Not to rip off a holiday song, but we’re smack dab in the middle of the most wonderful time of the year. Although my area hasn’t seen any snow or too cold of temperatures (yet), I’m slowing down, spending time indoors and indulging in some of my favorite inside activities. We’re approaching the final days of fall, days are getting much shorter, and it’s necessary to bundle up any time I head outside. I love holiday time, even though it’s really just a blip during the winter season.

While I’m no Hallmark movie junkie by any stretch of the imagination, this time of year, I love to cozy up with a lighthearted holiday or winter-themed rom-com or other feel good story, either in a book or movie form.

Some of my favorite holiday movies include Last Holiday, Four Christmases, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Scrooged, and The Family Man. Although it’s not holiday themed, I love watching Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 version) during winter. Likewise it’s not holiday themed, but it does take place in winter (sadly, there’s no snow!), I adore the movie Leap Year, which takes place in the Ireland countryside and has an Irish hero (the accent, swoon).

And, while we’re on the subject of accents and swoony heroes, a few other series I like to watch over winter include Game of Thrones, hello, Jon Snow, The Tudors (starring a young Henry Cavil), Outlander, Jamie can call me Sassenach anytime, the Wuthering Heights mini-series featuring Tom Hardy, and Downton Abbey.

A few of my favorite winter reads include A Reliable Wife, (an atmospheric book with erotic undertones), The Fairwick trilogy by Juliet Dark, (moody, erotic, and filled with literary elements), and the Black Dagger Brotherhood (a group of warrior vampires, swooooon) series by J.R. Ward.

I’m always looking for my next read or binge-worthy series, so if there are any other books, movies, or series I should look into, leave a comment and let me know!