One of my fond memories from the holidays during my childhood was the joy my mother and I had anticipating the Christmas Specials that would air each week during the holiday season. We would eagerly scour the Television Guide, pen in hand, to see what was coming on that week, circle it/them and then make sure that we would be available to watch them. This was before you could record them on a VCR tape, and certainly befor Tevo. If you missed it, you missed it; there was not fixing that. During the day the music from the special that would air that night would run though my head. Sometimes we would even eat a special dinner while watching the shows. My favorite was toast fingers. My mom would cut pieces of toast into four or five long strips that then add a different topping to each one: butter, cinnamon sugar, jelly, peanut butter and mayonaisse. It would come with a large, cold glass of milk. I so looked forward to that. As a mom myself now, I realize that my special favorite treat dinner was most likely a response on my mother's part to not wanting to have to cook a whole meal or perhaps we were low on food. What ever the reason, it is one of the things I look back on fondly.
My favorite shows were all by Rankin and Bass. I think "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" was the best of them all. I always cried through the Island of Misfit Toys part. Next up would have to be "Little Drummer Boy." The scene with the lamb cluthced at my heart. Then of course there was "Frosty the Snowman," "A Year Without Santa," "A Very Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." I am sure there were others as well.
I think that some of the magic of Christmas movies aimed at kids has been lost or changed, at least. Now that the kids can own the movies, watching them on demand, they miss out on the magic that my mother and I shared. My daughter would perhaps say that it is better now because you can watch them whenever you want to. She loves holiday movies, too, but hers are very different. I think "Elf" is her holiday go to movie. For my mother it is "A Christmas Story." "Polar Express" came out just at about the same time when the kids began to make a shift from believing in Santa Claus and being absorbed in the magic of the season in a very real way to seeing the holidays in a more adult manner. I tried to make that one special for them, but we missed that mark. We have the beautiful book. We had a special bell and we watched the movie. I had wanted the special tea cup and saucer with the Polar Express logo on it (like it is in the book) but they just did not seem to care. Ethan says that he does not have a favorite holiday movie. The way he said it, makes me think that maybe the holiday movie bit is a girl thing.
Ellie starts out her season with a viewing of "Elf." I like some of the more romantic, even cheesy, holiday love stories like "The Holiday." Each year I look for a new one.
What movies do you love to watch during the holidays?
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