Christmassy

I have two pretty fantastic Christmassy things I needed to show you before heading off for the holidays. I'm in the middle of packing for the weekend, and while my personal belongings cause no problem watsoever, packing this year's amount of presents (plus presents I've bought for other people to offer them, because I live in the 'big city' and have access to more variety) still needs to be figured out before I leave early this (!) morning.

All screencaps by me, from La vie heureuse de Léopold Z.

Yesterday I watched a film which went straight to my favourites list, Gilles Carle's La Vie Heureuse de Léopold Z (1965). You can watch it online legally, since it was put on youtube by the NFB/ONF, the Canadian national film board. Unfortunately, it is in French only (perhaps with three sentences in English) and I couldn't find it with subtitles, but it's still worth a look just for the ambiance and the beautiful black and white images of the Montréal Winter. Above are some stills from one of my favourite scenes visually speaking, about 58 minutes in. Even if you don't watch the whole thing, this scene is very much worth it, it's beautiful and it reminds me of being driven around half-asleep when I was little, after the Christmas réveillon.
You can watch it below:

A second Christmassy thing I wanted to share with you is A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector, which I discovered through Cheapskate Chic (I must agree the title sounds a tad threatening). I'm pretty tired of listening to Christmas music since I've heard so much of it over the past few weeks at work, but this 3-sided album just feels like fresh, awesome 60's girl-group music (which it is). Listen to the first side below:

 

Have a happy, safe, and relaxing Christmas and holiday season, and thanks to all of you for still hanging out with me here.
x

P.S. I will respond to comments when I'll be back!