While I meant to post this a few weeks ago, I don’t
think it’s too much past the holiday season to put it out there now. Because I
just took my Christmas tree and decorations down this week, and I see a tree
still up in my neighbor’s window across the street. So it’s not so far out of
our radar just yet.
They’re all done now. Gone back into the vault until
about the end of October when they’ll be trotted out again for our viewing
pleasure. Some people love them, some hate them (like my other half), but they
have become a regular on TV in the last waning days of the year. I’m talking
about the deluge of Christmas themed movies that emerge and monopolize certain
channels before we’ve even eaten the first bite of Thanksgiving turkey. I have
to admit, I’m a bit of junkie when it comes to watching them.
People who can’t abide watching all these Christmas
movies complain 1) there are too many; 2) they’re all alike; 3) the characters
are all too squeaky clean. While the haters may be right on all three accounts,
it’s for those very reasons that I watch as many as possible in those weeks
before the holidays. They are my go-to movies when I can’t abide reality TV or
the news anymore. This season especially they were a comfortable place to fall
when a lot of other things in life seemed determined to drive me nuts.
I have to wonder if the people who hate Christmas
movies the most have even given them a chance. Because when you really get into
watching them, you will find they 1) aren’t all that much alike, and 2) they
usually involve people who are dealing with some very real problems. A few of
the movies I watched included single moms who needed a place to stay with their
kids; a family dealing with the loss of a son in the military; a corporate person
sent to deal a blow to a struggling family business; a woman left with amnesia
after an accident, who is taken in by a local widower and his family and the
town. Okay, so maybe that last one stretched the imagination a little bit, but
I was able to suspend disbelief, and it was a cute story. The best part is,
they all had happy endings. Someone once asked me, why do you write stories
that don’t reflect real life? I beg to differ that they do reflect real life,
but my reply was, there is enough real life in real life. Let us have a few
books and movies that give us what we all want—a happy ending. In today’s
world, we all can use a little of that.
So I was sad to see those feel-good movies go, but
then come to think of it we won’t have to wait till next fall to see them
again, because there is always Christmas in July! I guess there is nothing like
watching the snow fall on TV while turning up the air-conditioning in your
house.
