Christmas at the Movies by Vicki Batman

Happy Holidays to all of you! And thank you, Liz, for inviting me to blog with you today.

I’m sure a lot of you movie people have favorites you watch during this season. White Christmas is a favorite because my sisters and I watched it on Christmas Eve and yes, we sang the songs. The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant as an angel. Miracle on 34th Street—the parade, the awesome Santa, and the non-believers who become believers. 

The Grinch—it is so beautiful to see his heart grow three sizes when he realizes the true meaning of Christmas. Fa who doray. Da who doray. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer—even someone different has a gift to share. Charlie Brown Christmas—who can forget Linus’s recitation of the true meaning of Christmas and all the friends gathering around the little twig tree transformed into one of great beauty. The kids sing my favorite hymn, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” 

I also like Love Actually—I know some of you find it depressing. It’s about love lost and love found. And who can forget Bill Nighy as a rock n’ roller with a Christmas song. Millions is a favorite of mine—brothers find a duffle full of money and have a great adventure while the bad guys are looking for the moola. The movie is directed by Danny Boyle who gave us Slumdog Millionaire. 

Just to be completely different, my family likes Stalag 17. The movie is set in WW2 in a POW camp at Christmas. Amongst one of them is a rat. William Holden steals the show. No Die Hard. Just doesn’t work for me as a Christmas movie. LOL.

I love love love Christmas in Connecticut—Barbara Stanwyck is a columnist who has to recreate a real Christmas for a young man returning from the war. The movie is fun and crazy and romantic.

And sometimes attached to Christmas in Connecticut when it airs on TCM is an Academy award-winning short movie entitled Star in the Night, a retelling of the Christmas story set after the war in a desert auto court. I truly get teary every time I watch it. Bring a hankie and click this link on YouTube: A Star In the Night 1945 - YouTube

For more holiday fun, curl up on the sofa with your favorite beverage and/or snack and indulge in these rom com holiday short stories:

Find yours at multiple retailers and at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z45SGC5

Vicki Batman’s stories are full of fun, romance, and possibilities which will delight all readers. She has sold many award-winning and bestselling romantic comedy works to magazines and most recently, three humorous romantic mysteries. An avid Jazzerciser. Handbag lover. Mahjong player. Yoga practitioner. Movie fan. Book devourer. Cat fancier. Best Mom ever. And adores Handsome Hubby.

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Vicki Batman

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree by Tanya Agler

Have you ever watched A Charlie Brown Christmas? Do you remember the scene where Charlie Brown and Linus arrive at the Christmas tree lot and are greeted with the sight of many types of trees from aluminum to real? Charlie Brown is perplexed until he finds the one: the tree that needs him.

Over fifty years later and Christmas trees still come in all shapes and sizes. My grandparents had an artificial tree, which I remember decorating with garland and lots of tinsel. My parents also favored an artificial tree, but they didn’t add garland or tinsel. One year, my mom worked for someone who owned a Christmas tree lot, and one of my first jobs was helping at that lot. My husband’s parents didn’t just have one artificial tree; they had several, one for their garden room and another for their living room.

I love the smell of a real Fraser fir, and I favor a real tree for the holidays. Since we’ve been married, my husband and I have visited different places to find our tree: tree farms, makeshift lots, and home improvement stores. These days, we make an evening out of decorating the tree. Before dinner, my husband, our twins, and I venture forth until we find the tree that fills our house with a fresh pine scent and provides us with many evenings of enjoyment.

After dinner, the fun begins. Prior to this day, we will already have decided whether to use twinkling colorful lights or strands of steady white lights. My husband misses bubble lights, those strands from his childhood that resembles a glass candle with bubbling liquid inside. He will put on the lights while I turn on holiday music, most often the soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas or nostalgic favorites like Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra. Then I make hot chocolate (whipped cream for me, marshmallows for the twins), and we open the ornament boxes.

Since we’ve been married, my husband and I have accumulated quite a collection of ornaments. Whenever we are on vacation, we try to purchase a special reminder of that trip. As we decorate the tree, I stop to ponder memories from each ornament. A college friend of mine gave me a rocking horse ornament with my name on it, and I always think of her. There’s the UGA Arch, that reminds me of my college days at the University of Georgia. There are metal figurines representing the Lincoln Memorial, the Gateway Arch, and more. We have Santas on speedboats, moose with ornaments stretched across their antlers, and lighthouses with the name of the beach on the base. I’m a huge fan of classic movies, and we have several It’s a Wonderful Life ornaments, including a bell with the inscription, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings” and one with “George Lassoes the Moon.”

Then there are the ornaments that our children have made. So many have their school pictures or handprints. As much as the twins beg for me to get rid of some of them, I don’t. Instead, those are carefully placed near the top so they don’t break.

My husband has some special ornaments handed down from his great-aunt, and I have an ornament made by my great-aunt.

By the time the last ornament is hung, the twins are usually back in their rooms, but my husband and I are okay with that. Our beagle Linus jumps on the couch, and we turn off the lamps, letting the glow of the Christmas lights shine brightly and the first whiff of the pine fill the air. We soak in the sight of past memories and anticipate new memories that this season will bring.

May this holiday season bring you happiness and joy.

Do you have an artificial or real Christmas tree? And what’s your favorite ornament? Please leave a comment!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!                         

Will a surprising reunion…

Warm their hearts?

National Rodeo Champion Ty Darling is stunned when he runs into his ex, Sabrina MacGrath, in Violet Ridge, especially when he learns she’s pregnant—with his baby! Now this commitment-wary rodeo cowboy has twelve days of Christmas to prove he’s ready for a second chance at love. But being stranded together during a winter storm might just show them both the difference between being parents…and being a family.

 Snowbound with the Rodeo Star

An award-winning author, Tanya makes her home in Georgia with her wonderful husband, their four children, and a lovable rescue beagle named Linus. She is the author of eight Harlequin Heartwarming romance novels, including the October 2023 release, Snowbound with the Rodeo Star. Look for Her Temporary Cowboy, coming in April 2024. When she’s not writing, Tanya loves classic movies, chocolate, and a good cup of tea.

Website: www.tanyaagler.com

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Tanya Agler