Hey friends,
I planned to share my thoughts on Carry-On, earlier which is currently streaming on Netflix, last week Wednesday. However, after several attempts with trying to gather my thoughts, I realized I didn’t really have much to share or say about it. So, instead I’ll do something even better. I’m sharing back to back thoughts on my final holiday movies, today on Christmas Eve and tomorrow on Christmas day! As always, before we dive into the watch, let’s dive into the wine.
insert bottle here
The Sip: Taking a break once again from the Total Wine top 20 list for 2024, I’m mosey-ing on over to Costco. That’s right, I’m ready to sing my praises for a non-Kirkland brand wine lol
Continuing on my Tempranillo tip, I happened upon this 2020 Lucia Victoria Rioja Tempranillo and knew I had to buy it. And I’m happy that I did. It’s full bodied, with a smooth vanilla finish. Though I was expecting it to be more spicy based on my previous bottle, I actually liked this one more. So if you ever see this on a trip to Costco, I definitely recommend picking it up.
The Film: A holiday mix-up brings two single parents together on a hectic Christmas Eve, where festive chaos leads to unexpected romance. [synopsis from BET+]
What better day to share my thoughts on The Day Before Christmas, than on Christmas Eve? Normally, I share what I like and don’t like about a movie. But this W&W will be more of my rambling than anything lol
I happened upon the trailer for The Day Before Christmas on TikTok and legit squealed. I’m talking being obsessed with Tristan Wilds (who plays Mike) while watching the 90210 reboot back in high school, squeal. But that’s something we can chat about at another time lol
I won’t lie, going into this, I was a bit skeptical. After watching Christmas on Call and Carry-On, I thought I’d officially hit my quota on holiday movies, since I didn’t love either of them. However, The Day Before Christmas revived my spirit lol
When I say I like corny, cheesy, yet cute holiday movies, this is exactly what I mean. One with good storytelling, that feels real, isn’t super over dramatized whether acting or setting wise, and is also relatable. Basically give me all the usual tropes but make it feel like home. That’s what this movie did for me.
We follow our main leads Nia, a caterer whose Christmas Eve is contingent on furthering her business. As well as Mike, a photographer who also happens to be riding his entire business for the new year on a Christmas Eve job also. As well as their kids, Imani and Bryce. The movie takes place over the course of the day and everything that could go wrong does in fact go wrong lol
Straight up, I loved almost if not all aspects of the film, but here are a few that are at the top of the list.
The relationship between Nia and her daughter Imani as well as the relationship between Mike and his son Bryce. Although they aren’t similar in terms of their dynamic, you could see the amount of love they have for one another. As well as how they balance each other. Nia, much like me is a type-A, one million and one to-do lists keeper and Imani intuitively knows how to balance some of her high strung tendencies. While Mike, on the other hand, is maybe a little bit too lax with his day-to-day tasks. Bryce however sneakily—at least to me—seems like he’s a bit more orderly and shows it in subtle ways throughout the movie.
The cameos! I loved seeing Towanda Braxton, as well as Kandi and Todd’s (Real Housewives of Atlanta) son Ace and T.I. and Tiny’s daughter, Heiress as well!
Finally, and what might be my most favorite aspect, is the writing. Especially the dialogue between Nia and Mike. There are some not so great moments, as well as hilarious, relatable, and heart warming ones. One thing I really enjoy is when a one-liner in a movie becomes a staple. For this movie it was;
“Not a hologram.” Which was so cute that I will not spoil why or how lol
Overall, I really enjoyed this and def recommend watching it!
P.S. I also really enjoyed the romance between Nia and Mike, so here’s a photo dump of them from some of my favorite scenes.
I hope my ramblings have either convinced you enough to watch this OR convinced you that I’m still at least pretty good with sharing reviews lol
Thanks for reading some of my musings and I hope you have an enjoyable evening! I’ll catch you in your inboxes again, tomorrow.
x Kim D Laird