Book Review: "On Christmas Eve"

Before you say anything, yes. I know. Christmas was a month ago (almost to the day, in fact!), and yet I'm just now reviewing this one? ...Frankly, I expected it to be a super quick read, and normally, it would have been, but having to catch up on Etsy orders, it took me until just now to finish it. No judging.

Anyway, that aside, this past NaNoWriMo season I decided I might like to take a crack at writing some children's books sometime (no, it wasn't my NaNoWriMo project this year), but that it's been so long since I've read one, I've almost forgotten what children's literature looks like. So, I harkened back to one of my favorite old mainstays of children's lit: Ann M. Martin, author of the beloved Babysitters Club series (of which I used to read practically religiously, and may even give a re-read to in the not-so-distant future). Truth be told, I actually was unaware she'd written anything outside of the Babysitters Club series/franchise, so when I learned by chance that she's actually written quite a few other books, I was intrigued, and this particular book happened to be the first one I was able to track down.

It's hard to really give a proper synopsis of this book without giving the entire plot away, but in a nutshell, our main character, a little girl named Tess, has a best friend (Sarah) whose best friend's father is dying of cancer. As this story takes place back in the 1950s, children were not yet allowed to visit patients in the hospital, and as such, Sarah progressively begins spending more and more time with Tess's family, even as the holidays approach. She remains ever hopeful that her father will be home in time for Christmas, even though the odds of that happening become more and more bleak as time marches on. Tess does everything in her power to try and keep Sarah in good spirits, including making sure she's included in her own holiday festivities (which she normally is anyway -- these two have been joined at the hip practically since birth), and at one point, even plan out a Christmas 'concert' to put on in the parking lot of the hospital, right outside her father's window, singing all his favorite carols.

Sarah's father is allowed to come home for Christmas -- coming home from the hospital "for the last time." Tess remains optimistic that perhaps this means he's getting better, and that this is the end of his medical woes, but Sarah knows more than she's letting on. Still, ever the optimist, Tess this whole time has been devising her own secret plan to stay up on Christmas Eve so that she can meet Santa Claus, face to face. Initially she has her own motives for wanting to do so, but when the time comes, she has only one Christmas wish: for Sarah's dad to get well again.....but there's some things that even Santa can't fix.

This story brought back an old childhood myth I had long forgotten about: the story about how at midnight, on Christmas Eve, animals are able to speak. (I always did wonder if this was true, and if I had gotten around to reading this book a little bit sooner, I probably would've stayed up at midnight this past Christmas Eve to see if my dog could speak at midnight. No hurt in hoping, anyway. ;)) Even as an adult, just reading about that even in this story, I got ridiculously excited and swept up in the hope that maybe this myth just might be true. Forget about meeting Santa -- I'm way more all about the prospect of talking to pets!

Anyway, this story is definitely one of hope, on many levels, and is definitely one that any child who's ever lost a parent (or any other relative, for that matter) to cancer might be able to relate to in not only the loss itself, but in how it changes and affects your life afterwards, and forces you to grow up way too fast. This really hit home, and I commend Ann M. Martin for going there. But I ALSO commend her for including a point where Sarah begins to find joy and hope in her life once again, even in the face of loss. I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

Book Review: "Let It Snow - Three Holiday Romances"

I'm sure you guys all remember my Lauren Myracle phase, where I barrelled through just about every book she wrote in a few months' time. ...Except this one, because our library's copy was ALWAYS checked out. Well, I finally got a hold of it (a couple of years later), and while I was anticipating it to be your typical, run of the mill collection of short stories, it does fit that bill...but more.

You see, these aren't just any holiday-themed short stories. You don't realize it going into it on the first one, but every detail is important, as all three of these stories are intertwined and connected (and pulled together especially at the end of the third story). It's done VERY expertly and really cutely, in my opinion. I found myself starting to fangirl every time the stories started to crossover on each other and link together, and it happens with increasing intensity the further it goes on, until you just feel like you know this close-knit small community in full. A nice quality to embody in a Christmas-themed story, if you ask me. Ranking this one 4 stars!

Christmas Special Review #3: "A Dennis the Menace Christmas"

Let me go into this one saying that I was very skeptical of if this movie would even be any good or not, since I know how spinoffs often go. But this one, thankfully, isn't so bad. Dennis is still tormenting Mr. Wilson, as always. But as usual, his heart is in the right place. All he wants to do is bring the holiday spirit to Mr. Wilson, especially since he got assigned to him for a Secret Santa project. (And who could stay mad at that cute little face? The actor playing Dennis is adorable!)

The movie goes on to take on an A Christmas Carol turn with the whole Christmas past, present and future. Except this time, it shows Mr. Wilson as a child (who acted EXACTLY like Dennis), present, and future.....which shows how bad off Dennis's parents will be if Mr. Wilson forces them to pay for all the damages Dennis has incurred. Also, what will happen to Dennis.

So, the ending is fairly predictable....yet, at the same time, it's a major tear-jerker. (Either that, or I'm more of a sap than I thought.) Especially given that this is a sequel spin-off, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. Not perfect, but pretty good. 4 out of 5 stars.

Christmas Special Review #2: "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish"

For this second review, I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback that this one even exists. I mean, Richie Rich has never exactly been that popular of a character, has he? Whose idea was it to make a Christmas special revolving around him? Oh well, I digress.

The first thing that struck me about this special (and I know that I'm biased here in my observation, so pardon me) is that it almost feels like a cross-bred hybrid of Arthur and Eloise. The over-indulged, spoiled rich kid thing seems to run in the veins of both those films, so it's no wonder I made such a comparison. Add into the fact that Richie has an old English butler, and it definitely throws even more Arthur into the mix. Anyway...

I was expecting to take major issue with this one in assuming that there would be far too much emphasis placed on money (and its importance) to where the true reason for Christmas gets lost in the mix. This was not the case. But, the main plot in this film is that Richie has his own personal mad scientist who's invented a wish-granting machine. Feeling a bit despondant and depressed that given day, Richie wishes that he'd never been born. The world without Richie is a far different place.... and one thing I took issue with is that evidently, Richie is the only reason his parents stayed together in the regular world, as in this alternate universe, all his parents do is bicker like cats and dogs about every little thing and don't even seem to like each other and are constantly on the verge of a break up, so it seems. Which begs the question - did they only marry because of a surprise baby, perhaps? Who knows.

But unlike in many of these Christmas specials that do the whole It's A Wonderful Life thing, Richie's not dead, nor is he ghost-like. He can interact with people and things just fine. Just...nobody knows who the hell he is. This struck me as a bit weird, since if he'd never been born, then how is he existing? But then again, I suppose if they'd just poofed him entirely out of existence, there'd be no film, so there ya go. There's a lot of odd twists and turns, like if Richie hadn't been born, apparently his butler would've been in a hair metal band called Root Canal... (yeah, I don't know either.)

The film is another one that ends on a Gift of the Magi note. (Seems to be a common theme that runs throughout these, doesn't it?) Overall, it's not a horrible film, but it's a very easily forgettable one. 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

Christmas Special Review #1: "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas"

For many people, Disney and Christmas go hand in hand just as much as Rankin and Bass. (For you youngsters who don't get that part, Rankin and Bass are the company that gave you such specials as Rudolph.) There were always Disney Christmas specials on around the house when I was growing up, so I was excited to find out that new ones are evidently still being made. One such special being Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas.

I wasn't sure if it was going to be one long movie, or a compilation of the old Christmas cartoons they've done over the years, but it was neither of those. It was broken down into three short stories. Kelsey Grahmer (read as: Fraiser) narrates this baby in a beautifully poetic way. Likewise, the animation style is also very lovely, and even a little reminiscent of the animation techniques of old. (This is something I find myself yearning more and more for as an adult, now that I'm in a world populated by Pixar kids movies.) It also seems to try and channel the humor style of the old-school Disney cartoons... but on this front, it does tend to fall a little short of the mark and comes off as a bit unnecessarily hyperactive. But, all throughout, there's many subtle nods towards the old-school Disney Christmas cartoons, especially in the first short. They've got everything from Chip and Dale on their little Christmas train inside their tree, to Huey, Dewey and Louis all being obsessed with sledding, and even a brief nod to that old short where Donald ends up in a snowbank, looking like a snowman. The younger kids who haven't seen the old cartoons don't even get these, but for the grownups who grew up with them, it does leave a sense of warm fuzzies, which I figure is exactly why Disney threw them in (as it's Disney's forte).

The first cartoon is a take on the sort of cliched plot of "I wish every day were Christmas". It had been such a wonderful day that Donald's nephews wished every day to be Christmas... and the Christmas star granted them their wish. Which, just like in every other cartoon that's ever used this plot, starts out great for them, but they quickly grow sick of it and just want to regain their normal lives. There's bits of this one that even left me uncomfortable as an adult watching this, so I can only imagine what it must be like through the eyes of a child.

The second cartoon is a Goofy and Max one. It confused me at first, because I thought they'd inexplicably aged Max down, but then when I found out the plot for this one....yeah, I can see where they'd kind of have to, because it would've been a little weird to have a teenager going through the "Santa's not real?" plot. But of course, since this is one for the kiddies, Santa wins out in the end and is real. I'm not going to lie though, this one made me cry as soon as Goofy says his Christmas wish every year is the same thing, and he always gets it. Max asks what's that? And Goofy says, "Your happiness." (Oh jeez...I'm tearing up again just remembering it.)

The third (and last) cartoon in the special is a Mickey and Minnie one (finally! I had been wondering where, or if, Mickey would show up, seeing as the name of the special is MICKEY'S Once Upon A Christmas, after all...) and is basically another take on Gift of the Magi. As you can imagine, this one is heart-wrenching to watch. I found myself asking though, how on earth are we supposed to believe that Mickey and Minnie are that poor? They're the stars of Disney, and yet they're living like paupers while Goofy and Donald are well off to do? Is that how poor this economy has become, where we've come to not even question why Mickey and Minnie are living almost like hobos? That.....seems wrong. I don't know. Random observations. Anyway, as if it weren't hard enough to watch on its own, the tree-lot burning scene is downright traumatizing to watch, I don't care how old you are. But, it's still very sweet at the end, and more tears were shed.

Overall, for a modern Christmas special, this one's actually not too bad. I wouldn't sit super young kids through it....maybe start around 6 or 7 and up. It's likely to scare kids at parts who're younger than that. But apart from that, I'll rate this one 4 out of 5 stars.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It's the holiday season, and along with the endless decorating, baking, traveling, and shopping that comes along with it, also comes along a much simpler, almost guilty pleasure of mine... Christmas specials! In a bid to bring more readers to my blog, I figured I'll review as many Christmas specials as possible. Some are ones I've seen a million times over; other ones I'm seeing for the very first time on TV this year. Why, you ask? Eh.... too much time on my hands, why else? ;) Still though, read and watch along!

Book Review: "Knit The Season (A Friday Night Knitting Club Novel #3)"

Knit the Season is the final installment of the Friday Night Knitting Club trilogy by Kate Jacbons...and what a fine end to a series if ever I saw one. She gives our beloved characters a lovely send off.

As with many series finales, this book was writen to tie up loose ends. And that it does. Dakota is trying to find her footing in life as everything else around her seems to be changing in one way or another. As she's adjusting to all these shifts, she's still mourning the loss of her mother. As she prepares for this year's holiday season, it seems everybody has a story to share with her about her mother, all stories she'd never heard before, and all of which shed new light on what kind of person Georgia was. The little girl who thought she knew her mother better than anybody quickly finds out that there was quite about about the type of person her mother was that she didn't know about at all.

Given the twist endings of the first two books, I was on pins and needles (literally needles...I was knitting while reading the majority of this book) in tripidation of something bad happening at the end of this book. Especially with Gran slowing down, I kept fearing she might be the next Walker to go or something. I was relieved to not only find out she wasn't, but that there's no tragic twist ending on this book. Rather, the opposite.

Personally I love these books and wish this weren't the end of them, but who knows....maybe she'll write more of them someday! 5 out of 5 rating!