The Miracle of Love.

We all wait for Christmas miracles. When I was little I believed it would happen no matter what, I believed it till the very last minute of the New Year`s night. Then I started growing up and I started losing my faith in miracles. I`ve become tougher and more sceptical, I`d say. However, every December I feel something nice and magical happening around all over again. I may have stopped waiting for something extraordinary to happen, or so I thought, but in the end of the day I`m still a dreamer and I will always be one. And then, just a few days ago I realized something. Something that I`ve always known and felt but never really payed attention to. I realized I have a miracle. And it happens every year (or should I say it happens every day to each and every one of us?), I just don`t try hard enough to notice it. This miracle is love. This miracle is the realization how lucky I am. How strong my love is and how many people I have, who I can give this love to. How many things there are in my life that make me happy and cheer me up. How amazing my family and my loved ones are. This is not something I constantly feel, but it`s even better this way. It rushes suddenly into my mind and it floods every inch of me with the strongest love possible. When I eat  a delicious clementine, or when I smell a Christmas tree, or when I hear a Christmas song, or when I watch a Christmas movie, or when my fingers are frozen, or when I notice a snowflake on my eyelash.. And this feeling don`t last long as well, but when it leaves...it never leaves me empty or sad, it only leaves happiness and gratefulness and Christmas cheer. And then I would think...for God`s sake I don`t need any other miracle. I already have SO MUCH. Yes, maybe it`s not ideal or maybe it`s not how I expected or wanted it to be. Maybe someone I really really love lives very far away and I don`t get to see them this often or maybe someone who makes me happy doesn`t even know how much I love them and how much they mean to me. Maybe it`s not perfect (nothing is ever perfect). But I have them/this all in my life. I know them/this and they/this will always be with me and they/this will always be a part of who I am. No matter what. And this is the greatest miracle of all. Love. Don`t take what you have for granted. Christmas time is not about you getting a new IPhone or a computer or a dress or a car or whatever (even if you think you cannot live without it)...this time is about you looking back and noticing everything you`ve been through and noticing who helped you to get through it and who`s been by your side all this time...And this is the time to be grateful and give your love to those  who deserves it, who stands by you, who lifts you up when you fall and who loves you for who you really truly are, unconditionally. Let`s spread this love. Let`s notice this love. And then each of our lives will be a miracle. 

Hello, Christmas Spirit!

So it`s the 1st of December and the feeling that Christmas and New Year are on their way is overwhelming (at leas for me. and it`s been this way for quite a while now). The fact that it`s been snowing for two days straight and now it`s sunny and snow is everywhere gives me hope that this year (just like I dream every year) will end on a good note and the next, 2015, will begin well and will all be filled with happy and joy. And since there`s only one month left till the New Year and less than a month till Christmas I`m in the mood of writing the list of my favourite festive music and movies. 

• The first and the favourite movie of all for me is 'Love Actually'. Cheesy enough, I know. But I love this movie and I can do nothing about it. Every year I watch it and watch it and watch it untill I get almost sick of it and I get pretty sure I`m not gonna watch it with such excitement the next year...but NO. I never get fully sick of it. And it never fails to make me happy and bring some Christmas spirit into my house. 
• Elf. It`s the second favourite. To be honest I would say Love Actually and Elf are equally important because without these two movies I don`t feel Christmassy at all. Christmas is not Christmas and winter is not winter if I don`t watch these two.
• Home alone. This is the movie I`m sick of, for real. I don`t mean that it`s bad, I mean I`ve watched it soooo maaany times I can`t even remeber. However this movie is like the first movie I always see in winter. As soon as it`s November it`s all over every channel and that`s when I know it`s the moooost wonderful tiiiime of the year. Also if I feel bad or sad in winter I would most likely watch Home Alone other than the first two. It cheers me up so much and I always have a good laugh. (And just to make it clear I`m talking about first two parts with Macaulay Culkin. The next parts are not so bad I guess, but it doesn`t feel quite the same..).

• Rise of the guardians. I`m not quite sure if this is the Christmas movie but I guess since it`s about winter and snow I can talk about it too. This one is very special and important for me. It appeared in my life when I needed a real miracle and it made me believe in magic and miracles and made me feel like a 5 year old again. And that`s what I`ll always love about this movie. It`s so genuine and kind and inspiring. I was 18 years old when I first watched it and I think for these kind of movies you`re never too old. ( Well actually you`re never too old for any kind of movies, for that matter). P.S. And let me just say Jack Frost is as hot as a drawn character can be. P.P.S. Oh and considering we`ve all probably watched Frozen by now I can`t stop thinking that Jack and Elsa must meet somewhere somehow and make beautiful babies. Oh and Frozen is another Christmas movie (which is not actually about christmas) that I can watch later this month. I love Olaf. I freaking Love this guy. Okay, shut up..
• Michael Buble / Christmas album. This was the first album I heard of Michael Buble and I heard it in winter so since then and forever Michael Buble`s voice reminds of Christmas and only Christmas even when he sings about End of May. I love him and his voice so freaking much sometimes I feel like I can die. 
  
  
• Justin Bieber / Christmas album. Yes. Everybody can judge me for that but I really don`t care. This album came out in October (I believe..?) and the first single (again I don`t quite remember so I can be wrong) was Misletoe. What I do remember though is that the next morning after Misletoe came out I woke up and it was snowing outside. And it was such a wonderful feeling and it made me so freaking happy. And I remember how all Beliebers started to call that day a Beliebers Christmas (or something like that) and I was in a very good place in my life back then so I guess when I listen to this song and to the album it kinda reminds me that everything will be alright and great. 
• Christmas songs. Now..this list can be everlasting so I decided to put ten songs that first pop in my head.

1. For some reason stuck in my head right now is 'It`s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year' by Andy Williams. Such a great song!
2. 'Jingle Bell Rock' by Bobby Helms. Which is the soundtrack for Home Alone 2. ;)
3. 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'. I love a lot of versions of this song. First of all one and only Christina Aguilera (altough it doesn`t really make me feel Christmassy but I just adore her voice), then there`s Demi Lovato`s version, Michel Buble`s obviously and Ella Fitzgerald`s.
4. 'Last Christmas' by Wham! Timeless song.
5. 'Baby It`s Cold Outside' the version by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone, and the one by Kurt and Blaine from Glee.
6. 'Sleigh Ride' by Amy Grant and by Ella Fitzgerald.
7. 'White Christmas' by Barbara Streisand (simply because her version starts with the original verse), by The Drifters and by Otis Redding.
8. 'Driving Home For Christmas' by Chris Rae. OH THIS SONG OH THE MEMORIES IT BRINGS.
9. 'Shake Up Christmas' by Natasha Bedingfield.
10. 'Peppermint Winter' by The Owl City.

These are only a few of all the songs I know and heard and love. But these are amazinggg as well as the ones I didn`t name.

• Youtube Christmas playlists. It`s not a secret that Youtube has playlists for everything, and I`m not revealing a big huge mistery by saying this. If I need to listen to something Christmas related and I`m too lazy to search one song after another I siply go on Youtube and I can find 300+ different playlists (some are 3hours long) and all the songs I love and want to listen to will surely enough be somwhere out there. And it`s also a great way of exploring some new songs!

(I can`t explain how hard it is to install the pictures on the places where I want them to be. It takes a freaking genius to figure everything out. But this won`t ruin my Christmas spirit hahaha)

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(I do not own any pictures from this post. All credits go to the owner!)