Advent Calendar 25th December

Advent Calendar 25th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 It's Christmas !

Good morning and MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !

And to remember the true spirit of Christmas, which story should I choose if not the one that has become the Christmas story par excellence almost all over the world?
Here you are: A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens, first published in London in 1843 ( by Editor Chapman and Hall and illustrated by John Leech).

__THE STORY __ A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a very rich and very miserly old man, who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. After their visits, Scrooge realizes how stupid and mean he has been, and deciding that he no longer wants to waste his time in such a manner, he transforms into a kinder, gentler man.

Dickens wrote his best Christmas tale at a time when the British were exploring and re-evaluating Christmas, celebrating it with cristian carols, decorating Christmas fir trees, sending Christmas cards and so on.
He was influenced by the experiences of his youth and the Christmas stories of other authors.

The attitude towards the poor and a person's ability to redeem themselves, opening up to the world and others, becoming more empathetic, are the keys to the story, this is also expressed very well by the quote that I chose to put in my graphics..

Published on December 19, the first edition sold out on Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844 thirteen editions had been published.

Since cinema was born, there have been countless transpositions on the screen both with actors and as cartoon animations :-)

... Again : HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !!!! --KISS--

(Thanks fo reading and please forgive any errors in my text since English is not my native tongue. :-) )

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Advent Calendar 24th December

Advent Calendar 24th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 24th day Christmas countdown

Happy Cristmas Eve everybody !!

We have reached the next-to-last image of the Advent calendar and for today, Christmas Eve, I wanted to choose an iconic film, which I use to watch regularly each year without ever getting tired of it and continuing to move me like the first time I saw it as a child : IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE ( 1946 by Frank Capra ) starring James Stewart and Donna Reed.

The movie is based on the short story and booklet THE GREATEST GIFT self-published by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943.

THE STORY : George Bailey, an honest and unfortunate young family man, wants to take his own life.
His guardian angel appears to him in the guise of a friendly old man and shows him what the world would have been like if he had never been born, giving George reason to understand how, through his very existence in the world, he is contributing to making it a better place.

SOME CURIOSITIES : Due to the film's disappointing sales, some studios viewed Capra as having lost the ability to produce popular and financially successful films.

It became a Christmas classic after its copyright expired in 1974 due to non-renewal and it entered the public domain, which allowed it to be broadcast without licensing or royalties.

Today It's a Wonderful Life is considered one of the greatest films of all time and among the best Christmas films.

THE BIIGEST SNOWSTORM EVER DEPICTED ON FILM : Some newspaper articles reported that two weeks into filming, three hundred tons of limestone and fifty tons of white plaster had already been used to reproduce snowstorm.
The special effects curator was Russell Shearman, who used an innovative type of chemical snow to allow the actors to speak during filming ( previously, snow was produced using crushed cornflakes, which did not allow the actors to speak, therefore requiring a subsequent dubbing phase).

Using modern (for the time) technology, Shearman mixed foamite, a material used in the composition of some fire extinguisher powders, with water and sugar, creating a solution which would then be pumped at high pressure through the machine used to reproduce the wind ; a quantity of over 22,000 liters was used to cover the entire set.

The result was a snowfall effect that was much more realistic than anything seen in any film in the past.

I hope you enjoyed today's image too and at this point all I have to do is send everyone a hug and wish you a happy Christmas Eve together with all the people and animals you love.

(Note : English is not my native tongue, please forgive any errors in my text )



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Advent Calendar 23rd December

Advent Calendar 23rd December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 23rd day Christmas countdown

Wow ! The weekend befor Christmas ! I can't believe that these 23 day are gone so fast...

Well, as yesterday night I attended (as I do every year, but unfortunately only rarely live and too often only in front of the TV) the Nutcracker ballet ( 1892 by Marius Petipa e Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky), inspired by the very famous classic Christmas story : THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING (1816 by E.T. Hoffmann ), I thought to include in my graphic a nice retellis of that well known old tale, a 2018 Disney animation : THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS .

Unlike Hoffman's fairy tale and Tchaikovsky's ballet, this Disney film, contrary to what often happens, was not very successful. Personally I didn't mind: the sets were enchanting and the actors, including big names like Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman, were all very good.

_THE DISNEY ANIMATION STORY: Godfather Drosselmeyer is Mr. Stahlbaum's oldest and most trusted friend.
So, like every Christmas Eve, the rich businessman and his daughter Clara gather with the other guests in the large living room of the Drosselmeyer house, to participate in the magnificent party that the toymaker organizes every year. During the usual celebrations, however, an unusual event occurs: by playfully following a golden thread that runs through the corridors of the immense mansion, young Clara is led into a magical and unknown world, divided into four enchanted realms.

Escorted by the valiant soldier Philip and a band of lively mice, the little girl crosses the white landscapes of the Land of Snowflakes, the colorful lands of the Land of Flowers and finally the "edible" villages of the Land of Sweets. She meets new friends and precious allies, including the sappy Sugar Plum Fairy, and learns of a mission only she can accomplish: infiltrate the hostile fourth realm, home of the evil Mother Ginger, and recover a ancient key capable of unlocking a mysterious box.

I think it's not easy to accept revisitations of what we've known well all our life and I think this is the reason why it hasn't grossed as much as expected.

Usually I don't even like retellings of classics, but lately I feel like I'm craving something new and this year I've read several retellings of classics.

The quote may seem like a simple phrase, which any of us could say to a friend at any time...yet often we are accustomed to saying optimistic things without actually following the advice of what we are saying.

It means that we often focus too much on negative things, failing to fully enjoy the positivity and beauty that is around us at the moment.
Hoping this quote can be a point of reflection both for you and me.

(As always : sorry for any errors in my text, English is only a second tongue not my native one )



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Advent Calendar 22nd December

Advent Calendar 22nd December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 22nd day Christmas countdown

Happy Friday everybody !
Are you ready for Christmas? Only a few days left to buy the last gifts and find the right fir tree for those who make decorations on Christmas Eve.

In Italy we use to decorate fake trees and always at the beginning of December (and in my house it usually stays until the end of January...but it should be undone on January 7th, the day following the Epiphany).

I'm talking about the Christmas tree, to introduce today's image: I chose the beautiful Christmas episode of the VICTORIA TV series, because it tells how Prince Albert introduced to England and spread it throughout much of the world the Germanic tradition of the decorated fir tree for Christmas.

The series, whose photos I have included in my graphics, is the beautiful period drama ( 2016-2019 ) named VICTORIA starring Jenna Coleman, Tom Hughes, Rufus Sewell and other very good actors.

Here is a 1848 lithograph which spread the image of the English royal family around the Christmas tree and which contributed to making that tradition loved in much of the world.

I really like the quote I chose, because we often have the flaw of looking back regretting what we have lost, instead of looking at and appreciating what we have in the present (or maybe it's just my flaw) and this quote is an invitation to give more relevant to the present and to live it better even in difficulty times.

Hoping you enjoyed today's image, you can save it and print it to use as a bookmark in your paper Christmas readings.

(NOTE : please forgive my English, it is not my native tongue. Thanks )

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Advent Calendar 21st December

Advent Calendar 21st December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 21st day Christmas countdown

Hello everybody dear friends,
we are almost at the end of Christmas day countdown ...aw...how sad...don't you think? I realize that waiting is sometimes more exciting than the moment we experience the expected events, because they pass too quickly.

But let's not get sad, it's not Christmas yet and today I want to offer you all a classic, which I'm sure many of you have never read, but I consider it a good reading proposal: THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1894) by Anthony Hope, a romantic tale which was then followed by short stories entitled: The Heart of Princess Osra, 1896 (a fix-up novel containing 9 linked short stories) and another romance entitled: Rupert of Hentzau (1898, The prisoner of Zenda's sequel)

___ THE STORY : In the fictional kingdom of Ruritania, the heir to the throne is kidnapped.
Two high officials, loyal to the sovereign, contact a distant English cousin of the prince, to impersonate His Highness until they manage to free him and install him on the throne.
Everything seems to go smoothly until the fake prince falls in love with the future wife of the real heir to the throne and when he is freed and returns...

A beautiful tale of swashbuckling, perhaps a little out of fashion some of you might think, but this is precisely its charm and this is why it cannot be missed at Christmas.

Hope's novel inspired many screen adaptations, but the most famous is the one from 1952 starring a charming Stewart Granger and lovely Deborah Kerr and it's also the version I've got fond of, since is the one I've seen many times since I was a little girl.

(NOTE : I know my English is not so good, my native language is Italian, so please be lenient with me)

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Advent Calendar 20th December

Advent Calendar 20th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 20th day Christmas countdown

Happy Wednesday everybody,
here we are just a few days before Christmas day.

Today I want to propose a fairy tale known throughout the world (at least the Western one), it is a fairy tale written in the 17th century: CINDERELLA by Charles Perrault and made even more famous by Disney in 1950 with his cartoon animation. Nowadays you can find dozens of movie versions.

There are many versions of this ancient fairy tale, but the best known and still published in books are those by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

What is really important to remember, however, is the moral teaching that this fable wants to convey to the little ones: kindness is one of the most important attitudes in life.
This is exactly what the quote I reported in the image tells us.

After the Disney cartoon, many movies have been made, the photo that I have included in my graphics is from the 2015 film by Kenneth Branagh, starring Lily James and Richard Madden.

(As always : sorry for any errors in my text, English is only a second tongue not my native one )



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Advent Calendar 19th December

Advent Calendar 19th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 19th day Christmas countdown

Hello everybody !
The film that I propose in today's image is one of the musicals that I will never get tired of watching! It's THE SOUND OF MUSIC 1965 starring a brilliant Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

This timeless musical was inspired by the true story of the VonTrapp family written in the 1949 memoir.

THE STORY in the movie: The Mother Superior of the Salzburg monastery tests the vocation of a postulant, the beautiful young Maria, by making her work as a housekeeper in the home of the Von Trapp family, whose children live under a severe disciplinary regime imparted by their father, a widowed admiral . It goes without saying that Maria will revolutionize the lives of the whole family, bringing them on stage as young singers.

Two years ago I read 2 wonderful memoirs, respectively written by Maria, the main character of the movie and one of the commander's daughters : Agate Von Trapp.
Even though they are non-fiction, I assure you that they are so engaging and fun that you will feel like you are reading an adventure novel.

The titles are as follows:

1) THE STORY OF THE TRAPP FAMILY SINGERS
(1949 memoir by Maria Augusta Trapp)

2) MEMORIES BEFORE AND AFTER THE SOUND OF MUSIC
(by Agathe Von Trapp)

If you want to know more,
you can read my review : JUS CLICK HERE

---> The story that is described in the movie is only the initial part of Maria's memoir and it must be said that there are some differences regarding the behavior of the father of the family, who actually was not so severe, however if you read the two books that you I mentioned and I recommend you, you will not find yourself confused or in disagreement, you will not have disappointments, the books are exciting and I add that the daughter's book is not a repetition of Maria's, but a completion of all the parts in which Maria was not present and both are worth reading.

Personally, these two books entered my heart and gave me not only a breath of optimism and hope, but a new way of looking at life when I am through difficulty.


( Please forgive me for any errors in my text, I'm from Italy, English is not my native tongue )

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Advent Calendar 18th December

Advent Calendar 18th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 18th day Christmas countdown

Good morning and happy start of the week!

Well well...17 days have already passed and Christmas is just a few days away... I can't believe it, this month has been as fast as the blink of an eye.

Today in my Advent calendar, I propose a novel, a film and a quote that only a Scrooge person could not appreciate (but then in the end he too changed his mind!) What? ...No, it's not A Christmas Carol, but you almost guessed it, indeed I'm talking about: THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS ( 2008) by Les Standiford.

A beautiful film was made from this book in 2017, starring the famous Christopher Plummer (do you remember the musical "The sound of music"?) and Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey" fans?).

__THE STORY : In 1843, four years after the success of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens suffers from financial difficulties due to the failure of his last three books.
Rejected by his publishers, he decides to write a new book and publish it himself, to restore his finances.
Seeing inspiration around London, particularly a rich man's funeral which is largely unattended and a mean old man who gives him the catchphrase "Humbug" and the inspiration of a new character, he begins to write A Christmas Carol , which will be published by Christmas.
He risked everything, despite his friends and publishers telling him that the book would also be a failure since Christmas (at the time) was considered irrelevant and few people celebrated it.

...And he was right, because we all know how it ended: all the world knows and loves A Chritmas Carol by Dickens !!!



(NOTE : I'm from Italy, so please forgive any errors in my text since English is not my native tongue. Thanks )

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Advent Calendar 17th December

Advent Calendar 17th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 17th day Christmas countdown

Good morning my dear readers,
today is the third Advent Sunday and I couldn't put something religious in my Advent Calendar's images.

Mind: religious does not mean boring, indeed today I propose a novel, from which a film was made, very cute and funny : THE BISHOP'S WIFE (1928) by Robert Nathan.

The most famous film based on this book is the film of the same title, from 1947, starring a fantastic trio : Cary Grant ( the angel ), David Niven ( the bishop ) and Loretta Young ( the bishop's wife ).

THE STORY : Dudley is an angel sent by the Lord to Earth to help the Episcopalian bishop Henry who is going through a difficult period: too much work distances him from his wife. Henry would also like to build a cathedral, but he has no funds and risks falling for the blackmail of the richest woman in the city, ending up neglecting his friends and the old parish.
Everyone is fascinated by Dudley, even the non-religious professor Wutheridge. Everyone except Henry!!! ... And when Dudley spends a lot of time with Julia, the bishop becomes jealous and anxious that his now unwelcome guest will finish and leave.
For his part, the angel feels attracted to Julia and this is where the major complications arise...

This is one of my favorite movies to watch around Christmas time.
I don't know why, but old films have the power to give me that magic of feelings that I can no longer feel around me in the frenetic modern world.

If you like my Advent Calendar's images you can download them all and print and glue onto cardboard, to use as a bookmark or simply build your own Advent calendar with them for next year.

(NOTE : English is not my native tongue, please forgive any errors you may find in my text Thanks )



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Advent Calendar 16th December

Advent Calendar 16th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 16th day Christmas countdown

Hello dear friends, today's story doesn't need any introductions: MARY POPPINS (1934 ) by P. L. Travers from which Disney was inspired for the homonymous and unforgettable magnificent film (1964), starring the equally magnificent Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dicke.

A story for children and adults, capable of warming every heart and cheering up every soul.
I never fail to watch the film on TV in the days around Christmas (but it is beautiful at any time of the year).

Have you read the book? Well... the book and the film have various differences and unlike what usually happens, I must admit that in this case I preferred the film, it is much happier than the book and Mary Poppins is much nicer than the novel.

CURIOSITY: In 1934, P. L. Travers, pseudonym of the Australian Helen Lyndon Goff, published the novel Mary Poppins, which tells the story of the magical flying nanny who comes down from the sky to help the Banks family.
The sequel was published in 1935, followed by six more novels, published until 1988. The first novel, however, is the main basis from which the film was based.

According to the story told in "Saving Mr. Banks" movie (2013 starring Tom Hanks ) and the special features of the 2004 special edition DVD, Walt Disney's daughter Diane fell in love with the books in the series and made her father promise to produce a film based on her beloved books .

A first attempt by Disney to buy the rights from Travers was made in 1938, but this proposal was rejected by the writer, convinced that a film version of her books would not do justice to her creation.

Disney tried for more than twenty years to convince Travers to produce a Mary Poppins film, only succeeding in 1961, although the writer asked for the right to approve the film's screenplay.
The Sherman brothers composed the soundtrack and helped write the script, suggesting moving the events from the 1930s to the Edwardian era. Pre-production and songwriting took two years!!! The music, songs and scenography are absolutely timeless and manage to fascinate today's audiences as much as those of more than 5 years ago.

A sequel to the film was made a few years ago (Mary Poppins Returns 2018) and I have to admit that it's not bad, but it's a long way from being as iconic as the fantastic film that Disney brought to the screen in the 1960s.

(As always : sorry for any errors in my text, English is only a second tongue not my native one )



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Advent Calendar 15th December

Advent Calendar 15th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 15th day Christmas countdown

Goodmorning everybody :-)
Here I am with a Christmas classic, which everyone probably knows : MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) by Valentine Davies

Since 2005 this film has been included in the National Film Registry of the United States as it is considered "culturally and historically significant".

Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood are just two of the many good and important actors who star in this 1947 film which over the years has become a true Christmas classic in many parts of the world.

__THE STORY : The story of Kris, a man hired by the Macy's department store in New York to play Santa Claus, who pretends to really be one. For this, he is taken to court.

A lawyer and a little girl must prove that the man claiming to be Santa Claus is honest and is truly Santa Claus.

The entire moral of the film ( so as the quote I put in the image ) is based on the concept of faith: that is, believing in things that rationality declares impossible.



( Please forgive my not so good English as I'm from Italy :-))

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Advent Calendar 14th December

Advent Calendar 14th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 14th day Christmas countdown

Hello dear friends, Only 10 days left until Christmas Eve.

The film I chose for today is an old musical with the excellent Bing Crosby and Danny Kay : WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954 )

The film is not based on any book, but it has a peculiarity: it was shot in Technicolor, a novelty for those times. The songs are by the famous Irving Berlin, much appreciated and well known American composer and lyricist.

More what has now become a traditional Christmas song, White Christmas, which also gives the film its title, was presented in a new version (compared to the first version sung by Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn_ see image from December 8th).

___THE STORY : Singers Bob Wallace and Phil Davis join sisters Betty and Judy Haynes to put on a Christmas show in Vermont. Once they reach the event location, they meet General Waverly, the commander with whom the two young people fought during the Second World War, and discover that the man is facing serious financial problems.

So the four singers immediately get busy organizing a memorable show to help the former commander.
A truly cheerful film, also thanks to beautiful music, which speaks of help and generosity, in full respect of the Christmas spirit and as it should be for each of us all year round.




( Please forgive me for any errors in my text, I'm from Italy, English is not my native tongue )

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Advent Calendar 13th December

Advent Calendar 13th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 13th day Christmas countdown

Hello everybody !

Today's image shows a Christmas film from 10 years ago, based on the book of the same title: THE CHRISTMAS CANDLE (2013) by Max Lucado

The book's author is both a writer and a minister at Oak Hills Church (formerly Oak Hills Church of Christ) in Texas.

___ THE STORY goes that every 25 years, an angel visits a village and touches a candle. Whoever will light that candle will receive a miracle.
However, when a new and skeptical shepherd arrives on site, the inhabitants discover a new formula for miracles: good deeds and kindness.

The quote says that no prayer is ever wasted, this sums up the moral of the film, which is none other than the definition of faith.

As the apostle Paul said: faith "is the certainty of things hoped for, the demonstration of things not seen", it therefore becomes a principle of action and the power to give us serenity. If you like my Advent Calendar's images you can download them all and print and glue onto cardboard, to use as a bookmark or simply build your own Advent calendar with them for next year. (NOTE : English is not my native tongue, please forgive any errors you may find in my text Thanks )

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Advent Calendar 12th December

Advent Calendar 12th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 12th day Christmas countdown

Hello my friend, the countdown to Christmas Day is almost halfway there !

For the 12th image in my graphic Advent Calendar, I put a quote a few pictures of an episode from a cozy mystery series : Miss Fisher tv series, based on MISS FISHER cozy mysteries by Kerry Greenwood.

Both the book series and the TV series are set in 1920s Melbourne, Australia.

__THE GENERAL PLOT OF THE SERIES___The protagonist, the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher, is a very extravagant and uninhibited London socialite, who has lived in Melbourne since she inherited a huge fortune. Miss Fisher loves to dress in the latest fashion and spares no expense, but she is also generous with others, in fact she knows the poverty of humble origins and never holds back when there is the possibility of helping someone.

Over the course of the series his family expands: the maid Dot, the butler Mr. Butler and the cook Mrs. Butler, the taxi drivers Bert and Cec, the sweet Dot, Ruthie and Jane. Naturally, being a very curious and very enterprising woman, she often finds herself involved in troubles such as murders that are difficult to solve and she never misses an opportunity to interfere (and then solve) in the investigations of Inspector Jack Robinson and Agent Hugh Collins.

The Christmas episode of the TV series is not actually based on any of the books, it is one of the few episodes written by TV screenwriters.

A very suggestive episode as it takes place in an old castle and the murders which occur in a mysterious manner are inspired by the ancient song: the 12 days of Christmas.

(NOTE : please forgive my English, it is not my native tongue. Thanks )

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Advent Calendar 11th December

Advent Calendar 11th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 11th day Christmas countdown

Today I propose an old Hollywood musical classic : MY FAIR LADY (1964), starring a fabulous Audrey Hepburn and equally good Rex Harrison.

The musical film is based on the 1956 musical of the same name, inspired in turn by the opera PYGMALION (1913) by George Bernard Shaw.

__THE STORY___ A pompous professor in Henry Higgins, he is so confident in his abilities that he takes on the task of transforming a working-class girl into someone who can pass for a cultured member of high society.

It's not a Christmas movie, but the Christmas holidays are the days when it is shown on TV every year and my mother and I are always happy to watch it again.

A funny film that will make you laugh more than once.

The quote I chose leads us to reflect on our prejudices and our way of treating others.

Too often society uses courtesy and deference towards those who appear well dressed and hold an important position, while it tends to give less consideration to those who are less wealthy.

It's up to us, in our small circle of people, to change things.

Thaks for visiting my blog. Wishing you a happy start of the week and please, be lenient with my text, since English is not my native language. :-)

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Advent Calendar 10th December

Advent Calendar 10th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 1'th day Christmas countdown

Hello everybody !

Here you are my creation for the 10th day of the month.
I was inspired by a nice Christmas movie starring two actor I love very much.
The film in question is BUTTON: A CHRISTMAS TALE (2018) and the 2 actor I was talking of are Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke.

Starring also Jane Seymour, another acterss among my favs.

and the film's narration is performed by none other than Robert Redford and Kate Winslet!

___ THE STORY : Two orphan girls have only one wish: is to find a forever home for Christmas.
With a little help from their guardian angels, they come discover that miracles can truly happen if one find the strength to believe.

Even though the film is not based on any book and is not a classic, I really liked it and recommend everyone to watch it during this Christmas time.

(NOTE : Sorry for any errors in my text, English is not my native tongue. :-) Thanks for stopping by! )

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Advent Calendar 9th December

Advent Calendar 9th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 9th day Christmas countdown

Hello my lovely friends !

Here we are for another sparkling image in our calendar. Today my illustration offers few pictures from the cheerful musical film HELLO DOLLY (1969) starring the great Barbra Streisand and the talented Walter Matthau , directed by Gene Kelly based on the Broadway musical with the same title.

Brodaway's musical in turn was based on The Merchant of Yonkers, a 1938 play by Thornton Wilder.

The quote I chose tells how crazy and cheerful this film is and, if you think about it, both for better and for worse, this quote says exactly how things are in the world.

There is a little bit of madness in all of us, the secret is to bring out the good madness, the creative and optimistic one that helps us to always see the glass of life half full.

(NOTE : I'm from Italy, so please forgive any errors in my text since English is not my native tongue. Thanks )

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Advent Calendar 8th December

Advent Calendar 8th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 8th day Christmas countdown

Hello, here we are on the Immaculate Conception Day.

December 8th. Today, I would have liked to choose a more religious film, but I was watching an old Hollywood classic among the musicals on TV and so I chose: HOLIDAY INN (1942).

In addition to the very cozy scenography, this film features an exceptional duo:
Fred Astaire perhaps the greatest dancer in American cinema and Bing Crosby among the most beautiful and talented voices of the 40s (and here he sings the song "White Christmas" which would later give its name to another Christmas film from 1954).

Music by Irving Berlin a great American composer and lyricist.

The quote I chose is taken from the song and brings back memories of our childhood Christmases.

It doesn't matter if they were Christmases with snow or not, what matters is that childhood memories, for most people, represent a serene memory, in which there were no problems, because we were children and we felt pampered and protected from our family.

Everything becomes more difficult as we become adults, which is why childhood memories must be kept in the heart like precious possessions!

(Note : English is not my native tongue, please forgive any errors in my text )



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Advent Calendar 7th December

Advent Calendar 7th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 7th day Christmas countdown

WO-WO-WO-WOW !! The first week of December is almost ended!
...and today, as a daily image for the Advent Calendar, I have chosen a beautiful Christmas novella by Agatha Christie (to me the best short story by A. Christie): THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING , first published in 1960 in a short story collection.

Equally engaging and enjoyable is the television adaptation, from 1991, with the excellent David Suchet, the one who, in my opinion, represents the true and only Poirot among all those brought to the screen.

The festive atmosphere can be felt from the start to the end and there are no deaths, just a mysterious theft to investigate, which makes the story even lighter and more cheerful.

The quote may seem silly, but actually it says a lot: the little things are the really important ones, the small and simple things, without delusions of grandeur, are what makes us truly happy.

Each of us takes many things for granted, actually they are not, because not everyone on this earth has what represents normality for us.

If you like collecting bookmarks and/or postcards or illustrated images, then it might be a good idea to download the image and use it as a bookmark.

I usually print with a color printer, paste on cardboard and then apply a transparent adhesive paper on both sides, so that the bookmark does not get damaged and the image remains intact for years.

(NOTE : I'm from Italy, so please forgive any errors in my text since English is not my native tongue. Thanks )

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Advent Calendar 6th December

Advent Calendar 6th December _ 🎄🤶🎅👼💗 6th day Christmas countdown

Hello everybody !
Here I am with another image showing a quote and few pictures from a 2005 touching film, that was inspired by a real event happened during World War I.

The film's original title is "JOYEUX NOëL" that means "MARRY CHRISTMAS" and talks about the Christmas truce of 1914 between German, French and Scottish trench soldiers.

The purpose of this film is to demonstrate the absurdity of war, but as we can see from the news, evidently there is no one worse deaf than the one who doesn't want to hear, because every day there is more than one war in every part of the world.

Of all the films I like to watch during the Christmas period, this is one of those that touched my heart the most.

If you are interested in learning more, there are many books you can read about it, all very touching.

The book I read is a collection of letters from the soldiers themselves who wrote to their families, telling of this incredible miracle, which however was then silenced by the authorities in order to continue the war. Only later, in modern times, many letters were recovered from the English archives and then published, while the German ones were mostly destroyed.

Here is the cover and title of the book I read, but as I said before you can find many other titles on that subject:
Christmas Truce by the Men Who Took Part- Letters from the 1914 Ceasefire on the Western Front



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