A CHRISTMAS SPIRIT WRAP ........ OH, AND A FILM REVIEW.

Having been determined to carry on with my self imposed book buying ban (grief, what a mouthful that is) I promised myself that I was only going to read festive books that were already on our shelves, books that were available at the library OR books that I'd bought at a charity shop ......... Eh? Surely that defeats the purpose of a self imposed book buying ban. No, not really. I tell myself that I'm not buying these books so much as making a donation to charity in exchange for a book - at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway with seasonal books being fairly rare in our library and none to be found in any of the charity shops I didn't do as well with this challenge as I had hoped though, that said, I still managed to read 4 books (Mistletoe level) plus 1 'children's' book (Visions of Sugar Plums level).

So just what did I read?

• THE XMAS FILES (A PHILOSOPHY OF XMAS) by Stephen Law.
• THE WINTER SOLSTICE (THE SACRED TRADITIONS OF CHRISTMAS) by John Matthews.
• THE STUPIDEST ANGEL (A HEARTWARMING TALE OF CHRISTMAS TERROR) by Christopher Moore.
• POLITICALLY CORRECT HOLIDAY STORIES by James Finn Garner.
• LETTERS FROM FATHER CHRISTMAS by J.R.R. Tolkien. *

Oh, and then of course there was the seasonal Fa La La La Films that I watched as another part of the challenge. (Fa La La La being another level)

Too many to be reviewed (but suffice to say they included Elf, and, A Muppet's Christmas Carol), one however I will mention as it is positively one of the most bizarre 'Santa' films I have ever seen.

In Finnish with English subtitles this little gem was released here last year, but, in the cinemas for only a short time (two weeks here in Newcastle), blink and you'd missed it - hence our having to wait until it was released on DVD.

Rare Exports is a fairly short film (less than 90 minutes) and is hardly what you could call a family film, in fact its about as far away from the traditional Santa films as you can get. 

Set in a remote Finnish village, it's Christmas Eve and deep within the Korvatunturi mountains Santa Claus (but probably not as you know him) is unearthed during an archaeological dig and soon afterwards children (along with electrical appliances) start disappearing.

And so it is up to Pietari Kontio and his father, Rauno, (along with their fellow reindeer herders) to save the day and sell Santa back to the corporation who dug him up.

Dark and full of suspense, Rare Exports is a fun, yet scary, film, the basis of which is that {rather than rewarding good children, Santa punishes the naughty ones} - spoiler in brackets, highlight if you wish to read it.

But its not so much Santa that had me hiding behind the cushions as his elves who, determined to free their leader, will go to any lengths.

A great little film, particularly ideal for anyone who is sick of festive movies with scenes of sickly candy canes, red suited Santas and overgrown elves, I highly recommend this as an alternative Christmas movie.

PS * All of my reviews can be seen by clicking on the book title apart from The Winter Solstice which can be found on the same post as The Xmas Files. AND for those of you wanting a sneaky peek of Rare Exports click HERE.