2025, Family, holidays, Movies, Mysteries

How Did This Happen?

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Holiday movies are a staple for me.  I wait (sometimes patiently, sometimes not) for the day after Thanksgiving and then I cut loose – holiday movies galore for the weeks.  I prefer older movies although it seems every year or so something pops up that gets added to be stable of favorites.  Last year was Red One.  Three years ago it was The Christmas Chronicles.  Four years ago it was Klaus.  I’ll try any Christmas Carol at least once although Alistair Sims is the top of my list, followed shortly thereafter by Patrick Stewart.  And I simply cannot stay away from White Christmas despite its drecky and implausible plot.

The Bishop’s Wife, Miracle on 34th Street (the original only please) and, of course, It’s a Wonderful Life are still my top contenders; I usually watch these more than once a season.  I had Wonderful Life on last night when YA wandered in.  I was about ¾ of the way through and she said “when does he go to his weird world”?  What?  What?  So I tried to succinctly explain that Clarence the angel was showing George a world in which he had never been born.  This took a bit of explaining.  Anyway, YA stayed for the rest of the movie and asked MANY questions as we went along.  Zuzu’s petals were particularly hard to explain. 

Then we got to the scene in which Harry shows up after flying through a snowstorm (questions about where had Harry been, where did the movie take place).  I’ve probably seen this movie 100 times and I still choke up a bit when Harry says “To my big brother George – the richest man in town”.  YA looked at me in surprise, as if tearing up at a movie you’ve seen before is just too weird to understand.  I suppose we shouldn’t discuss the last line of Princess Bride, should we?

How can YA, at the age of 30 and having lived her entire life under the same roof with me, not know this movie?  Or get a little verklempt at the end?  I feel like a complete failure as a parent!

Watched any holiday movies this year? And do not list Die Hard as a holiday movie.  Just don’t.

45 thoughts on “How Did This Happen?”

  1. We watched Red One for the first time a couple of nights ago. It was a lot. We’ve also watched a couple of other Christmas movies that were mostly forgettable and whose titles I’ve already forgotten.
    Sometime this season we will no doubt watch A Boy Called Christmas, which I’ve learned is based on a Matthew Haig story, and The Man Who Invented Christmas, which tells the story, loosely, of Dickens and the writing of Christmas Carol. I’ve been thinking about an old ‘80s movie, One Magic Christmas, with Mary Steenburgen and Harry Dean Stanton. Like other productions from that time it may not be as good as I remember but it says something that I remember it.

    If you are in the mood for a really “out there” Christmas movie, that would be a Finnish-made one, Rare Exports.

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    1. Turns out I can get Rare Exports on my cable. But the tagline is “Arctic excavators accidentally release a demonic Santa Claus from his icy prison“. Not my normal holiday fare but I can always turn it off if I don’t like it!!

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        2. Are you watching it now? I agree it is alarming at the beginning but the humor, as on the Finnish take on Santa’s elves, depends on your not taking it seriously.

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        3. I guess I don’t have enough Finnish blood in me to get the humor. I probably won’t be watching this a second time. And probably not the sequel either.

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        1. Welcome to the trail. Seymour Hicks was definitely a Scrooge. If you have Prime, this version is in their stable!!

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  2. I really should get some of the old classics from the Library – we hardly ever watch Christmas movies, and this year that sounds like it would be a good thing. I’d like to see The Holiday again (Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz switch places…) We’ll probably watch some on Netflix and PBS, the two platforms we have.

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  4. We watched “Love, Actually” last weekend. It’s corny, silly in many places, annoying in other places, but the cast is about as all-star as it gets, and Bill Nighy steals the show as the old rocker making a Christmas comeback. At least it’s fast-paced so one doesn’t get bored or annoyed for too long before another scene pops up.

    LA has become a Christmas staple. We also always watch “White Christmas,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and lately, “The Holiday.” Sandra likes “Miracle on 34th St.” I don’t mind the old version, but I’m not into the newer version

    “A Christmas Carol” is always enjoyable. The original is probably my fave, but the George C. Scott version is up there, too.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  6. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Bah. Humbug. I do not have patience for Christmas movies. I blame it on Mr. Magoo. Remember him? When I was a child the ABC affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa, would show Dickens “Christmas Carol” with Mr. Magoo staring as Scrooge. It was terrible. It was the only Christmas movie they showed. When I was older I heard that there was a “real” Christmas Carol. I went to the library to find it, and it was good. I was getting interested in Dickens anyway, so this was just another DIckens story. Then someone told me it was a play. Growing up in an isolated prairie town, things were insular and there was no opportunity outside of the TV to experience such things. When I moved to Minneapolis for grad schoolnone of the first things was buy a ticket to view the Guthrie’s Christmas Carol. It was much better than Mr. Magoo’s versions. Who thought up that one?

    I have noticed I have a real lifelong aversion Christmas movies. It really is Mr. Magoo’s fault. Husband and I took the kids to live plays, including the Christmas Carol, and music events for Christmas thoughout their teen lives with great success. We saw marvelous shows, including the first run of “Santaland Diaries”. I did not think the kids would ever stop laughing.

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  7. I have a confession:
    There’s a one-season YA Christmas series on Netflix that I like and have watched a couple of times. It’s called Dash and Lily and one of the big attractions for me is that it’s set in NYC in locations like the Strand bookstore and McSorley’s Ale Pub.

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  8. Had no one mentioned Christmas Story based on Jean Shepard’s stories? Hands down the funniest laugh-out-loud of them all.

    And I’m embarrassed at how much I love Write Christmas.

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    1. Christmas Story was funny the first 5 or 6 times. I have a limited capacity for repeats. That applies to most of the Christmas classics that have been mentioned here.

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    3. Since TCM shows 24 hours of The Christmas Story on Christmas Eve, I don’t watch it until then. I have more patience for it than Bill does but I don’t want to I can’twatch it multiple times each season

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  11. OT–I just had a near catastrophe with Medicare Advantage plan. I had not heard anything from Blue Cross after enrolling husband following UCares termination. I called them only to discover that the computerized system had lost his application. GRRRR. I have spent the morning coping with that error. I had printed out his application, thank goodness..

    So, if you had Ucare and changed your plan please confirm that the application was accepted.

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  12. No, I’m not a big fan of movies at any time of the year, really, and this holiday season isn’t any different. Reading this makes me feel like I’m missing something though. It’s interesting that YA didn’t understand “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

    I do like the original Wonderful Life. I’m not sure why I’ve seen that one and few others. I’ve seen “Miracle on 34th Street” too, but not for many years. I used to like the annual Peanuts Christmas show but now I only like it for the wonderful music. My favorite is “A Christmas Carol.” I’m not sure who is playing Scrooge but it’s an older version. I have a condensed version of the book, which I try to read every year.

    I enjoyed catching up on the music posts from the past couple of days. There’s a weekly sing-along at Imminent Brewing that I need to go to. There is a lot of live, local music here in Northfield.

    Chris mentioned the Owatonna HS Carolers. I remember this group very well. It was one of the first things I remember passionately wanting to do when I got to HS. We didn’t stay in Owatonna long enough for me to go to HS there though. Sometimes I wonder if my life would have been different if we had stayed in Owatonna and I hadn’t gone to Faribault HS. I think it might have been very different.

    After having such wimpy Decembers for the past few years, we are being paid back in a really big way!

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    1. I just finished my annual read of A Christmas Carolyesterday. I actually checked out an annotated version this year, after having had fun with the annotated version of Frankensteinin October, and it was a lot of fun to read all of the side notes. Probably more notes than actual text.

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  14. I like the idea of holiday movies, but don’t watch many. Not having cable and limited streaming makes it hard to hunt them down. We used to watch It’s a Wonderful Life every year but decided to give it a rest a few years ago. Should probably watch it again. We watch Love Actually most years, and Charlie Brown Christmas. We’ve seen Muppet Christmas Carol a couple of times and tried to watch Home Alone with our grandson, but he got bored with it. Ted Lasso did a Christmas episode a couple of years ago that has become a new favorite.

    When I think of Christmas Carol, I think of the Guthrie production. Nothing else comes close for me. We used to go pretty regularly when the kids were young but haven’t lately. No one has mentioned the Albert Finney musical “Scrooge,” which I liked. Alec Guinness as Marley. Favorite part is the musical number for Scrooge’s funeral, with people dancing for joy and Scrooge joining in until he realizes why everyone is so happy.

    Not a Christmas movie, but I love the Christmas scenes in one of my favorite old movies, “Auntie Mame.” It presents a less rosy picture of Macy’s at Christmastime, and Rosalind Russell is wonderful. (Warning: The portrayal of some characters would be considered offensive today).

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  15. I like to revisit a holiday movie or two around this time of year. But I usually don’t start one without watching it all the way through. Unless I fall asleep.

    My niece and her husband have a habit of streaming a bunch of Christmas movies as a sort of ambient holiday decor. They’ve seen all the movies often enough to be able to recite all the dialogue, so they don’t watch whole movies, just have them on like background music.

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  17. Daughter brings up holiday DVD’s right after Thanksgiving.
    Her favorites are the Tim Allen Santa Claus movies and she watches each one several times in a row. I leave the room.

    Red One is a new favorite. Hasn’t worn out its welcome yet.

    I’m not sure I have a Christmas movie favorite.
    Even Charlie Browns Christmas is a little tired.

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