Bookending Winter 2019: Christmas Eve Traditions

Clo (at Cuppa Clo) & Sam (at Fictionally Sam) once again bring you - Bookending Winter! This is one of the quarterly events, running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events”, aspiring to bring the book blogging community closer together! These events are open to all book bloggers! Want to take part? Or just follow along? You can get all the information AT THIS POST!
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Thanks for stopping in today! This is my first time taking part in this event and I am having a blast so far! Thanks for stopping by my last hosting day of this event! If you haven't checked out my other post; you can here! Post 1 | Post 2| Post 3.
If you decide to participate in the topic today; make sure you link back to THIS POST so others can follow along as well!

Today's Prompt Information:

Prompt Explanation: In my family; we have a Christmas Eve tradition! The same thing we do every year (of course some of it changes a little as they get older) – today I want to know if you have one and what it is! Don’t have one? Maybe you have seen some traditions around the internet, or know people that have one – share away!

Our Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve Boxes!

The above image is not mine; I got it off of Google Search.. Why, you ask? Well it's simple. I'm an IDIOT and wrapped our Christmas Eve boxes already and forgot to be smart and get a picture of the inside of them before I did so! But, you get the gist of it with the image above. I love these boxes because you can make them your own. Google has ALL KINDS of ideas of things you can add; but you can personalize them to fit your family.

What We Put In Our Boxes
I do a box for both kids, myself and the mister. It gives us something to open on Christmas Eve since the kids always want to open something. It also gives us something to do as a family (with opening the gifts and with whats inside!) It also, without me even trying to - started another tradition aside from the boxes!

→ → Pajamas
→ → Hot Chocolate
→ → One Candy
→ → Slippers
→ → Stuffed Animal
→ → An Ornament for the Tree

Now, every Christmas Eve we all get a new ornament for the tree! It gives us one very personalized tree that shows how our interest have changed over the years! It's now a tree full of things we love - interest we have had (or still have); things that define us and things we find funny. For instance - this year my 13 yr old daughter got a RAINBOW POOP EMOJI ORNAMENT. Yeah. You read that right. There is poop on my tree lol. But it is her favorite emoji, so we went with. I normally do fuzzy socks instead of slippers, but the kids were asking for new slippers so I changed it up a bit. I alternate between stuffed animals (small ones) and a movie, this year just happened to be a stuffed animal year! Once we are done opening the boxes and hanging up our new ornaments; we all change into our new pjs and slippers and curl up on the couch with our hot chocolate and watch a Christmas Movie! It is honestly such a fun way to spend Christmas Eve and it gets everyone really into the spirit come Christmas morning!


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Discuss With Me!

What are YOUR Christmas Eve Traditions?
Any you want to try but have not yet?
I'd love to hear from you all!

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Bookending Winter 2019: Sport-tacular Christmas!

Clo (at Cuppa Clo) & Sam (at Fictionally Sam) once again bring you - Bookending Winter! This is one of the quarterly events, running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events”, aspiring to bring the book blogging community closer together! These events are open to all book bloggers! Want to take part? Or just follow along? You can get all the information AT THIS POST!
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Thanks for stopping in today! This is my first time taking part in this event and I am having a blast so far! You will be here with me for the next 4 days! If you decide to participate in the topic today; make sure you link back to THIS POST so others can follow along as well!

Today's Prompt Information:

Prompt Explanation: Tis the Season for Sports! I don’t know about you, but when I think winter, I think sports. There’s hockey; football and many others going on at the same time. Nothing makes me happier than some snow, an arena, a sheet of ice and men adorned in hockey uniforms fighting for that win! What sport (or sports) does it for you? Who is your favourite team(s)? Favourite Player(s)? — but above all; I want to know what your favourite Book and/or Series featuring a sport player is!

Favorite Sports & Sports Teams

Hockey

I am a HUGE hockey fan! I live about 30 mins away from Nashville, TN and we are home to the Nashville Predators. I am a die hard fan! I use to have season passes; but with health issues and things had to give them up. I still go to as many home games as possible and watch every game I cannot make, plus the away games on tv! I own way too much Preds stuff; have collected so much over the years and probably annoy my husband more than a wife should about it!

Football

I have 2 teams that I watch for this actually. I am from Louisiana; so I am a down home girl when it comes to teams! For the NFL I watch the New Orleans Saints and for College Ball I want LSU! You can't get more down home than this! Both teams have their ups and downs, like most teams - but this year LSU is on fire! Win or lost though; I still love them!

Favorite Players You Love to Watch

Can be from one team - or several!

Hockey

ROMAN JOSI & PEKKA RINNE - from the Nashville Predators
     
Pekka is our goaltender and he is downright amazing! Josi is a center and out team Captain and he is a beast! I honestly had issues narrowing this down, because I like every guy on the team. They all bring something that makes the team click! I left out the other two I wanted to do for this one, because I would have just ended up putting the entire team on here lol.

Football

LSU - Burrows / Saints - Brees
     
As far as football goes; I follow both the LSU QB and the Saints QB more than I do anyone else.

Favorite Book(s)/Series Featuring a Sports Player

I have SEVERAL of these! In no particular order; here they are!

See Series on Goodreads!I LOVE everything by Toni Aleo - but her Nashville Assassins Series is my favorite! If you have not read this, you should! This is the first 5 novels, there are more! She even branches it off into other aspects of other teams and keeps it going with even more characters! I love all things hockey and these novels are fantastic!



See Series on Goodreads!Jaci Burton has a fantastic Play by Play series that is all thing sports! What I love about this series is that it is about several diff sports and the men that come along with them! Outside of hockey, I love reading about football, baseball and some others and Jaci Burton covers them all! I highly suggest this series to anyone who loves sports romance! Again, this is just the first 5 novels, but there are plenty more!



See Series on Goodreads!If you follow my blog, or know me at all - you Lori Foster is one of my all time favorite authors! Her Ultimate Series is a spring off of her SBC Fighter Series and I am 100% in freaking love! The Ultimate Series even incorporates the SBC gym and some of the people as well, so we get to revisit some of our favorite characters! I am a fan of watching MMA - so these novels are fantastic! They are chalked full of romance, hilarious men and women; great story lines and most of the time you want to read them in one sitting! Give them a chance if you haven't! There are only these 5 in the series!


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Discuss With Me!

What was YOUR favorite sport to watch?!
Do you have any favorite teams?
Let me know your favorite players!
I'd love to hear from you all!

Read More

Bookending Winter 2019: A Very Potter Christmas!

Clo (at Cuppa Clo) & Sam (at Fictionally Sam) once again bring you - Bookending Winter! This is one of the quarterly events, running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events”, aspiring to bring the book blogging community closer together! These events are open to all book bloggers! Want to take part? Or just follow along? You can get all the information AT THIS POST!
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Thanks for stopping in today! Did you swing by yesterday?! If not - you should def check out THIS POST and talk about your favorite Christmas movies with us! If you decide to participate in the topic today; make sure you link back to TODAY'S POST so others can follow along as well! Don't forget to stop in tomorrow as well!

Today's Prompt Information:

If you are anything like me, you have one healthy (or rather unhealthy) obsession with all things Harry Potter! Christmas/Winter time in Potter land has always been one of my favorites. It introduced us to Hogsmeade and opened up a door to tons of adventure for the crew. Today, we are taking a trip – right down to Hogsmeade, to grab ourselves some Butterbeer and talk about the upcoming Winter Ball! To get us in the Potter Winter Ball Spirit; there are some things I want to know about all of you!

Question #1

--> Which Harry Potter Book Was Your Favorite & Why? <--
Oh man! I don't even know why I threw this in here because I hate doing this to myself!
Honestly though, since I read these books the FIRST time; The Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my favorite. I found just about everything about this book enthralling. Buckbeak is my home slice and I think he made some parts of that book! I cried when he did and rejoiced when he came back. I get slightly attacked to animals. I also think this was the book for me where it seemed like Harry was finally starting to come into his own. He was starting to see things around him for what they were and was starting to come out of that innocent, knows nothing, confused all the time state that he seemed to be in during the first two books. I also like who he started to become when Sirius was introduced. I feel like his and Ron's friendship really came into play in this one as well.

I feel as though we got a whole new look on the characters in this book. Sirius Black and Professor Lupin quickly became some of my favorite characters of these books, so for me this will always be my favorite of the series. I love that we also got a new side to Hermione as well and we even got to see Ron in a new light.

Question #2

--> Favorite Harry Potter Characters and Why? <--
You can do this as a top 1-10 (or however many) if you would like!
Yeah; because picking just ONE is simple, right? I honestly don't know why I keep doing this to myself. Sweet Baby Goodness, you think I would have learned my lesson by now. But, with all that said; here is my list.

1. Harry Potter
I honestly feel like making him first is the easy thing to do, but he is honestly my favorite of the bunch. The books may be about him, but his story line; his character; his demeanor; literally everything about him draws me in.

2. Fred & George Weasley
I count them as one; because after all - they are completely connected at the hip. They are insanely funny and I love everything about them. They are os family oriented, but are not afraid to live life the way they want to. The live to the beat of their own drummers and I can connect with that.

3. Hermione Granger
She's just freaking amazing. I will admit that in the first book; and even some of the second she had to grow on me, but once she did - I think the books would be vastly different if her character was written any different. Her quirks; annoyances and things that others would turn away from and label her as difficult, make her who she is. In the end you are rooting for her, you are on her team and you are standing side by side with her through everything.

4. Ron Weasley
Dude. It's Ron. Everyone needs a Ron. He is the exact version of a best friend everyone needs. He levels Harry out. He is (sometimes) the voice of sanity when Harry gets crazy ideas. Sometimes the crazy ideas are Ron's. They level each other out. He is funny to boot and the perfect balance to this bromance.

6. Luna Lovegood
I don't care what anyone says; she is freaking amazing. She might be weird; say things that leave us all scratching our heads; and overall creep some people out, but she is an amazing person. She loves with her whole heart and she doesn't care what people think of her. She has a way she lives life that works for her and she surrounds herself with people who want to know her for HER. Once you get past her exterior; she's a doll.

7. Professor Snape
I will NEVER not have his name on my favorite characters list. Even when reading the books, when I swore he was a bad guy, he is a genuinely amazing human wizard person. He loves so hard; and it's that love that made him the person he is. Even after her death; his love for Lilly led him to ensure that Harry stayed okay, even when we all thought the opposite. He was compassionate; hilarious at times. Even when he was being so hard on everyone, you could tell he cared. He may have been set in his ways, but he knew right from wrong. He had a code he lived by, and while we might not have agreed with it - it worked for him. In the end, everything came together to show us just how wrong we were about him. The man was a Saint and we didn't give him nearly enough credit. Always. A L W A Y S.

8. Momma Weasley
I mean. COME ON. That scene - you know the one - where she pulled the classic momma move and went all Momma Bear on Bellatrix. That was the exact reason why I love her. She is everything that a mother should be viewed as.

** I think I am going to end my list here or I will just keep going and going. I love every single character in their own ways. I swear I don't know what I was doing when I thought it would be a great idea to make a list.

Question #3

--> Which Harry Potter Character Are You Taking to the Ball?! <--
Draco Malfoy.
Okay; hear me out here.
I would LOVE the chance to pick his brain. Despite what a lot of people think, the boy is a genius. He just wanted to prove himself to so many people, he lost his way somewhere. Like most people growing up, we just want to please our parents. His father just happened to be a real.. we won't get into all of that.

Outside of the image he was given and the stigma he was stuck with; I think he'd made an excellent Winter Ball date! The fun we'd have! The conversations would be interesting. I could even see us getting into some trouble with some trickery! There would be tons of laughter; after all - he has a fantastic smile.

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Discuss With Me!

Thanks for stopping by!
What was YOUR favorite book?!
Who are you going to the ball with?
Let me know those favorite characters!
I'd love to hear from you all!

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Bookending Winter 2019: Let's Talk Big Screen!

Clo (at Cuppa Clo) & Sam (at Fictionally Sam) once again bring you - Bookending Winter! This is one of the quarterly events, running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events”, aspiring to bring the book blogging community closer together! These events are open to all book bloggers! Want to take part? Or just follow along? You can get all the information AT THIS POST!
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Thanks for stopping in today! This is my first time taking part in this event and I am having a blast so far! You will be here with me for the next 4 days! If you decide to participate in the topic today; make sure you link back to THIS POST so others can follow along as well!

Today's Prompt Information:

Today we are going to talk about Your Favorite Christmas/Winter Movies!
I want this to be a Top 10 kind of thing.
If you do not have 10, that is okay too! I just want to see all the different movies everyone likes to binge on during this comfy blanket, hot chocolate kind of season!

My Top 10:

Honestly; I had a ton of issues even narrowing this down to 10. It actually ends up being 11, but you will see why once you read through this entire post! There are just so many to choose from; I have no clue what I was thinking when I decided to have us all narrow this down to 11. I picked these movies because they are ones I watch again and again; sometimes more than once during the season. These don't even include the Lifetime; Hallmark; Netflix and Freeform Christmas movies that come on! Be serious; things just get complicated at that point.

Movies 1-5 are up First!

Now, these are in no particular order; but I love them all nonetheless!


--> The Grinch - You can't go wrong with this one! It's a good story and it's a big hit around this house! Who doesn't love a heartwarming story!

--> Home Alone - What is Christmas without Kevin?! I know there are more than just this one movie, but this is my favorite out of all of them. It is a must during the Christmas Holiday!

--> Jack Frost - Growing up; I was always in love with the story of Jack Frost. There have been many versions of him over time, but this has got to be one of my favorites!

--> Rudolph - Is it really even Christmas without this. Complete Seriousness here. I watch this one at least 4-5 times each Christmas. It helps that my kids love it as well!

--> The Polar Express - I kid you not - we have a "Polar Express Party" around here every December. We throw on pajamas; get some comfy blankets; everyone has hot chocolate and we put this on and proceed to sing along to every single word. At this point, I think we all quote the movie the entire time! It's such a blast and a fun thing to do with the kids.. Even the 13 year old likes it!

& Now; Movies 6-10!

--> Best Man Holiday - I understand that this might not be everyone's "cup of tea" kind of Christmas movie; but if you have not seen it; YOU SHOULD! It is beyond a good one and I watch it every December!

--> National Lampoons Christmas Vacation - Clark Griswold - enough said.

--> This Christmas - I cannot have a Christmas without watching this. Since the year it came out, it has been a staple in my house every December. I love everything about it. The music, the story line - everything! It tugs at the heartstrings and I just love it.

--> Noelle - While this one is new, it's freaking adorable and amazing and it will now be a yearly thing in this house!

--> A Snow Globe Christmas - My daughter actually had me watch this when it came out on Freeform some years back and goodness was it adorable.

I DON'T KNOW HOW I NARROWED THIS DOWN!
I have so many more that I want to add to this list! A Charlie Brown Christmas; Frosty the Snowman; Elf; Jingle All the Way; The Santa Clause; Scrooge; A Christmas Story..
AND THE LIST NEVER ENDS!

The Most Important Movie of Them All

Now. I know this is the age old question.
Is this really a Christmas Movie or Not?

My husband says yes.
My daughter says yes.
My son just agrees with whoever he likes most at that moment.
I took a Facebook poll and the answer seemed to mostly be yes.

So.. For everyone interested.
For the never ending arguments I know people have had.
For those that just had to be right; and to those who need to prove someone wrong.

It's not Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall off Nakatomi Plaza
Die Hard IS a Christmas Movie!

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Discuss With Me!

What are YOUR favorite Christmas Movies?
Did any of yours make my list?
Any that you want me to know about?
I'd love to hear from you all!

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#BEWinter19 Day 2: Reflection time

Clo (at Cuppa Clo) & Sam (at Fictionally Sam) once again bring you - Bookending Winter! This is one of the quarterly events, running under the umbrella term “Bookend Events”, aspiring to bring the book blogging community closer together! These events are open to all book bloggers! Want to take part? Or just follow along? You can get all the information AT THIS POST!
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Welcome to Day 2 of Bookending Winter 2019! Today's host is Laurie from Laurie's Bookshelf!
If you decided to make your own post with this prompt - make sure you visit Laurie's POST and link back to it!

Today's Prompt Information:

December is here and that means it’s time to look back on the past year. How was your 2019 regarding books? Did you haul too many books? Did you have a great reading year? Too many (E)ARCs left? And did you pass your reading challenge? Furthermore, it’s time to look forward. What goals would you like to reach in the last month of 2019? Certain books you want to read before 2020 is upon us? Do you have reading goals for 2020? So, let’s reflect on your bookish 2019!

Reading Challenge

Like most of you; I set a Goodreads reading goal every year.. I took about an 8 year blogging break and just recently came back, so my goal setting has been pretty all over the place. I will be setting one in Jan 2020 though. I don't look at it as a number I need to meet; but a number of amazing novels that I want to read - be it old releases, re-reads, new releases or books I normally wouldn't read but have decided to give a try!

This isn't the only challenge I will be doing though. I have recently discovered the 2020 New Release Challenge by Unconventional Bookworms. I will be taking place in this - simply because I do want to try to keep up with new releases, as I have found more often than not I get wrapped up in previously released series; stand alone novels and whatnot; that I miss books I have been looking forward to for awhile! This year I also did a "Can You Read a Series in a Month Challenge" and I loved it! I love reading series and this let me plow through one from one of my favorite authors. If this comes around again in 2020, I will be doing that as well! I am also going to be doing #WinterCOYER to help clean out this Kindle of mine! I am also doing a Christmasathon right now. I love these simply because they offer a variety of books you can choose from; a buddy reading option and fun things to help keep you interacting with others participating!

I think doing challenges helps make the blogging a little more fun, as most challenges host activities as well as the reading part. I just think we have to know balance and not overextend ourselves; otherwise, we just end up getting behind, feeling overwhelmed and don't know how to come back up for air. If you are doing any challenges in 2020, or have some favorite ones from 2019, let me know! I am always looking for some fun!

Bookish Events

I did not attend any in 2019; as it was a crazy year for me with more than I needed going on! I live 30 mins from Nashville, TN though and we tend to host some amazing things out there, so I plan to attend as much as I can manage next year! I love meeting new authors and have a change to meet up with fellow bloggers! I think it makes this experience all that much more amazing!

The Books!

Holy Goodness; where to start! I have read some amazing books this year; some books that weren't really for me; and some books that had to grow on me as I read, but ended up being pretty good! I read all 4 books in the Body Armor series by Lori Foster and loved every single one of them! Another favorite author of mine, Toni Aleo had some amazing ones come out this year as well! I could honestly sit here and go on and on about these books; that is what I do, after all! I am currently reading books for my Christmasathon so I am very well surrounded by some amazing novels!

Looking Forward

The only thing I have left this year is the Bookending Winter Event since I am hosting as well (;
Aside from that, just the Christmasathon I am in right now. I didn't set a Goodreads goal this year, as I had one insane year in my personal life. All the reading I have done this year has been for fun, for me and without strings. I plan to keep the same mind frame next year. I will set the GR goal; but I won't let the number consume me. I will read books that interests me, join blog tours that appeal to me, challenges that seem like they will be fun and challenge me and I will try and branch my reading out to books I normally might not read.


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Discuss With Me!

What are YOUR reflections this year?
What are you looking forward to next year?
How did your Goodread goal go?
I'd love to hear from you all!

Read More