance to discover something I never would have picked up on my own.

☃️ Books

I usually read 1-2 Christmas book(s) every year, so in general I haven’t read many. For this reason I’ll also add some that I want to read and some new releases!

🎄 Lovelight Farms – I read and really enjoyed! It’s about two best friends who have always liked each other and fake date in order to win a contest and save their Christmas farm.

What I want to read this year –

• Make My Wish Come True – “A sapphic Netflix-esque Christmas movie” style rom-com!

• The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year – “Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery”

• Most Wonderful – “A charming queer holiday romance about three adult siblings, each at a personal and romantic crossroads, who reunite at their larger-than-life mother’s Catskills manor for an unforgettable Christmas”

• One Big Happy Family – “the joyful and utterly irresistible story of a mother who couldn't love her kids more but hopes that, just this once, they please don't come home for Christmas”

• In A Holidaze – “One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones”

Holiday releases this year –

• Spectacular – if you have read Caraval, it’s a novella set in that world! I’m planning to read that series soon so this is exciting!

• The Christmas Tree Farm – if you have read and loved the Pumpkin Spice Café; I don’t think I’ll check out this series :)

• The Nightmare Before Kissmas – described as “Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas”. I’m a sucker for a RWRB story, but I can’t decide if it sounds cute or silly.

☃️ Movies

This is probably the best way to set the vibe: whether you play a movie in the background during a cozy day while you decorate/bake or reunite the whole family and watch it at night. There are countless holiday movies but I want to make a list of my favourites.

• Home Alone & Home Alone 2: these are such comfort movies of mine, they always make me wonder about the magic of Christmas 🫶

• While You Were Sleeping: I discovered this movie only a few years ago but it has quickly become a favourite of the season.

• Your Christmas or Mine (1&2): I watched each as soon as they came out and for some reason I really loved them! “It stars Asa Butterfield and Cora Kirk as a couple who both try to surprise the other by showing up at their family Christmas before snowfall traps them with each other’s family for the holiday.”

• Others I love: Miracle on the 34th Street, 12 dates of Christmas, The Holiday

• And some nice ones are Noelle, Godmothered, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Jingle All The Way

Holiday releases this year –

• Our Little Secret– “Sees Lindsay Lohan's character reuniting with her ex-boyfriend after they discover their current partners are related”

• Red One– “Set up as a rescue mission, Red One sees Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and more team up to save a kidnapped Santa Claus”

• A Nonsense Christmas– “The holiday special will showcase pop icon Carpenter performing songs from her holiday EP fruitcake and other chart-topping holiday covers, and feature guest performing artists, comedic cameos, and unexpected duets.”

☃️ Music

Again, there is so much content here. I’m just going to go through my go-to to set the perfect vibe.

Starting off with fruitcake. I love that, even if they are holiday themed songs, they still sound more like pop songs rather than Christmas music, so I have been able to slowly get in the spirit without fully committing to the OG Xmas songs.

My favourite kind of Christmas music is the one that sounds old and classic. This is probably the best compilation of those songs.

And now a huge album dump of the essentials: (p.s. I find it incredibly satisfying that all the album previews are red 🎅😆)

☃️ Little things in the daily

• Switch to seasonal beverages– say bye to the Pumpkin Spice Latte (sad) and welcome the Toffee Nut, hot chocolate and cinnamon!! It sounds like a small change but it really helps setting the mood– they’ve also helped me get warmer because it’s so cold outside!!

• Decorate the house! I usually put up the Christmas tree in the weekend that marks the end of November and the beginning of December, but before that I already add some decors to the house: little gnomes and Santas and angels hanging from the shelves 🎅

• Look around for gift ideas. To avoid getting all the gifts on Christmas Eve and having to pick random things and waiting so long in endless lines, you should already eye some possibilities now! I am known among my family to be the one who gets all the gifts in October, which I find very funny but also true. I like being ahead of schedule so that, if anything goes wrong and I have to change gift, I still have a bunch of time to think about something else that’s still meaningful. I also love dedicating time to wrapping gifts and creating original cards.

• Put Christmas ambience in the background. I love putting a fireplace or cozy setup on the TV because it keeps me productive while making me enjoy my time.

• Time to put on all your favourite sweaters!!! As much as I am a summer lover, there’s no better feeling than putting away the tops and storing all the colourful sweaters back in the wardrobe and getting to wear them!

That is it for today! I hope this has given you some inspiration to say bye to autumn and start fully appreciating the holiday season. As always, I love chatting in the comments about anything you feel like sharing :) bye folklorians ⭐️☕️🌫️

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