Lisa R. Howeler's Blog, page 55
December 21, 2023
Three light-hearted or sweet Christmas movie suggestions for you to watch this weekend
Here are three movies I am recommending you watch to keep yourself in the Christmas spirit this weekend.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered For Christmas
I watched this one a week before last and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I watched it two years ago. Now, is this movie a bit cheesy like most Hallmark movies? Yes, but it also has some of the most poignant, beautiful, and touching moments I’ve seen in a movie not produced by a Christian company. There are messages in this movie that so clearly point to Christ and redemption it is mind-blowing.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered was a show for a brief time on the Hallmark Channel and follows the lives of four people who work for the old letter office in the United States Postal Service. The characters in the show take a letter or package and try to reunite it with its owner, no matter how many years have passed since it was lost.
Sometimes the show is unbelievable and maybe a little silly but I fell in love with the characters so I continued to watch it when they made the show into TV movies instead. There are several (sorry, I didn’t stop to count before I wrote this) 90-minute movies featuring the characters and I believe I’ve watched all of them now.
I watched this on Peacock this year but you can also watch it through the Hallmark Channel on Amazon or the Hallmark Channel app, I believe, but don’t quote me on that.
Trading Christmas
I have watched this movie at least once every Christmas since finding it four years ago. It stars Tom Cavanaugh and Faith Ford and it has humor, sweet moments, romance, and it’s about a writer so you know it interested me.
It is a Hallmark movie (again) and (again) I know they have a reputation for being poorly written and cheesy but this, like Signed, Sealed, Delivered holds up pretty well and is worth the watch. Will there be a trope or two you roll your eyes at? Yeah, probably, but I think Tom Cavanaugh’s sarcasm and snarkiness will help heal those wounds.
The premise behind the movie is that Faith Ford was expecting her daughter to come home from college for Christmas but the daughter wants to go somewhere else with her boyfriend so Faith’s character has to decide what to do with herself. Her husband passed away six years ago but she’s always had her daughter home with her. Her friend (Gabriella Miller) tells her on the phone she should do something bold this year for Christmas and let her daughter grow up on her own. Faith takes this advice to heart and signs up for a Christmas trade with Tom Cavanaugh’s character. Faith lives in a little tiny and Tom lives in New York City so he comes to the tiny town to finish his novel and Faith goes to NYC to have a new experience. While there she meets Tom’s brother played by Gil Bellows and – well, no spoilers here but he is a perfect gentleman.
Tom on the other hand is not a perfect gentleman when Faith’s friend shows up at her house, thinking she will surprise Faith for Christmas (because Faith didn’t tell her about the trading houses thing).
I own this one but you can watch it on Amazon with a premium subscription, Apple TV for purchase, The Roku Channel, Vudu, and YouTube Premium. I also found it free on YouTube with captions in another language but I can’t vouch for it being the full movie.
One Special Night
This movie is for us oldies – it features two well-known actors – James Gardner and Julie Andrews – who are stranded together in a cabin in the woods. Yes, it is that old trope but it is a very subtle and sweet use of it and not a raunchy one. Julie’s character lost her husband a year earlier but is visiting the staff at the nursing home and James’ character is visiting his ill wife.
A storm is coming and Julie offers James a ride home. Her car crashes in the snow and they start walking and find an old cabin. They spend the night there and end up getting to know each other. There are a series of miscommunications and misunderstandings after that, including the complication of James’ wife still being alive. Lest you think this is a movie about cheating, it is not. It is all very tastefully addressed and the relationship between James and Julie remains a friendship throughout most of the movie.
I found this one a bit predictable but still sweet especially because the main actors were such legendary ones.
I watched this one on Amazon but I see it is now streaming for free on several streaming services including Peacock, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Pluto, Plex, Vudu, and Amazon with an Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think of them?
December 19, 2023
11 Christmas Movie Suggestions and Reviews For You
Last year Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I watched several Christmas movies and wrote about them. We had a two-month-long Christmas-themed celebration and it was lovely.
Today I thought I’d share with you a list of those posts so you can find some old favorites you haven’t seen in a while or maybe some new Christmas watches. I’m also going to add any Christmas movies I’ve written about in the last couple of weeks.
You can click on whichever title catches your attention and see what I said about them.
I don’t remember if I shared where you can find the movies in these posts but I can tell you that I watch most of my movies on either Amazon Video, Paramount, or Max, but sometimes I can also find them for free on Tubi or YouTube.
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Emett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas
Are any on this list that you have enjoyed or plan to watch? What others would you add?
This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature. If you would like to link up a blog post to our linky you can find out more about the feature HERE.
December 18, 2023
The Star
This is a post I wrote in 2017 about the star my dad puts at the top of the field next to his house.
He and my son set the star up yesterday but I missed the photos because I didn’t realize they’d already done it. I was sitting inside a warm house talking to my mom instead. Oops.
Here is the post from 2018 and some photos from 2017, 2019, and 2020.
They carried the star up the steep, snow-covered hill because the truck’s tires spun and sent the hunk of metal skittering sideways toward the old dirt road. In the end, they left the truck in the field and slid the star, made of wood and strands of Christmas lights off the roof. Their breath steamed patterns out in front of them as they walked and the sun, a misleading sign of the outside temperature, cast long shadows onto the untouched surface of the snow that fell the day before.
Ropes were looped and tied and hooked on a pulley, the ladder was climbed and the star was hoisted with a couple reminders from father-in-law to son-in-law to “be careful of the lights! You’re hitting the lights on the tree!” But finally it was high enough and nails were hammered in to hold it in place.
Dad built the star several years ago and put it at the edge of the woods, at the top of the field and where people driving by on Route 220, across the Valley could see it. It has become a beacon, you could say. A beacon of good will, or peace, or joy or whatever it represents for each person who sees it. It can mean a lot of things for a lot of people but for Dad it is a sign of hope and the real reason behind Christmas. After all – isn’t that what the birth of Jesus was all about? Bringing hope to a hurting, fallen world?
So on this little hill, in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, my dad hangs his homemade, 50-some pound star, and with it hangs a little bit of hope – hope for health, for peace, for love for all, hope for the broken, the weary, the shattered souls. And it reminds us who is the hope of the world.
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
December 17, 2023
Sunday Bookends: Christmas movies, Christmas books, Christmas, Christmas, and more … yes, Christmas
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer , Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.
What’s Been Occurring
I wrote yesterday that I tested positive for Covid on Friday. I must have been at the tail end of it because yesterday morning I woke up with my nose clear and able to taste and smell again. I pretty much felt like I hadn’t had anything at all. I had written yesterday’s blog post on Friday evening when I was at my worst – congested and swollen in my nose, no smell or taste, and this horrible burning up my nose and through my sinuses that kept coming in waves and making my eyes water so bad I couldn’t see.
I literally cried when I could taste peanut butter and smell my essential oils in the morning. I know it seems dramatic and if you don’t know my back story with Covid-induced smell and taste loss then it does seem that way.
My previous smell and taste loss lasted a couple of weeks or more and when it returned my smell and taste were distorted for months afterward.
You can read more about that on the blog by searching Covid in the search bar to the right, though I’d just skip it because it’s depressing. Ha! It’s depressing but also gets hopeful later and taught me about trusting God.
Today when I made myself some deli ham on lettuce with Italian dressing (I’m trying to cut bread all the way out for health reasons) and I could taste the Italian dressing I felt weepy. I really did.
Every time I can smell something or taste something I feel immediate gratitude.
While I didn’t like the fear that came with getting Covid again since my last bout sent me to the hospital for five days (hooked up to a very low dose of oxygen for a day and a half of those days), I do like the reminder God gave me with this that he got me through that first bout and he is going to get me through whatever struggles I am facing now.
Much like a rainbow is a reminder of God’s promise to never flood the earth again, being able to smell and taste is like a reminder to me that God hasn’t failed me and doesn’t intend to let me fall now.
This illness was like a short head cold but I was very concerned part of the time it would be longer, like Covid was for me and my family before. I remained calm most of the time with a few breakdowns of crying, but trying to remember the verses about Jesus giving us peace that passes all understanding.
Most of the time I felt very peaceful. I did not feel dragged out like I did when I’ve been sick in the past.
Still, I prayed to God on Friday and asked him to please give me a sign that I was going to be okay. I prayed again very, very early Saturday morning when I couldn’t breathe through my nose. I asked God to forgive me for me being annoyed because I had just been thankful for being able to smell and taste a few days before and now it was being taken away again. I asked God to forgive me for not being thankful that I was breathing okay.
At 6:45 a.m. I still couldn’t smell anything.
At 9:30 a.m. I could both smell and taste.
Little Miss and my fever were gone (mine had been gone even when I tested positive for Covid the day before) and we both felt almost like we’d never been sick in the first place.
Talk about an answer to prayer.
We are in quarantine another day and then I can finally see my parents in person for the first time in two weeks.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Because my eyes were watering a lot this week, I didn’t read as much as I wanted to. I did continue some of my Christmas Regency romance book, which is a collection of novellas in one book. I am in the second novella now.
I also read a little of Southern Snow by B.R. Goodwin. I hope to have at least Southern Snow finished this week, but I also hope to finish Christmas in Absaroka by Craig Johnson.
Since it is the week before Christmas, I will probably continue to read A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems, which is a collection of Christmas stories by a variety of authors, including L.M. Montgomery, Louise May Alcott, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain as well.
Oh, and I will definitely be finishing up my audiobook of Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon which I have been listening to each night before bed. I mentioned before on here that I didn’t know if I liked the narrator but I absolutely love him as I continue to listen so I wanted to correct that. From what I understand he also narrates the other audiobooks of the Mitford series so I hope to collect them over time.
Little Miss and I are listening to The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever again.
What We watched/are Watching
Since we couldn’t leave the house last week, I watched more than I do other weeks.
I watched We’re Not Angels as a buddy watch with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, and blogged about it.
I also watched Going My Way, the prequel to The Bells of St. Mary’s. I’ll blog about it later this week but really enjoyed it. I might have liked The Bells of St. Mary’s better, though. I don’t know. They were both very good and watching them close together was a good idea.
I then watched the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol and while I am about done with watching any more movies based on this book, I loved this one. This is probably my favorite version so far.
My aunt used to look for this version every year and I didn’t know why until I watched it this week. I wish I had taken the time to watch it with her when she was still alive.
I will blog about it later this week but for now, I will say I loved the acting in the movie. I also loved how I really feel this movie gave us more time with each character and gave us a more well-rounded impression of them. That well-rounded impression connected me to the characters more than any other movie I’ve seen and maybe even more than the book itself, which made the emotional impact of what unfolded even more powerful for me.
I highly recommend this version if you’re going to watch a movie adaptation of this story.
Last night I watched a Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small (the latest version).
This week I plan to load myself up on Christmas movies including The Man Who Invented Christmas, The Man Who Came To Dinner, White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and maybe Arthur Christmas.
I will also be watching Christmas-themed YouTube videos and a couple of Christmas specials from the creators of The Chosen.
What I’m Writing
This past week I shared a lot of Christmas-themed blog posts including:
Saturday Afternoon Chat: I can’t smell. I can’t taste. But I can feel the wind on my face. Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot for December 15 Comfy, Cozy Christmas: We’re No Angels Comfy, Cozy Christmas. Christmas memories: Our trips to North Carolina Comfy, Cozy Christmas: The Bells of St. Mary’s Our Yearly Christmas Tradition by Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 12 Christmas Gift Ideas for Teenage GirlsWhat I’m Listening To
I am listening to audiobooks such as Shepherd’s Abiding and The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever and also Christmas music about the reason for the season (at least in my family) – Jesus’ birth.
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
December 16, 2023
Saturday Afternoon Chat: I can’t smell. I can’t taste. But I can feel the wind on my face.
Hello! Welcome to my Saturday Afternoon Chat.
Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?
Or a glass of juice?
No matter what we have, I won’t be able to taste it after I caught Covid again this week and have lost my smell and taste.
(Update: the rest of this post is still accurate but I scheduled it last night and forgot to change it before it went live – as of this morning I can taste and smell a lot better than I could. It is not 100 percent but it is so much better!
That’s right. I’m having an awesome week, one which started with me slipping in the snow and doing a type of split. My body is not built for splits.
I was okay, despite the fall, but my back was sore and spasming in pain off and on that day and night. Then the fever and chills hit – fever and chills The Husband had also had but we thought was a cold or the flu.
Yesterday morning a home test said I had the dreaded virus.
If you’ve been here a while, you know I had a pretty severe case of Covid in 2021 so catching Covid again definitely has me on edge.
This case feels way different than that one, but I still wonder if I will have similar issues with my oxygen this time around.
So far this is more like a head cold with a stuffy nose and a lot of nose and head pressure. My oxygen has also been fine but I won’t lie that I have had to fight a battle of my mind this week.
My mind has gone back time and time again since yesterday morning to two years ago when I was in the hospital, hooked up to oxygen and wondering what my future was going to hold or if I’d even have one.
Yesterday I found myself wondering – will it happen again? Will I think I’m doing okay, but suddenly I won’t be?
Not that I thought I was doing okay that first time around but I was still shocked when I was admitted because I thought I was breathing fine.
The blood gas said I was not doing fine at all it turns out.
So I spent the next five days in the hospital getting an antiviral through an IV even though my oxygen did come back up on only a small amount of oxygen.
(You can read more about all that here and here and here and here.)
By the time I tested yesterday I was already feeling a bit better. My fever had even started to go down on its own – without medicine. Still, I had no smell and taste and that’s how it was in 2021 so I tested.
I tried to stay calm this time – unlike in 2021 when I Googled anything and everything about Covid for ten days straight, didn’t take care of myself, and ended up in the hospital.
Yesterday I tried to remember the verse that my mom gave me earlier in the week about another issue:
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I tried to remember this verse and most of the time I succeeded but there were moments it all fell apart and my imagination took off again.
It hit 53 here yesterday so I walked outside and breathed in some fresh air (like an author friend suggested) and I squished the grass between my toes even though it was still cold from the snow we’d had earlier in the week that hadn’t melted all the way yet.
I sat down on the porch and began to cry. I could see the sun shining around me and the still-green grass and my cat playing on the hill, but I couldn’t smell anything. Like anything. It’s like being in a vacuum or something – a smell less, lifeless vacuum. If you’ve never completely lost your taste and smell, trust me, it is awful. Eating is a struggle because there is no taste to anything (don’t ever eat hamburger with no smell or taste. Just … horrifying.). A huge chunk of life’s enjoyment is just ripped away from you and life seems very empty somehow, especially when you are someone who relaxes themselves through aroma therapy or the taste of sweet honey in your tea.
I sobbed for quite a long time on the porch, worrying about the future, mourning the loss of my taste and smell – yet again after just getting almost all of it back again.
Then I started to say to myself and to God – “So I have lost my sense of smell and taste but I can feel the warm sun on my face, the cool breeze on my skin, pet my dog’s soft fur (and not have to smell her weird dog smell she gets when she runs in the sun) and watch my young cat jump and play in the grass on a rare warm winter day.
I have lost something very important to me – something that can truly lead to deep depression but I am fever free. I am breathing. I am not weak and totally out of it like I was the first time I had this.
I have a lot to be grateful for despite it all.
As I write this I am also grateful I can breathe through my nose because it has been closed with snot for the last three days.
I am grateful I didn’t have more pain from the fall and that has not been a serious issue.
I’m grateful for my family being supportive, for my son immediately asking if I was okay when I told him I had Covid, for my daughter not being as sick as she was when we had it in 2021.
I am grateful for good movies I could watch and good books to read.
I am asking, though, that you would all pray that the upswing continues and that my son doesn’t get this bad enough to steal his sense of smell and taste. He and I were both hit hard with that in 2021 and the developed parasomia (altered smell and taste) for several months. He could barely eat and he already doesn’t eat well and is very skinny.
He still can’t eat peanut butter because it is absolutely disgusting to him. I eat peanut butter but it hasn’t tasted the same since 2021. I was just finally able to start eating onions and garlic in the last several months without them having what can only be described as “the Covid taste.” It’s like a mix of burnt rubber and smelly feet – not idea how else to explain it.
Little Miss says she feels like the smell loss will last less time this time around and I hope she is right.
Everyone hopes when the inflammation in my nose goes away that will get better.
I don’t know since I know this dreaded virus attacks the olfactory glands in a very odd way, slowly destroying them.
What I want most, though, is for this not to go in my lungs or into the lungs of anyone in my family.
I appreciate my blog readers so much – you don’t even know.
You lifted my spirits the last time I had this and your posts are lifting my spirts now as I read about all that all of you have going on.
Which reminds me – what is going on with all of you? Let me know in the comments – distract me from my worries for a few minutes.
December 14, 2023
Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot for December 15
Welcome to another Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot hosted by Marsha in the Middle, Melynda from Scratch Made Food For Hungry People and me.
This is a post where we open up a link to bloggers of all kinds to share a blog post they wrote recently or even a long time ago. All we ask is that the posts be family-friendly.
Today I am battling a cold so my post will be short and sweet.
I hope you will link up at the link party at the end of this post with a favorite or recent blog post and take the time to comment and meet some new bloggers
The most clicked blog post this week was:
Real Food Blogger: Grain-Free Healthy Christmas Cookies
My Favorites for this week:
Serenity You: Our Christmas Eve Box.
and
My Slices of Life: Throwback Tuesday. Busy Little Elves
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enterhttps://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7efComfy, Cozy Christmas: We’re No Angels
Erin from Still LIfe, With Cracker Crumbs and I have been posting about Christmas movies, books, and all things Christmas for the month of December. We’ve been sort of doing our own thing – such as watching whatever movies we wanted to watch on our own — but this week we both watched We’re No Angels (1955) so we would blog about it together. (This post is part of our Comfy, Cozy Christmas. Don’t forget to share your Christmas memory posts or any posts related to Christmas on our link up HERE, or at the top of my page.)
Erin suggested this movie and I’m glad she did because I had never heard of it before. It was certainly an out-of-the-box Christmas movie and a lot of fun. The subject matter and some of the lines were actually jaw-dropping to me and weren’t something I would have expected in a movie made in 1955.
The movie stars Humphrey Bogart (Joseph), Peter Ustinov (Jules), and Alto Ray (Albert).
The men are escaped convicts on an island called Devil’s Island off the coast of France. There are other convicts on the island in prison uniforms but they are on probation or parole, working at local businesses. The fact there are so many convicts wearing the same uniforms makes it easy for the men to blend in.
They make a plan to find a business they can rob and get money from so they can leave the island on a boat. A chance meeting with a doctor on a ship who needs to deliver a message leads them to a clothing store where they meet Felix Ducotel and his family. Felix is managing a store and they offer to repair his roof as a way to get their foot in the door, so to speak, so they can rob him later that night. He accepts and from the roof the three men begin to learn about Felix’s family – including his wife, Amelie and daughter, Isabelle.
Soon they are wrapped up in the family’s drama. They learn the business, owned by Felix’s cousin, is failing. Isabelle is in love with a man named Paul. Her mother wants to know why she isn’t married and giving them grandchildren already (umm…because she’s only 18. Hello??!) and the couple is stressed because the business is failing.
I will not spoil the movie but I will say that the men end up deciding to cook Christmas dinner for the family and steal most of what they need to do so. They keep offering to help the family, partially because they would like some of that dinner too, and partially to build trust to they can kill and rob them.
Things are crazy enough with their plan but get even crazier when Felix’s cousin (portrayed by Basil Rathbone, who was in the Sherlock Holmes movies of the 40s) arrives with Paul. Yes, that Paul. The Paul that Isabelle is in love with.
Absolute chaos ensues for the rest of the movie. So much of it was so funny but at times I felt bad for laughing at either how suggestive some of the jokes were or how they made light of horrible crimes. I would definitely say this movie featured a lot of dark humor.
Some particularly memorable quotes from this movie for me:
Isabelle: “I’ve never been attractive to men.”
Albert: “I’m a man.”
Isabelle: “And you find me attractive.”
Albert: “I could go to jail for the way I feel if I wasn’t there already. Now put a pretty smile on your face and don’t hurt your family.”
Isabella expresses surprise that Albert is a convict with the way he talks.
“I wasn’t born in a cell you know,” he tells her.
Isabella says, “You don’t look like a criminal to me.”
He responds. “If crime showed on a man’s face, there wouldn’t be any mirrors.
***
We came here to rob them and that’s what we’re gonna do — beat their heads in, gouge their eyes out, slash their throats. Soon as we wash the dishes.
– Joseph
***
: I read someplace that when a lady faints, you should loosen her clothing.: [Sarcastically] It’s that kind of reading that got you into trouble.
****
: I’m going to buy them their Christmas turkey.: “Buy”? Do you really mean “buy”?
: Yes, buy! In the Spirit of Christmas. The hard part’s going to be stealing the money to pay for it.
This movie was based on a play called We Three Angels. When it released as a movie some critics said it wasn’t as good at the Broadway play and that it was a “misguided” film.
The movie grossed only $3 million and was the 34th highest grossing film.
There was a remake of this movie in 1989 starring Robert DeNiro, Sean Penn, and Demi Moore.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz whom Bogart had worked with three times before in the movies Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Casablanca (1942) (Curtiz won a best director Oscar for this), and Marseille (1944).
This film was definitely a departure from their previous films.
To see what Erin thought of the film, hop on over to her blog:https://crackercrumblife.com/
Have you seen the film? What did you think of it?
I hope you will join Erin and me in January when we will be watching movies based on Jane Austen’s books. We’ll be sharing more about that toward the end of this month.
December 13, 2023
Comfy, Cozy Christmas. Christmas memories: Our trips to North Carolina
Cold air from the open car doors bit my nose and cheeks as Dad packed packages and suitcases like a game of Tetris.
Next to me, my teenage brother was already grumbling about the upcoming long drive. He was wearing a set of headphones and a Walkman, U2 blaring through the speakers.
This was the beginning of our annual trip from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, where Mom was from and her family still lived.
I don’t remember how my brother and I kept ourselves entertained for that eight-to-ten-hour drive. I know we argued part of the time. The other part was probably spent listening to music and me playing with my stuffed animals. I didn’t read because reading in the car made me car sick and still does. When I was older, I may have written in my journal, took photographs, or drawn.
Mom still likes to tell the story (often) of how one year, after we attended a service at a church an hour from us the pastor’s wife asked how she could pray for us as we started our journey. Mom asked her to pray that we children would get along.
The pastor’s wife prayed that we children would sleep soundly the entire drive and that would keep the peace. We did sleep the entire trip — all the way to North Carolina, but let me say, we did leave in the middle of the night that year so, yeah, of course we slept. Still, I do remember how I felt like I was in a coma that year and how even trying to wake up to see where we were lasted only a short time because I’d knock right back out again – even when it was morning and we could have woken up.
I’m sure my mom needed the prayers for us to get along because my brother was the issue, by the way, and not me.
We always knew when we were in North Carolina. It had a certain smell to it – a smell of pine is how I describe it. Plus it was warmer than where we had come from.
We almost never had a cold Christmas in North Carolina.
There are eight years between my brother and me so there were many Christmases that I went with my parents without him, probably because he was in college or married.
One Christmas it snowed when we were in North Carolina. It snowed on our drive partway through the state until we reached Jacksonville, where Mom’s family lived.
Once we hit grandma’s neighborhood it was fun, yet not fun, to watch drivers slide all over the road because they weren’t used to the heavy snow. Dad, a born and raised Northerner, had to show some of them how to get unstuck out of snowbanks without digging themselves in further and the right way to stop in icy conditions.
In my mind the snow piled up in crazy amounts on my grandmother’s street and around her house, which may or may not be accurate. It may just be my memory inflating it. I’ll have to ask my parents. All I know is that we were usually in short sleeves at Christmastime in North Carolina so that was a very weird year.
My grandparents’ air conditioning was usually running full force all of the time, even on Christmas Day.
Leaves from pine trees crunched under our feet in her small backyard and everything smelled warm and inviting. Sometimes the whir of helicopter propellers overhead would fill the air. These were military helicopters from Camp LeJune – located less than half a mile away.
My grandparents lived in a neighborhood with houses built close to each other, which was different for me since I’d grown up in a house surrounded by woods and little else.
Before my grandfather passed away, I remember arriving late at night and seeing bowls of oranges and nuts under the Christmas tree, illuminated only by the lights from the tree and maybe from my grandmother’s Christmas village.
Grandpa always had to have oranges at Christmas and while that tradition continued after he passed away, I don’t remember it as much as when he was alive.
The house was always decorated when we arrived and smelled vaguely of cooked collared greens, which Grandma or my aunt Dianne were getting ready for Christmas dinner.
In later years my aunt also made sausage balls, which is a tradition we continue to this day in her memory. Gifts were already sitting under the tree when we arrived most years.
I don’t remember a lot about the gifts we received from my grandparents except the year my grandfather gave me a Santa Claus with a Pepsi logo on his big black belt. My cousin received Mrs. Claus and I was always jealous because I wanted the Mrs. and not the Mr.
I was never big on Santa. I knew from a young age that he wasn’t real. Mom had always felt it was important I understand the real reason for the season and that Santa had come from a real historical figure but that it was Jesus we celebrated that day.
One year Grandpa bought us both “bear rugs.” They weren’t real, of course, but they were rugs that looked like bears. Mine was a panda.
There are complex feelings about my grandpa in my family. He wasn’t a nice man when my mom and her sisters were growing up. He wasn’t a nice man at times after that either. He mellowed later and tried to make up for the times he wasn’t a nice man but part of the family still resented him for things he had said and done when his daughters were young.
I have mixed memories of Grandpa. I have memories of him loving Christmas and giving his grandchildren gifts and I have a vivid memory of him getting mad at me very quickly when I wouldn’t pose just right for the photos he was taking with his new Polaroid camera.
I wish I had been older when he was alive and could have even better memories. I can tell from the smiling photos I’ve seen now that I am older, he wasn’t always miserable and in fact had a lot of happy moments – especially at Christmas.
On Christmas Day, my other aunt, mom’s other sister, would arrive with her family and, though I hate to speak ill of the dead, they took over the house when they arrived. Whatever bothered them had to be rectified. If it was too hot for them, they demanded the AC be turned up. If they were too cold, which didn’t happen often, the AC had to be turned down. If something was too loud on the TV – which it always was for them – they demanded that it be turned down.
If they were hungry, we ate. If they’d just eaten then we had to wait.
If they were thirsty then we needed to make the sweet tea with a ton of ice – stat.
When I became a teenager, I found myself sitting inside whatever room my parents were staying in to avoid the onslaught of their presence. Once they settled in and down, I snuck out and the rest of the visit was usually pleasant. Some of the hardest laughing sessions I had were with my aunt, uncle and two cousins.
My female cousin, closest to my age, was hot and cold. Some years she was friendly and the next she was less-so. I never knew what I was going to get. We only saw each other once a year so I was fine if she didn’t think we should be best buddies. She was very girly – with make up and doing her hair and dressing up. I was more of a tomboy who’d rather be drawing or journaling or reading a book than caring about what I looked like.
When I think back to Christmases with her as a teenager, I most commonly picture her with her nose in the air. I know. I’m horrible, but that’s how she was until her ice began to melt as the day went on. When she started dating it was ten times worse.
Once she warmed up, setting her ice queen persona aside, we would laugh and draw together and make memories that I try to hold on to when I now think of the negativity that later developed between us.
On the other side of the coin, my male cousin was the same every year and never seemed to make everyone act a certain way before he offered his affection.
We normally waited to open gifts until after my aunt and uncle and cousin arrived. They had their own family gathering first and then would come and we’d have a bigger family gathering. There may have been some negative moments when they first arrived, but when we got into opening gifts and dinner and “visitin’” as they called it down south, there was so much laughter and love I felt like my heart would burst.
I miss those days terribly.
My aunts, my uncle, and my grandparents are all gone now. I no longer speak to my cousins for a variety of reasons, partly physical distance between us.
What I wouldn’t give to sit in those rooms again with them all alive and laughing.
I am grateful for the memories I do have, though.
When I close my eyes, I can see Aunt Dianne at the stove cooking collard greens. She’s laughing and being slightly off-color, but not rude or crass. (She’s the aunt who later moved in with my parents and who I was able to grow close to during that time.)
My great aunt Peggy has just breezed in the front door with a pecan pie and a debate about how to pronounce “pecan” is launched.
Behind her is my uncle Johnny laughing that deep, hearty laugh he had as he grabs my dad’s hand and shakes it firmly. They used to be roommates in the Air Force (which is how my dad met my mom since Johnny was dating Peggy, Mom’s aunt, who is very close in age to her).
Aunt Joan and Uncle Mike are in the living room by the tree singing. Uncle Mike is playing his keyboard. Aunt Joan is singing in that deep, but beautiful vibrato she had.
My cousin Aaron is playing a video game on his portable TV and his sister is checking her makeup with her new mirror and makeup kit.
My grandma is in the kitchen at the table, watching it all unfold and talking about her latest conversation with Jesus. (She literally spoke to Jesus. I’m not mocking her. She was in constant conversation with him. Sometimes out loud.)
Mom is helping with dinner and anything else she needs to help with because she loves to be there for others.
Dad is in the back bedroom doing last-minute gift wrapping (a common theme for our family), wearing a sweatshirt that reads, “Wise Men Still Seek Him.”
My brother is watching an old movie in Dianne’s room and I’m sitting on the loveseat writing about it all so 20 years from then I don’t forget it because remembering it all is what helps to keep not only my family members alive but the Christmas spirit in me alive.
This post is part of our Comfy, Cozy Christmas. Don’t forget to share your Christmas memory posts or any posts related to Christmas on our link up HERE, or at the top of my page.
December 12, 2023
Comfy, Cozy Christmas: The Bells of St. Mary’s
I’m making it a point to watch comfy, cozy Christmas movies this December, and last week I watched The Bells of St. Mary‘s (1945), which is considered a Christmas movie but isn’t only about Christmas. In fact, I think there are only a couple of Christmas-themed scenes in the movie.
(This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Feature with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. Read more about it and join up to the linky here. )
I can’t believe it has taken me so long to watch this movie. I ended up loving it. The chemistry between the main stars, Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, was outstanding. It was also nice to see Ingrid in a role with some humor because I’ve only ever seen her in more serious roles. And, of course, I love that Bing sang in this movie, even though it wasn’t a strict musical.
Bing Crosby arrives as the new priest at the St. Mary’s parish and is immediately told of how the former priest aged quickly because he had to help oversee a nun-run, school that is run-down and in the inner city.
The former priest also had to deal with Sister Superior Mary Benedict (Bergman), a woman with a strong personality who runs the school.
“I can see you don’t know what it means to be up to your neck in nuns,” the rectory housekeeper says.
Father O’Malley admits he doesn’t and the woman advises him to “sleep well tonight” as if implying it will be his last good night of sleep for a while.
Father O’Malley and Sister Benedict butt heads more than once but in passive-aggressive ways. One way they butt heads is in how to educate the children at the school. O’Malley is much softer in his approach while Sister Mary prefers levying harsher punishments.
She also doesn’t approve of fighting and instead suggests that boys turn the other cheek when they are bullied.
After witnessing a fight between two boys, Father O’Malley believes the young man who is at the receiving end of a punch should be able to fight back.
Sister Benedict disagrees and a good-natured duel between the two authority figures begins.
I enjoyed this exchange:
At the crux of the story is the need for a new school because the current one is falling down.
Sister Benedict is praying that the school’s new neighbor, Horace P. Bogardus, will be the one to provide it. Bogardus has built a huge, new, business building next to the school and Sister Benedict seems convinced that with enough prayer, Bogardus will turn the building over to the school.
There are many hilarious misunderstandings and interactions between the nuns, Father O’Malley, and Bogardus. Bogardus, by the way, is portrayed by Henry Travers, best known as the angel Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life.
The storyline of a young girl – Patsy Gallagher – weaves into the movie and I found her storyline to be a bit of a distraction from the main story. The young girl’s mother sends her to St. Mary’s to avoid taking the same path as she did when she became a single mother and took on a dancing job to make ends meet.
I didn’t know this before I started researching the film but Bing first played Father O’Malley in a movie called Going My Way and actually won an Oscar for that role. I am not surprised because I actually thought that this performance was the best of his I’ve seen. Now I can’t wait to watch Going My Way, which I found “free” on Amazon with our Amazon Video subscription. Both movies were directed by Leo McCarey.
When The Bells of St. Mary’s First came out some critics said it was too much like Going My Way but without the charm of its predecessor.
A reviewer from Harrison Reports, however, disagreed and wrote: “As in Going My Way, which he also wrote, produced, and directed, Leo McCarey has proved again that great pictures do not require pretentious stories … The acting of the entire cast is excellent. Crosby delights one with his ease and natural charm, and Miss Bergman will undoubtedly rise to new heights of popularity because of the effective way in which she portrays her role.”
According to Wikipedia, the was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bing Crosby), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ingrid Bergman), Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Music, Song (for Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics) for “Aren’t You Glad You’re You”) and Best Picture.”
Bing’s nomination had him making history with him being the first actor in history to receive two nominations for portraying the same character in different films. “This was following the previous year’s nomination anomaly, where Barry Fitzgerald received nominations in both supporting and lead for the same film (as the same character), the prequel Going My Way. While he lost in lead to his co-star Crosby, Fitzgerald won for Best Supporting Actor.”
In the middle of the movie, there is an adorable rehearsal of the Christmas/nativity story with the cutest little kids – probably 5 to 7. It cracked me up and reminded me of a nativity program that my parents went to one time. According to my mom, a beautiful song was being sung as the little girl playing Mary reached down to the baby doll in her arms and twisted its head to face the right way in a very aggressive and unnatural move. Mom said the audience could barely hold in the laughter.
The Wikipedia article mentioned a couple other bits of trivia, which I thought were interesting:
“The Bells of St. Mary’s has come to be associated with the Christmas season, probably because of the inclusion of a scene involving a Christmas pageant at the school, a major plot point involving an unlikely (yet prayed for) gift, and the film’s having been released in December 1945. In the 1946 film, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which Henry Travers, a co-star of The Bells of St. Mary’s, plays the guardian angel Clarence Odbody, the title of The Bells of St. Mary’s appears on the marquee of a movie theater in Bedford Falls, New York. In The Godfather (1972), Michael and Kay see The Bells of St. Mary’s at Radio City Music Hall.”
The Bells of St. Mary was a very sweet film with a lot of humor, touching moments, and a beautiful Christmas message of love and taking care of others. As I mentioned above, I loved the interaction between Bing and Ingrid, but I also loved the carefree feeling of the acting between the young woman who portrayed Patsy and Bing.
I watched this film for free on Tubi but yesterday I also found it for free on YouTube here:
Comfy, Cozy Christmas: The Bells of St. Mary
I’m making it a point to watch comfy, cozy Christmas movies this December, and last week I watched The Bells of St. Mary (1945), which is considered a Christmas movie but isn’t only about Christmas. In fact, I think there are only a couple of Christmas-themed scenes in the movie.
(This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Feature with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. Read more about it and join up to the linky here. )
I can’t believe it has taken me so long to watch this movie. I ended up loving it. The chemistry between the main stars, Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, was outstanding. It was also nice to see Ingrid in a role with some humor because I’ve only ever seen her in more serious roles. And, of course, I love that Bing sang in this movie, even though it wasn’t a strict musical.
Bing Crosby arrives as the new priest at the St. Mary’s parish and is immediately told of how the former priest aged quickly because he had to help oversee a nun-run, school that is run-down and in the inner city.
The former priest also had to deal with Sister Superior Mary Benedict (Bergman), a woman with a strong personality who runs the school.
“I can see you don’t know what it means to be up to your neck in nuns,” the rectory housekeeper says.
Father O’Malley admits he doesn’t and the woman advises him to “sleep well tonight” as if implying it will be his last good night of sleep for a while.
Father O’Malley and Sister Benedict butt heads more than once but in passive-aggressive ways. One way they butt heads is in how to educate the children at the school. O’Malley is much softer in his approach while Sister Mary prefers levying harsher punishments.
She also doesn’t approve of fighting and instead suggests that boys turn the other cheek when they are bullied.
After witnessing a fight between two boys, Father O’Malley believes the young man who is at the receiving end of a punch should be able to fight back.
Sister Benedict disagrees and a good-natured duel between the two authority figures begins.
I enjoyed this exchange:
At the crux of the story is the need for a new school because the current one is falling down.
Sister Benedict is praying that the school’s new neighbor, Horace P. Bogardus, will be the one to provide it. Bogardus has built a huge, new, business building next to the school and Sister Benedict seems convinced that with enough prayer, Bogardus will turn the building over to the school.
There are many hilarious misunderstandings and interactions between the nuns, Father O’Malley, and Bogardus. Bogardus, by the way, is portrayed by Henry Travers, best known as the angel Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life.
The storyline of a young girl – Patsy Gallagher – weaves into the movie and I found her storyline to be a bit of a distraction from the main story. The young girl’s mother sends her to St. Mary’s to avoid taking the same path as she did when she became a single mother and took on a dancing job to make ends meet.
I didn’t know this before I started researching the film but Bing first played Father O’Malley in a movie called Going My Way and actually won an Oscar for that role. I am not surprised because I actually thought that this performance was the best of his I’ve seen. Now I can’t wait to watch Going My Way, which I found “free” on Amazon with our Amazon Video subscription. Both movies were directed by Leo McCarey.
When The Bells of St. Mary’s First came out some critics said it was too much like Going My Way but without the charm of its predecessor.
A reviewer from Harrison Reports, however, disagreed and wrote: “As in Going My Way, which he also wrote, produced, and directed, Leo McCarey has proved again that great pictures do not require pretentious stories … The acting of the entire cast is excellent. Crosby delights one with his ease and natural charm, and Miss Bergman will undoubtedly rise to new heights of popularity because of the effective way in which she portrays her role.”
According to Wikipedia, the was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bing Crosby), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ingrid Bergman), Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Music, Song (for Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics) for “Aren’t You Glad You’re You”) and Best Picture.”
Bing’s nomination had him making history with him being the first actor in history to receive two nominations for portraying the same character in different films. “This was following the previous year’s nomination anomaly, where Barry Fitzgerald received nominations in both supporting and lead for the same film (as the same character), the prequel Going My Way. While he lost in lead to his co-star Crosby, Fitzgerald won for Best Supporting Actor.”
In the middle of the movie, there is an adorable rehearsal of the Christmas/nativity story with the cutest little kids – probably 5 to 7. It cracked me up and reminded me of a nativity program that my parents went to one time. According to my mom, a beautiful song was being sung as the little girl playing Mary reached down to the baby doll in her arms and twisted its head to face the right way in a very aggressive and unnatural move. Mom said the audience could barely hold in the laughter.
The Wikipedia article mentioned a couple other bits of trivia, which I thought were interesting:
“The Bells of St. Mary’s has come to be associated with the Christmas season, probably because of the inclusion of a scene involving a Christmas pageant at the school, a major plot point involving an unlikely (yet prayed for) gift, and the film’s having been released in December 1945. In the 1946 film, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which Henry Travers, a co-star of The Bells of St. Mary’s, plays the guardian angel Clarence Odbody, the title of The Bells of St. Mary’s appears on the marquee of a movie theater in Bedford Falls, New York. In The Godfather (1972), Michael and Kay see The Bells of St. Mary’s at Radio City Music Hall.”
The Bells of St. Mary was a very sweet film with a lot of humor, touching moments, and a beautiful Christmas message of love and taking care of others. As I mentioned above, I loved the interaction between Bing and Ingrid, but I also loved the carefree feeling of the acting between the young woman who portrayed Patsy and Bing.
I watched this film for free on Tubi but yesterday I also found it for free on YouTube here:
