Cartoons Bumped...

On account of good news!

I got my email this morning- my acceptance email from RWA with my member #. I'm now a member or Romance Writers of America!!! I've still got to fill out my application for Kentucky Romance Writers Chapter, but I've already crossed the first hurdle. Husband thought I was silly and laughed at me when I started bouncing in my chair a little while ago over my excitement! hehehe!

Today marks a good start of the day for me. Very cool and I thought for sure it would be several weeks before I heard anything, but not so. That was quick like lightning.

Holiday Visuals

I know I said I'd cover movies and cartoons today, but I think I'll go with movies first and then blog tomorrow about the cartoons because there's just such a massive list.

So, who doesn't love a good Christmas movie? Or a movie set around the holidays?

I have so many that are must-sees during this time of the year.

I've already watched It's A Wonderful Life - one of my favorites. I'll probably watch it again if I get a chance! LOL George's discovery of what an impact his life had had on others is a wonderful reminder that, though we may sometimes feel that we make no difference in this world, there will always be others who see us as amazing people they couldn't imagine their lives without. You don't have to have riches to be rich in love and life and friendship. The last three things are far more important.

Miracle on 34th Street(1947) with Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood. This one is the heartfelt dipiction of how important it is to never stop believing, to always have faith. My favorite parts? When Kris spoke Dutch to that little girl and sang with her, the gum in the whiskers, the postal delivery to the courtroom and the ending scene at the house. (I'm a big sap by the way)

Holiday Inn- Oh Bing Crosby-"Be careful with my heart..." I love this story for the simplicity of romance and songs. The Inn from this movie was later remodeled and used in White Christmas, also starring Bing Crosby.

I also like Christmas In Connecticut- both the Barbara Stanwyck and the Dyan Cannon versions.
A Christmas Story
A Christmas Carol- George C. Scott
Little Women- any of them, but most especially the one with June Allyson

Other less "classic" favorites are-
While You Were Sleeping
You've Got Mail(love the song River)
The Shop Around the Corner- James Stewart
When Harry Met Sally
The Santa Clause 1, 2, & 3
The Preacher's Wife- Whitney Houston singing Believe in You and Me brings me to tears.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- my husband's favorite
Prancer

But my #1 is White Christmas

Growing up my mom and my sister and I would watch this and sip eggnog in front of the twinkling lights of our Christmas tree. We'd sing along with all the numbers and bawl our eyes out. This movie has special meaning to us. My mom said she and my aunt used to always sing "We'll Follow The Old Man" in reference to my grandpa. As a child I thought my grandpa had been a general in the Army because of how closely connected I saw him with General Waverly in White Christmas. My mom and aunt were the Hanes sisters in my mind and numerous times they'd break into "Sisters," laughing and cutting up with each other. Even to this day I still see a lot of my grandpa in the character of General Waverly and it fills me with nostalgia about him. I enjoy the movie through teary eyes and that reminds me I need to get Kleenex at the store, SOON. LOL

It's not just a fun movie, but a classic and it's my definite must-see Christmas movie. I have so many favorite parts I can't separate them from the rest of the movie. While I was working on this blog, I did some searching and found out a few cool trivia bits I didn't know about this movie-

• They had wanted Fred Astaire to come back to team with Bing, but he claimed to be retired. The part was rewritten with Donald O'Conner in mind, but he pulled out and they finally got Danny Kaye for the part of Phil Davis.
• The "Sisters" lip-syncing scene that Bing and Danny did wasn't originally scripted for the movie. They were goofing off on the set and the director thought it was so funny, he added it.
• The midnight snack scene was improvised, according to Rosemary Clooney.

So this is my list of favorites. What are some of yours? Tomorrow I'll be posting about the Christmas cartoons. Please join me!

Calling Romance Writers

Check out blog about URWA getting a name change to WRR- Write.Read.Romance.

I have removed the original info and link from here.

Follow this link to find my other post-http://tarynraye.blogspot.com/2007/12/urwa-gets-new-name.html

I'll Be Home for Christmas....

Yes, Christmas is fast approaching. My decorating is finished. I'm mailing out the last of my Christmas cards today. Well, except for maybe one or two I'll mail if I ever hear from a couple of friends who I emailed to request their snail mail addies.

We've gotten most of our shopping done, other than a few treats to put in the kids' stockings and I still have some wrapping to do...mostly the gifts from Santa and the couple we are giving the kids from us and the one that needs to be wrapped for my stepson's Christmas party at school.

I'm also eagerly awaiting the shipping and arrival of the "secret" present from Santa that will be for the entire family- a karaoke machine and a few CD+Gs to get us started. I decided this year there should be a gift to all of us as a family from Santa under the tree. Even my husband isn't aware of this gift. hehehe...HOHOHO! I'm being Sneaky Santa this year! LOL

The house is warm and toasty, for the most part...other than a few drafts that sneak in when the wind gets up. I've had to put up plastic over the window in my stepson's room and in the kitchen over the back window that has the air conditioner in it. Brrrr....

I've been sipping General Foods International Coffees in flavors that remind me of the holiday- French Vanilla Cafe and Suisse Mocha. Yummy! I've also had some Egg Nog already and I've got my holiday mix of red and green M&M's to nibble on from time to time.

The outside of the house is reminiscent of how my grandfather would decorate his house for Christmas. We spent several weeks before Thanksgiving checking the lights, which stayed up all year, though only turned on during the holidays and changing out the shot ones.

We'd have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and then when it got dark, my grandpa would turn them on for the first time. I can remember how even when the wind was bitter and ripping through me, bringing tears to my eyes, I still felt this warmth excuding from inside at how beautiful the lights were.

We'd all go stand outside and look at them for several minutes. He ran a junk yard that had a tall fence to keep the lot from being an eyesore, and he had the lights strung up all the way down the fence row in both directions from the house. We'd all walk down there, oohing and ahhing over how great it was. It always filled me with a sense of awe, a sense of the holiday spirit.

Between my grandpa decorating the fence and house and my mom always going all out to decorate our house, I was blessed with this "traditional" inclination myself. It's not for competition, it's for the pure joy of being able to light up my home and hedges with bright colorful lights and enjoying it with my kids the way I did as a child.

I love seeing their faces light up, the shimmer of awe in their eyes and hearing their oohs and ahhs. It fills my heart even more with the spirit of the season, the small joys children get from seeing those festive lights, even if they're only up for a month or so...It's the one time of year that I connect with my children on that special level where childhood innocence, awe and joy subside and it also brings me close to my grandpa again.

I miss him a lot. I wish he'd been around to see my daughter. Not that I don't feel him near a lot. Her birthday is coming up and to me she will always have this special connection to him. She was born on December 13th, on a Friday and that was always my grandpa's lucky day. He was discharged from the Army after WWII on that day.

So, as I close out today- I did work on my novel a little bit yesterday...wrote about 900 words or so..not as much as I would like, but that will change I'm sure.

Tune in tomorrow- I'll be blogging about my favorite Christmas movies and cartoons. Feel free to join in with me and tell me about yours!