First off, Merry Christmas. Or Happy Holidays. Whatever you celebrate, I hope you had a good one. Mine was lazy, which was not a surprise since I really did not make any plans to do anything. And thank goodness my day was practically free today. I did not sleep last night, I went to bed at 5:30 AM and did not wake up until 11 AM. It was awesome.

I was up all night last night reading Darling Girl. The goal was to finish the book today, which I did. And that felt nice since I have not been able to read a book in months. So this was an accomplishment. I have my misgivings about this book, not going to lie. There were issues in the story that I think was not justified – at least to me. But I continued reading because the premise of the book was enjoyable. Regardless of how I felt about the book and certain situations in the story, I was engaged the whole time. So I cannot really fault the book too much.

After reading, I took a nap. I did not wake up until it was time to feed the dogs and cook dinner. I made some fried chicken and pesto pasta. And really just chilled the night away. Chris and I decided to watch Roald Dahl’s Matilda, the Musical and Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration.

Matilda. The musical is definitely darker than the book and the 1996 movie. The chorus of kids was amazing. The first thing that came to my head was “where the heck did they get all these kids”. I mean, it was definitely the chorus numbers that made this musical for me. Not to discount the solo performances, which were good as well, I just preferred the group numbers.

Beauty, and the Beast. I would watch this regardless of who the lead is, Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney princess movie. But it did not hurt that the person they chose to play Belle is of Filipino heritage. The fact that of the matter that she was able to represent her heritage by having “Bel” embroidered on her apron in Babayin, an ancient Philippine script. That was cool. It was awesome. It was nice to hear a Disney princess getting a deeper cooler voice compared to what we are accustomed to. Honestly, all the talents chosen for the singing parts were really good. I enjoyed it. 

Personally, this was a really nice way of celebrating Christmas. I mean, it really is just another day to me, but hey, cannot complain about having a long weekend because of it. I am also searching for my next read. I think I’m going for a re-read right now. Thinking of picking up Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton, the first book in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series.