5 Christmas Movies Worth Watching

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, it's officially the holiday season! You're probably already starting to see Christmas decoration everywhere you look, our fall TV shows go on hiatus, and ABC features their 25 Days of Christmas programing. Top that with all of the movies, TV specials and music all about Christmas every day for the next month and that's a lot of Holiday Cheer! Don't have time or not into watching that many hours Christmas? No worries, I've got a short list that will slim down your Christmas movie viewing hours.  

Every year I find myself watching these same several movies, it's become a tradition. I grab a glass of wine, pop some popcorn, cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and enjoy.  I've been known to watch a few of these during my cookie party prep when I'm baking dozens on top of dozen of cookies. Even when time is short running tons of errands leading up to Christmas, I always make enough time to watch my top five!

5.  Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) | It's fun, it's light, and it's a cute story. This is one of my favorites, but really, almost all of the 1960's and 70's stop-motion-animation specials are really great. If you have a bit of time, watch a few of them.

4. Home Alone (1990) | The first movie of course. Nothing is better than the original, it's what I'd like to call a modern classic. I never get enough of watching Kevin defending his house against the loser "Wet Bandits". It's really hilarious.

3. The Polar Express (2004) | I just love this animated movie all about a magical train ride to the North Pole featuring Tom Hanks. It's all the things that we love about an animated Christmas movie.

2. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) | I just adore the remake of this movie featuring Jim Carrey. I like all the vibrants colors and how whimsical it is.

1. A Christmas Carol (1984 & 2009)  | Christmas just isn't Christmas unless you watch at least one version of A Christmas Carol, and these are my favorites. Both the 1984 and Disney 2009 adaptations are a must watch.  If you watch nothing else, make time to watch this gem.

Before I go, I'll leave you with a few more honorable mentions (in no particular order):

A Christmas Story (1983)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987)

The Mistle-Tones (2012)

What about you? What's on your must watch list for the holidays?

Live Lavishly,

~Tamara

Vloggity, Vlog, Vlog | 5 YouTube Vlog Channels Worth Watching

Are you into watching vlogs on YouTube? It's a guilty pleasure of mines that I've been indulging in lately. I can't even really verbalize what's so great about watching snippets of others lives, but I find it intriguing.   I mostly watch on my smart phone while I'm laying in bed trying to force myself to sleep.

If you don't know what a vlog is it's a "video log".  Vlogging is sharing with the world a small sliver, edited piece of a their life.  The vlogger could runs errands, chills around the house, go to a concert, go on vacation, prepare of a party, or whatever they feel like sharing. Some post vlogs everyday while other post when they feel like sharing.

There's all types of Vloggers. Comedy vloggers, beauty vloggers, lifestyle vloggers, etc. The list goes on and on. Vlogging is really subjective and there's no right or wrong way to do it. You'll know if you like their vlogging style when you watch and find yourself hitting the subscribe button.

I personally find Vloggers very brave people. To share a part of your life with the very judgemental, and very snarky public where trolling has become more the norm than the exception  - is indeed brave. As you can imagine, some people tend to get very daring and mouthy behind the faceless keyboard and Vloggers deal with hecklers aka Trolls every day.

Interested? Watch a few videos from the top 5 YouTube Vloggers I've been enjoying recently.

5. Mimi Ikonn | Mimi is a fashion and style YouTuber, I don't watch many of her style videos, but her travel vlogs are amazing! She and her husband Alex go to the most beautiful places. Whenever I want to be transported to somewhere interesting I look for one of their travel vlogs. Great editing combined with unique locations.

4. AprilJustinTV | April's main channel is all about beauty. On this channel she and Justin recently transitions from doing daily vlogs to a more casual pace in vlogging.  They now post a few times a week when they want to share, which is fine with me. Plus their toddler Liam is the cutest and he always puts a smile on my face. They are really naturally happy people, which is rare.

3. itsJudysLife | You probably already know Judy as one of the more well known beauty Vloggers. On her second channel Benji, Judy and the gang (a set of baby twins and a toddler) are always fun to watch. They are daily Vloggers who share a piece of their live with us every day. They are always doing fun things and taking great family vacations. I like that they always keep it real. With three young girls, it's always entertaining.

2. Pretty Neat Living (previously known as Organized Like Jen, The Busy Bee Buzz, and My Housewife Life) | Earlier this year Jen merged all three of her channels into one. While she's not one of the most popular Vloggers, Jen does very good vlogs going into the holidays. It's always a joy to watch she and her husband Don prepare for parties and cook delicious food. When not doing a series of vlogs she tends to post randomly when the mood strikes.

1. The Michalaks | Hannah and Steph with their toddler Grayson post a vlog every Sunday morning (in my time zone) and we get to see snippets of their week.  I seriously love their video editing style. Not only is their little family a joy to watch, I always enjoy the music and style of the vlogs. You can tell that they put a lot of work and heart into them.

Who would you put on this list? Please share with me what YouTube Vloggers you watch.

Live Lavishly!
~Tamara