Can You Hear It?

Day 5: THE POLAR EXPRESS

First let me start by saying I absolutely LOVE the book by Chris Van Allsburg. I read it to both of my girls every year and always choked back tears at the end struggling to get the last lines out. Because of my deep love for the sweet story, I was super hyped about the movie! As has become a tradition in our household, we try to see a movie, in the theater, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, usually a Christmas movie. There was no question in 2004 when The Polar Express was released which movie we would be seeing that year. Now, at the risk of my oldest daughter disowning me, I will share with you that I did not like it as much as I wanted to. The book is short, but it tells a sweet story and certainly makes its point. In fact I wondered even before I saw the movie how they were going to stretch this story into a feature length film. There are characters and scenarios that are added to the plot to give us a film rather than a 30 minute TV Christmas special. At this point, you may be asking yourself why I have this film on my Christmas movie tradition list. The movie, itself, is visually stunning! It was the first film that I remember employing the animation process called live action performance capture technique. Eventhough you know you’re watching an animated film, the characters look almost like real people. Tom Hanks plays most of the male characters from the little boy who’s grown too old for such silliness as Santa Claus, to the Conductor of the train to the North Pole, the one who most resembles Hank’s physical appearance, to Santa himself. The same, sweet message is there that is in the book, it just takes a little longer to get there. If you’ve never seen it, you owe yourself the visual treat at the very least. If you’ve never read the book, you’ll love it.

"SANTA! I know him!"

DAY 4: ELF

What makes a movie a classic? Well, I used to think classic films had to be old and only in Black and white, but I've come to believe that a classic is any film that is watched over and over again and delights the viewer each time. Elf is one of those movies! Elf was released in 2003, and I actually saw this one for the first time in the theater, rare, as I hardly ever go to the movies anymore. I went with my girls, ages 11 and 8 at the time, for a Christmas treat. The movie stars Will Farrell as a "human raised by elves" who sets out on a quest to find his human father after he discovers by accident that he is not "biologically" an elf. If you know Will Farrell from Saturday Night Live and movies like Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, and those characters weren't exactly your cup of tea, don't shy away from Elf. Farrell is so innocent and sweet in his portrayal of Buddy. His childlike discovery of everything in the "real" world is touching and endearing! Don't get me wrong, this movie is not short on laughs. There were moments in the theater where I was openly guffawing. The elevator scene in the Empire State Building struck me so funny, and I laughed so long, that I'm sure I was disturbing the patrons around me. The supporting cast around Farrell is wonderful, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, and James Caan. A true sign of a classic for me is the fact that I will quote it randomly when situations bring those lines to mind. I can't tell you how many times scenes from this film bring a smile to my face. Make this a new classic for your tradition and always remember, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" 

Wonder How Santa Would Look in Orange and Black?

"Hi, my name's Terri, and I'm a Christmas Junkie"....."Hi, Terri"
 I love Christmas! I love everything about it from the tiny twinkling lights, to the Tacky, seen-from-space, displays, to the music, to the tree, and so on and so on and so on. I start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving, and I try to put my tree up then as well. The day after Thanksgiving is the official foray into the Christmas season, shopping and otherwise. Well, that's the way it used to be when I was little. We had a tradition in our house. My two cousins would come to our house for Thanksgiving. They spent Thursday night and on Friday evening the four of us, me, my sister, and my two cousins, would get all dressed up in our Sunday best and my grandparents would take us downtown to Miller & Rhoades Department Store to see the REAL Santa Claus. Most years we were even lucky enough to dine with Santa, the Snow Queen, and one of Santa's elves in Miller & Rhoades' famous Tea Room. After dinner,  complete with linen table cloths and real cloth napkins, we'd venture on the elevator to the floor that contained Santa's Winter Wonderland and stand in line with countless other children anxiously awaiting our turn to see the REAL Santa Claus. He was the real one, all the others were just his helpers. He knew our names when he called us over after we had spoken with the Snow Queen. He even came down the chimney when he entered his Wonderland. It was, and still is, one of my fondest memories of my childhood. It was MAGICAL! It was something I looked forward to every year! It was tradition!
I heard something disturbing last week on the radio. It was an add for a local mall, and the big news was that Santa would be arriving there on November 12th. Are you kidding me? 6 weeks before Christmas Eve. It isn't about MAGIC anymore, it's about business. How many photos with Santa can we grind out before 6PM on Christmas Eve? How much money can we make? Don't get me wrong. Like I said, I love Christmas, but I do not love VeteraThanksistmas. Pretty soon Santa will arrive with the Halloween costumes. I don't know about you, but I think it would be awfully hard to carry all of those toys flying on a broom.