What I’m Loving Lately – December 2017

I think the worst time of the year comes immediately after the best time of the year. It’s currently New Year’s Day and I’m starting to consider early retirement : ) Our days are filled with practically nothing and it’s glorious. Back to work tomorrow, though, and it’s time to put together my monthly recap. As usual, I’m also linking up with Leigh Kramer.

 

TV Shows

The Great British Baking Show – Season 4!! A new season popped up on Netflix so we immediately started watching. I’m trying to buy the later seasons but can’t find them anywhere. If you have any clues let me know!

Top Chef – Thank goodness for Hulu because it’s the only streaming service that has Top Chef! I’ve watched every single season of this cooking competition. I’m not a huge fan of the veterans & new guys combo this time, but I still can’t resist seeing what they create. 

 

Movies (it was quite the movie month in December!)

The Great Escape – Our New Years Eve consisted of champagne, homemade chicken wings, pigs in a blanket, and The Great Escape 🙂 I loved the movie but certainly wasn’t expecting some of the sad parts…

It’s a Wonderful Life – We ended up watching this twice ha. Once earlier in December and then of course on Christmas Eve when it’s always on TV. 

A Christmas Prince – I found this gem on Netflix when it popped up on my homepage. Clearly Netflix knows me well. It’s basically their version of a Hallmark movie, so I just soaked it all in since we don’t get that channel anymore.

Cool Runnings – A classic that we’ll watch over and over. Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it’s bobsled time, COOL RUNNINGS!!

Star Wars Attack of the Clones – Jay is making me watch all the Star Wars movies. This is definitely not one of my favorites. 

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith – It continues. Although better than the last one, I was upset about Padme and mad at Anakin. 

Star Wars The Last Jedi – I happened to take off work on Dec 15 so we decided last minute to see the new movie on opening day. I liked A Force Awakens more, but it was still exciting to see this one on the day it came out. We went to the 9:30am showing and there were tons of kids and their parents there. I’m happy to see this is an acceptable reason to skip school!

Pitch Perfect 3 – My group of friends were home for the holidays so we actually all got together for the first time since my wedding to go out to dinner. Most of us also went to see the new Pitch Perfect movie. Wow – so bad haha. I had low expectations, but still terrible. Oh well. 

Books

Check out my latest reading update here!

 

Events/Activities

Christmas Eve / Christmas Day – We did A Night of Seven Fishes with Jay’s Italian stepfamily on Christmas Eve then saw both of his parents the following day. It’s always nice spending time with them since we don’t see them very often throughout the year.   

My Parents Visit – Since we couldn’t see them on Christmas Day, my parents came to visit us the day after Christmas. I just loved having them here to spend two days enjoying spending time together. Plus, this was the first year I got to decorate the house for Christmas so I was thrilled to show it off.

Baking Days – As is typical around the holidays, I did a ton of baking (and even tried some new recipes). Highlights included an amazing brownie recipe and macarons! 

A Weekend in Philly – We needed to use a free hotel night so we chose to spend it in Philadelphia. My full recap of our quick trip is here.

 

What I’m Loving

Silpat Silicone Baking Mat – This was a Christmas gift that I started using right away. It is extremely helpful for macarons and saves a ton of parchment paper if you’re a regular baker. I’m planning to get the next bigger size as well. 

Hero Realms – The game playing continued in full force this month. We probably spent at least ten hours playing this deck building card game. It’s great for just two players and each game is completely different depending on the character you pick and the cards that come up. 

Aldi – December was the month of Aldi!! We recently rediscovered this grocery store and are completely in love. Our grocery bill is cut by at least 20% and practically all of the products we’ve tried so far are delicious.  

Year End Wrap Ups – It’s always a joy this time of year to see my fellow book bloggers share their favorite reads from 2017. I found a delightful survey to fill out and two great linkups here and here. 

 

What were you loving in December?

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