Oh my goodness, we’re getting close now. Christmas is right over there. I can feel it.
I am even allowing holiday music to be played at home and in my car now, without making that face like something stinky is in the room. That’s right, I’m getting excited for the big day.
By now, you’ve surely watched your favourite holiday classic films and enjoyed the nostalgia of lines you can repeat by heart. Hands up if you watched the original How The Grinch Stole Christmas because Boris Karloff is a voice you will forever associate with that classic tale. But then, you have to watch Jim Carey as the Grinch because he’s awesome.
Well, I confess, I’ve made it this far into the holiday season without watching a single Christmas movie (gasp), so between now and the big day I have serious plans to do just that. Somebody cue up White Christmas and Love Actually and then go away. Leave me alone in my solitude to feel all the feels that these films bring me. But leave the snacks behind. And maybe some tissues.
I realize this is a time for get-togethers with loved ones around, but I really just want to snuggle up before the fire and enjoy these classic films in solitude, where nobody will talk over the characters – or worse, sing along with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye or Vera-Ellen. That’s for me to do, without an audience.
I need to fall back in time with great songs, beautiful costumes and classic romance. Let me board the train to Vermont and sing about “Snow,” and imagine a time where things seemed so much simpler.
Then let me take in all the complicated, weaved plots of Love Actually and marvel at the way that film can make me laugh, then move me to tears, and still feel hopeful. But I cannot have anyone else in the room because I really need to experience it all fully.
I don’t want to hear criticism of the sentimental plots, the “that would never happen” remarks (especially from people who think Die Hard is a Christmas movie), or the unwelcome feedback on whether or not Emma Thompson’s character should forgive her on-screen husband, Alan Rickman, for flirting with his secretary, while she cries to Joni Mitchell. I love that scene. It is such a raw human moment (see, you can be the bad guy in Die Hard and still break my heart in an actual holiday film).
Let me wrap myself in a soft blanket in the comfort of my flannel jammies and big woolly socks and just fade into the storyline, by the glow of the lights from the tiniest Christmas tree we could find in the forest. A little alone time to feel all the feels before I step into the merriment of the season with everyone I love.
Please remember that the holidays are a hard time for people who have had a difficult year, be it living through grief or financial stress, or the pressure of expectations to get along or go along for the sake of family peace.
Make your merriment magic by remembering that joy is contagious when you share it authentically.
Please check in on your friends and your neighbours too. Christmas is just one day, but it could be the day they need your kindness most.
Merry Christmas from me and mine, to you and yours.
