Hello everyone! ❄️ For the longest time I’ve seen people do wrap-ups, and I always thought they weren’t that interesting. However, I have to give all of you here a round of applause because this community is so creative and talented that I have come to love every single Wrap-Up post I’ve come across 😍 You all make them so fun and talk about so many different and interesting things that I’m super psyched to start doing them myself. But, before we start, let’s do the Advent Calendar question!

The objective of this Advent Calendar is to get to know each other better and learn about some of the things we love to do this time of year! I really hope that you guys decide to participate, and I can’t wait to read your answers as well. If you want to check out the upcoming questions go to this page.

What Movies or TV specials do you like to watch this time of year?

Even though I don’t read many holiday books, I definitely love Christmas movies and I make an effort to watch lots of them during November and December ☺️ Some of my favorites are: Home Alone (1 & 2), The Santa Clause (all of them), and New Year’s Eve. I watch all of them every year. When it comes to TV specials I don’t really have any that I go back and watch.

In November I finished a total of 5 books. Even though it is a good amount I was hoping I to read more than what I did 😕 But still, I’m glad I was able to read anything at all, and squeeze out some time to read ones I was really looking forward to. Hopefully, now that the semester is almost over. I’ll be able to read as much as I want 😄 Also, I’m still working on my reviews for all of these, so if you’re interested in reading them, they’ll be ready in the next couple of days.

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In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Genres: New Adult, Romance.

Pages: 336 pages.

This was the first book I read this month and I thought it was great. It is full of Christmas, family, friends, and love ❤️ Even though it wasn’t my favorite Christina Lauren book, it really helped me get into the Christmas spirit.

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Wicked and Torn by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Urban Fantasy.

I’ve had Wicked on my radar for years, but I never got around to reading it because of all the mixed reviews 😬 Now that the movie is being made, I decided to give it a chance. Honestly, I’m still making up my mind about it. The first book isn’t anything special, and though the world intrigued me and it was well developed, the plot was predictable. HOWEVER, the second book… I don’t even know what to say. As I read more and more of it, I was more and more shocked. For a moment I thought I got some weird version that wasn’t the actual book 😅 There are so many trigger warnings and problematic things that happen in this book, and I feel like NO ONE talks about them. It was a great sequel, don’t get me wrong, but it’s definitely something else.

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Down London Road by Samantha Young

Genre: Adult, Romance.

Pages: 373 pages.

This was actually a reread because it is one of my comfort books ☺️ As I mentioned before, I’ve been very stressed lately, and after finishing Torn I really wasn’t in the mood to pick up something new. So, I immediately grabbed this one. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. It’s amazing and I love it so so so much 😍

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Anthology: All I Want for Christmas Is You

Authors: Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward, Samantha Young, Aurora Rose Reynolds, Lani Lynn Vale, TL Swan, and Natasha Madison.

This is an anthology, and I don’t really read anthologies. So, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. It contains six Christmas centered stories that filled me with the warmest feelings. I definitely recommend it and I think you can still get it for free at any of the authors’ socials or websites 😄! I got it from Aurora Rose Reynolds’ instagram.

Let me just say that I watch a lot of TV, so please don’t judge me too much 😅 This month I watched 14 movies and 4 seasons across 3 TV shows… I am aware that that’s a lot, but I watch TV everyday and whenever I can because it helps relax and unwind. Obviously, I won’t be talking about everything I saw cause that would be too much 😳 So I’ll just highlight the ones that really liked and then just mention the remaining ones.

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🚀 Apollo 13 🚀

Main Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton

My Rating: 10/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PEOPLE. IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS MOVIE GO WATCH IT NOW. This is probably one of my favorite movies I’ve seen this year and it’s based on the true story of the astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission. I was super stressed the whole entire time because I had no idea what would happen, but it was amazing 😅 And that’s a lot coming from me because I usually don’t like movies that make me worry. But in this film I loved getting to know their story and how brave they all were. Please take the time and watch it by yourself or with your families. I promise it’s 100% worth it.

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🤵🏼 Mr. and Mrs. Smith 👰🏻

Main Cast: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Adam Brody, Vince Vaughn

My Rating: 8.5/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a very famous movie and can you believe that I had never seen it before? It was such an original concept and absolutely hilarious 😂😂 As we all know, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have loads of chemistry, but this was off the charts. If you like fun, action packed movies, with couples that love to hate each other, this is the perfect film for you 😉😎

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🎶 Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions 🎶

Participants: Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Bon Iver.

I love Taylor Swift with all of my heart, and her songs are among the most beautiful ones I’ve heard in my life. I think that Folklore is my favorite album of hers along with Reputation. Even if you’re not really a fan, I would recommend watching this film because it was basically a concert with her explaining why and how she wrote each song. It was definitely the kind of thing I love because I’m a total music geek, and folklore is a masterpiece ☺️

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👑 The Crown — Season 1 👑

Main Cast: Claire Foy, Matt Smith, Vanessa Kirby, John Lithgow.

My Rating: 9/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This month I finally started watching The Crown and I’m loving it!! I adore the UK and I’ve always been intrigued my the royal family. I always find myself watching documentaries and films based on them. However, this show is much more political than I expected, which (to my surprise) I’m enjoying a lot as well 😊 Of course, this is fiction and not everything happened exactly like that in real life, but still. I’ve learned so much, and I can’t wait to get started on season 2.

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Everything else that I watched:

• Arrow — Seasons 2 & 3
• Heartland — Season 13
• You’ve Got Mail
• Holidate
• Mirror Mirror (rewatch)
• Yours, Mines, & Ours (rewatch)
• Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (rewatch)
• Night at the Museum (rewatch)
• The Santa Clause 1, 2 & 3 (rewatch)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid 1 & 2 (rewatch)

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Favorite Posts from my Blog

✋🏾 Book Recommendation | International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women ✋🏾

☃️ Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award, The NOPE! Book Tag, and The Pumpkin Spice Latte Tag ☃️

🎵 Musical Shuffle Book Tag 🎵

😬 Couples That I DON’T Ship 😬

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Favorites from other Blogs

✨ This Library of Mine had a wonderful recommendations post based on popular Netflix shows –> If You Like This You Should Read That: Netflix Edition

✨ Chana and Malka over at Paper Procrastinators have amazing tips on Blogging Do’s and Don’ts.

✨ Naemi at A Book Owl’s Corner shared with us the Next Great Bestseller and let me tell you, she’s not wrong.

✨ Over at Comfort Reads, Jess gave us super fun and original Blogmas Post Ideas. Believe me, these have definitely come in handy.

✨ Cherelle @ a bolt out of the book and Ashmita @ The Fictional Journal started a book blog! I already joined and it’s super fun. If it’s your kind of thing definitely consider joining us as well.

✨ Rachel created a new weekly tag called Character Chat on her blog A Bookworm’s Paradise!

✨ Besides giving the blog a wonderful redesign, Alex over at The Scribe Owl shared some tips on Book Blogging.

✨ Riddhi at Whispering Stories did like 5 tags and awards in one post, which I thought was so fun and very entertaining to read. Her answers were amazing!

Comparison is the thief of joy

I don’t know if this quote belongs to anyone, but I heard it on a video I was watching a few days ago. For me, it was really important to hear that because I always find myself comparing what I’m doing and my accomplishments to those of everyone around me. Because of the internet and social media, we are constantly connected to people all around the world, which makes it really easy for us to find someone that might be doing better than we are at something.

Believe me, I know that it’s hard to try and take things at your own pace and not let other’s progress affect your own, but I think that it is something worth working on. At times, when I’m feeling down or I’m not having the best mental health day, I just take a break and stop myself from constantly checking my phone or going online. Even though that’s definitely not a permanent solution, it does help. I think that we all just have to work on celebrating and acknowledging our victories–every single one of them. If you’ve spent all week in your pajamas and in bed, but you decide to get up and get ready as if you were going out, then celebrate that. But if your goal was to not do any of that and just finish the next season of your favorite show, that’s worth celebrating as well. At times like the ones we’re living in, we need to rejoice in everything, even the moments that might feel small and insignificant, because they never are.

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What books have you read this past month? Did you watch any movies and TV shows? What are some of the things that you do to de-stress?