Watching Christmas movies

Remember that Friends episode where Rachel stopped watching It’s a Wonderful Life before the happy ending? (I don’t mean that kind of happy ending…naughty!) Rachel watched the movie on someone’s urging and gave up before it all came to it’s inevitable end. We watched one on Netflix last night that was completely predictable and goofy but oh so sweet and lovely. There was a 13th century knight and a woman who’d lost faith in love…aaah.

I am fond of the subversive Christmas movie (Die Hard, Home Alone, Lethal Weapon, Gremlins…) but have come to love the schmaltzy offerings like Love Actually. I’m not religious at all, but I’d love to go to a huge cathedral for mass on Christmas Eve and I’d love to go to the Christmas markets in Europe some time. Christmas in Australia normally involves a swim at the beach, watermelon and falling asleep under a tree after lunch.

I’m not a huge fan of all the guff that goes with Christmas plus our business is so crazy at this time of year I don’t really enjoy it much. This year should be different as the restructuring and cross-training of staff means more people can do each job and our son is pretty much running the floor 4 days a week. Things should be a little more festive this year.


I can’t believe how much of an industry ‘holiday’ movies and books are. There have always been religious movies and each year another Christmas movie comes out but to be honest, I don’t think Australians are as ‘into’ the whole thing as those in the US appear to be. There are whole channels devoted to those schmaltzy movies and a browse though any online book retailer will reveal the countless books available. There’s even a category on Amazon called ‘holiday romance’. Who knew? There are saucy stories, cowboy stories, Jewish stories, Scottish and various historical periods. It’s fascinating!

I guess some people just love Christmas!

Feature Photo by Samira Rahi on Unsplash