13 Nights of Halloween 2015

Night One – Saturday, October 19
The Middle Mini-Marathon (7:00 – 8:30 AM ET/PT)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (8:30 – 10:30 AM ET/PT)
Batman (10:30 AM- 1:30 PM ET/PT)
Batman Returns (1:30 – 4:30 PM ET/PT)
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (4:30 – 6:25 PM ET/PT)
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (6:25 – 8:00 PM ET/PT)
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story OF TERROR! (8:00 – 8:30 PM ET/PT)
Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. (8:30 – 10:30 PM ET/PT) 
Batman Begins (10:30 PM -12:30 AM ET/PT)

Night Two – Sunday, October 20
Alice in Wonderland (7:00 – 9:30 AM ET/PT)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (9:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET/PT)
Coraline (12:00 – 2:00 PM ET/PT)
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2:00 – 3:55 PM ET/PT)
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (3:55 – 5:30 PM ET/PT)
Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. (5:30 – 7:30 PM ET/PT)
Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story OF TERROR! (7:30 – 8:00 PM ET/PT)
The Addams Family (8:00 – 10:00 PM ET/PT)
Addams Family Values (10:00 PM – 12:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Three – Monday, October 21
Alice in Wonderland (6:00 – 8:30 PM ET/PT)
Twilight (8:30 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Four – Tuesday, October 22
Pretty Little Liars marathon (11:00 AM – 8:00 PM ET/PT)
Pretty Little Liars Halloween Episode Premiere (8:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Series Premiere (9:00 – 10:00 PM ET/PT)

Night Five – Wednesday, October 23
Pretty Little Liars Halloween Episode (5:30 – 6:30 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Encore (6:30 – 7:30 PM ET/PT)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 (7:30 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Teen Witch (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Six – Thursday, October 24
Pretty Little Liars Halloween special (12:00 – 1:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Episode 1 (1:00 – 2:00 PM ET/PT)
Men in Black (6:30 – 8:45 PM ET/PT) & (8:45 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Teen Wolf (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Seven – Friday, October 25
Death Becomes Her (7:00 – 9:00 PM, ET/PT)
Beetlejuice (9:00 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Eight – Saturday, October 26
Teen Wolf Too (7:30 – 9:30 AM ET/PT)
Teen Wolf (9:30 – 11:30 AM ET/PT)
Teen Witch (11:30 AM – 1:30 PM ET/PT)  
The Goonies (1:30 – 3:30 PM ET/PT)
Beetlejuice (4:00 – 6:00 PM ET/PT)
The Addams Family (6:00 – 8:00 PM ET/PT)
Addams Family Values (8:00 – 10:00 PM ET/PT)
Hocus Pocus (10:00 PM- 12:00 AM ET/PT)
The Craft (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Nine – Sunday, October 27
Dr. Seuss’ Halloween is Grinch Night (8:00 -8:30 AM ET/PT)
The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow (8:30 – 9:00 AM ET/PT)
Scooby Doo (9:00 – 11:00 AM ET/PT)
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM ET/PT)
Monster House (1:00 – 3:00 PM ET/PT)
Matilda (3:00 – 5:00 PM ET/PT)
The Addams Family (5:00 – 7:00 PM ET/PT)
Addams Family Values (7:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT)
Hocus Pocus (9:00- 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Episode 1  (11:00 PM – 12:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Ten – Monday, October 28
Monster House (5:30 – 7:30 PM ET/PT)
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (7:30 – 9:25 PM ET/PT)
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (9:25 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Coraline (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Eleven – Tuesday, October 29
Pretty Little Liars Halloween episode (6:00 – 7:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Episode 1 (7:00 – 8:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Episode 2 (8:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (9:00 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Episodes 1 & 2 (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Twelve – Wednesday, October 30
The Goonies (11:00 AM – 1:30 PM ET/PT)
Death Becomes Her (1:30 – 3:30 PM ET/PT)
The Craft (3:30 – 5:30 PM ET/PT)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (5:30 – 7:30 PM ET/PT)
Twilight (7:30 – 10:00 PM ET/PT)
Ravenswood Episode 2 (10:00 – 11:00 PM ET/PT)
Death Becomes Her (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Night Thirteen – Thursday, October 31
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM ET/PT)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze (1:00 – 3:00 PM ET/PT)
Scooby Doo (3:00 – 5:00 PM ET/PT)
Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (5:00 – 7:00 PM ET/PT)
The Addams Family (7:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT)
Addams Family Values (9:00 -11:00 PM ET/PT)
The Others (12:00 – 2:00 AM ET/PT)

Twelfth Week of Christmas: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!”

The day has finally arrived! After waiting all year long it’s once again December 25th! I hope this blog post finds you happy and healthy and enjoying your day so far.

This past week was the final week of advent. I finished up some Christmas shopping (it’s a good thing the holiday is here because I kept thinking of stuff to get people and kept buying), went ice skating in the city (see image), and got started on the Christmas festivities!

Tuesday was my last day of work for both jobs and I had a mini-Christmas party at both. The first we went and got drinks and relaxed before we took the rest of the week off, and the second we exchanged gifts at the end of the day as we were heading home. It was nice to see other people excited about the holidays besides just me!

Yesterday was Christmas Eve and my family and I continued our holiday traditions by going out to breakfast in the morning and then bowling. In the evening we went to Christmas Eve mass and my family came over for dinner and we all sat around the tree opening presents. That is probably one of my favorite parts of Christmas. The build-up to the big day. Obviously as I’ve gotten older, it’s not quite as exciting since I’ve been desensitized with the reality that life goes on (depressing, isn’t it?), but I still try each year to get as excited as I can for the holiday, and I think that makes all the difference.

Well, it’s been quite a ride as we countdown to another Christmas. I want to personally thank you all for stopping by the blog this Christmas season and celebrating the spirit of the holidays with me. Each year the blog gets more and more visitors and this year is no exception, so thank you.

Merry Christmas!

Book Review: “My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories”

This anthology of young adult fiction is compiled with short stories written by some of the most popular YA authors of our time. A quick read, this book is perfect for any teen (or adult!) who likes a good holiday romance, but recognizes how cliché it sounds. Edited by Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and Isla and the Happily Ever After this collection is current and vibrant and perfect for the holiday season.

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell
Miss Rowell has certainly made a name for herself with books like Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. This story is another brilliant addition to her collection of YA fiction. Told over the course of several New Year’s, it tells the story of two best friends who admit their love to each other. It’s a perfect way to start the anthology.

The Lady and the Fox by Kelly Link
The book took a sharp turn into the weird with this one. Fox is the story of a girl in Thailand whose mother is in prison. She celebrates the holidays with her godmother and meets a mysterious man she falls in love with. I’m sure there is some sort of literary brilliance in here somewhere but I just couldn’t find it.

Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Peña
This is probably one of the best stories in this book. From the beginning, it’s obvious Peña’s two main characters will get together in the end, but the story is much more than that. Homesickness is a key theme here for both characters.

Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me by Jenny Han
Han plunges full-on into Christmas town with this story. A girl (another Asian girl, could these authors be screaming about diversity any more? — yet they all seem to celebrate the western, pop culture version of Christmas) is Santa’s adoptive daughter who falls for one of his elves. It’s an interesting concept, but that’s about the extent of this story. It’s a concept and not a full-fledged story.

It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins
The editor herself steps in for this love story. It’s a cute tale of two people who are victims of circumstance, but I couldn’t help but be distracted by all the uneventful events. There was a lot of “we moved the furniture,” “he carried the tree,” “I made cocoa.” It was a nice story, but too much detail in some areas.

Your Temporary Santa by David Leviathan
Diversity is prominent once again in this story about a gay boy who asks his Jewish boyfriend to be Santa Claus for his little sister on Christmas Eve. It’s a nice, sweet story, but the boy who dons the Santa suit is a little too clingy for a teenager in his first relationship. But that doesn’t distract from the story too much.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black
This story starts off strong. While diversity is once again shown, it’s represented in a way that acknowledges what other cultures celebrate alongside Christmas. Hanna and her friends decide to throw a New Year’s Eve party to out her friend’s cheating boyfriend, but the ending and the boy that Hanna ends up with is drastically different than how to story starts.

What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman
This one was a good one. City girl Sophie Roth is displaced into the middle of nowhere (“Bumfuckville,” according to the story) for college and finds that she’s the outsider. She meets another outsider and the result is beautiful. The only negative thing I have about this story is that the romance seemed a bit forced.

Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire
The title alone is great. Vaughn is a trickster who lets one of his tricks go too far by burning down a church’s barn. While paying for his mistakes, he gets to know his crush better and discovers that she’s not everything she seemed. 

Welcome to Christmas, CA by Kiersten White
Imagine celebrating Christmas in the desert. That’s what you basically have with this story. It’s dreary and depressing, but lightens up toward the end as Maria discovers your hometown is only as good as you make it. This story could’ve been expanded into a longer piece of fiction. White brought in minor characters that had strong storylines and the vague resolutions to their problems left me questioning how they were coping with the choices they’ve made.

Star of Bethlehem by Ally Carter
If you like a nice southern Christmas, this is the story for you. Carter touches on so many themes here and the story keeps building to the eventful (albeit a little exaggerated) ending. The resolution to the story seemed like too easy of a fix and once again, it left me questioning what happened to the character after the “deadline” of Christmas. Surely, life goes on.

The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
This was the only story I couldn’t finish. It was such a stark difference between this and the other stories in the book. What I did read wasn’t an easy read. It sounded very much like Franz Kafka and I repeatedly questioned if these characters were actually beetles or some other bugs. It was a horrible way to cap off a delightfully pleasant book. If you were able to finish it, bravo. If you actually enjoyed it, you are out of this world!