Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is actually Holiday Reads (Books you love reading during the holiday season.).  I really did try to do this week’s topic, but I honestly couldn’t think of ten books that I like to read during the holiday season.  I’m not a big re-reader anyway so A Christmas Carol is the only book that really came to mind aside from children’s books, which I haven’t read since my son outgrew most of my favorites.  So yeah, I ended up going rogue this week because even though I’m not a big re-reader, it has always been a tradition in my family to watch lots of Christmas movies together every year and I have a list of perennial favorites.  The holidays just aren’t complete if we haven’t watched all of these.  Some are childhood favorites that I just can’t resist watching every year and some are newer favorites, basically movies that my son loves that have been incorporated into our yearly tradition.

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10 Favorite Movies to Watch During the Holiday Season

1. NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION

I’m sure there are some that find this movie tacky and appalling and completely inappropriate for Christmas, but I’m not one of them.  This is my all-time favorite Christmas movie.  I’ve watched it every year since it came out in 1989, practically have the entire movie memorized, and I still laugh at it just as much now as I did when I first watched it all those years ago.

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2. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

I enjoy the original version of this film too, but this one from 1994 starring Richard Attenborough, Mara Wilson, and Elizabeth Perkins is the one my family watches every year.  I’ve always loved the premise of this story, where a lawyer and a six-year old girl must prove that a man claiming to be Santa Claus is the real thing, and we all love Mara Wilson from Mrs. Doubtfire  and Matilda, so this film is a great fit for us.

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3. HOME ALONE

Like Christmas Vacation, Home Alone is a movie that I’ve watched every year since it first came out and it’s still just as funny now as it was the first time I saw it.  Both Home Alone and Home Alone 2 (mainly because of my obsession with NYC) are staples in my family’s holiday movie lineup.

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4. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Now I have to confess that until I got married, I had never watched this film.  It’s my husband’s favorite though so he introduced me to it and we have watched it together every year since.  It truly is a classic.

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5. A CHRISTMAS STORY

Talk about your timeless classics.  It never gets old watching poor little Ralphie trying to convince everyone that a Red Ryder BB gun is the perfect Christmas gift for him.  “I triple dog dare you” to watch it!

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6. THE SANTA CLAUSE

This is another of my son’s favorites that has made it into our holiday viewing every year.  He loves all three of the movies, but the first one is my favorite.

This is yet another of my son’s favorites (He loves Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie) and Tim Burton’s films always fascinate me anyway, so I’m game to watch it every year, especially because the animation is so impressive.

8. A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Several versions of the classic Dickens tale get a lot of play in my house every year at Christmas.  I have a soft spot for Mickey’s Christmas Carol and the Disney version pictured above, but I also really like the version where Patrick Stewart plays Scrooge.

9. CHILDHOOD FAVORITES

I know these aren’t actually movies, but it’s my list so whatever.  Anyway, I don’t know about you guys, but I still love to watch all of my old childhood favorites.  Charlie Brown and the Grinch are my favorites, but I also love Rudolph and Frosty.  Sometimes I’m the only one in my house who watches these, but they just give me such nostalgia which is a huge part of the holiday season for me.

10. ALL THE HALLMARK CHANNEL MOVIES!

Yeah, this one is all me too and it’s a recent obsession going back just a couple of years.  I pretty much have the Hallmark Channel on in the background every day from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. My husband just rolls his eyes at me, but I love the warm fuzzy vibe that all of the Hallmark holiday films have.  Plus it’s fun when some of my favorite actors pop up in the occasional film.  So far this season I’ve seen Liz Mitchell from Lost, Elizabeth Henstridge from Marvel: Agents of SHIELD, and Lacy Chabert from Party of Five.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Personality Traits I Love to See in Book Characters.  I struggled with this topic a bit, not because it’s a difficult one, but because it reminds me so much of one we did a couple of months ago about book characters we would like to be besties with.  I really had to put my thinking cap on to make sure this post didn’t just read as a carbon copy of that one since the traits I love to see in characters are, for the most part, the same traits I want to see in my besties.

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Personality Traits I Love to See in Book Characters

1. Tenacity – 

I always admire people who are determined and just never give up, no matter badly the odds may be stacked against them.  A character like this will always draw me into a book and have me cheering them on.  The protagonist, Tierney James, in Kim Liggett’s new novel, The Grace Year, is such a character. Her resourcefulness and her will to survive just impressed me so much.

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2. Independence – 

I love a character who can make it on their own.  They don’t need to rely on anyone else to carry them.  They take control of their own destiny and take responsibility for themselves in every way.  My favorite lone wolf, Arya Stark, from the A Song of Ice and Fire series immediately comes to mind.  I can’t think of many other characters who are more independent than she is.

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3.  Nurturing – 

As much as I adore those lone wolf characters who don’t need anyone else, I also have a soft spot for those characters who take it upon themselves to nurture those around them. Molly Weasley from the Harry Potter series comes to mind.  I always adored how she treated Harry like he was one of her own sons, knitting him holiday sweaters and sending him care packages.  She’s one of those characters who just makes me smile every time she pops up in a scene.

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4. Intelligent – 

I hope this doesn’t make me sound snobbish, but I’m not a fan of dumb characters.  I prefer to read about characters who shows signs of intelligence, whether it’s book smarts or street smarts.  And not those who are completely arrogant about how smart they are, but just those who use their brains to problem solve and advance the storyline.  To borrow from Harry Potter again, Hermione Granger comes to mind.

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5. Sarcastic – 

I live for snark and sarcasm in my fictional characters.  The more capable they are of trading verbal barbs with a sparring partner, the more I love them.  Beatrice and Benedict from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing are aces in my book when it comes to sarcasm and witty banter.

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6. Selfless – 

I also have a major soft spot for characters who are willing to give of themselves and make sacrifices in order to give others a chance.  Cilksa, the protagonist from Cilka’s Journey, comes to mind here.  When she secures a somewhat cushy position at the hospital in the prison where she is serving time, she risks getting into serious trouble sneaking supplies and extra food back to her cell block mates to compensate for how little they’re given compared to her.

8. Introverted/Socially Awkward – 

These characters are the ones who are nearest and dearest to my heart because they’re basically me, lol.  Charlotte Gorman, Harry Potter fan extraordinaire and the protagonist of The Accidental Beauty Queen, immediately comes to mind.  This character is so adorably awkward and I just loved everything about her.

9. Sense of Humor – 

I love a character who can make me laugh.  Monty from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue stands out in this respect. I always love how he manages to find something funny to say, no matter how serious of a situation he finds himself in.  He doesn’t look on the bright side; instead, he looks on the funny side.

10. Loyal – 

I have a soft spot for those characters who remain loyal to those they care about.  I find characters like this just so honorable.  Brienne of Tarth from the A Song of Ice and Fire series is who I think of when I think of loyalty. She’s the ultimate oathkeeper.