Monthly Archives: December 2010

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past couple of weeks, or just conveniently ignored the tinsel and tree-lightings and hordes of insane shoppers at the mall, you’ve figured out we’re coming up on Christmas, that annual holiday that hardcore Christians – there are more than a few in my family – want to reclaim from the secular world, and get everybody to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays, but which the rest of us consumers don’t see as any way religious.  It’s a time when most of us want to splurge on ourselves, not wonder if baby Jesus really was born on December 25.

This is also the time of year when people turn to a certain handful of movies that, because they are Christmas oriented, don’t seem appropriate to watch at other times of the years.  Sometimes I wonder if anybody would even remember any of these movies if it weren’t for network and cable TV dusting them off every year for a movie marathon that runs right up until the big day.  Practically every night you get to choose between the old classics, Miracle on 34^th Street and It’s  A Wonderful Life, and such new classics as A Christmas Story – 24 hours worth of it on TBS – and Elf. Continue reading →