what kaly found v.10

This week I have a little something for everyone on your list.

Enjoy what kaly found v.10 – gift guide style.

For the romantics –

There’s been a lot of discussion this week about Love Actually and whether or not it’s a good movie or a romantic movie or even a Christmas movie. If you want to get in on the discussion, you can read the criticism here, and then the defenders start to come out here and here.

Personally it’s one of my favorite movies ever. I even modeled our holiday card after the movie cover (you can see our card at the end of the post). So yes I am a fan. Sure some of the stories are far fetched (Jamie proposing to Aurelia when they don’t even speak the same language). But that’s the whole point. Love is all around and it’s crazy and sometimes doesn’t make sense and Christmas is a time of year that brings love out of hiding. And it doesn’t always have a happy ending. So I’m standing by Love Actually this Christmas and every Christmas until I can turn it into a one woman show and bore my family to tears with, “I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes…”

For the parents –

A former colleague of mine posted this article from Hands Free Mama on Facebook about how we bully and badger our own kids. It’s one of those parenting articles that makes you fall out of your chair. If you have kids, read it. And then -Back. Off.

I also really liked this article in The Atlantic about sharing family stories and why it’s important for your children. Well timed as we start to break out the good holiday stories. Like that time I got a keyboard that recorded my own voice. Now that was a Christmas.

For the satirist:

If you didn’t see my post about my complicated relationship with Santa earlier this week, give it a looksy.

Also via a friend posting on Facebook, I found Rhapsody in Cool to be spot on funny. And well, as the former Queen of Cynicism, sometimes it’s even too cynical for me. What? Too cynical? She’s pushing the line hard. But I like it.

For the bakers:

There’s something about these little videos from PureWow that I just love. Good ideas without being overly instructional. This one got me into the baking spirit this week. More on my recent cookie swap debacle soon…

Love Actually poster…and our holiday card. Have a very real weekend.