The Christmas Classics

Warning: this post has nothing whatsoever to do with my books or writing or literature.  Thank You: Management.

I grew up back in the dark ages when we had three TV channels and a VCR was considered cutting edge.  Back then everybody watched the same movies and shows because that was the only thing on and it was the same thing year in and year out.  I still don't like 'The Wizard of Oz,' but we watched it faithfully every year because that's what people did back then don't ask me why.  At Christmastime things really got exciting because there were all sorts of 'classics' to watch, most of which I wonder how they ever came my that moniker except that there was nothing else on and it sort of became tradition and around the Holidays we have a soft spot for tradition.  I'm not sure these so-called classics will survive to pass on to the next generation, at least in my house.

Charlie Brown is just depressing, and that's all I will say about it.  Rudolf has its endearing moments but the clay-mation is kind of creepy and Santa is a downright jerk.  Frosty is okay but nothing I want to watch again unless I'm stranded in an airport and there's nothing else on except CNN.  Of the newer 'classics,' 'Elf' and 'The Santa Clause' are cute and I don't mind watching them (only the original on the latter however) on occasion, and no 'Home Alone' is not even on the list; I'd rather watch Charlie Brown.  The one movie that should be on this list, but it isn't, is 'The Nativity Story,' which I think is an awesome rendition of the actual Christmas story.  Yes it is a bit cheesy at times, but it is also heartwarming, a little mysterious, funny, suspenseful, and an intimate look at what the characters might have actually experienced and felt.

As a kid I never really understood who Joseph was and the struggles he had to endure in a culture that looked on out of wedlock birth as a capital offense and the courage it took for him to claim that baby as his own.  With all those angels and wise men you kind of overlook the fact that Mary was probably just a teenager and got to travel a long ways while eight months pregnant before cars and highways after her entire family and community basically decided she was just another fluzie, and did I mention the jealous King who decided to kill any upstart Messiahs?  Talk about drama!  This is way better than melting snowmen or determining how santa is going to get through the fog.  Maybe one day it will be placed among the Christmas pantheon right alongside Linus wearing a blanket on his head and proclaiming, 'hockey stick!'  If anything, it is at least a lot less depressing.