Movie night: Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve at 3 PM (we celebrate on the 24th in Sweden) we gather in front of the TV to watch Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul. It's a compilation of short films/snippets from Disney movies originally titled "From All of Us to All of You" and has been a tradition in Sweden since 1960.

Behold: My brother Stefan's head and my sister Julia's feet. Also behold the candelabra in the background, by the sofa. In the following days my sister Sara will trip over it and break all of the candles, except two.

Also traditionally (since 1994), Swedish Television shows Kan du vissla Johanna? directly following "From All of Us to All of You". I have no idea why it's become a Christmas thing, since it takes place during summer..

We didn't have it on for more than five minutes. My brother thinks it's too depressing, so we put on The Santa Clause instead (usually my sister Hanna's very adamant that we watch Kan du vissla Johanna? together, but she was giving my niece a bath and couldn't stop us = win!).
 

Here's my sister Sara in front of the TV. We were playing my favorite game "Can't Stop" and she won. Both times. I don't know how much of the movie we actually watched..

After dinner and a visit from Santa, I got to watch my favorite thing: Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons julafton. I'm the only one in my family that loves it but I'm okay with that (and I can't be alone in this.. it's been on every Christmas Eve since 1975)!

It didn't stop my family from stealing the candy though.. 

Then I took a nap, while my mother and two sisters watched season one of Poldark. They got two episodes in, before I woke up and that's when they decided to put on season one of Luther instead. I watched it with them and we kept watching until six in the morning.

My 2015 goals: How I did

Buy less + clean out my movie collection 
I don't know the last time I bought a movie, to be honest. In total, I've only bought one this year. I've also gotten my movie collection down from 111 to 23.

Watch less movies but better ones 
I've been better/worse at this this year, depending on life in general. Since starting school, I've watched less but not always better. By this I mean I've found that I've tried to force myself through movies I don't really like.. just to have watched them.   
 
Find other ways to relax 
I've been reading more, for sure. And playing a lot of Township on my mobile.

Limit the time and quantity
Ugh. I'm ashamed to admit I've had little to no self control when it has come to restricting my time..

2015 - a challenging list
I don't know if I'll finish this yet since I'm giving myself until December 31th to do it. I've got 14 movies to go..   

Elin and Julia watch the classics.. sort of: #6

Movie: Fried Green Tomatoes
Status: Elin's seen it maybe once, in her early teens. Julia's never seen it.
Favorite scene: Anything involving Evelyn..    
Times we pause it: None.

It's a dark and quite chilly evening in my parents' living room. My sister and I discuss which movie to watch. Our mother joins the conversation and opts for something fluffy, romantic and fast-paced. Naturally, that makes us decide on Fried Green Tomatoes instead (i.e the opposite of what she wants). Our father joins us then. He's building a fire and doesn't really plan on staying long, but is hooked and watches the entire movie with us. Fifteen minutes in, my mother is asleep on my lap.

When it's over and we talk about it, I cry a little at the thought of people solely living on in our memories. That my future children won't know what my grandfather sounded like etc. My mother wakes up then, recites something about death and starts crying too. Julia's just sitting there, watching us in disbelief and laughing! Best movie night in quite some time..

Our hooked Papa and the fire he made

Ambition for: December

I'm not really a fan of Christmas movies. However, I find myself feeling very excited to watch some of these in December:

Home Alone
The Holiday 
Arthur Christmas
The Polar Express
You've Got Mail
A Christmas Carol (2009)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
While You Were Sleeping

I'd also like to try, for the first time:

White Christmas 
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Elf
Christmas in Connecticut
Lethal Weapon 
The Muppet Christmas Carol

In the spotlight: November

Guardians of the Galaxy 
I don't know why, but this time I fell in love! Either something happened to me during this year, to make me see it in a different light OR I was just high on life in November (i.e on top of my school work). Whatever the reason, it has overshadowed many of the movies I've watched this year!

Also: it has finally snowed!