Favorite Christmas Flicks

Posted in Holidays, Travel by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

We made it safe and soundly to the States this week! It was a hectic last 48 hours in France, but everything managed to work itself out and here I am, sitting at my parents’ house getting ready to publish this post about my favorite Christmas movies!! I don’t know about you, but I need to get myself back into the Christmas spirit–before we left Tuesday morning, we had to take down our Christmas tree and pack up the ornaments. It’s a real tree, so fire hazard and all…but it really messed with me psychologically; I left France feeling like Christmas had already passed! Fortunately we were bombarded with Christmas decorations, lights, and music when we arrived in the airport here, but I wouldn’t mind watching a few of my favorite holiday films before the actual big day ;)

Looks like childhood :)

The Original Television Christmas Classics

Who doesn’t love these movies?? I loved watching them every year growing up. My two favorites were the stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (I just wanna cuddle with Rudolph–he’s so adorable!) and Frosty the Snowman. Just hearing Jimmy Durante singing the theme song makes me happy. Sadly, for years I was haunted by the villain who locked Frosty up in that greenhouse. He was so mean! But I still love it :)

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

I love Dr. Seuss, and The Grinch is such a classic story, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like to watch or read it. The old cartoon version is my favorite, but I also like the Jim Carrey version every now and again. And the Grinch song! So funny: “Mr. Gri-inch! You’re a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!” Yum…? ;)

“Keep the change, ya filthy animal!”

Home Alone

This will always be a Christmas classic :) Although the premise isn’t exactly realistic, does that really make it any less enjoyable?? My favorite part is definitely the “Rockin’ Around the Christmas” tree scene. I can’t explain why exactly, but I was always fascinated by the mechanics of it all. Wish I could have been that inventive as a kid, but then again…if my parents forgot me at home, I probably would have had a breakdown!

“This is a sick world we live in! Sick people!”

Jingle All the Way

I think you had to watch this as a kid to be able to enjoy it as an adult, because if you decide to give it a chance now you’ll probably think it’s rather stupid. BUT, if you were like me and watched it repeatedly on VHS each December, you’d love to quote the lines every so often :) Plus, it’s bittersweet seeing Phil Hartman in his ridiculous character on-screen…

Elf

Elf

I loved watching Will Ferrel on SNL “back in the day”, but unfortunately I have never been a big fan of his films. Elf is the exception :) Besides all of the hilarious lines, there’s also Zooey Deschanel and Peter Dinklage (yes, I love him!) to enjoy. Plus, it has a wonderful soundtrack!

While You Were Sleeping

Forget Christmastime…I can watch this movie any time of year. I love these types of 90s chick flicks: the simple yet entertaining plot lines, the lovable and relatable actresses, the ever-so-stylish high-waisted jeans (as seen on Bill Pullman here). But seriously, I love this movie :)

You've Got Mail You’ve Got Mail

Another 90s chick flick I absolutely adore. What’s not to like about Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks? I also love Sleepless in Seattle as well, but I think between the two, You’ve Got Mail is my fav, despite the fact that it is incredibly dated (I mean, I don’t even know anyone who uses AOL nowadays). And technically this movie isn’t limited to the holiday season, but it’s still one of those feel-good comedies I like to watch while I’m curled up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate :)

The Shop Around the Corner

This is actually the movie that You’ve Got Mail is a remake of (and they’re both based on a Hungarian play). Classic black-and-white film, Jimmy Stewart, Pride and Prejudice type love story: if you enjoy any of those three things, you’ll love this movie. Personally, I have a huge crush on Jimmy Stewart, and when my friend told me about this film I went home and watched it that very night. If you’ve seen either this film or You’ve Got Mail, it’s fun to compare the similar scenes that are in both of them. My favorite is the restaurant scene :)

“Buffalo gals won’t you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon…”

It’s A Wonderful Life

While we’re on the subject of Jimmy Stewart, I might as well talk about my absolute favorite Christmastime movie: It’s a Wonderful Life. There are so many things I adore about this film. Our new tradition is, right after Thanksgiving, to set up our Christmas tree and all of our decorations, and then eat Christmas cookies as we watch this movie. It’s a bit of a tear-jerker, but I always feel so incredibly happy after watching it!

We’re here!” “Wow, that really was just around the corner…” LOVE THIS SCENE

Love Actually

One of the best Christmas movies ever made (and another one that I watch all year round) is Love Actually. I love so many things about this film (with a couple of exceptions, like Billy Bob Thorton…gross): I love the way Hugh Grant says “Natalie”, I love Colin Firth’s story line, I love Emma Thompson!, and I especially love singing Bill Nighy’s character’s ridiculous Christmas song (and I do sing it, every time someone says, “I feel it in my fingers/toes/etc.). My best friends and I love watching this movie late at night as we squeal over the cheesy romance and laugh at the ridiculous British humor. If It’s a Wonderful Life is my all-time favorite Christmas film, Love Actually comes in at number 2!

What are your favorite holiday films? Did any of yours make my list?

11Dec2013

Announcing: Wuthering Heights Read-Along

Posted in Events & Read-Alongs, Novels, The Classics Club, Wuthering Heights by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

A few months ago I participated in a Jane Eyre read-along hosted by the lovely Kerry at Entomology of a Bookworm. It was my first time reading Charlotte Brontë’s beloved novel, and I came to adore it so much that I decided to give her sister Emily’s novel, Wuthering Heights, a second chance. The first and only time I read Wuthering Heights was in 2003, back when I was just a freshman in high school. At that time I enjoyed reading it, despite my dislike for the main characters. But as the years passed, I came to really despise them and I put off any desire of ever reading the novel again.

Fortunately, thanks to the skill and beauty of Charlotte Brontë’s writing, I have decided to give Wuthering Heights a well-deserved second chance. I know that Emily Brontë writes beautifully as well, and at least now that I know what to expect from the main characters, I will not be disappointed. Also, what is the new year for if not to start over fresh? ;) Now I am actually quite excited to revisit this tortured love story!

And to make it even more exciting, thanks to the encouragement of my good friend Jorie at Jorie Loves a Story, I have decided to turn this into a group read along! Whether you are like me and you want to give Wuthering Heights a second chance, or if you’ve never read it, OR (and especially) if this is your favorite novel of all time, I’d love for you to join in with me!

Here is the tentative schedule (I say tentative because we all know how hectic the holiday season can get!)

Week 1 (January 5-January 11): Chapters I-IX
Week 2 (January 12-January 18): Chapters X-XVII
Week 3 (January 19-January 25): Chapters XVIII-XXVI
Week 4 (January 26-February 1): Chapters XXVII-XXXIV (End)

Let me know in the comments if you would like to join in! I think January is going to be a wonderful time to read this novel :)

5Dec2013

‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly!

Posted in France, Holidays, Recipes by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

Last Monday (November 25th) we turned our apartment into our own personal winter wonderland! I know it was technically before Thanksgiving, and usually I always wait until after my favorite Thursday of the year before even listening to Christmas music, but this year I was aching to get into the holiday spirit! And besides, we had our Thanksgiving the Sunday before the actual day, so I wasn’t really breaking my own rules ;) Plus, we’re leaving for the States on December 17th, so we wanted at least 3 weeks to enjoy our Christmas decorations.

I am so happy we decided to decorate our living room with reds, whites, blacks, and dark browns, because it totally made it possible for us to put up a red-white-and-silver woodsy theme for our tree! The color red never used to be pleasing to me, but when I was a Junior in college, our apartment was furnished with this amazing red corduroy couch that I fell absolutely in love with. Ever since then, it was my dream to have one of my own, and when we moved to our new apartment, Matt found me one that even came with a matching ottoman! Major husband points :)

So last Monday evening, we went out and bought our first real tree together (last year we only had room for small, fake ones), and it’s so cute and adorable! French Christmas trees are pretty different from the giant and full ones I’m used to back in the States, but the one we found is perfect!

It’s always so hard to make a Christmas tree look as beautiful on camera as it looks in real life, but at least you can see most of our Disney ornaments from this picture ;)

Ornament

After setting up our tree, nativity scene (‘crèche’ en français), and various Christmas decorations, we ate our Thanksgiving leftovers (which is half the fun of Thanksgiving!), and then curled up to watch It’s a Wonderful Life (my favorite Christmas movie of all time!) and munch on some tasty Chocolate Peppermint Cookies I whipped up. These cookies were so delicious I’m sharing the recipe I found with you (including my alterations):

Mmm :)

I found the recipe here, but I made the following alterations:
• I did not use chocolate chips; instead I used 1 cup of Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips (the peppermint taste was strong)
• Judging from the picture, you can also see that I did not make the glaze the recipe calls for.

The cookies were a blend of crunchy and chewy, and with the Andes chips I used, the peppermint flavor was strong, so if you make this recipe yourself be careful not to add too much unless you want your cookies tasting like toothpaste ;)

Hope you all are having a wonderful December so far :) Since we’ve put up our Christmas decorations, we have only had one calamity happen–Solo got so excited when we came home Tuesday night that he ran into our tree and knocked it completely over, which caused several ornaments to break :( But don’t worry, after a bit of a time-out, he was forgiven…

Our tree has since been restored to its jolly Christmasey self :)

2Dec2013

Thanksgiving in France!

Posted in France, Holidays, Recipes by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am a little late in publishing this post, but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation…I have been rereading Catching Fire and Mockingjay and for any of you who have already read those novels, you can understand my procrastination. But tonight I’m abstaining from reading until I get this post up!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband’s family the Sunday before the actual big day, and for my first time solo-cooking/baking, everything turned out exceptionally well! Understandably, there were some dishes that weren’t a hit with everyone (pumpkin pie is a very American dish, after all), but there were also a couple that were nearly wiped clean! Here was our menu (for future Thanksgivings):

Turkey – I combined these two recipes (here & here), and although I was a little grossed out from handling raw turkey, the meat was perfectly moist and Matt has already told me I have to make it like that again next year. Putting the vegetables at the bottom of the tray made the entire kitchen smell like delicious turkey soup all morning :)
Mashed Potatoes – very simple recipe here. Mashed potatoes are one of the easiest things to make.
Browned Butter Sweet Potato Casserole – I made this recipe twice (we celebrated two different Thanksgiving meals last week). With my in-laws I didn’t brown the butter (mainly because I was pressed for time), and honestly I thought it tasted worlds better without that browned nutty-butter flavor, but it’s up to you. Everyone raved about the plainly melted butter version, so that is the one I’ll be sticking to for future Thanksgiving meals.
Green Bean Casserole – I take it back, this is the easiest thing to make since you don’t even need to follow a recipe. If you’ve ever had green bean casserole, it’s extremely simple to make yourself. We found fried onions at a Lidl here a few months back, and although they don’t have cream of mushroom soup here, they do have mushroom sauces, which probably made it taste better. This was the second favorite dish of the day, after the sweet potatoes.

Oh my, just looking at this photo makes me want to eat it all over again!

Apple and Onion Stuffing – Recipe here. Originally I wanted to make these into muffins, but I only had paper muffins cups and no muffin tin so the muffins wouldn’t hold. I think I was the only one who really liked this dish (I loved it, actually), so next year I may have to make two different types of stuffing…oh darn ;)
Cranberry Sauce – Because we couldn’t find fresh cranberries here (not very French apparently), I found a recipe using dried cranberries instead. It wasn’t my absolute favorite, but it was still decent. Next year I may have to have my mom mail over the good old-fashioned canned cranberry sauce (seriously though, I love that stuff).

I can’t tell you how many times someone got hit in the face with the football…

After stuffing ourselves with all that goodness, we moved on to a couple of activities! Thanksgiving Bingo, which was fun but next time I’ll have to find something that lasts longer than 2 minutes. It was a good vocabulary exercise for all the Frenchies though ;)

After that we played some “paper football” (I guess that’s what it’s called?). It was fun seeing everyone flick a paper triangle at each other’s faces! We had a little tournament, which neither Matt nor I won, despite the fact that no one else had ever played before. But I always love those types of competitive games :)

Overall we had a marvelous Thanksgiving celebration. I’m so grateful that I was able to share my favorite holiday with my French family! They were really open and welcoming of my traditions and hopefully they’ll want to celebrate with us again next year!

And now it’s Christmastime!! If I don’t end up procrastinating again, tomorrow I’ll be posting about all of the decorating we did last week :)

29Nov2013

30 Days of Thankfulness: Days 26-30

Posted in Faith, France, Holidays by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

I have been rather busy this week and every night, by the time I get home, I have barely enough energy to put myself into bed. So my apologies for slacking so much on my thankfulness posts. I am still thankful for many things! So here are the last 5 posts of the month, all wrapped up nice and neatly in one simple blog post:

Holidays that revolve around family – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter…it’s always fun to celebrate holidays surrounded by family (and family also includes close friends!). I’m once again thankful for being able to celebrate Christmas with my family in the States this year! It has been 2 years since I’ve seen most of them!!

Seasons – I LOVE seasons. In Florida our seasons are limited: there’s summer, hotter summer, and then if you live up north you’ll get a cold, dry winter for a couple of months in between a short autumn and an even shorter spring (literally less than 2 weeks). But where I live right now we have equal seasons! What a concept :) I just love seeing nature change constantly but slowly throughout the year.

Owning a car – You don’t really need a vehicle to get around over here in the Grenoble area, but it has been such a blessing to us to own a car this past year. We went for about 6 months or so without owning a car and I remember quite vividly having to walk to the train station every other week because half of the tram line was out of service during the summer. But now we have a car :) and we’re able to drive other people around as well, something that I have always loved doing since my freshman year at FSU when I was dependent on other people giving me rides. So thank You God for blessing us with a car!

Christmastime – I admit, we decorated our apartment for Christmas Monday night, the day after our first Thanksgiving celebration of the week. I will try to have that post up tomorrow hopefully :) I have already been listening to Christmas music since mid-November! I couldn’t stop myself after the first snow fell, but we abstained from buying a tree until this week so we could have 3 full weeks of Christmas decorations in our apartment before we leave for the States.

All of you readers! – And last, but certainly not least, I am very thankful for all of you who read and comment on my blog! I am thankful for the friends I have made and the conversations I have enjoyed having through the blogosphere. I’ve had this blog for nearly 2 years now, but until this year I didn’t really keep up with my posting but I am thankful for doing that now :)

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and a wonderful November! May the rest of your year continued to be filled with thankfulness and blessings :)

25Nov2013

30 Days of Thankfulness: Days 24 & 25

Posted in Faith, Holidays by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

thankfulness Yesterday and today I have been thankful for my family.

I know I already wrote posts for my husband and for my in-laws, but I am also very thankful for my loving and always supportive family :)

We are by no means a perfect family, but who would want that? No, our family is weird, quirky, sarcastic, and everything that is not normal! And I love that.

I’m thankful for my parents who have supported every single choice I have ever made, whether they agreed with it or not. There have been times that I will never forget when they gave me hope when I was feeling hopeless. They taught me the importance of working hard and not just expecting everything to come my way.

And I also have two great siblings who I miss seeing regularly. I remember all the under-the-table forts we used to make together and all the pretend games of school we would play. And even now, I love that we can tease each other about anything and everything (and we do!) :)

I’m very thankful that God has given me the family that I have, and I’m very very excited that I will be seeing them in less than a month for Christmas!!

At our wedding 2 years ago :)

24Nov2013

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 23

Posted in France, Holidays by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

thankfulness Today I am thankful for my in-laws.

Tomorrow (really, that’s already today for me), we’re having a Thanksgiving feast with my husband’s family. And it really is going to be a feast; if all goes as planned, we’ll have turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, cherry pie, and my mother-in-law made a zucchini casserole, too (so France could be represented as well!). I know that is a whole lot of food for 8 people, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I couldn’t part with anything on the menu.

I’m thankful for my in-laws for so many reasons, the least of which being that they wanted to be apart of our Thanksgiving celebration and that they graciously paid for all of the food (my mother-in-law said that she’d rather pay for it than cook it haha).

But besides that, my in-laws have lovingly welcomed me into their family. And I’m not only talking about my husband’s parents, but his brothers and my sister-in-law as well. All of them have done so much in helping me adjust to living in France; there’s no way I could adequately thank them for that. I would honestly be lost and miserable if Matt and I had chosen to live in another region of France, one that was on the other side of the country where we couldn’t spend time with his family like we’re able to here.

I can’t wait to celebrate my favorite American tradition with my favorite Frenchies tomorrow, and I hope they enjoy the day as well :) Now off to bed because I have to rise bright and early to butter up the turkey!

23Nov2013

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 22

Posted in Faith, France, Holidays by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

thankfulness Today I am thankful for food!

On Sunday we are having a Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws and therefore I spent a good couple of hours this afternoon getting all of my recipes in order and creating a shopping list for tomorrow.

I am so thankful that God has provided the food for our Thanksgiving feast, and more importantly that he has always provided food for myself and for my family. I am grateful that I have never had to go hungry, and I pray that God helps me to be more mindful and compassionate to those who do go hungry.

Furthermore, I am thankful that Jesus is our ultimate sustainer:

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” [John 6:35]

22Nov2013

Favorite Fictional Families

Posted in Disney, Holidays, Novels by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

Ahh November :) I might say that this is my favorite month in the whole year, but then October and March are all like, “What about us?” and then I get confused and forget about what I was supposed to be writing about…oh yes! November: one of my favorite months out of the year. And what do I love most about this month? Family time! There are plenty of opportunities to spend time with family. Combine Thanksgiving family time with all of the book reading I’ve been up to this autumn, and I started to think about some of my favorite fictional families, especially the ones I’d love to be apart of (for a day or so)!

So without further ado, here are my Four Favorite Fictional Families (yes, I love alliteration!):

The Weasleys (Harry Potter) – Who doesn’t love the Weasley family? (Except maybe those who haven’t read or seen any of the books or movies.) There’s so many of them that you’re practically guaranteed to like at least one of them ;)

Ginny was always my favorite. I loved being able to see her quietly mature throughout the series. In the beginning you hardly know she’s there but by the last couple of books she’s become a pretty active character, one who is no longer overshadowed by her older brothers.

Probably my favorite scene from all the films.

And then of course there are the twins. Classic pranksters through and through, but when someone they love needs help, they’re as reliable as anyone else. But of course, don’t expect them not to crack a few jokes here and there…

Then there’s Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the most lovable adoptive parents Harry could have ever dreamed of. They’re quirky (Arthur) and emotional (Molly) but I love them all the more for that!

And, oh…they all have red hair. Awesome points :)

The Blythes (Anne of Green Gables) – Out of all the families on my list, this is the one I would like to resemble the most. The Blythes are very entertaining and insightful, and they all love each other so dearly.

I really enjoyed the later sequels in the series, when Anne became more and more of a secondary character and we were able to read about all of the adventures her children had, and anyone who is familiar with Anne knows that any child of hers is bound to have some wild adventures…and talk a lot:

Jem always thought Mother had such a beautiful, joyous laugh . . . answering innumerable questions. “Mummy, how far is it from here to the sunset? …Mummy, why can’t we gather up the spilled moonlight? …Mummy, do the souls of dead people REALLY come back on Hallowe’en? …Mummy, what causes the cause? …Mummy, wouldn’t you rather be killed by a rattlesnake than a tiger, because the tiger would mess you up and eat you? …Mummy, what is a cubby? …Mummy, is a widow really a woman whose dreams have come true? Wally Taylor said she was…Mummy, what do little birds do when it rains HARD? …Mummy, are we REALLY a too romantic family?“

[Somewhat unrelated, but check out this genius blog–it’s Anne of Green Gables as told through Lego illustrations!]

The Matthews (Boy Meets World) – My favorite television show growing up; I wish they still made shows like this! And I hope the new spin-off is just as good :)

I remember staying up late with my sister to watch reruns on the Disney Channel when we were younger. And even now I’ll watch an occasional episode on YouTube (or spend well over an hour looking through Tumblr pictures to use for this post).

Eric was definitely my favorite Matthews family member. He’s so goofy it’s hard not to love him. “Good Lookin’ Guy” will always be the best personal theme song, and of course…who can forget about “Plays with Squirrels”?

And then there’s Cory, the character I probably relate the most to. He deals with real problems that every teenager can relate to, and his family is there to help him, support him, call him out on things. That’s what I love about them–they have real problems and they deal with them in realistic ways. And yes, this is a sitcom, but each of the characters are well-developed and serious when need be, including the parents; they aren’t absent or unimportant, and they help Cory make it through some tough issues.

The Robinsons (Meet the Robinsons) – In my opinion, this is the most underrated Disney movie out there. There isn’t anything I don’t like about this movie: it’s geeky, quirky, very original, there’s a dinosaur, jazz frogs, and at the center of it all, there’s a crazy family that loves each other.

My favorite thing about this dorky family is that they embrace failures, because it means that they tried. Man, I just love that philosophy. And their familial motto (penned by Walt Disney himself), is “Keep Moving Forward.”

meet-the-robinsons-disney-quote

Oh, and I also adore the soundtrack :)

Who are your favorite fictional families?

21Nov2013

30 Days of Thankfulness: Days 20 & 21

Posted in Uncategorized by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

thankfulness Today I am thankful for internet and for patience.

This week we were in the middle of switching our internet providers. Yesterday after I got home from work I tried to go online, but to no avail. Our internet was out all night, and we were told it might be out until the 23rd.

Writing this out now, it all seems so trivial…but I was pretty upset to be without internet, especially since that was all I wanted to do after getting home from a long day of work.

Obviously I needed a lesson in patience, something I am very grateful for, because clearly I have no self-control.

This isn’t one of those posts where I discuss a life lesson that I just experienced and I want to share it because I came out stronger on the other end. This is a post where I share something that I’m not doing so well in, but that I hope to become better at someday.

And I am thankful for that chance :)

Also, I am thankful for this video about delayed gratification, because this morning when I woke up to find our internet had been fixed already, I acted very much like Cookie Monster :)