‘Tis the season to be jolly!
I injured my ankle a few weeks ago. It was extremely painful. And prior to that, I had a series of company Christmas parties all through out December I had to attend to. I was only able to attend to my newest sub-department. The rest of the sub-departments I have, I wasn’t able to attend due to the excruciating pain on my right leg. After several days of therapy from my brother, who is a registered physical therapist, I was literally and figuratively back on my feet. So I thought I should get back in the game and attend at least another Christmas party. That was a huge mistake. After that dreaded event, my leg injury returned but more painful than the previous one! Fast-forward to the present time, and now I am still nursing the same injury. Aside from the pain reliever initially prescribed by the company physician I decided to continue, my brother helped by treating it again and allowed me to borrow his cane for me to use.
Such bleakness is the beginning of my holiday break. So, am I stuck during the holidays with a bum leg with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do?
Yes and No. Yes, I can’t go anywhere with this limp, and no, because but I recently found I have lots to do. I have dozens of Christmas themed movies to watch on Netflix and dozens of free games to play while we wait for my in-laws to arrive from the province to spend the holidays with us.
Spoilers Ahead.
CHRISTMAS-INSPIRED MOVIES ON NETFLIX
We recently got Disney+ in the Philippines! But all I watch there are my favorite MCU Phase 1 to 3 movies. There is a drought in feel-good movies lately so what better time to watch those old cheezy Christmas movies back on Netflix. Don’t get me wrong, there is Glass Onion, Interceptor, and Bullet Train. But there are times you just want to have fun watching and not be too bogged down by character development, plot twists, and misc-en-scene. So here are three Christmas Movies that I enjoyed so far.
Midnight at the Magnolia
We loved this movie as this was one of the first few Christmas-themed movies we have seen on Netflix last year, and I still enjoy watching it today. Maybe it’s because it’s about two morning show DJs who are childhood friends. I worked for a radio company fresh from college so I enjoyed seeing the radio booth and characters doing…well, dj-things.
Watch Midnight at the Magnolia on Netflix
A Christmans Miracle for Daisy
I never thought we would enjoy this movie, but we did. This is about two former lovers who met on a town after several years. The woman established herself as a successful interior decorator and her latest client was her ex who recently moved to town with his daughter. It sounds cliché but the movie felt well-paced and highly enjoyable.
Watch A Christmas Miracle for Daisy on Netflix
A California Christmas and A California Christmas: City Lights
A California Christmas is another cliché Christmas movie with a mega-rich male protagonist who insists on having nothing to do with the family business but end up having to prove himself worthy of his father’s legacy. What they lacked in creativity was absolved by their good line-up of supporting characters. What was surprising was their sequel was more original than the first.
Watch A California Christmas on Netflix
Watch A California Christmas: City Lights on Netflix
FREE GAMES ONLINE
I noticed that I have been featuring websites that offer free games a lot lately. But who would turn down a chance to play dozens of games without spending a single penny? I know I won’t. Plus these games, just like those campy Christmas movies, are nostalgic to say the least. With that being said, here’s another website that delivers just that.
Mortgage Calculator provides insightful help for all your financial concerns; from calculating refinancing rates, computing mortgages, and even providing advice on your next loan. Despite the many accolades, this website doesn’t pull any stops at all and included games that develop kids’ financial literacy and entrepreneurship. MC Money-Games provide a great deal of simulation games targeting real estate, business development, food business, and even office politics (I told you they don’t pull any stops with their games).
LEGO City Adventures Build and Protect
I don’t know how they pulled it off but this feels and works like a solid executable game. The LEGO City Adventures Build and Protect will have you scavenge for Lego parts for you to populate a town. Filling up the town will require you Lego coins to dig for parts to build various infrastructures that would generate you more Lego coins.
The concept of the game sounds ridiculously easy at first but as soon as you unlocked the Burrough (the second town), you are treated to a new batch of infrastructures that costs twice as high to make but generates higher Lego coins in return (albeit in a slower regeneration speed). This creates a learning curve. Would you just wing it and be patient and wait for you to have the coins you need to build more, or would you restructure old blocks and build a more high-earning establishment for you to earn more quicker?
Play LEGO City Adventures Build and Protect today here
Coffee Shop
I never thought we would enjoy a simulation game like Coffee Shop. We figured it’s just like another Cafe Tycoon rip-off but just like Lego City Adventures, the learning curve allows provides high replay value. You start off with a 30 dollar budget and you have to fill up you inventory for the day. It’s all fun and games until you noticed that the weather dictates the number of potential customers you will have for that day. And don’t get me started with your inventory getting spoiled or being infested with ants.
Other than the interesting weather factor, there is also the reputation aspect that you have to build for people to actually be interested in your coffee. Eerily like in the real world, eh? I think this adds more value to the game. We found ourselves competing to get the highest earning by the end of the 14-day run.
Play Coffee Shop today here
We tried out other games like Magnificent Tower, Bitcoin Tap Tap Mine, and Kingdom Wars which are equally fun playing on a touchscreen device.
Despite the misfortunate I had that almost ruined our Christmas, I actually think it made our holidays better come to think of it. We honestly had the days pass by fast because of this. It also made decorating our house a lot more fun as we had things to look forward to.
If you reached til this end of the article, thank you so much. Happy Holidays!
