Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Love2learn.net Updates

I've done a bit of updating to the Advent, Christmas Stories and Calendar: December pages on Love2learn.net

I was rather amazed (and slightly amused) to discover that the December page was last updated five years ago today.

There is still a lot more that should be added to these pages - particular the Christmas Stories and December pages. Please share any recommended books and links with us. Also, I'm hoping to get a Christmas movies page up soon, so recommendations in that direction would also be appreciated.

6 comments:

Nancy C. Brown said...

Movies:
Miracle on 34th Street (Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara
It's a Wonderful Life
The Lemon Drop Kid
Christmas in Connecticut
White Christmas
Holiday Inn
A Muppet Christmas Carol
The Christmas Box
A Charlie Brown Christmas
The Polar Express

Nancy C. Brown said...

Books:
The Legend of the Candy Cane

love2learnmom said...

Thanks! I started working on a Christmas Music and Movies page and I'll include your suggestions. Any chance of writing up one or two lines on the ones I haven't seen (at least in a long time): Lemon Drop Kid, Christmas in Connecticut, Muppet Christmas Carol, Christmas Box, Charlie Brown Christmas (I know I especially love this one) and the Polar Express?

love2learnmom said...

Christmas Albums I have listed so far (this page isn't up yet):

The Bells of Dublin - The Chieftains

Christmas Carols and Motets - The Tallis Scholars

A Christmas Celebration - Kathleen Battle

The Christmas Song - Nat King cole

Handel's Messiah

The Nutcracker

Merry Christmas - Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and Orchestra

O Come All Ye Faithful - King's College Choir

love2learnmom said...

Thanks for the ideas Kelly. We have seen the 1993 Nutcracker, it was an oversight on my part so far not to include it. It's very well done and very engaging for the little ones.

Nancy C. Brown said...

The Lemon Drop Kid
Bob Hope in one of his funniest roles. He's in debt and needs to raise money fast. He sees a "Santa" collecting money on the street corner, and comes up with a scheme to collect money for himself. He gets into all kinds of trouble. For older kids (maybe 9 and up) due to some references to drinking and gambling.
Christmas in Connecticut
A "Martha Stewart" like character writes a magazine column about her home, family and recipes. Only she's single, in an apartment and doesn't know how to cook. The publisher wants to join her for Christmas dinner, and there's lots of fun before he discovers the jig is up. Also for older (9 and up) due to the fact that the protagonist pretends she's married at first.

A Muppet Christmas Carol
Quite a well done rendition, true to the original (except Mr. Marley becomes The Marley Brothers, but that was minor). There is music and humor sprinkled in, and overall it is a great yearly tradition to watch. As with any version of the Christmas Carol, prepare young ones for the ghosts.
The Christmas Box
Richard Thomas stars in this touching story about a family that moves in to caretake for an older woman, and discovers her deepest secret, hidden inside a Christmas Box. The family connects with the older woman and brings her out of her shell.

The Polar Express
If you want to keep the idea of Santa and the North Pole alive in your little people, this is the movie. A young boy begins to doubt about Santa, but on Christmas Eve, a huge train pulls up right in front of his house. He takes the Polar Express all the way to the north pole, and the Spirit of Christmas is wonderfully portrayed in this movie adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's story (and does a much better job than the book, in my opinion).