Holiday Special 2024

Happy Holidays to you! Whether it's Christmas or some other special happening, I hope it's been a warm and wonderful celebration. Here's a little holiday-themed wrap-up of the festivities I engaged in!

Handmade and Digital Cards

I didn't quite hit the amount of holiday cards I wanted to sell (I only got orders for 9/10), but I still made very many in the end - 19 total! I hope everyone who received a card could feel the love I put into it. To share the spirit of the holidays with friends around the world, I also made a printable version of this year's design ("Milky Kitten") - I'll be keeping this around on my Itch page in case anyone wishes to get them for future holiday seasons!

This isn't even all of them!

Holiday Twitch Streams

I did my best to share some cute and Holiday-ish games and art on my Twitch! Some highlights include my full playthrough of Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams (I showcased both the PS3 and Japanese-exclusive PS2 versions in one go!) and my first time trying The Polar Express game for PS2 (which was.... not great...). I actually finished playing The Polar Express offline and it continued to be awful, but what's not bad was the adorable art I got to do in my final stream last week! Thanks to everyone who's joined in any of my streams this year - they really brought me joy!

Here's Santawawa, as requested by my friend Argo!

IRL Festivities

So many decorations were viewed across various malls, tasty treats were indulged in, plus Chris and I witnessed a fluffy fake snow falling on a warm evening. Some highlights include a cozy little housewarming for a wonderful friend, the various festive drinks we tried (such as local coffee shop Philz' "Winter Bliss" mocha, which was deliciously spiced), meeting The Fandom Baker at a maker event and gushing about how much I loved her treats (we also picked up a few cookies, such as an adorable gingerbread, and scrumptious candied pecans), and the return of CALA (aka Comic Arts Los Angeles, one of my favorite events ever).

We met Holiday Pikachu and Eevee at a special event and took a pic with Pika!!

25 Days of Christmas Marathon

Every year, I see a Christmas/Holiday-themed movie every day 'til the 25th! Brief thoughts for each movie follow - you'll see some repeats from last year too.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - This was on in the background as I wrapped gifts to family this year! The animation is so adorable and memorable, but the story is NOT great!!

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town - Sweet as always! Nice stop motion and hand-drawn animation.

Jingle All the Way - Schwarzenegger: "PUT THE COOKIE DOWN." Chris: "Hey, he said the thing!"

How the Grinch Stole Christmas - The '00 one with Jim Carrey as the Grinch. I'll always have a fondness for this version of the story because of the nostalgic memories I have going to see it when it first released. That was a magical Christmas, and I feel a little bit of that magic anytime I re-watch.

Eloise at Christmastime - I shared this with Chris after a very childhood joy-filled day. Very Christmas-y! Very joyful and cute!!

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas - Soooo Christmas-y! The songs remain in my head for days after I watch it, and that's not a bad thing.

A Christmas Carol ('71 Animated) - Click the link to watch a beautiful, haunting animated rendition of the classic tale! I greatly enjoyed viewing this short, it'll definitely be one I revisit in the future. Excellent animation.

Krampus - Perfect for Krampusnacht! I feel like comedy-plus-horror typically falls flat for me, but I very much enjoy this movie. Excellent monster design and surprise animation sequence, with lots of funny twists and turns.

The Holiday - I don't like RomComs; this one is okay. I appreciated the moments of the British lady making friends with the elderly neighbor, but that's it.

Happiest Season - A seasonal RomCom without most of the things I hate about them!! A story about love and acceptance while being true to yourself.

A Child's Christmas in Wales - A surprisingly cozy story told from the perspective of a grandpa reflecting on his childhood. Chris and I happened upon this a couple years ago, and when looking for movies to watch together, revisited this and were pleased that it remained as charming as we remembered.

Moomins and the Winter Wonderland - I watched this for the first time last year and utterly adored how magical and cozy it was. I love Moomins very much, so seeing the combined Midwinter and Christmas stories into a movie makes me happy.

Elf - I saw a life-size cardboard cutout of Buddy at someone's front door and that was my sign to watch this again. I appreciate how light-hearted and silly it is!

Noelle - Much cuter than expected! I appreciate how the purpose of the story was all about breaking tradition, and thought all the little Christmas-y lingo interjected into the dialogue was fun.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - Not the same one I saw last year - this is the '00 animated version - still cute and full of fantasy!! It's clearly meant to be for a direct to home video release, but I do like the slightly different takes on the story from the Rankin Bass version.

A Charlie Brown Christmas - The only good thing about these shorts are the pretty backgrounds, gentle music, and Snoopy. I don't like any of these kids!!!

Annabelle's Wish - So charming in story and generally decent animation. This lil' movie always reminds me of my awesome Cowgirl Aunt Sid since she got it for my family as a gift when it first released. Watch for a little sweetness and talking animals!!

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - I actually started watching Home Alone 3 because I'd never seen it before, but about 40 minutes in realized 3 wasn't actually a Christmas movie... so I switched over to my favorite movie in the series, the second entry. Its silliness is a nice pick-me-up.

Red One - More like "Big Yawn," it was strangely charmless. Neat that they tried to include some mythical creatures and animal characters buuuut the writing and action just weren't interesting.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey - Really cute lil' magical journey, though it didn't feel specifically Christmas-y. A colorful and fun watch even so, with great choreography and catchy tunes.

He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special - I was never a fan of the original series, but this special is so wacky and lighthearted that it makes for decent background noise. Skeletor's "I AM NOT NICE!!" line echoes in my mind.

Beethoven's Christmas Adventure - Ooogh this was a bad one. Poorly written and really only meant for fans of the Beethoven franchise (of which I'm not), but at least there were animals to look at??

The Christmas Dragon - I love Christmas, and I love dragons, but for a movie with a title like this it barely had much of either!!! Awful even as background noise, I don't recommend it whatsoever.

Frosty Returns - I'd never seen this bizarre little tv movie from the 90's before now, and that's probably because it's... not very good?? The animation in this looked like knock-off Charlie Brown in aesthetic - not as appealing as the original cartoon's.

The Santa Clause - This one is considered a classic, but everyone is so mean!! Why!!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas - One of Rankin & Bass' 2D animated movies. Short and memorable, I can't watch this without the music playing in my head for days afterward... but at least those songs are enjoyable!

Klaus - You can tell this movie was a labor of love from its beautiful animation alone. Heartwarming and pleasant to see!

Robin Robin - Gorgeous, colorful stop motion short with whimsical music and charm off the charts. Very Christmas-y!

Dolly Parton's Christmas at Home - You can click the title to watch Dolly sing Christmas carols with her family and friends in this special from her '90s show. Yeehaw!!!!

A Boy Called Christmas - A fantasy story filled with magic and the power of hope! Love to see creatures!

That Christmas - I went into this one not really expecting much, and overall it was a very sweet and touching tale! I appreciate the message of the real spirit of Christmas being a time of comfort spent best with people you love, and that everyone spends it a little differently.

The Christmas Chronicles - It's fine. Santa's weird, the story was predictable. The elf designs are almost good, but lean more into uncanny strange with their large eyes and teeth.

Arthur Christmas - A surprisingly nice movie. Very cute & enjoyable story, Arthur's character was a delight! The power of making others happy is a wonderful story to tell.

One Magic Christmas - I was expecting something more lighthearted than the story this presented?? It had a super cool cowboy angel in it, but otherwise this was more sad than enjoyable.

The Muppet Christmas Carol - I admittedly don't care for the Muppets as much as most others seem to (not that I mind them), but I do enjoy their rendition of the Christmas Carol. Uplifting music and beautifully shot cinematography in a world that perfectly blends puppets and life actors!

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas - I have a little nostalgia for this one, but it's definitely fine to just have on as bg noise. Short and simple.

The Polar Express - My Christmas Eve tradition with Chris! After playing the video game for the first time this year, I was ready to recall how the story ACTUALLY goes... sans the atrocious gameplay.

Next Stop: End of the Year!