My Favorites ~ Christmas Movies

I need something to post about so I will make a favorites post.

My favorite Christmas movies...in no particular order.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

I watched this movie for the first time last year. I adore it! 

Summary: A 'food writer' lied in her writing about being a perfect housewife and her boss and his friend, a returning war hero, invite themselves over to her house for Christmas. She manufactures a husband, a perfect house, and somehow, edible meals.

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sydney Greenstreet.

White Christmas (1954)

An old favourite. Bing Crosby? Danny Kaye? Yes, please! And gorgeous costumes to boot!

Summary: Two old army buddies form a successful, high-ranking 'song-and-dance' team, and then team up with a sister act to help save their old general's bed and breakfast, falling in love along the way.

Starring: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

This has the best storyline ever. It might not showcase all the right things to believe in during Christmas, but it's still a priceless movie that shows the power of faith!

Summary: Kind of hard to summarize without writing a novel. I'm sure you all know the story. :)

Starring: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and Natalie Wood.

Now from the opposite end of the spectrum of Christmas movies...

Elf (2003)

This is a hilarious movie! A few 'nasties' in it, so watch with care. But an adorable story and a real 'belly-laugher'.

Summary: A human man who crawled into Santa's bag when he was a baby and is now head and shoulders above all of his elf friends heads to New York to find his real family.

Starring: Will Ferrell and James Caan

Polar Express (2004)

This movie is a movie you would call 'majestic'. It's animated, but the cinematography and special effects are amazing. Oh, and the cool thing? Tom Hanks, one of my favorite movie actors, plays 6 different characters. Can you say multi-talented? Again, this movie disappoints in the lack of 'true reason for Christmas'. In the soundtrack song, "Believe", we are told, "When it seems as if the magic's slipped away...we find it all again on Christmas Day..." But how do we find it? Well... "Believe in what your heart is saying, hear the melody that's playing...Believe in what you feel inside..." Need I remind you... Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" That being said, I still love this music. The orchestration is gorgeous as well.

Summary: A boy who does not believe in Santa Claus is taken on the trip of a lifetime when he climbs aboard the Polar Express...bound for the North Pole. 

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, and Tom Hanks.

Those are a few of my favorite things. What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Fall Fashion Week - What I'm Wearing (Day 6)

Today is the 6th day of the FALL FASHION CHALLENGE hosted by Bramblewood Fashion.



Today the challenge is: Pick one of these fall trends and wear it!
I'm wearing a combo of the 70's and Western trends.

Pictures are a little wonky today...the fading on the jeans makes me look a bit bowlegged!! Ah well, all in keeping with the "Western" Theme... :D

Brown jacket (Thrift Store), Yellow blouse (Walmart), Green shirt (Kohl's), Bell bottom jeans (Old Navy), Cowboy boots (Naturalizer), Tam (Target), Bird Necklace (Claire's)

Fall Fashion Week - What I'm Wearing (Day 5)

Today is the fifth day of the FALL FASHION CHALLENGE hosted by Bramblewood Fashion.

Today the challenge is POLKA DOTS!!!
I love my outfit today. I think I'm going to re-wear it on Sunday for church! :)

There are polka dots on the skirt!

Polka Dot Earrings

Skirt (Thrift Store), Shirts (Target), Leggings (Maggie's), Earrings (Target), Necklace (Claire's), Ballet Flats (DSW)

Fall Fashion Challenge - What I'm Wearing (Day 4)

Today is the fourth day of the FALL FASHION CHALLENGE hosted by Bramblewood Fashion.

Today the challenge  is to dress like your favorite era!

My outfit is somewhere between the 1940's, 50's, and 60's. the skirt style is more 60's, as well as my hair, but I was leaning toward the 40's as my favorite clothing era. Also, I'm not wearing any nylons (pantyhose) so that is closer to the 1940's since many women had to go barelegged in the early 40's because of war restrictions!

But anyway. I love all three of those eras, and so my outfit is a combo of all of them.

(The first one the wind was blowing my hair, hence the funny look on my face!)

Skirt (Kohl's), Sweater (Borrowed from Mom), Brown Shirt (Kohl's), Pumps (Kohl's), Necklace (Vintage - belonged to my Great Grandma!), Earrings (Borrowed from Mom), Gloves (Vintage- belonged to my Great Grandma), Makeup (From Everyday Minerals, Claire's, and Clinique)

I'm pretty excited I got to incorporate vintage things that belonged to my great grandmother into the outfit. I don't know for sure what era the gloves are from, but I think the necklace is from the 40's or 50's maybe. She was born in 1915, and lived till July 2000.

Great Grandma's Cameo Necklace

Fall Fashion Challenge - What I'm Wearing (Day 3)

Today is the third day of the FALL FASHION CHALLENGE hosted by Bramblewood Fashion.

Today the challenge is to wear bold colored/patterned/styled tights.I'm wearing these bright turquoise tights from We Love Colors! (Just so you know, SOME of the pictures on the We Love Colors website are a bit inappropriate, insofar as the way they have their models wear the tights for the photographs)

Sweater (Target), Turquoise Shirt (Kohl's), Denim Skirt (Old Navy), Turquoise Tights (We Love Colors),  Ballet Flats (A random shoe store!), Crocheted Tam (Target)

Fall Fashion Challenge - What I'm Wearing (Day 2)

Today is the second day of the FALL FASHION CHALLENGE hosted by Bramblewood Fashion.

Today the challenge is to wear two colors that are not normally combined.I didn't quite pull this off...this is actually the 2nd outfit I've worn today because I had to run off to a doctor's appointment early this morning so I didn't have time to do anything fancy with my clothes!Anyway, the "different" colors are brown, blue, and yellow:

The pictures aren't the greatest today either...it was dark by the time we got home from our other running around this afternoon so I had to do the old mirror-picture trick! :)
Jacket (thrift store), Owl shirt (thrift store), Brown shirt (Kohl's), Denim skirt (Christopher & Banks), Tights (Maggie's), Boots (Shoe Carnival/Brand: Wanted), Necklace (Gift).

Fall Fashion Challenge ~ What I'm Wearing (Day 1)

Today is the first day of the FALL FASHION CHALLENGE hosted by Bramblewood Fashion.

The rest of the days of the week have a challenge, but today, Sunday, does not. So this is what I am wearing:

I have to be careful about what I wear to church because I have to be up front playing guitar. So not only extra modesty since I'll be in front of everyone, but it can't be something that has to be adjusted constantly or pulled down or a flowy shirt that might get pulled off the shoulder by the guitar strap. Sweater (Target), White tank (Justice for Girls), Skirt (Made by me), Tights (Maggie's), Ballet flats (DSW), Headband and Earrings (Claire's), Necklace (Gift)

Peacock Skirt

Made from Mother-Daughter Fabric Store Trip fabric...

Oh yes, and I changed my blog name...because I never really liked 'My Thoughts and Other Things'. Current blog title is from Micah 6:8.

The Dollhouse

This is our dollhouse upstairs. There are six 'rooms', two upstairs storage areas (the attics) and a middle storage area.

Some of the dolls hanging out by the bunk bed for lack of space.

Vertical views.

"Let's pose by the red car."

Mother-Daughter Fabric Shop Trip 2011

Well, we had our annual Mother-Daughter Fabric shop store this past weekend. It went a little different htan planned...originally we were to leave at 9:30am, be in Zanesville at 11:30 to pick up the Dueck's, and then continue on to the Fabric Shack and be there by 2ish. actually, what ended up happening was that we left at noon, got caught up in road closures and detours, ended up at Zanesville at 3pm, left around 3:15 and didn't make it to the Fabric Shack before it closed at 5. But we did stop at Joann's and got to go swimming at the hotel that evening. The next day we got up, stopped by Tractor Supply to do some jeans shopping, and then went on to Fabric Shack. After we were done fabric splurging...ahem...I mean shopping...we went to 'The Secret Garden'...a little outdoor garden area with vintage/non-vintage shopping. Kristina enjoyed that since, while she likes fabric shopping, it's not her *thing* yet. And she had just finished the book 'The Secret Garden' so she enjoyed pretending she was Mary Lennox.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Cracker Barrel, Friday night:


Group picture in front of the Fabric Shack taken by a nice passerby:


Mom describing:


Mom in front of a for-sale truck at the Secret Garden. Dad wouldn't consent to the price.


The Dueck ladies in front of the entrance to the Secret Garden:


Kristina:


Mirror pictures:




A sillhouette picture of Charity: