7 Ways to slow down this Christmas season

December 10, 2025 / Lisa R. Howeler / 11 Comments

Do you ever find that the time around Christmas is super rushed and busy?

Maybe you or your children have a lot of activities around this time of year. Maybe you have a lot of family gatherings to attend.

Maybe you find it hard to find time to just slow down and enjoy all that this season is about.

I’m lucky, in some ways, that we don’t have as many obligations in my family. We have a very small family, so we only have one Christmas gathering to attend. My children are homeschooled, so there aren’t Christmas programs for them to perform in.

It might be easier for me to find the time to slow down and focus on the season than others, but even without obligations, life seems to get busy. The dishwasher smells funny, the cat is throwing up, the dog wants to go out (again), the youngest has a cold, the husband injured his foot, the cleaner that was supposed to start at the parents never showed up. All of this kept popping up even when I was trying to write this blog post!

There are always interruptions in life, especially at the holidays, and sometimes we feel like we have to keep jumping up and plugging our fingers in the holes popping up in the dam of life.

Really, though, we need the slowed down moments in our life to regain our strength for the busier times. During the Christmas season, we need to slow down to remember what Christmas is truly about — the birth of our Savior.

The moments where we slow down isn’t wasted time. It’s the most important time because it’s when we are really living. The slower moments are when we are really taking it all in; making memories our children and we will always remember.

So, without further ado, here are seven ways to slow down this Christmas/holiday season.

It goes without saying, by the way, that shutting off social media is the first way to regain your peace and find some slower, more relaxed moments. Social media will be there after your break. Don’t be afraid to shut it off. You won’t miss very much, if anything at all.

Baking cookies or other Christmas goodies with your kids or spouse or a friend or even by yourself.

Maybe you’re like me and you don’t bake often or baking stresses you out because you’re a perfectionist. This idea might not appeal to you but remember, you don’t have to get fancy when you bake. You also don’t have to bake from scratch. Most importantly, whatever you bake doesn’t have to be perfect.

Pick up a boxed mix and have some fun.

Don’t know how to decorate cookies in a fancy way? Who cares! Just have fun figuring it all out and if your cookies are a mess that’s fine because they’ll take the same as they would if they were perfect.

I have baked a couple times with my daughter lately and it’s been fun as long as I can let go of needing things to be perfect. There’s something about the methodical movements of adding the ingredients, stirring the batter, and placing it on the tray that relaxes me. I don’t have to think of anything other than adding, mixing, and placing. It’s on those days when I can simply take my time that I understand why bakers love to bake.

If you’re going to choose cookies to bake, YouTube is a great source for ideas and tips on how to make the cookies and decorate them.

Here are three that I found:

Then, when the cookies are done and decorated, eat a few, slowly, really tasting them and washing them down with your favorite (non-alcoholic. Ha!) beverage.

2. Make or buy Christmas cards you can write notes in and send them to a few special friends or family members.

While the cookies are baking, or on a day where you aren’t baking, it can be both fun and relaxing to pull out some Christmas cards and write notes inside addressed to friends or family you haven’t talked to in a while, or even ones you just spoke to.

Write a small, personal note inside and let them know they’ve been on your mind.

Here is where I hit a snag when I try to do this — if I make the cards, I want them to be perfect. This was especially true this year when I prepared one for a cousin who is a talented advertising designer.

I had to let that go, though, and simply enjoy the process of making the cards and writing the notes. Hey, maybe they’ll think my 11-year-old made the card and won’t judge. Ha! Hopefully they wouldn’t judge anyhow.

Be sure to play some Christmas music, light a scented candle, and maybe sip some eggnog or cocoa, while you create to get yourself in the Christmas spirit.

I’m not going to link any YouTube videos here, lest you compare yourself to some of the artists who create amazing cards. I’ll let you search them up yourselves.

3. Read a Christmas-themed novel or short story.

Find a classic Christmas novel or short story with a sweet, uplifting plot, then find a chair to sit in, lay a blanket across your lap, and settle down for a good read. Make it a real book, if you can.

There is something so special and grounding about holding an actual book in your hands, feeling the weight of it, the tangible texture of the pages against your fingers as you turn them, the smell of the ink.

If you can, light a candle or a fire in the fireplace/woodstove when you read, but be careful not to fall asleep.

4. Hold a family movie night.

Find a movie all of your family (or friends) will enjoy and make it an occasion. Set up the living room with cozy blankets, maybe even a blanket tent, some favorite snacks, cozy pajamas, stuffed animals and whatever else will make the movie night both fun and cozy.

Make it a movie that will make everyone laugh and feel excited about watching together.

Turn off the lights to make it feel like you are out at the theater, but without the crowds and high prices.

5. Decorate your house for the holidays.

You don’t have to go all out, but at least do a little decorating, even if it is a display in your living room. Set up some battery run candles or some garland or anything that will bring extra cheer to you while you relax, read, bake, or write in your journal.

As you decorate listen to an entire album of either Christmas music or your favorite musician/singer/band. Instead of playing the album on your phone, pull out a CD or record. You can find record and CD players online for very reasonable prices and listening to music the “old fashioned” way will be another way to immerse yourself in a less digitally connected time.

6. Journal each day of December. Write down at least three things that you are grateful for (and maybe keep that going for the rest of the year).

The “journal” can simply be a notebook from a dollar store. Something where you can write down your thoughts about what you are grateful for and don’t care if it is neat or not. Draw pictures in it or paste them in too. Actually get photographs printed out and add them to the journal even! Won’t that be a blast to the past for us older folk who used to paste photos or mementos in our journals instead of leaving the photographs in our phones?

Here is a YouTuber I found who designs and keeps journals:

7. Use an Advent Calendar.

An advent calendar is some way to countdown to Christmas. It is either a picture or object featuring windows where one window or door is opened each day leading up to Christmas. The phrase advent calendar comes from the German word Adventskalender.

Many Christians use the Advent calendar to countdown to Christmas as Jesus’ birthday.

An Advent calendar can slow you down because it leads you to take time out of your day to reflect on the meaning for the season. For our family the reason for the season is Jesus, while for others it might be family time or a time to reflect on all the good they’ve experience in the past year, or maybe work through all the bad. Using an advent calendar can be a way to bring the family together as well. It carves a small amount of time out for the family to sit down together and read the reading for the day together and talk about what it means to them.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of slowness and purposefulness.

This season is when we pause to remember the good of our lives and experience family togetherness, good will to men, and cheer brought to us by spending time with those we love.

But it is also the time we honor the birth of our savior, the greatest gift of all. Jesus doesn’t ask us or want us to rush through this season so there’s no reason we should. I hope you can find your own pockets of stillness, peace, and calm this Christmas season.

This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature hosted by me and Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. If you have a blog post that you would like to share as part of this annual link-up, please find out more here.

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Five Quirky Christmas Movies You Should Watch This Year

December 3, 2025 / Lisa R. Howeler / 16 Comments

A couple years ago, I decided to look for Christmas movies to watch that are not as well known or popular or maybe not exactly “Christmas movies” but are considered Christmas movies by those who have viewed them.

Alas, Die Hard is not on this list. Die Hard 2 isn’t either.

These are older, more classic films — though some might say Die Hard is old now and a classic.

Still…no Die Hard here.

Beyond Tomorrow/Beyond Christmas

Beyond Tomorrow, also called Beyond Christmas in later years after it was colorized, was released in 1940. It is quirky, but also very sweet.

The movie starts with the story of three old men (Michael O’Brien, George Melton, and Allan Chadwick) who served together in the army and are living in the same house and looking back on their lives with some sadness and regret. They want to help others to make up for some of their regrets and we learn that they have tossed wallets with money in them out into the street for Christmas. They want to see if anyone will be honest and return the money. Two people do. Schoolteacher Jean Lawrence (Jean Parker) and cowboy James Houston (Richard Carlson).

The three men begin to conspire how to bring the young man and woman together as a couple but in the middle of their matchmaking, they tragically die in a plane crash.

Stay with me here — the men come back as ghosts and work from the afterworld to keep the couple together.

Read my review: https://lisahoweler.com/2023/11/30/comfy-cozy-christmas-movie-review-beyond-tomorrow/

Where you can find it: Tubi, Amazon Prime and Hoopla.

We’re No Angels

We’re No Angels is certainly an out-of-the-box Christmas movie and a lot of fun. The subject matter and some of the lines were actually jaw-dropping to me and weren’t something I would have expected in a movie made in 1955.

The movie stars Humphrey Bogart (Joseph), Peter Ustinov (Jules), and Alto Ray (Albert).

The men are escaped convicts on an island called Devil’s Island off the coast of France. There are other convicts on the island in prison uniforms but they are on probation or parole, working at local businesses. The fact there are so many convicts wearing the same uniforms makes it easy for the men to blend in.

They make a plan to find a business they can rob and get money from so they can leave the island on a boat. A chance meeting with a doctor on a ship who needs to deliver a message leads them to a clothing store where they meet Felix Ducotel and his family. Felix is managing a store and they offer to repair his roof as a way to get their foot in the door, so to speak, so they can rob him later that night. He accepts and from the roof the three men begin to learn about Felix’s family – including his wife, Amelie and daughter, Isabelle.

Soon they are wrapped up in the family’s drama. They learn the business, owned by Felix’s cousin, is failing. Isabelle is in love with a man named Paul. Her mother wants to know why she isn’t married and giving them grandchildren already (umm…because she’s only 18. Hello??!) and the couple is stressed because the business is failing.

I will not spoil the movie but I will say that the men end up deciding to cook Christmas dinner for the family and steal most of what they need to do so. They keep offering to help the family, partially because they would like some of that dinner too, and partially to build trust so they can . . . um…kill and rob them. Ahem.

My review: https://lisahoweler.com/2023/12/14/comfy-cozy-christmas-were-no-angels/

Where you can find it: YouTube, AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango

Holiday Affair

This movie stars Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum, and Wendell Corey.

Leigh plays Connie Ennis, a widower, whose husband died in World War II. She has a 6-year-old son, Timmy played by Gordon Gerbert , (ironically I worked with a man named Tim Ennis and my husband still works with him). She is dating a man named Carl (Wendell Corey) who is predictable and safe. You know, the ole’ boring boyfriend versus the dashing and bold potential boyfriend trope.

Mitchum plays Steve Mason, whom Connie meets at a department store when she’s there as a comparison shopper for another store. Steve pegs her in her role right away but doesn’t turn her in because she tells him she’s a single mom and her son’s only support.

That move gets him fired and one would think that means he is out of Connie’s life. On the contrary, they continue to have interactions when Connie goes to apologize to him and then he ends up helping her out on her next shopping trip.

That encounter leads to Steve meeting Timmy, who is enamored with Steve – much more so than Carl, who he knows wants to marry his mother.

Timmy acts out with Carl and is sent to his room and this leads to a heart-to-heart with Steve who learns Timmy wants a train for Christmas.

Steve makes this happen and yet another interaction occurs between him and Connie.

There is a lot of back and forth in this film and more than one interaction between Connie and Steve when she walks away from him angry and he just watches her walk away with a smug grin.

This is a movie with a definite love triangle, of course, and you’ll have to watch to see how all that works out. Some of the movie is predictable but some of it isn’t. There are plenty of surprises to make this movie a unique and non-traditional Christmas watch.

You can read my review here: https://lisahoweler.com/2023/12/07/comfy-cozy-christmas-movie-impressions-holiday-affair/

Where you can find it: Amazon, YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango

Bells of St. Mary

I couldn’t believe it took me so long to watch this movie.

I ended up loving it when I did last year. The chemistry between the main stars, Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, was outstanding. It was also nice to see Ingrid in a role with some humor because I’ve only ever seen her in more serious roles. And, of course, I love that Bing sang in this movie, even though it wasn’t a strict musical.

Bing Crosby arrives as the new priest at the St. Mary’s parish and is immediately told of how the former priest aged quickly because he had to help oversee a nun-run, school that is run-down and in the inner city.

The former priest also had to deal with Sister Superior Mary Benedict (Bergman), a woman with a strong personality who runs the school.

“I can see you don’t know what it means to be up to your neck in nuns,” the rectory housekeeper says.

Father O’Malley admits he doesn’t and the woman advises him to “sleep well tonight” as if implying it will be his last good night of sleep for a while.

Father O’Malley and Sister Benedict butt heads more than once but in passive-aggressive ways. One way they butt heads is in how to educate the children at the school. O’Malley is much softer in his approach while Sister Mary prefers levying harsher punishments.

There isn’t a ton of “Christmas” in this movie other than in the middle of the movie, there is an adorable rehearsal of the Christmas/nativity story with the cutest little kids – probably 5 to 7. Still, many consider this a Christmas movie.

“The Bells of St. Mary’s has come to be associated with the Christmas season,” a Wikipedia article states. “Probably because of the inclusion of a scene involving a Christmas pageant at the school, a major plot point involving an unlikely (yet prayed for) gift, and the film’s having been released in December 1945. In the 1946 film, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which Henry Travers, a co-star of The Bells of St. Mary’s, plays the guardian angel Clarence Odbody, the title of The Bells of St. Mary’s appears on the marquee of a movie theater in Bedford Falls, New York. In The Godfather (1972), Michael and Kay see The Bells of St. Mary’s at Radio City Music Hall.”

My review: https://lisahoweler.com/2023/12/12/comfy-cozy-christmas-the-bells-of-st-mary/

Where You Can Find It: Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, Roku Channel, etc.

A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong

Shortly after we moved to our current house, my son and I were looking for a show to watch late at night and found a show called The Goes Wrong Show on BritBox. We clicked on it and were, quite frankly, bewildered by it.

It was a group of about seven people acting out a play and completely messing up lines, tripping off props, and being all-out insanely weird.

We weren’t sure if these people were really messing up their plays or if they were pretending to mess up a play, or . . .what was going on.

We watched the first episode and laughed so hard that our sides hurt. Obviously, we eventually caught on that the whole show was meant to be a joke and that the actors were real actors playing fake actors on a show about actors.

Later we watched the episodes with The Husband and he laughed so hard I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel.

We watched the whole season and I have to say the Christmas episode was my favorite that first season. Flash forward to a few years ago and we discovered this group — which we had since found out was called Mischief Theatre — had been featured in a special called A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong on the BBC.

With A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong we are getting more than just funny but also pure ridiculousness.

For a little background on the actor troupe who takes part in this Christmas special, according to Wikipedia, “Mischief Theatre is a British theatre company founded in 2008 by a group of students from The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in West London, and directed by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. The group originally began by doing improvised comedy shows, but by 2012 they expanded into comedic theatrical performances that include choreographed routines, jokes, and stunts.

The company is best known for its performances as the fictional theatre company, The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, who attempt several amateur performances that comedically go wrong.”

In this particular special, the comedy group has taken over the BBC’s production of A Christmas Carol by kidnapping and dragging out the main stars, including Derek Jacobi, a famous British actor. Actress Diana Rigg plays the narrator part of the time, but literally has to “phone it in” because she is stuck in traffic.

Things, of course, go completely haywire and become even crazier when one of the actors believes he should be the lead actor and tries to knock out the director (Chris) to take over the lead as Scrooge. While trying to take out Chris, though, he injures other cast members or ends up destroying various sets.

My review: https://lisahoweler.com/2022/11/17/tis-the-season-cinema-a-christmas-carol-goes-wrong/

Where you can find it: Amazon, Tubi, YouTube, The CW, Pluto, Plex

Have you seen any of these movies?

What movies will you be watching this holiday season?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Sunday Chat: A nice, calm Christmas, getting ready for the first book of 2025, and join us for a cozy crafternoon

December 29, 2024December 29, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 24 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, what the rest of the family and I have been reading, watching, listening to, and what I’ve been writing.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

“Let’s just use paper plates for Christmas dinner,” I told my mom.

We’ve had a lot going on and some members of the family haven’t been feeling well from couple different health issues.

Plus it was only the six of us so there was no need for anything fancy.

I heard a small “uh-huh..” on the other end of the phone and figured she was agreeing with me. The next day, though, The Husband, kids and I walked into a kitchen that had been set with a Christmas tablecloth and very fancy plates and goblets.

“These were my Mama’s,” Mom said of the plates. “And we thought we better get them out now because we might never have a chance to use them again.”

I figured that might be their dark humor since they are in their 80s and often say odd things like this to us.

Mom said she actually meant because we might not want to take the time to drag them out again. I added that we might not want to take the chance of them getting broken since I am quite a klutz.

The plates, by the way, were made in Baveria and were a gift of some kind to my grandfather when he used to work for Pepsi Co. That was probably 50 years ago.

The crystal glasses were gifts to my parents on their wedding day. They’ve been married 60 years.

There were also a set of glass water glasses that belonged to my paternal grandmother.

Somehow, we made it through dinner without breaking anything. My husband also made it through washing the plates without breaking anything.

After dinner we had a quick gift opening session that was quite quick this year since we were all broke. *snort* It was a nice time, though, and it was preceded by the reading from the Bible of the Christmas story, which we do every year.

Our family had a lot to celebrate this year.

My sister-in-law, who had been in the hospital for an entire month for heart issues, came home on Christmas Eve. She was/is still dealing with a Norovirus she caught while there and will have lot of new routines she’ll need to do for her condition, but she is home.

The Husband has been dealing with a health issue which could have been so much worse but has been caught and is being treated now and we are very, very thankful for that.

Money is tight right now, but we were all together and found a lot of time to watch movies and simply have fun.

It was a cold week and that was nice in some ways because it meant we had the white Christmas Little Miss had wanted.

We have electric heat upstairs and downstairs we have heating oil and a wood stove.

Thursday we didn’t light the fire because we simply didn’t get to it, and it was a reminder how well it helps to heat the rest of the house when we have it lit because I had to put four blankets on me to get warm that night. I had also taken a shower right before bed and my hair was wet so that, and the fact I’d forgotten to turn on the electric heat upstairs didn’t help at all. The fire was definitely lit Friday, but we didn’t have to light it last night because we are having a small warm up this weekend with temps in the 40s and 50s.

This weekend we have been relaxing and enjoying our time together since The Husband is off work until the week after next and The Boy doesn’t have to return to tech school until Thursday.

We hope to see the Christmas lights at a local golf course Monday if it doesn’t get rained out.

I will finish Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon’s today or tomorrow and that will be my final book of the year. My first book of 2025 will be Christy by Catherine Marshall, which I have already started and am really enjoying.

It is a book based very loosely on the life of Marshall’s mother and takes place in the early 1900s.

This past week I finished Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson – a novella part of the Walt Longmire series.

I kept trying to read Shepherd’s Abiding to keep with the Christmas spirt, but I kept going back to Tooth and Claw to see if Walt and Henry got away from the psycho polar bear.

Little Miss is very close to the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The Husband is reading World Traveler by Anthony Bourdain which is also on my TBR.

I watched a lot of Christmas movies or Christmas-related shows last week including

The Christmas episode of The Dick VanDyke Show

Christmas in the Smokies

A ton of Mary Berry episodes

The Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small

Jingle All the Way

The Last Holiday

Then I also watched the North and South mini-series. Good grief..that was depressing in many ways. Then I watched another depressing film called Me Before You.

The Husband and I also watched Hombre – again depressing, but Paul Newman was in it so that was good.

I watched a lot of Murder She Wrote one day as well.

I will hopefully watch some more uplifting movies and shows this week.

I’m editing Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree and brainstorming ideas for the fourth Gladwynn Grant book. You can pre-order Gladwynn Shakes the Family Tree (a cozy mystery) here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DR6BG3ZR?

Last week on the blog I shared:

I also wanted to offer a quick thank you to everyone who took part in our Comfy, Cozy Christmas link up. That was so much fun. You can still add posts or just read the ones that are already there at this link: https://lisahoweler.com/comfy-cozy-christmas-2024/

A quick reminder for January plans for this blog and Erin with Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

Erin and I are planning some Cozy Crafternoons on Zoom in January and February to try to beat those winter blahs that happen after Christmas. The plans for now are two a month.

We will just all meet up on the date and time, and individually work on whatever we want – embroidery, coloring, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, etc, while chatting.

Erin says she will be embroidering during the session. I might be writing, drawing, or editing photos.

If you are interested in learning more send an email either to me at lisahoweler@gmail.com or to Erin at crackercrumblife@gmail.com. That way we will have your email for the zoom link! Our first scheduled crafternoon is January 11th at 1 pm EST.

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Update

December 9, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 2 Comments

Oops! There has been a minor snafu for our Comfy, Christmas Link-Up! Our link-up closed earlier than we wanted, so we’ve had to open a second one.

All this means is that if you want to link a Christmas/holiday themed post you won’t be able to add one in the first link-up, but you can in the second/new one. Those posts that were shared in the first link-up are still available to read and I hope you will visit them here:

You can access the new linkup here:

But you can also find it under the menu item Comfy, Cozy Christmas at the top of the page. We’ve had bloggers participating this year and sharing their holiday-themed posts with us and we love it! Let’s keep the comfy spirit flowing right now. We all need it!

Saturday Evening Chat: Baking cookies, relaxing by the fire, and getting ready for Christmas

December 23, 2023 / Lisa R. Howeler / 18 Comments

I am so glad you came for a visit. Come sit. Don’t mind the cat sitting on the top of my bookcase. She’s weird.

Here we are, two days before Christmas.

Would you like a cup of cocoa, tea, or coffee? How about some homemade chocolate chip cookies?

My parents, daughter, and son made them the other day.

Last we spoke I was dealing with Covid but then I suddenly wasn’t.

It was a short bout, thank God (literally). I couldn’t help worrying that it would be worse, though, since I’d had such a bad case in 2021.

None of us had very serious lingering issues from it, just a bit of congestion for a few days afterward. It was honestly such a quick illness it felt more like allergies. If it hadn’t been for the insane burning in my nose and eyes and the fever darted up so high and then down again, I would have suspected it was just allergies.

The rest of the week was spent doing schoolwork, baking cookies with my parents, watching Christmas movies, and procrastinating on housework.

The cookie baking was funny because there was a lot of debate among my parents and Little Miss on how to make the cookies.

“That’s too much sugar.”

“That’s what the recipe calls for.”

“But the flour into the egg mixture not the egg mixture into the flour.”

“Is that too much butter?”

“No, just use the spoon and put the dollops on. Don’t roll them into balls.”

In the end, they came out fine but were very small and very, very sweet. They were so sweet, I made myself sick after only three.

Today I need to finish some dishes and vacuum the floors in my living room, kitchen (don’t ask why it has carpet in there), and Little Miss’s room. Yes, I am procrastinating again, why do you ask?

Tomorrow we are going to visit my parents for Christmas Eve. We plan to have pizza and wings and watch a couple of movies (White Christmas and Elf).

We will be back there again on Monday for Christmas Day.

I plan to take a break from things like Instagram and Facebook this upcoming week and maybe even longer. It’s very much grating on my nerves. Threads, for example, is horribly annoying even though I deleted the app and do my best to ignore it. I really want Instagram to stop putting it in my feed to try to capture me with the drama everyone vomits on there.

I do very well ignoring it but once in a while a sentence catches my attention and I go over and look, but it’s almost always someone writing something extremely controversial and then writing afterward: “but I don’t want to debate this.”

You don’t want to debate this.

Ah. Okay. Then what was your point of putting it out there in public? You just wanted everyone to pat you on the back and praise you? You expected all love and no pushback on a site becoming known for its intolerance and vitriol?

I couldn’t even share one drop about anything about my faith without getting at least one or two nasty comments when I was on it very briefly. I left as fast as I could when I saw all the biting sarcasm, snarkiness, and just out and out rudeness.

I just don’t have time for all that hatred balled up in one place.

Lately being on social media has felt like a kid that’s had too much candy to me. You eat just enough to satisfy your desire to connect with people and then you eat a little more but as you continue to eat you feel sick and then sicker and then you’re throwing up and that’s finally when you decide you’ve had enough and you need some real food.

And by “you” I mean “me”, of course, because most of my readers have been smarter than me and have stayed clear of social media altogether. God bless you.

So today I am doing my best to spend as much time as I can off social media. T least a little.

I am posting here or there but not scrolling much and for most of today I’ll be watching old movies, a Christmas movie or two, and reading a book. I would be off social media completely if I didn’t need to promote my books a little.

The Husband is working today so I’m sad he’s not here to watch movies with us but he will be at my parents tomorrow and with us on Monday and most of the rest of the week.

We will not be having a white Christmas this year since all we have had is rain and gloom for the last several days and are set to have the same for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Our last semi-significant snow was on December 11 and Little Miss had a blast playing in it with Zooma The Wonder Dog.

Tonight as I finish this post, I am sitting by the fire and looking out at my neighbor’s beautiful Christmas lights.

I’m watching While You Were Sleeping and I was contemplating what to make for dinner but the kids have all decided they want something different and are going to make it themselves so I am on my own for dinner and that’s fine with me. As an aside – what is with While You Were Sleeping? It’s such a weird movie. Why have I now watched it three times? The woman should have told them the truth from the start. It’s just so weird and then they’re all fine with it at the end of the movie. Gah. It’s weird, people! Weird!

Anyhow, the lights are on the Christmas tree and I’m enjoying it while I can because The Husband starts taking it down the day after Christmas. I’m going to try to drag it out until at least January 1 this year. I’ll jump on his back and yell “Noooo! Leave it alone, you big bully!”

I don’t think I’ll really do that. I’ll just ask him to leave it up and he’ll say, “Okay.”

I won’t be back for a Sunday Bookends post tomorrow so I will chat with you all again sometime next week. Bring your tea or I’ll make you whatever I have here.
How was your week last week?

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Three light-hearted or sweet Christmas movie suggestions for you to watch this weekend

December 21, 2023 / Lisa R. Howeler / 7 Comments

Here are three movies I am recommending you watch to keep yourself in the Christmas spirit this weekend.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered For Christmas

I watched this one a week before last and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I watched it two years ago. Now, is this movie a bit cheesy like most Hallmark movies? Yes, but it also has some of the most poignant, beautiful, and touching moments I’ve seen in a movie not produced by a Christian company. There are messages in this movie that so clearly point to Christ and redemption it is mind-blowing.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered was a show for a brief time on the Hallmark Channel and follows the lives of four people who work for the old letter office in the United States Postal Service. The characters in the show take a letter or package and try to reunite it with its owner, no matter how many years have passed since it was lost.

Sometimes the show is unbelievable and maybe a little silly but I fell in love with the characters so I continued to watch it when they made the show into TV movies instead. There are several (sorry, I didn’t stop to count before I wrote this) 90-minute movies featuring the characters and I believe I’ve watched all of them now.

I watched this on Peacock this year but you can also watch it through the Hallmark Channel on Amazon or the Hallmark Channel app, I believe, but don’t quote me on that.

Trading Christmas

I have watched this movie at least once every Christmas since finding it four years ago. It stars Tom Cavanaugh and Faith Ford and it has humor, sweet moments, romance, and it’s about a writer so you know it interested me.

It is a Hallmark movie (again) and (again) I know they have a reputation for being poorly written and cheesy but this, like Signed, Sealed, Delivered holds up pretty well and is worth the watch. Will there be a trope or two you roll your eyes at? Yeah, probably, but I think Tom Cavanaugh’s sarcasm and snarkiness will help heal those wounds.

The premise behind the movie is that Faith Ford was expecting her daughter to come home from college for Christmas but the daughter wants to go somewhere else with her boyfriend so Faith’s character has to decide what to do with herself. Her husband passed away six years ago but she’s always had her daughter home with her. Her friend (Gabriella Miller) tells her on the phone she should do something bold this year for Christmas and let her daughter grow up on her own. Faith takes this advice to heart and signs up for a Christmas trade with Tom Cavanaugh’s character. Faith lives in a little tiny and Tom lives in New York City so he comes to the tiny town to finish his novel and Faith goes to NYC to have a new experience. While there she meets Tom’s brother played by Gil Bellows and – well, no spoilers here but he is a perfect gentleman.

Tom on the other hand is not a perfect gentleman when Faith’s friend shows up at her house, thinking she will surprise Faith for Christmas (because Faith didn’t tell her about the trading houses thing).

I own this one but you can watch it on Amazon with a premium subscription, Apple TV for purchase, The Roku Channel, Vudu, and YouTube Premium. I also found it free on YouTube with captions in another language but I can’t vouch for it being the full movie.

One Special Night

This movie is for us oldies – it features two well-known actors – James Gardner and Julie Andrews – who are stranded together in a cabin in the woods. Yes, it is that old trope but it is a very subtle and sweet use of it and not a raunchy one. Julie’s character lost her husband a year earlier but is visiting the staff at the nursing home and James’ character is visiting his ill wife.

A storm is coming and Julie offers James a ride home. Her car crashes in the snow and they start walking and find an old cabin. They spend the night there and end up getting to know each other. There are a series of miscommunications and misunderstandings after that, including the complication of James’ wife still being alive. Lest you think this is a movie about cheating, it is not. It is all very tastefully addressed and the relationship between James and Julie remains a friendship throughout most of the movie.

I found this one a bit predictable but still sweet especially because the main actors were such legendary ones.

I watched this one on Amazon but I see it is now streaming for free on several streaming services including Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Pluto, Plex, Vudu, and Amazon with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.

Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think of them?

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men Came with The Star of Bethlehem

December 24, 2019December 24, 2019 / Lisa R. Howeler / 4 Comments

For Christmas, I thought I’d share some prose from my dad, Ronald G. Robinson and a poem from my grandfather, Walter Harlow Robinson, who passed away when I was 2. I would have loved to have known Grandpa, but I know him through his poetry and his journals he left behind and I know one day I’ll see him again.

First, a status update my dad left on his Facebook today, Christmas Eve:

Contemplating Christmas this a.m. As Christmas approaches there are many things yet undone and I spend, maybe waste time thinking on the happenings in our country as Christmas approaches. Will ignoring such make it go away? Then there are friends facing serious sicknesses and going to funerals and the list goes on and on in uncertain times. Will not thinking about them make them go away? Were we better off before social media and did not know about so much? Well, I don’t know exactly but, I pray as we contemplate Christmas that the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever, the One who calmed the raging storm of fear on the sea of Galilee will calm the storms in our lives as we contemplate Christmas. May Good memories, hope and joy live still in your hearts this Christmas.

And from my Grandfather, an untitled poem he wrote for Christmas in 1967:

As the passing year comes to a close

A Sacred Holiday everyone knows.

Peace on earth, goodwill to men

Came with the Star of Bethlehem.

Shepherds came to a glorious light

A song was born – O Holy Night.

No room at the Inn, no crib for a bed

No place for Jesus to lay his head.

One man arose, willing and able

To Joseph and Mary he gave his stable.

It always remains through the years,