When I heard there was going to be a tv series continuing the Santa Clause film franchise on the small screen, I was… bemused. I watched the first film a long while back, and thought it was okay, but hadn’t got round to watching the next two so it obviously wasn’t that special. And I didn’t know they were popular enough to warrant a return of the characters to the world of Santa, elves, and the North Pole.

I listened to the audiobook of this, ready by Gareth Southgate himself. It’s a book aimed at young people to help inspire and guide them, and give them some tips and tools to start goal-setting and really making progress in their lives & careers. But this advice works for anyone, and is dispensed in a really clear and concise way, with solid examples from Gareth’s own life experience to illustrate the points. Very good, I particularly enjoyed the short and long term goal setting section.

Sometimes I write about festive episodes of series that I like but this time I thought it’d be fun to focus on every Christmas episode from ten years’ of Friends. They spend more time on Thanksgiving, obviously, with some really classic episodes in November: the football game, Brad Pitt, Joey with a turkey stuck on his head, etc. But Christmas does crop up every now and again, quite inconsistently, through the decade.

This was a different book to the one I was expecting - it wasn’t just a festive rom-com, I mean, it was hardly that at all really. Emma splits up with her partner and has an unfortunate accident that means she heads home to recover and re-connect with her family. It had elements of magic and long family feuds and that village mentality where everyone knows each other’s business. It reminded me a lot of Practical Magic (the movie, I haven’t read the book yet), so it was good but it wasn’t quite what I had hoped.

Mixed feelings about this one - it’s a great cast (except, you know) and the concept is interesting and fun. I like that it’s a slightly darker take on festive stories, to balance out the sugary sweetness of many others. But I feel like it could have been so much better. Vince’s babbling didn’t quite fit, for me, I’m assuming a lot of that was him improvising. And the CG to make the elves smaller fell a little bit into that uncanny valley so that it was a little bit creepy. But it was entertaining and certainly a lot better than many other Christmas films around.

I started this when we had a bit of a cold snap, thinking listening to people in slightly colder conditions than me would make me feel a bit better. This is one of those adventure thrillers that has a deep underlying mystery about it but you’re so busy going through the rollercoaster of dangerous situations you don’t have much time to think about whodunit. This has many elements I love, most being the perils of travelling on a submarine, but also the survivalist aspects of being near the poles. And ultimately it’s a great thriller ride right to the end.

This is a lovely gentle little movie about people finding the meaning of Christmas in connecting with other people. At first, you’re really uptight with all the commuters and thinking there’s no way this party can work, but gradually as the film unwinds, you start to relax into it too. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to talk to commuters all of a sudden, but it’s a great message not to judge people as you never know what’s going on in their lives.

Terrible, terrible film! The guy is basically one step away from being a serial killer, and the woman is completely unflexible and holding a grudge for something that didn’t really sound like much of a problem at all. The film spends a good 15 minutes in the American sunshine, which is never ideal for when you want a Christmas movie, but it does eventually get near the festive season.

This time last year, I wrote a quick review of the first series of Acapulco which was good and bright and fun, and exactly what we needed in the dark winter months. The second series has just finished being released on Apple TV+ and I had to come back to say this new collection of ten episodes is even better than the first.

This is another take on the Shop Around the Corner/You’ve Got Mail story where people are rivals in real life and falling in love via their writing - this time it’s app messaging. That part of it was kinda fun, it’s a good storyline and they update it quite well. The leads do better when they’re bickering than when they’re getting on, but that’s okay. The other part of it is the whole business side, which I think is a fundamental flaw to the whole movie.

Ah, this was a pretty dull movie, to be honest. It started okay, looked like it might have something interesting about it, but then it felt like all the threads that were set up didn’t go anywhere. What was the point of the viral video? And what was the big deal about the dad knowing before the girl about the casting? For a movie about dance, there wasn’t a lot about dancing. All a bit odd. The only chemistry in the movie was between father and daughter - because they are real life father and daughter! The rest is completely forgettable.

I’ve been on the Sarah Morgan festive book train for a couple of years, and enjoyed them. This one was another very good Christmas rom-com, with a family coming together with very different viewpoints and learning to forgive and respect each other’s choices. I liked the story, I liked that the big confusion of Lucy’s arrival was actually dealt with quite quickly and just set up everything that happened next rather than being a big plot point. I did think some of the dialogue was a bit clunky and it was a little bit drawn out in places, but these are minor complaints for another entertaining read.

Yay, a new and decent Christmas rom-com. This one took a minute to get going, at first I wasn’t sure either of the characters were going to be engaging (she was getting excited about Eureka lemons, etc) but it didn’t take long for the action to get going and their real personalities to shine through. I thought the lead two had brilliant chemistry, to the point that it felt so confusing what they saw in their other partners. But a great journey to get them together, even if his phone forgetfulness was just a little bit contrived to help up the stakes. Otherwise, perfect, and with a Say Anything reference at the end, too.

A batch of proper cheesy Christmas movies appeared on iPlayer and with a spare ninety minutes, I figured it couldn’t hurt to watch one of these babies for free. This one was actually pretty respectable for a Hallmark movie, although not a patch on some of the better festive rom-coms we’ve watched. Some of the story choices didn’t really make sense, and the sentimental nature of it sometimes veered into irritating, but the male lead was great and I think they had the beginnings of some good chemistry.

I think I liked this more than the previous one, although it’s all still more of the same - these stuffy British characters trying to hold their own in an era of servants and class that is quickly dying out. But I did like the mystery of the Countess, and I thought the silent film turning into a ’talkie’ and that being a threat to the stars was really interesting. A good couple of hours, I hope they do more!

Ripped through this in super quick time, the 13th book in the Jessica Daniel series. I loved that it was a sort of standalone, concentrating on one story - the disappearance of Bex - and in one new location - Blackpool rather than Manchester. Lots of new characters appeared as Jessica couldn’t resort to the usual gang and it was an interesting mystery that worked itself out really well. The author sums up this story afterwards by calling it the end of Jessica’s second season, so I might pause my reading there until we know what the future of this series is going to be.

Another good entry into the Jessica Daniel canon, with our hero pulled into a secret investigation over some crimes that may be a copycat or may be a prisoner just released back into society. I liked the growth of relationships in this one, with Jessica working closer with her new superior and of course relying on Izzy and Dave to do a lot of the legwork. There are moments of danger for the wider group but it all comes good in the end, with another clifthanger right at the last moment to leave me diving into the next book.

Agatha Christie’s second book features the duo Tommy and Tuppence who I hadn’t heard of before, really, and at first thought it sounded like some kind of Enid Blyton kid’s adventure. Of course it’s not that. I liked the set up, and how these two sort of fall into an adventure by accident, or simply by not saying things they know and managing to bluff their way on things they don’t know. The stakes get higher and the back and forth and whereabouts of everyone gets more confusing, but it comes to a happy ending and I enjoyed the ride!

I’m going to be honest, going into this final I really wasn’t very excited. Two of the four finalists weren’t my favourites. I feel like they’ve all been so good at the dances that we’re not going to learn much by seeing the same dances over again. And we all knew right from the start that Hamza was going to win. The guy was trending first thing in the morning, it was never going to go another way.

This has to be the album of the year in terms of classic songs being brought back into the modern consciousness - thanks Stranger Things. It had to be the one I closed the year on. Kicking off with Running Up That Hill is a brave move as it is an absolute tune, but the rest does stand up. The album is in two halves - purposely - with the first being a collection of great songs and singles. The second half is a bit more of an experimental work, a woman falling through the ice and experiencing… something. I was less enamoured with that but actually considering it’s a bit out there, I liked it.

This album came out of nowhere for me, I wasn’t expecting it at all and it’s come right at the last minute for the album adventure. And I loved it! So, so, SO GOOD. Every song is an absolute tune and it manages to try lots of different styles without being too much of a ‘just pick one and pipe down’ hotchpotch of things. There’s a bit of George Ezra, Imagine Dragons, Sam Smith, all sorts in there, but it’s also its own thing with Sam’s incredible vocals. A contender for the top five, right at the last minute!

I finished watching the third series of Staged recently and I’ve been trying to decide how I feel about it to be able to write this post. The truth is, I don’t know how I feel about it. Oh, it was good, obviously. In Simon Evans we trust, because this was another series that subverted the format of the previous two and added an extra layer of complexity and ‘how much of what we’re seeing do we believe’ and who is going to guest star this time?

I loved this. A short collection of essays by the author about the joys and horrors of Christmas, and particularly about those horrors that are really joys and you would miss if they weren’t there. They’re written so well to really bring you into the moment. I can completely imagine the swimming pool situation - Santa in a swimming pool is such a weird concept. And the endless obsessions over the moistness of a turkey. Brilliant. Just a great read and so easy to get through in one sitting.

There’s not really a lot to say about this, it’s just the TV show for an extended period of time. These are characters that are so beloved and they all go on a little adventure both above and below stairs. It’s nice, charming, the cast do what they do best, and I quite enjoyed it.

I’m racing through these Jessica Daniel books, having picked the series up again after a long break. This one featured a handful of different crimes again, with the main focus being on a prison break and the effects that flow out from that specific moment in time. I found it a little bit hard to follow in the middle but of course, it’s the main characters and how they interact that really keeps you reading - the camaraderie, and of course, keeping up with what’s going to happen next!

This is such a weird movie. It feels like it’s trying to be a comedic take on the cheesy Hallmark movies, but it doesn’t quite do enough with that to make you sure that’s the aim. What it does do, though, is lead you on as though it is a cheesy movie and then suddenly someone says something completely startling and unexpected that just can’t help be funny. I liked it, it was really entertaining. I don’t know that I could recommend it and it’s certainly not going to be one that is watchable over and over for Christmas forever. But it was a great experience.

Semi-finals and two dances each, this week is a real challenge. Although technically the dances had a bit more time due to the earlier than usual scheduling last weekend and the later than usual scheduling this weekend. Thank goodness it’s the final next week so we can stop getting sompletely confused about what day it is. On with the dances! Fleur & Vito - Paso Doble Shirley: “Fleur, Paso Doble, and Vito. That has got to be a winning combination.” It’s good but it felt like a long 90 seconds. We had a chat about Moloko instead. Too much power to my eyes, but Anton said it was her best dance so far.

This was a nice, cosy Christmas read, As per the traditional rom-com Christmas story, the girl who fled to the city has come home to face up to her family and her past.. and find love along the way. I liked this because although some elements of it were really predictable, it didn’t all happen in the way I was expecting. The pair were happy by mid-way through the book so then something was bound to come and split them up for a bit but what was it… and then the whole parentage thing. A good read.

I can hardly believe it but today, 12th December, marks my 20th anniversary of blogging. Two decades of me blathering on about TV and books and films and baking and the moon and any other inane thought that comes into my head. It’s been an absolute rollercoaster of a ride and there’s still so much more to write about and discover.

My new year goal for 2022 was to complete some 30 day challenges, try out some new things, get some habits forming, generally be industrious throughout the year. I completed 11 30 day challenges some of which have formed habits which have stuck, some of which I never want to revisit again, and some which were good but probably need another go. I think it’s been a really successful year and something I might try again in 2023. Until then, though, and having taken December off from a specific challenge, it seems like a good time to reflect on what I did achieve this year.

This is a perfectly fine retelling of A Christmas Carol, great voice cast, good enough songs, nice animation. But it doesn’t really add anything to the Dickens universe, there’s not a lot new or exciting about it. I feel like at this point, the story has been done so often that you need to add something to it or have a unique take on it to make it worthwhile. This is fine, but there are other better ones to watch. (Muppets!)

On the surface this is better than the previous film. The graphics were better, naturally, and it has a coherent story that is at least one thing rather than two very different things trying to work together. It lacks from Bernard’s absence, and it really is weird that the in-laws were happy to believe elves were Canadians just because they kept saying ’eh’ a lot.

I didn’t know any of the songs on this album and I still really loved it. It just has that nice Fleetwood Mac vibe throughout, rising and falling in energy but never flinching away from what makes the band great - noodly guitars and excellent vocals. Even though it’s a really long album that would normally annoy me, in this instance I was quite happy listening from start to finish and didn’t necessarily want it to end. Nothing massively stood out for me, but I liked the whole thing as a package.

This is an ok pop album - I was worried Olly was going down a bit of an early easy-listening vibe recently but this brings it back a bit. The songs are fine musically, but I have to admit I didn’t really take to the lyrics. They’re just a bit… judgemental, a bit mean, a bit arrogant even? Marry Me is very demanding. I Hate You When You’re Drunk comes across really rude. I don’t know, I’m reading too much into it, I’m sure, but I just didn’t like it.

The underlying story of this is fine - a bit of a rom-com, a bit of our heroine saving the local theatre from closure, a bit of Christmas fun and games. But I don’t know that the characters held up their end of the bargain. The sister, Cleo, was hideous to her sister and took any opportunity to criticise, whilst our main character Sam(antha) was an odd creature, pretty judgmental herself and very buttoned-up. I did like the relationship with her and Jimmy though, it progressed nicely. This was a freebie, I think, so nothing wasted, but not a favourite.

Okay, what is this film? It’s like two very different movies shoe-horned together, one is good, one is not good, and where they crossover, it’s worse. The rom-com, family drama with a heartwarming Christmas gifts scene and a kid trying to find his place in a difficult teenage world, is actually really good - entertaining and funny and worth watching.

I really liked this book, it kicks off with a chance glance through a bus window and then whizzes forward in time to when things start to get very complicated. It’s proper drama from start to finish, stepping forward in time each year to revisit the characters and where they’re at in their lives. It was well written and engaging, I wanted to know what was going to happen next and loved it. But I guess it wasn’t too Christmassy, only really that first bit. Not a real complaint though.

We’ve reached the quarter finals and it’s Musicals week, one of the best on the Strictly calendar - hooray! Kym & Graziano are back in action so it’s a full house… although there are only six couples remaining at this point, so it’s a slimmed down show that will see who gets through to the semi-finals. The opening montage of various musicals was fantastic - Johannes as a Pink Lady is everything I never knew I needed. Love that Oti was back as choreographer, too. Anyway, on with the shows!

I really like the first album from the Sugababes, but this is arguably their first in the format that is most-associated with the Sugababes name. It’s stacked full of tunes - kicking off with Freak Like Me and piling in a good few other singles. I know Shape gets a lot of stick but I quite like it, the only problem with it is it’s one of those songs that doesn’t fit well in the album - not in its middle-of-the-listing position - but equally, I don’t know where it would fit. A good pop album though, and kicking off the Sugababes real rise to fame.

This is a great album from Stormzy, a credible follow up to the heavy headed previous release. It takes quite a while to get going, Fire + Water is a slow start to any record, but once it ramps up, it has that soulful vocal warmth. I did find it, as a whole, a bit depressing, there’s a lot of pleading and please this, please that, which I get… there’s a lot to beg to be better in this world (and seriously, please do just leave Meghan alone) but it just left me feeling a bit blue.

I whipped through this book in super quick time, my first Christmas book of the festive season. It starts off with our heroine running out on her wedding and very quickly falling into the arms of her saviour, who of course comes with his own baggage. At first, I thought this was going to be a bit dull, the pair fell in love very quickly and usually what we’re looking for in Christmas cheesy rom-coms is the will-they-won’t-they. But it started taking twists and turns I wasn’t expecting and kept me reading until the end. Not bad, but I suppose not really that Christmassy once the initial stage is over.

This is a brilliant Christmas film. Fully British and cute and funny, odd-ball people doing odd-ball things and learning and growing and getting all festive at the same time. It wasn’t until afterwards that we put two and two together in terms of Jim O’Hanlon being of Trying fame too - how much we love Trying makes perfect sense with how much we loved this film.

Thirty days of guitar completed and I’m a pro now! Just kidding, I can play some of the easier chords and attempt to play some of the other easy ones and pick the occasional note from a string. There’s a long, long way to go. One of the things I was really worried about with this challenge was that I knew how much playing guitar can take a toll on the fingertips - and playing every day might not be the wisest idea. I think I survived, although having taken two days off at the end of the challenge, my fingers are still tingly!

I very quickly read through this after hopping back on the Jessica Daniel bandwagon. It didn’t pick up immediately after the cliffhanger of the previous book - some time has passed and our characters are still dealing with the fallout of the situation. This book continues the recent tradition of Jessica trying to understand her role as a more hands-off detective, rather than kicking down doors, but also layers in an element of whether she even wants to stay in the profession. Add to that a couple of interlinked crimes to solve and an ill-advised fling with a colleague, and you’ve got a great read.

Although Will Robie was my first Baldacci series, I think John Puller has grown on me more. This book really leans in to his difficult family dynamic, with a brother in prison… although not for long! The stakes are high again, and as we delve into the world of espionage and treason, it’s so hard to know who to trust and who is telling the truth. The tension ramps up really well in this book and culminates in the Pentagon, and it’s just a really action-packed journey. Baldacci always writes well, short, sharp sentences that bring you right into the heart of the adventure. What’s next??

Ooh this was a bad one. It was entertaining enough to get to the end but there wasn’t really a lot redeeming about it. There was no chemistry between the two leads and the plot was entirely implausible - from the music industry side to the home-town that seemingly has its own micro-climate. Also, it seems like no one knew Freddie Prinze Jr had Latino heritage so that’s a surprise to us all. I don’t recommend watching this but, have to admit, the PA woman was wonderful.

I was a bit nervous going into this book because having seen Bob Mortimer on Would I Lie To You, I wasn’t sure how full of fanciful stories this was going to be, with little reality. But actually the author upfront says it’s 90% true and the areas where there are some fibs are highlighted. And that being the case, it’s a really great memoir. I loved how it was structured, jumping back and forth in time between Bob discovering his heart problem and then the recovery from open heart surgery, to working through the details of his early life, his time as a solicitor, and meeting Jim Moir and becoming Vic and Bob.

As a vehicle for Bill Murray’s best darkly comic grumpiness, this is perfect. As a movie that’s supposed to be a take on A Christmas Carol, it’s really not great. Firstly it makes no sense why the woman would have fallen for Bill, stayed with him, and actively wanted to get back together with him before even his redemption journey started. I call it a redemption journey but he really doesn’t seem to be learning any lessons, remaining pretty miserable and dour the whole way through until suddenly BANG he’s all better with a big speech on TV.

It’s been a while since I read a Jessica Daniel book and it took me a minute to get back into the world again. If I’m honest, I could only remember the huge elements of the series so far, not all of the details, but as always with a book like this, anything important was given a timely reminder where it impacted on the current story. It felt a little bit like this book was missing a huge central crime, there were a few ongoing cases of course, but that’s because it was more about what was going on behind the scenes.

Back from Blackpool and in the ballroom we know and love, this is a regular dancing week before we hit another theme next week - Musicals week! Sadly Kym couldn’t perform today due to testing positive for Covid, so she technically gets a free pass to next week and at this stage in the competition, I really think that’s a huge advantage! Nevertheless, we still had six glorious couples dancing (oof it’s getting empty at the bottom of those stairs, isn’t it?) and this is how I thought they got on in week ten.