Daily Cascade

This Time of the Year

Prompt: Do you watch Christmas TV Shows and movies this time of year?

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I used to, is my true answer. Lately, I do like reading a lot. I guess when everyone goes one way, I go the other way. On the positive side, it makes driving through life easier.

Talking about driving through life, when my kids were small, we did watch several good movies as a family. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was an all-time favorite for us. We also enjoyed, way back when, "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," all the adaptations of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," and the animated version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Even further back, I remember my generation of people liking and finding morals in much of those black-and-white movies, such as, "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street." Come to think of it, I used to wish for the angel Clarence to come into my life. Then, when they tried to put color in the reels, it somehow didn't feel quite the same.

Later on, I think we watched a "Home Alone" movie as a family, which my husband thought wasn't good for the children in general because it could have an unstabilizing effect on their psyches. By that time, however, our children were either in their late teens or they were already young adults. And I bet some non-Christmas cartoons and stories, then, had to be much worse examples for the younger set.

Sometimes, TV series episodes also ran Christmas specials. I remember a couple of "Friends" episodes like that, however vaguely.

Talking for myself, I have mostly liked the Christmas variety shows as they offered small sketches of stories, music, comedy, and heart-felt moments. Being an oldie, I was a fan of Andy Williams' shows, and I do remember Dean Martin's Christmas specials, along with Bob Hope's, John Denver's, Dolly Parton's, and also, any one singer or TV personality's specials with the Christmas motif.

So, what I said as my answer in the beginning, I'll repeat now: I used to...once upon a time...!