Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Holidays with Holly



There are so many movies based on spending holidays with family. It is such a strange time...going back home. I find it difficult. Coming from divorced parents, you always have to figure out how much time will be allotted to each house. I don't know which movies I prefer most...but maybe the comedies put things more into perspective. I own Home for the Holidays with Holly Hunter. Great flick. As I get older I do find that I seem to become less and less like my family. At least I think. Maybe I just feel that way. We don't identify with eachothers' lives. Small town Kansas vs big city Chicago...that's hard. I'm learning lately that I need to see things in a different light. When given the opportunity, I usually find fault in the flaws. I should embrace the flaws and let the differences serve as comedy. We can't change anyone. We may not understand a single thing our siblings do...why they do this or that, say this or that. We may look at our parents in awe of how we ever survived childhood--but we did! We survived and now we have a chance to mold the life we have now. It seems as if I ask for weight to be put upon me when I meet someone. "What are we talkin' here...5lbs, 20lbs?...how much are you going to weigh on me?" Not a good way of doing it. Why not let people keep their weight, their pasts, their present problems and we either listen or try to ease it for them by just being around instead of trying to take it on? (I'm advising myself here.) Going home for the holidays could be ok if we saw something simple: I get to go home soon and they will be left here. (hehehe) Seriously though, our history is made every day. Any future baggage we have is what we pack ourselves daily. You can't unpack it...but you don't have to start. I've been feeling a bit heavy lately. The holidays cause such a commotion within me for some reason. It creates lonliness in a lot of us. I know that it can for me. The reality of me is that I create more lonliness and sadness in myself than anyone else. Fact is, I have a family that loves me and I have insanely cool and amazing friends that I am in contact with all of the time. Life is good. Time to celebrate the people in our lives. I read this GREAT quote that Matthew MacConahay's mother would say to him in the mornings when he was cranky..."You come out here when you see the rose in the vase instead of the dust on the table."

Nice words to live by...but in the spirit of making fun of the insane times of holiday get togethers...I'll leave you with some memorable quotes from Home for the Holidays: (watch it!)

Adele: I'm giving thanks that we don't have to go through this for another year. Except we do, because those bastards went and put Christmas right in the middle, just to punish us.

Claudia: We don't have to like each other. We're family.

Claudia: Nobody means what they say on Thanksgiving, Mom. You know that. That's what the day's supposed to be all about, right? Torture.

A few of my holiday picks:

-The Nightmare Before Christmas
-National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
-The Myth of Fingerprints
-Elf (didn't think I'd like it but laughed OUT LOUD many times)
-Holiday Inn
-White Christmas
-Any Charlie Brown special...thanksgiving, christmas, halloween...you just can't go wrong!
-It's a Wonderful Life (of course)
-Gremlins (yep...based around Christmas!)
-Planes, Trains and Automobiles
-Die Hard (Christmas again!)

yeah, notice that I DIDN'T put down A Christmas Story...can't stand that movie!!

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