Christmas: Read It / Watch It

Part of the joy of Christmas is repetition. Working the same jigsaw puzzles, cooking the same recipes, baking the same cookies, so this list of books and movies is, to put it gently, ‘vintage’. What’s new can be found at Amazon or by asking the helpful, knowledgeable staff people in bookstores. My recommendations for great reading/viewing —drum roll, please.

• A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote. Yes, that Truman Capote. This is a great read aloud (ages 10 and up and all adults) if only for the line, “It’s fruitcake weather!” Simple, sweet, and, somehow subtlely and powerfully, this one carries an emotional wallop.
• The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree is perfection. Enchance the experience of reading Gloria Houston’s touching story by sharing it with young children. Set deep in the Appalachians of North Carolina, Ruthie and her mother set out to find the perfect tree Ruthie’s father picked out before he went to WW1. The story is illustrated by the great Barbara Cooney, and makes the strong point that Christmas does not depend on purchasing power.
• For something completely different there’s Denver’s own Damon Runyan. His short story, “Dancing Dan’s Christmas“  shows up on these lists from time to time and for good reason. You can read P. G. Wodehouse’s  Another Christmas Carol or have it read to you via YouTube posting. Total reading time, 17 minutes. Totally Wodehouse and that means totally funny.

My movie list is almost as dated as the books, I’m afraid. Must see Yuletide flicks –

• Numero uno – Christmas Vacation. Each year I watch and wait for good wife Beverly DeAngelo to speak truth to power. Fav line: ”What can I say? It’s Christmas, and we’re all miserable.” Yep. The antithesis of sweet Christmas books, but I love it.
• Numero two-0. About a Boy. Cynical Hugh Grant finds the Christmas spirit by saving a youngster from performing Killing Me Softly in his school’s talent show. Now, there’s an act of Christmas charity!
• Numero three-o. The Bishop’s Wife. The original Christmas chick flick, filmed in 1947. Men do not ‘get’ this movie, so call in your gf’s for tea, sandwiches and 2 hours with glamour guys Cary Grant and David Niven. The plot? Loretta Young makes angelic Grant think twice about his heavenly mission on earth. 

I’ll add to this list throughout December in other posts and award a FP gift certificate to anyone who coontributes a title - movie, book, short story, poem – to it. Merry. Merry. Merry.

 

Tags: Christmas books, Christmas movies