The Wittering Woman ...: erin lawless

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Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Advent Calendar Day 15 #ErinLawless

Behind door 15 is Erin Lawless listing her top ten Christmas films that get forgotten about!

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

A dowdily-dressed, lonesome as hell Sandra Bullock pulls the Christmas shift at the train station, only to save the life of the man she's secretly fancied all year. Visiting him at the hospital where he lies in a coma, she 'accidentally' tells the nursing staff that she's engaged to him. With loads of charming family festivities and a Christmassy Chicago, this is always my go-to Christmas film!

DIE HARD/DIE HARD 2

Bruce Willis plays Detective McClane, a New York City cop trying to mend his broken marriage with his wife over the holidays. McClane's wife's office Christmas party is, naturally, overrun by a terrorist mastermind (Alan Rickman) and all of the guests are held hostage. McClane flies in late from NYC and is off in another part of the building when the takeover happens, so he's got the element of surprise on his hands as he tries to foil the bad guy's plot. Too bad he doesn't have any shoes.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Okay, so it's not strictly a holiday film – but there's something deliciously festive about the snow, and the dark wintery woods, and the roaring fires! You could make a Beauty and the Beast sandwich and watch the midquel, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas too if you wanted to!

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

"I'm not a pervert! I just was looking for a Turbo Man doll!" Poor, beleaguered family man Arnold Schwarzenegger is always putting his career over his family, so much so he forgets to pick up the action figure his little boy is desperate for for Christmas. Arnie has to race through town on Christmas Eve – along with a bevy of other neglectful fathers – to try and find a store where the toy isn't sold out! In the days of internet shopping, it's fun to look back and laugh..!

TRADING PLACES

A stuck-up stock investor (Dan Aykroyd) and a scheming street con artist (Eddie Murphy) find their positions reversed as part of a nature-versus-nurture bet by two insensitive millionaires. It also stars Jamie Lee Curtis as a prostitute, which is always excellent. Classic con game comedy that takes place around Christmas (remember a drunk Aykroyd dressed up as Santa and waving a gun around?)

MIXED NUTS

A glorious Nora Ephron-penned comedy starring the legend that is Steve Martin and Live Schreiber as a transvestite. It's Christmas Eve and a serial strangler is on the loose. A crisis hotline, staffed by three inept counsellors, faces eviction. They need a miracle…

ABOUT A BOY

This wry coming-of-age tale is quite touching amidst its Christmas backdrop – Hugh Grant starring as the "man-child" bachelor who survives on the royalties from a successful Christmas song his father composed decades before.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Don't make the mistake of consigning this film to October! The film is truly about Christmas, not Hallowe'en! Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, is bored with doing the same thing every year for Halloween. One day he stumbles into Christmas Town, and is so taken with the idea of Christmas that he tries to get the resident bats, ghouls, and goblins of Halloween town to help him put on Christmas instead of Halloween -- but alas, they can't get it quite right.

GHOSTBUSTERS 2

Set five years after the first film, here the holiday season sees an influx of spirits to New York City, so who you gonna call? Who can resist the Ghostbusters charging around in Santa hats, eh?

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Erin Lawless lives a happy life full of wonderful friends, in love with a man who buys her books instead of flowers. To mix things up a little, she writes books where friends and lovers hit obstacles and (usually) overcome them. When she’s not doing that she reads absolutely everything she gets her hands on, spends an inordinate amount of time in pyjamas and runs a fun-but-informative blog on British history.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Written Fireside: His Way Home - Part 7

Written Fireside: His Way Home

If you've not read all the parts yet, click on the links below to catch up!

Part 1 by Lori Connelly on November 12th

Part 2 by Sarah Lefebve on November 19th

Part 3 by Zara Stoneley on November 26th

Part 4 by Lynn Marie Hulsman on December 3rd

Part 5 by Romy Sommer on December 10th

Part 6 by Jane Lark on December 17th

And now for my part. This is my third time participating in the round robin organised by Lori Connelly. Initially, I'm always anxious when it comes to my part, I worry I won't get it done in time - as I can't think about my part until the one before is up. But when it comes to it, I focus on writing, and it's great to be back doing that, especially when I feel that all I do is edit at the moment. Enjoy!

Part 7 by Teresa F Morgan

“A time window?” Matthew said in disbelief. “Old man, you've had a serious bump to the head.” He made towards Walter, to help him to the chair, but Walter batted him away, already looking stronger.

“Don’t call me old, boy!”

“Don’t call me boy.”

Beth rolled her eyes. These two were definitely related, their resemblance striking. Not only did they share the same piercing blue eyes and handsome features, they shared the same stubbornness. Walter was aged anywhere between seventy and eighty, Beth guessed. If his daughter, Matthew’s grandmother would be a hundred now, it didn’t make sense, unless there really was a time slip.

“We must go to Watchtower Hill,” Walter said, urgently. “I’m here to lead you to Alice. Then I can return... to my Rose.”

“There’s a snow storm coming!” Matthew said angrily. Beth took his arm, worried he was losing his temper and patience with the elderly man.

“We’ll get there in time,” Walter said firmly. “Beth, get that sled.”

Two hours later, all appropriately dressed and equipped to hike through snow and the cold, they trudged knee deep, towards Watchtower Hill. It was hard work, and tiring, gradually climbing. The wind was harsh, blowing a blizzard of icy snow that stung their faces, evident of a storm coming. Beth’s muscles ached with exhaustion; she dreaded what Walter felt, though between them, they’d pulled Walter some of the journey on the sled. Now, through the thicker woods they were all on foot.

“We’re nearly there,” Walter said, breathing heavily, pointing towards the ruined snow covered cabin.

To Beth’s surprise, Walter led them past the wrecked cabin, and a little further round, through a thick part of trees, and they found a smaller cabin, camouflaged with snow, almost like a cave in the hillside. Its only give-away was the smoke billowing out of the chimney. They could smell amongst the fresh pine of the trees burning logs.

“How many times I've walked these parts – I've never seen this other cabin,” Matthew said. Beth stumbled and he caught her, then kept hold of her hand. How had she doubted his love? Hesitantly, Walter pushed open the door. The three of them entered the small cabin and the warmth hit them, and inside there was an elderly woman, sitting in a rocking chair in front of a fire.

“Papa?” she said, hesitantly. “It can’t be you?”

“Alice.” Walter smiled. “You made it back.” Walter hugged his daughter, who looked similar in age, if not slightly older.

“I came straight back,” the old woman said.

“I know you did, and now you must tell Matthew what he needs to know. To protect the time slip, and the farm.”

She glanced at them, Matthew still holding Beth’s gloved hand, and frowned. “Who are they?”

“Matthew and Beth. He’s your grandson. ”

“But it can’t be.” She shook her head, anxiously ringing her elderly hands. “I left him at the farm with his father. He’s only twelve.”

Matthew knelt before her chair and took her hand tenderly. “Grandma, you've been gone twenty years.”

To be continued....

You'll have to wait until 2014 for the next part... here's the rest of the schedule:

Part 8 by Carmel Harrington on January 7th

Part 9 by Sue Fortin on January 14th