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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Book review : The Silent Christmas by M.J.Lee

The Silent Christmas
A Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mystery Novella - Book 5 by M.J.Lee
My rating: 3.8 of 5 stars

A truly enjoyable Christmas novella that tells an extraordinary event that actually happened, through fictional characters and of course fictional dialogues.
---> Readable as a standalone, it's tagged as mystery but it's not a crime mystery ( at least not this book of the series ) , actually it is a search for history regarding people and events of the past.

---> The story takes place on 2 temporal planes: 1914 at the front, in the English trenches in Belgium and in 2017 in England, when the investigator Jayne Sinclaire tries to shed light on past events.

___ THE PLOT___
In 2017, Jayne Sinclaire, a genealogical investigator, receives a visit from a father and his son: they have found some old objects in the attic, belonging to his great-grandfather, of which they know nothing and would like to discover their history.

Back in time, in 1914, during the first year of World War I, private Tom Wright finds himself in the cold and in the mud, in the trenches, dreaming of being at home in England, with his wife and children preparing the Christmas goose.
A few hundred meters away is the German trench.
The soldiers of both trenches shout jokes about the war at each other, until one evening some Christmas trees appear from the German trench and classic Christmas carols are heard... here the magic begins... that magic that knows no flags and barriers and unites all men through the heart and the desire to live peacefully.
I'll let you enjoy the rest in the book. :-) it's touching.

___MY OPINION___
While I was fascinated by the backstory chapters (the events of which I already knew from non-fiction books I read in the past) and felt affection for the characters I read about.

Though I couldn't feel any emotion during the investigative chapters in 2017 and no empathy towards investigator J. Sinclair. That character seemed rather flat and insignificant to me.
For this reason I only gave 3.8 of 5 stars (all earned from the chapters of the past), if the storytelling of modern times chapters had also been a little bit more engaging I could have given 5 stars.

I want to add that I will read with pleasure other books by this author, hoping that in the other novels ( that are much longer than novellas ), even the character of today's temporal plane is well developed and can be more interesting than in the short story.

Still regarding the past part, I add that every time I read about that event, which happened spontaneously, outside of any war scheme and any imagination, I feel moved and I recommend everyone to read it because it is also an invitation to reflection.
Unfortunately, humanity has not learned anything and there are still wars that destroy innocent lives, but perhaps we, in our small circle of life, could try to learn something, give more value to feelings and people, without taking anything for granted .

About the Christmas Truce of 1914, a good film, with well-known actors, was made in 2005.
More I would like to advise you to read the collection of letters from the front, with the true testimony of the soldiers who took part in that very special event.

You can find more information about the movie and that book of letters collection in this post of mine from December 6th:

---> JOYEUX NOEL -MERRY CHRISTMAS (2005) THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE 1914.

( Thanks for reading my review, please, forgive any errors you may find in my text, English is not my mother tongue. Merry Christmas everybody ! :-) )

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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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