Dear Elders, Is there a holiday film or carol that means a lot to you?
Bob Cratchit
Jan Stickler
Dear Bob Cratchit,
Yes! It is “It’s A Wonderful Life.” I can’t stand it! It is the Christmas version of “The Sound of Music.” Both of those movies produce a mixture of cloying sweetness and nausea. I run from the room when either begins to play. It is like drowning in a vat of maple syrup. Why do they have to play the same movies over and over every year? Couldn’t someone come up with a new one?
Before I’m tagged as a Scrooge, I do have a favorite Christmas song that never fails to bring a smile or a tear. May “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” continue to always be a Christmas classic.
Steve Leavenworth
Dear Bob,
Holiday film? No, not anymore.
Bill Twibill
Dear Humbug,
I have two absolute favorites. The first is “Christmas in Connecticut” (1945) with Barbara Stanwyck, Sydney Greenstreet and Dennis Morgan. Stanwyck plays a chic magazine writer who’s supposed to be an expert homemaker forced to entertain a war veteran and her boss (Greenstreet). She has no idea what to do in a kitchen. Very funny.
The ultimate favorite is “A Christmas Story” (1983). It’s written by humorist Jean Shepherd as a memoir of growing up in the 1940s and wanting nothing more than a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Truly funny for kids and grownups alike. Wonderful period movie as well. Try to see these during the Christmas season.
Musically my favorite is the one and only Handel masterpiece “Messiah.”
Casper Kranenburg
Dear BC,
My all-time holiday favorite is the December 1997 episode of Seinfeld’s “The Strike” where Frank Constanza (George’s father) tells Kramer how he created Festivus as an alternative holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas. The celebration of Festivus begins with airing of grievances, which takes place immediately after the Festivus dinner has been served. It consists of lashing out at others on how one has been disappointed by them in the past year. Sometimes the airing of grievances consisted of writing these grievances on the fridge with a black magic marker.
Happy Holidays.
Roioli Schweiker
Dear Bob,
No. We never sang or watched movies much.
