Saturday, December 23, 2006
Holiday Movies
I’m fifty-seven years old, I can run a marathon if I want to, I can lift a lot of weight at one time if I need to, I know a lot about how computers and the Internet work, I have grown children, and I think I still believe in Santa Clause. It’s not that I think some elf in a sooty red suit is going to come down our chimney in a couple of days. If anyone does, he’ll be disappointed, because the furnace is on the roof and there’s not much of a flue. Assuming the jolly guy could squeeze in, he’s just wind up in a firebox ten feet above the tree, so that wouldn’t work anyway. Still, there are those Christmas specials on all the time from Thanksgiving to, well, Christmas.
So, if you can watch Miracle on 34th Street without getting misty, then I’m proud of you. But it gets worse. How about that old chestnut It’s a Wonderful Life? Is that great when Clarence gets his wings or what? I haven’t watched either of those this year, but there are many others. Okay, I still can’t stand Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with Burl Ives, but the other movie that snowman appears in, Elf, is a really nice Christmas movie, and it’s just so cool when the Claus-o-Meter hits the top of the scale, although we’ll never know what happened in the park that night, right Ms. Reporter lady? And that Polar Express thing, where you can hear the sleigh bell at the end because you believe in Santa? That is so cool, isn’t it? Obviously I believe in Santa Claus, because I can hear that bell clear as a, uh, bell you know.
I’m not nuts about movies that jerk me around that way, but they are fun. And there are a lot of them out there. One nice thing about this season is that they put them all on TV, sometimes several times a day, so there’s no excuse for anyone to ever miss one. So, go ahead, while there’s still time. Even if you’re enough of a cultural snob to “never watch television,” snap on the set just this week, and catch a holiday movie or two. Maybe they’ll have one on PBS, so you can tell yourself it’s a cultural experience.
So, if you can watch Miracle on 34th Street without getting misty, then I’m proud of you. But it gets worse. How about that old chestnut It’s a Wonderful Life? Is that great when Clarence gets his wings or what? I haven’t watched either of those this year, but there are many others. Okay, I still can’t stand Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with Burl Ives, but the other movie that snowman appears in, Elf, is a really nice Christmas movie, and it’s just so cool when the Claus-o-Meter hits the top of the scale, although we’ll never know what happened in the park that night, right Ms. Reporter lady? And that Polar Express thing, where you can hear the sleigh bell at the end because you believe in Santa? That is so cool, isn’t it? Obviously I believe in Santa Claus, because I can hear that bell clear as a, uh, bell you know.
I’m not nuts about movies that jerk me around that way, but they are fun. And there are a lot of them out there. One nice thing about this season is that they put them all on TV, sometimes several times a day, so there’s no excuse for anyone to ever miss one. So, go ahead, while there’s still time. Even if you’re enough of a cultural snob to “never watch television,” snap on the set just this week, and catch a holiday movie or two. Maybe they’ll have one on PBS, so you can tell yourself it’s a cultural experience.
Labels: Holidays
