Counting Down The Year in Streaming: Our 2017 Netflix Favorites #StreamTeam

MomStart is a member of the Netflix Stream Team. This is a partnered post.

2017 is coming to a close, so it’s time to stop and look back at the past year – and boy, has it ever been an eventful one for me! The movies and TV shows that I’m watching at any given time set the background to my life and whatever is going on, becoming a time capsule of sorts later on. For example, I can get nostalgic thinking about the time I inexplicably saw 8 Mile twice in the cinema in 2002, or think back fondly on the hours I spent watching Pee-Wee’s Playhouse as a child. So what programs will 2027 me be getting nostalgic about from 2017? May I present to you, my year in streaming:

January

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events hit Netflix in January, helping us weep and wail our way into the New Year! This inspired me to get into the kitchen and whip up a batch of Lemony Snicket’s Lemon Squares to fuel those long Netflix binges.

February

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen over the winter months, so in February I created Legendary Legend Quest Sugar Cookies to eat during the premiere of Legend Quest…yum!

March

The new Power Rangers movie hit theaters in March and gave me some major nostalgia for Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, one of my all-time favorite childhood shows. Go, go Power Rangers!

We were also getting into the act with Julie’s Greenroom in March with these fun printables that I made!

April

I spent the beginning of April watching the new Dave Chappelle specials that had just come out. He has two brand new Netflix specials that will be debuting on New Year’s Eve, which is perfect, since my plans for this year are to kick back and relax with some TV – can’t wait!!

April was also presented some good opportunities to talk about values and marked the month that Thumbs for Netflix were introduced.

May

In May, I was watching She-Ra and waxing nostalgic about the big difference between watching cartoons today and watching them back in the 1980s.

June

June brought us another 1980s flashback with GLOW, plus an opportunity to stamp our Netflix Passport!

July

My favorite actor, Keanu Reeves, starred in his first Netflix original To The Bone which debuted in July. I remember back in the early 2000s, I sometimes had to make trips out of town to see his movies if our local cinema didn’t carry it, so how awesome that some 17 years later (woah) his new movies are now streaming instantly anywhere, anytime! I hope this marks the first of many, many more Keanu exclusives on Netflix.

July was also the month before my wedding, so I shared my “Recipe” for sneaking in a little me time before the big day!

August

Our wedding getaway car! Photo by Jason Hill Photography

I will always remember August 21st, 2017 as being one of the most important days in my life: The day that Jai and I got married! I talked about the fun movie trivia we uncovered about our wedding getaway car in this post, and on a non-wedding-related note, I also shared a Marvel-inspired smoothie recipe to beat the summer heat.

September

I turned 34 on September 25th and enjoyed a special Netflix birthday cake, along with a fun birthday song from Barbie and other friends!

Netflix gave me an early birthday present with another new Keanu movie, The Bad Batch, which began streaming on the 22nd. I also spent a good chunk of September binge-watching all of BoJack Horseman Season 4.

October

October brought us Stranger Things 2 and the corresponding Stranger Things: The Game just in time for Halloween! I also watched Patton Oswalt: Annihilation which was funny, poignant and relatable for anyone who has gone through a major loss.

November

Thanksgiving 2017

November took Jai and I on a fun Thanksgiving trip to visit family, and Netflix had everything we needed to avoid roadtrip boredom with downloadable shows!

December

I started this month with a trip to the DreamWorks Animation Campus, where I got the scoop on Trollhunters Part 2 and the upcoming Netflix Original Series Trolls: The Beat Goes On! inspired by the movie Trolls. You may remember that I interviewed Anna Kendrick last year about making Trolls, so it’s really fun to see the Trolls universe expand! And while you wait for the new show to debut, be sure to check out our craft tutorial for making Trolls slime!

And of course, this month is all about the holidays. The festive season got off to a slow start for me, so shared how I got into the holiday “Spirit” thanks to Spirit Riding Free last week! I took a couple of days off for the holidays and enjoyed my first married Christmas at home with Jai. I always enjoy watching holiday specials, so we watched the Trolls Holiday Special and DreamWorks Home: For the Holidays over Christmas and Boxing Day. I also love the BoJack Christmas Special! But my favorite special by far? The Yule Log.

When I was a kid, I remember my parents would have the Yule Log playing on Christmas Eve when I was getting ready for bed. I came across it again a few years back and it gave me warm fuzzy nostalgia feels, so it’s since become a tradition for me to play it every year. The Yule Log doesn’t play on TV every year – if you do a Google search, you will actually find a forum where other Yule Log fans complain about it not airing in their markets – but fortunately, Netflix has a variety of Yule Log specials that are always available, 24/7! Fireplace For Your Home has several episodes, and I play all of them in the background on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Fun fact: The man who made these videos is a Pacific Northwest local from Longview, and spent $35,000 making it. Now those are some quality logs! Netflix even made a parody trailer for it, which cracked me up:

And of course, Netflix has us covered this weekend, with a new batch of New Year’s Eve Countdowns so that you can ring in 2018 anytime!

Here’s to an unforgettable year, and some unforgettable shows!

What Netflix shows were your favorites this year?