When the holiday season rolls around all the popular Christmas movies play constantly on loop. But how often do movie theaters play some of these popular holiday films? Not since the year they came out right? That's what I thought until I found out my local movie theater, Harkins, shows some throwback movies rather frequently.

Harkins plays throwback movies every Tuesday at 7 PM throughout the entire year! Tickets to see these older movies are only $5, what a deal! Throughout this month Harkins has shown its' festive spirit by showing popular holiday movies such as: The Polar Express, Jim Henson's Holiday Special, Schindler's List, Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, Elf, and The Holiday.

So on this past Tuesday, one of my best friends and I went to go see Christmas Vacation. Why this one you ask? Well it is one of her absolute favorite Christmas movies and the truth is, I have never seen it before. Shocker right? This movie is basically a Christmas classic. So how did I go 26 years without seeing it? Easy, I don't watch a lot of these older holiday movies. In fact, I just saw Home Alone for the first time last year, but I digress.

To be able to see this Christmas classic on the big screen made the whole experience so much better. Instead of watching it from my couch with my phone in my hand, I got to unwind, relax and truly watch this movie. By seeing it this way, I now see why some people absolutely love it.

But what did I think of this movie? Well...it was alright. I find Chevy Chase just unlikable, and he was that in the movie. Let's face it Clark Griswold is a jerk. He's rude to his neighbors who do absolutely nothing to him and the stunts he pulls ends up damaging their property and almost killing them! But I did enjoy seeing the slapstick humor Clark had to endure. But you have to think, how is that man still alive after all those dangerous things that happens to him throughout the movie? But that's just my opinion!

There's nothing like spending an evening at the movie theater. I just love the idea of going to see old movies, especially ones I have never seen before, on the big screen. It makes the whole movie watching experience so much better, and more theaters should do this! There was a really good size crowd at the movies that night, so it could be a great revenue raiser for struggling theaters. What do you think? Would you go see a classic at a movie theater? Until tomorrow.

There's a reason why Christmas time is considered to be the most wonderful time of the year. This time of the year focuses on the importance of family and is rich in tradition. Think of all the little things you do during this time of the year with your family. Every little thing you do each year is a tradition.

A tradition doesn't need to be some grand adventure. It can be something as little as decorating the house and tree together or building gingerbread houses. What makes something a tradition, is the amount of joy it brings to you and your family. Here are some of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Tracking Santa on NORAD. This is my favorite Christmas tradition by far. Ever since I was a kid, (and when the internet was invented) my mom and I would track Santa Claus on NORAD's website every Christmas Eve. NORAD is the North American Aerospace Defense Command, they're in charge of tracking what's flying up in the sky. So it makes total sense why they're the ones tracking Santa on his big Christmas Eve voyage. All throughout Christmas Eve, you can check Santa's current location. I loved tracking Santa as a kid, and it's something I love to do now as an adult. It's something fun and cute to do with kids, or adults who are children at heart. If you want to see Santa's current location click here.

Making Christmas Cookies. This is the one time of the year where my mom and I make our special homemade family recipe cookies. We call them Ta Das! The recipe was created by my great grandfather back when he lived in Bari, Italy. From the stories I've heard, he was a great cook and baker. The only problem was his recipes weren't very detailed. A pinch here, a spoonful there, and bake until they're done. Great Grandpa Ferro wasn't a wordsmith. But, my mom figured out the recipe for the most part. She figured out numbers and measurements and times, but it took her a while to perfect it. So when I learned how to make them, I got a decent recipe to go off of. These cookies are bomb and a Simpson Family delicacy. Ask anyone who's tried them!

Watching Christmas Movies/Specials. Throughout the month of December, especially on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I like to take the time to watch some of my favorite holiday movies. Throughout the month, I watch Hallmark movies with my Dad. Every Christmas Eve, I tune into Freeform and watch Elf. This year, I plan on taking full advantage of Freeform's schedule and will be tuning into How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Santa Clause. Also during this time of the season, I like to watch some of my favorite Christmas themed episodes from my favorite TV shows like Bob's Burgers and The Office.

LASAGNA!!! Every Christmas Eve, my mom makes the best lasagna ever. She only makes it during this time of the year, so I make sure I indulge. My family doesn't do much for Christmas Eve, we keep it low key so we can get ready for the big day. But we do eat lots and lots of yummy lasagna and get into a huge food coma.

Stay Up All Night. This necessarily isn't a tradition I look forward to each year. In fact, I try to avoid it at all costs. But that never works in my favor. On Christmas Eve, I'm either up all night wrapping presents or up all night with excitement because CHRISTMAS IS TOMORROW. There is no in-between and no such thing as a good night's sleep on Christmas Eve.

Watch the Disney Christmas Parade. This is my most favorite holiday tradition. There's nothing like waking up and watching the parade on Christmas morning. Plus with the luxury living close to Disneyland, I actually get to see this parade live whenever I go to the parks during Christmas time. The Disney Christmas parade will always hold a special place in my heart, forever and ever.

Those are some of my holiday traditions, they may or may not be similar to your own. Everyone celebrates the holidays in different ways, as we should. No family is alike, so why should your traditions be the same?

This is the last Blogmas post I will be doing this year. I know I only got up to twenty, which is an improvement compared to last year. The holidays are meant to be spent with your family, which is what I plan on doing. Thank you everyone who read or even skimmed through my posts this Blogmas. I truly appreciate you all very much. I enjoyed writing these posts, so I hope you all enjoyed reading them! I plan on writing more throughout the New Year so stay tuned to what's coming in the future!

Until next time.

Wrapping presents, some people enjoy it while others dread it. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. People like myself enjoy wrapping presents but then start to hate it after it doesn't turn out like we planned and then we get frustrated. So here are some of the tricks I've learned.

First let's start with wrapping presents with wrapping paper. When using wrapping paper, it's better to have more than less. Try not to just get the bare minimum, because it's better to have extra paper to just cut off rather than add extra scraps of paper. So more is always better than less! Paper wrapping paper works best but sometimes we want our presents to be extra cute so we give the glitter wrapping paper a try. Glitter wrapping paper, sure it looks cute, but it's a pain to wrap. Let's just say tape doesn't work so your only option is a hot glue gun. Sure it may look cute but be prepared to get frustrated, and it's actually very messy, you'll keep finding leftover glitter until next Christmas. Just be prepared...

This Christmas season, when it comes to wrapping presents I've been really interested in upcycling. Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, or useless/unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

You know the brown material that holds the wrapping paper together? Well I actually have used that to wrap presents as well! That needs a glue gun also because tape just does not work. Plus based on what I've seen on Pinterest, brown wrapping paper is all the rage. And to make it look extra cute I've hot glued a bow on there. All the ribbon I've used is from old Christmas tree decorations that we don't use anymore. But if you need to buy ribbon, your local craft store or dollar store is your best bet. Michael's currently had all Christmas ribbon marked down to 60% off.

So before you go to Target and buy tons of overpriced wrapping paper and ribbon, look and see what you have around the house and upcycle it! It's good for the planet, and helps you save some cash.

But if you need to get some wrapping materials, check Target's dollar spot, or now known as Bullseye's Playground. The have tissue paper, wrapping paper and even some cute little boxes and bags for cheap! I got a couple sturdy gift bags for some presents and they're super cute and durable. They can actually hold more stuff than you think.

And if you're lazy of course there's always the standard gift bags. Buying a bunch of these can add up, so if you have a lot of presents to wrap get some wrapping paper and boxes. But for one or two presents you can't go wrong with a simple gift bag. Wal-Mart and your local dollar store have some very cute ones for cheap. It can be expensive to buy a bunch of gift bags, but it is the easiest way to wrap a present. If anything reuse and recycle bags from last year! That should help save some cash and the planet.

Also when it comes to gift bags, you also need to get tissue paper. If you ordered items from online, you can always use the paper that was wrapped in the box or the bubble wrap! It came with your purchase and it technically is recycling. But if you didn't get any or did not shop online, Target and your local dollar store will have some reasonably priced tissue paper.

And there you have it, there's my little guide on wrapping presents. I hoped it helped a little or inspired you for your wrapping process! Happy wrapping and until tomorrow.

Happiness, it's something we all pursue for ourselves. Some people also will bend over backwards just to make sure their loved ones will be happy as well.

Positive thinking and optimistic thoughts are the obvious ways to ensure one's happiness. But most of the time, that's not the case. Positive thinking and optimism are a great way to live a happy life, but sometimes we need to be realistic and realize that bad things will happen to us occasionally.

We all have certain things that make us happy, especially when life isn't going as planned. Some people enjoy traveling and adventuring off to faraway places. Other people like to find their happiness by exercising or working out. There's even people who find their happiness at their job. Other people find their happiness through religion or philosophy. While some people find their happiness in their hobbies like cooking, painting, baking, crafting, reading, writing, or any of the other hobbies out there. People also find their happiness by helping those around them or just being with the people they care most about.

While browsing Pinterest for some quotes on happiness, I discovered this gem above:

"No one is too old for fairytales."

Fairytales are often seen as childish, but that is incorrect. Fairytales are timeless. Most children grow up reading the classic tales and even watching the movies that go along with them. Fairytales are important, and they offer such important life lessons. From fairytales we've learned about: right and wrong, true love, honor, sacrifice, hope, courage, hard work, justice and so much more.

To go back as an adult and reread or even re-watch these classic stories reminds us of all of the lessons we once learned as children. For me especially, I'm reminded about love and hope. Love is a great feeling and a strong emotion to have. But love isn't always romantic, it can be towards your friends and family. Hope, now that's a big one, it is a big part of finding happiness. If you're not hopeful about anything, how will you grow? How will you achieve your goals and dreams?

Fairytales reinforce that there are sad moments, but shows that the sad moment is not the end. From watching Once Upon A Time, I've seen that as long as there is hope, there are good things headed your way. If you've watched the show you'd know Regina, aka Evil Queen, she's transformed from a villain to a hopeful hero searching for her happy ending.

Hope and happiness come hand in hand, they're a pair you can never split up. And this is shown in fairytales. Fairytales teach us the important lessons that you can't learn from a textbook, and teach us these lessons in a important way. They teach us by tapping into our emotions, when our hero is sad and angry, we're sad and angry. When our hero is happy, we're happy. When our hero gets their happily ever after, we know ours is on its way. Until next time.