Justice Pirate's "THE BEST Christmas Movies List!"

We all have the movies that we adore to watch over and over every Christmas season. I happen to have quite a lot of favourites that I've watched countless times since my childhood. I Wanted to make a list last year but forgot to! Therefore this is my list! They are not in order of how much I like them, so keep that in mind.

March of the Wooden Soldiers aka Babes in Toyland 1934 (w/ Stanley Laurel & Oliver Hardy)
I grew up on the color version but have seen the black and white as well. My brothers and I always loved this as we were raised on classic films and love Stan and Ollie! It is completely based in a faerytale storybook world. Barnabas wants to marry Bo Peep and her family and village are fed up with him and his controlling ways. I love the humor in this film! Also I have always been (and still am) intrigued by the Mickey Mouse in this. Anyone else still baffled by it? I sing all the songs in this movie too.

It's A Wonderful Life 1946 (w/ James Stewart, Donna Reed)
If there is anyone who doesn't like this movie, then I'm not talking to you. . .just kidding. It is the best Christmas movie ever. It is about appreciating who you are and opening your eyes to the blessings around you. It does help that my favorite actor is in this.

On Moonlight Bay 1951 & By The Light of the Silvery Moon 1953 (w/ Doris Day, Gordon MacRae)
These are hilarious about a tomboy who seems hopeless. She ends up getting called on by a couple of boys and also has a bit of an odd brother whom she loves that has a fantastic imagination. Both of these films go hand in hand with the same character and are very beautiful, funny, and filled with great songs and costumes!! And yes, Doris Day is my favorite actress ever.

Heidi 1937 (w/ Shirley Temple & Jean Hersholt)
Also seen this in both color and black and white, but grew up with the color version. What an amazing story about love, hope, faith, and kindness. A little girl is always able to somehow stay cheerful even though she gets switched from home to home. When she gets kidnapped from her Grandfather, he goes on a search for her while having to deal with a spoiled but sweet handicapped girl that hopefully she can bring joy to as well. Really sweet music in this movie too. I actually will sing her happy song throughout the day randomly all year!

A Christmas Carol aka Scrooge 1951 (w/ Alastair Sim)
My favorite of all the many versions of the story. Goodness they make so many of them too. This one has always been so powerful to me. I was raised on the black and white version. Everyone knows the story, but I think Alastair Sim is THE BEST Scrooge. He makes you believe him so much!

Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas 1977 (Muppet production)
My brothers have this entire thing completely memorized. I think we all watch it every year. I have some memorized, but they're insane. It's about little Emmet Otter who has a decision to win a contest or to back out since he might have to damage something of his Ma's to enter it. Likewise his Ma wants to enter it but might have to sell something of her son's to enter it. Gorgeous songs and such a cute movie.

Christmas in Connecticut 1945 (w/ Barbara Stanwyck & Dennis Morgan)
A woman who writes about her amazing food that she really doesn't cook and about life as a housewife when she's not married, has to act her role when her boss wants to spend Christmas dinner with her. Now she just has to create a family, but her boss is so attractive to her and he might be falling in love with what he believes is a married woman. Oh the craziness of this story but the amazingness of it.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 1988 (w/ Richard Dempsey, Barbara Kellerman)
Never gets old and I still like it much more than the newer version film of it. I still watch it every year and adore it so very much. The story goes where four siblings are in a safe zone during WWII in a large mansion. They are bored out of their minds but find another world there. So much adventure occurs in that world. 

Elf 2003 (w/ Will Farrell & Zooey Deschanel)
Really a cute movie about a human who is raised by Santa's elves but goes to his real father to live with his family. What a screw up of a kid his father believes he had, but maybe this "elf" can spread much more joy to his family and the world.

White Christmas 1954 (w/ Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye)
A musical act of two men end up going wild for a sister musical act. They end up at a Vermont Inn where there are hardly any customers. Maybe they can make business boom there and find love! Loads of amazing songs and dance acts. I always loved this story so much.

Jesus aka The Jesus Movie 1979 (w/ Brian Deacon)
I know there are tons of Jesus based movies out there, but this one has always been the best in my opinion (and one of the shortest too). I used to watch this constantly (a few times) in my childhood Christmases. I think now if I were to watch it again I'd probably cry a lot. What a moving story and the best ever since I live by it. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas 1965 (Animated)
My kids love this already which is really great. My mom is a huge Peanuts fan so I lived with a lot of Charlie Brown movies in my life, and love them. This one however is really sweet and funny. Very fun for adults to see too!

The Bishop's Wife 1947 (w/ Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven)
An angel comes down from heaven as an answer to prayers when the Bishop wants guidance as a Cathedral is being built. Dudley (the angel) seems to be Mr. Perfect to everyone but the Bishop who fears his wife is spending a little too much time around this man (which is understandable). 

Christmas: A Time to Learn of Selflessness

Give gifts that help people who have nothing all around the world.

World Vision and Samaritan's Purse each have the most amazing donation gift catalogs every Christmas. You also can give all year round to the listed needs. Please look through their lists. They do things like the following as some examples of MANY:

2 Chickens for $25
$150 worth of basic needs to poverty stricken U.S. children for donation of $25
Education for a child in another country $32
$385 worth of medicine for donation of $35

Mosquito nets for $10

I used to be a very selfish person. I remember every Christmas as a child and upward through age 23 where I'd make giant lists for my parents of all the things I wanted. Some of these things I would list were very pricey. I thought so much about stuff. I know I've mentioned on here before about how materialistic I was.

That being said, I believe that our country is extremely selfish especially at this time of year. I hate hate hate hate that people get mad with each other and argue over STUFF. It is all going to turn to dust in time. Nothing lasts. Your relationships are much more important. work on those instead of being complaining bitter people! Someo f the most amazing presents I used to beg for in Christmases of the past are long gone, broke, were outdated, etc. They were not satisfactory and left me feeling unfulfilled. When I give or receive gifts of "donations made in my/your honor" for someone who is in need, it warms my heart. It is something that is meaningful to someone I don't even know. Perhaps the people I give these gifts to don't appreciate it because they wanted something else, well that's really just sad and they are probably selfish and need to re-examine themselves a bit (and I only say this because I used to be that type of person, and it is really depressing to think about how selfish and horrible of a person I was). Now I'd much rather someone donate 5 ducks for $30 to a family who is in need than giving me books that I'll read once and will either sit on my shelf or get sent off or sold elsewhere.

Stop thinking about what you want. Start realizing that there is a huge need elsewhere. There are children starving and longing for an education. There are widows who have their homes taken from them. There are major medical needs in suffering countries. The list is quite large. If you have what you need, I highly suggest limiting how much you spend on each person, and also give to the needs of others, giving explanation cards of your donation purchase to those you love.

Dairy Animals $70

Care for AIDS Orphans & Widows $40

Hoth-Swiss Mrs

I'm a week behind in outfit posts. I took this set last week. I noticed after I took it that so many bloggers are posting the same type of of hairstyle!! I used to do my hair like this a lot when I was a waitress when I was 20-21. I missed it a lot when I cut my hair. I used to call it my "Hoth Hair" because of Leia Organa of Star Wars from when they go to Hoth in Empire Strikes Back. Yes, I love my Star Wars. Of course the last time I did it, I didn't have my elf hair like I do now so I love how interesting this style looks with the elf hair!

Therefore this outfit reminds me of and odd mix of Swiss Miss and Hoth fashion. HAHA.

 <3 gingham

My one issue with this dress, like most dresses, is that the person who modeled it in the shop I bought it from was much shorter than I. It looks like a little girl's dress on me but fit them perfectly. Such is the life of a taller girl. I'll probably sell this one because of that.

I really love flowers in my hair, in case you haven't noticed by now since most of my outfits include them!

 And little birds in my hair is fun too - yes i have really thick hair and so much of it.

Vintage 60s dress: IKahn Vintage (I love huge sales)
Boots: Alloy (6 years ago)
tights: Target
Hair pin and flower: Lila-Jo

Photo Sessions and Such

I hate having to do studio work myself, so it is annoying to have to have other photographers who do studio work to sit me down and direct me. . . but I endure with a smile and some little bit of hidden frustrations. haha.  My church was doing directories so they took a bunch of shots of our family and Rob and I alone too (to try to get us to buy their very expensive prints).  My mom wanted a nice one of me and Rob to put up in their home, so she bought this one and we got it in the mail so I scanned it first before it becomes hers for good. Too bad you see my zit scars too well in these. 

 

And this one is for the church directory (we got a free print just to take it for the directory)...Rob's holding back laughing a lot because Leto was squirming like crazy and talking almost the whole time. We took these back in the middle of October. Leto's shirt is all funky but oh well. This was the best out of about 10 shots (so you could imagine how much worse it got and this was probably the first one they took).

No this is not going to be our Christmas Card picture at all! 

In other news, I did a Christmas Photo session with a family that I also photographed last year for their Christmas photos. These are my favourites out of what I took of them so I thought I'd share (and notice how I do outdoor only sessions because I really hate all the studio equipment and lack of natural light). I love doing business with returned customers! 

 My favourite one

They had fun. 

Movies & Music Suggestion Post #32

Ratings are on a scale of 1-5. Anything rated over 3 stars and is in bold, is totally worth seeing! - I rate pretty harshly.

The Frog Prince 1986 (w/ Aileen Quinn, Helen Hunt, John Paragon) - 4.5 stars - Amazing movie for everyone to adore. Cute costumes too! It is about a young girl who has no friends and just wants to play, but she also is a very sweet and kind princess. When she meets a very tall frog named Ribbit, She gains a new friend, but she also has a very mean snotty sister who wishes unhappiness upon everyone but herself. I hadn't seen since I was 5 in the late 80s. It is because of this film that I saw ONCE (now twice) that I became obsessed with frogs (and by obsessed, I mean I've owned 73 frogs between age 6-20). oh, and yes the lead girl was in fact the original musical Annie.

Ondine 2009 (w/ Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda) - 2.75 stars - A fisherman cares for his handicapped daughter. When he catches a woman in his net he starts to use it as a bedtime story for his daughter, who finds out it is real. His daughter believes the woman is a selkie (mythological Irish creature). I liked that this seems like a fantasy film but so much reality is included especially towards the end. It was a good movie. The dialogue sometimes was boring. There was far too many scenes though of the "selkie" woman in her underwear and there was a very fast sex scene with in and out images of things happening elsewhere.

The Karate Kid 2010 (w/ Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith) - 3 stars - I'm not much for remakes. This should have been called Kung Fu Kid instead considering Kung Fu is what was in this movie and a part of China and Karate is in Japan. I missed a lot of scenes in this movie because I got a damaged disk and didn't ask for a replacement (forgot after i reported it damaged on netflix and couldn't change it). I probably missed half hour of the movie so i saw all of the first half and then saw the last scene. It was about a kid (I call him mini-Will since he looks just like his father Will Smith) who moves to China and doesn't get along there too well. He makes a friend there who is a violinist he gets a crush on. He gets saved from bullying from a group of kids who are kung fu trained. He gets trained by his maintenance man who had saved him. It was similar with situations from the first two original Karate Kid movies. They added more artistic outlooks to it since it is Jackie Chan. I liked it a lot and probably would have loved it more and rated it higher if I saw the scenes I missed. . sometime soon.

Follow That Dream 1962 (w/ Elvis Presley, Anne Helm) - 2.5 stars - Elvis plays a young man (a little too sweet and naive) who is poor and moves to Florida with his dad and a few orphans want to settle down on the beach. There are some fun and interesting situations that they face mainly because of the naivety. I loved a few of the outfits in this film!

Babes in Toyland 1986 (w/ Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, Richard Mulligan) - 2.5 stars - I was raised on March of the Wooden Soldiers from the 30s and never saw this ever. It wasn't bad. I just think I was spoiled by the amazing original too much that I didn't get to appreciate this one hardly at all. This one is like mixing Wizard of Oz in with it which bothered me. Basically it is one of those movies that tells you to accept what you are (in this case being a child).

When In Rome 2010 (w/ Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Danny Devito, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, Will Arnett) - 3.25 stars - This was a really cute love story. I liked it! A girl goes to her sister's wedding in Italy wanting to believe in love but not really believing it exists. She stole some coins out of a love fountain in Italy, which causes certain people who threw those coins in to follow her around feeling they are in love with her. there are a few showy outfits in this movie. There is a nude wall painting as well.

Private Benjamin 1980 (w/ Goldie Hawn) - 1.75 stars - This story is basically about a woman who seems to place her identity into her relationships of romance. When her husband suddenly dies on her wedding night, she doesn't know what to do, so she decides to join the army. Perhaps she'll find happiness that way. I didn't like this movie. It was really long and drawn out but had bits of comedy. There is nudity and sexual sequences and lingerie, underwear. . etc. I had to fast forward through quite a bit which just made the film less appealing because I watch movies for a good storyline mainly. There is also a quick drug use scene.

Trouble Along the Way 1953 (w/ John Wayne, Donna Reed) - 2.75 stars - A father who is a former football coach is in financial need and is also in a battle to be able to keep his daughter, since her mother doesn't really seem to care about her. He is constantly being checked on and gets a new coaching job at a Catholic school with a losing streak. It was an okay movie. The little girl was the best in this movie. I'm not big on John Wayne films but it wasn't like his normal roles so that was good.

Twilight in Forks 2009 (documentary) - 2 stars - Kinda interesting in a way to see how a town known for it's trees is now known for the Twilight Saga and has become a tourist attraction. It's pretty sad but nice at the same time how people fall in love with the place in general because it is so much a part of the books and films. It was interesting to learn the real histories in the town too.

The Last Airbender 2010 (w/ Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone) - 3.5 stars - I actually really liked this. I have seen the first season of the show through netflix with my sons who enjoy it, so I did have an idea of things. The movie however was very beautiful visually. I enjoyed the story and felt connected to the characters too. It was clean and had a little violence here and there, but overall it was a beautiful story about Aang, who can bend air. various nations bend other elements as well, but Aang is the last air bender and is the Avatar who is able to bring peace to the land.

Music I've been listening to:
Ska Lives - vol. 1 compilation album - favourite tracks: "Sleep it Off", "A Better Plan", "Roll Jordan Roll". "Gain Back Lost Youth", "Still On the Move", "The Prodigal", "Every New Day (Live)", "Chemical Reaction"
Paper Route - Absence album, Are We All Forgotten album - favourite tracks: "American Clouds", "Are We All Forgotten", "You Kill Me", "Enemy Among Us", "Dance on Our Graves", "Last Time"
Showbread - Who Can Know It? album - favourite tracks: . . .:( every song has the same monotone drag in the singing which sounds the same for every son that I couldn't get into it :(
Ascend The Hill - self titled album - favourite tracks: "Joy", "Return to Us", "Sing"
Menomena - I Am the Fun Blame Monster album, Mines album - favourite tracks: "The Late Great Libido" (need to listen to them more for other songs still)

Paper Route's "Gutter"

I will not fade into nothingness!!

Thanks to Jenna of Seven Style Notes for interviewing me for her blog.

It is kinda sad how quickly the trees have become bare around here. Most of the leaves have all fallen now here in New Jersey. The scent of "death" (dead leaves) is all around. I am starting to enjoy the colder seasons lately. It is going to be really "fun" to do outdoor sets this winter, but I'm going to do them!

This cameo brooch was probably my Great-Grandmother's, definitely was my Grandmother's

There is still some green around here!

Blouse: Urban Outfitters

Skirt: Urban Outfitters

Brooch: family heirloom

Shoes: c/o Ively's Closet

Please rate this highly so it can be featured on "Peter Pan Syndrome" for Hypeed!!!

Score JusticePirate's contribution - fashion magazine by real people

The Annotated Alice

I had been longing to purchase this dress for months. I thought it looked very Alice in Wonderland-like. I have never read any of the stories before (maybe one day), but my husband read this whole book which includes the original artwork and loads of background information and he enjoyed it a lot. I decided to use it as a prop. Thanks to my husband Rob for taking these photos for me. We had a date for a few hours (rare for us) and started the date with this photoshoot in my parents' woods (my favourite place). We then went to eat some sushi and the bookstore and just got to spend some time out together alone. It was lovely.

I know I post a lot of photos...

Vintage 70s Dress: Upside of Wonder

White long sleeved shirt: Delias

Shoes: Amazon

Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Flower Ring: Lila-Jo

Jacket: Wet Seal