Name That Film: Christmas Edition!

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

So this is Christmas? Holly, mistletoe and ivy. Marvel at all the lighted exhibits! Christmas is a federal holiday occurring during the Winter Solstice and tis the season of primordial fruitcake. Give of the gift card! Feel the warmth of celebration as indulgence reaches its peak. Seeing is believing but this ken also be deceiving.

Christmas fare is a delicious combination of harvest feast foods, like turkey, squashes and potatoes; winter festival foods like roasted meats and an array of baked goods that outdoes most any other time of year. Have no fear, many novelty treats mimic other Christmas traditions: the Bûche de Nöel imitates the Yule log, gingerbread houses copy well-trimmed colorful chalets and cookie cutters turn out legions of trees, stars and Santas.

This may well be a time when, to quote Dickens, “want is keenly felt.” Dickens uses this as a basis for the argument for practicing charity and “keeping Christmas in our hearts” on every day of the year with bows from ribbons of various bright colors adding to the cheer. You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.

Though most see Jolly Old England as the source for many modern Christmas traditions, England actually banned celebration of Christmas from 1647-1660 in an effort to free the holiday of what was viewed as its pagan trappings and the excess and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Actually many Christmas traditions are based in Germanic pagan rituals predating Christianity. Many, including the little girl from Adventures in Babysitting, consider Thor to be a frontrunner as an early Santa Claus figure. The Christmas tree was once a sacrificial tree to the gods, hung brightly with dead animals. And Heaven and Nature sing!

The Greek and Latin Churches still term Christmas the "Feast of Lights," and make it a period of brilliancy in Church and home, just you watch her sing. Now if we could just involve every state, it would be the holy trifecta. The point being? There's always hope. Ah, youth is wasted on the wrong people...so how to cope? Get into the spirit...

The Protestant cover the Christmas tree with lighted candles and builds a glowing fire on the hearth as the symbolic flame of faith and a tribute to the innate love of light and warmth.

Santa Claus, also known as St. Nick, Kris Kringle and Father Christmas, is known across the globe as a jolly, fat, bearded man sporting a red suit trimmed with white fur. On Christmas Eve Santa Claus enters the home of good children, usually via the chimney, bearing gifts of toys that his elves have been busy making all year long. Parents know Santa Claus as a symbol of the magic and joy of innocence lost and childhood; if not as a distinct bruise to their pocketbooks, though many department stores are refusing to recognize Christmas, and yet have no trouble in accepting our Christmas dollars, and even going so far as to utilizing Holiday or Dream trees instead of "Christmas trees" in their promotions. The western idea of Santa Claus is a combination of the European traditions of Kris Kringle, Father Christmas and the Christian Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas rid himself of all his material possessions and set out to help the poor, the infirm, or anyone else who was suffering. Word of his generosity and kindness spread and he quickly earned the reputation of a gift giver and saint. The historical St. Nicholas died in December of 335 C.E. As often happens, stories of his good deeds became grander and grander and it is difficult to determine fact from fiction. The history of Christmas, however, is hardly a continuum of shepherds in the snow & pagan winter rituals and may be stranger than fiction and yet, the question still remains...why does a Christmas tree offend our atheist citizens? The Film Edition has yet to hear of an atheist being forcibly converted to Christianity by gazing at a Christmas tree. Do you see what I see?

The Three Kings once traveled to Bethlehem to offer gifts to baby Jesus. Gifts were ostensibly meant to remind people of the magi's offerings to Jesus and of God's gift of Christ to humankind. But despite the rationalized Christian roots of gift-giving, the practice ultimately steered Christmas closer to the secularized holiday it is today, and that is the kind way of putting it. 'Tis the season and suspension of disbelief is required.

Most retailers rely on the holidays to make up for the summer doldrums and prepare for the slow sales of the New Year. This dependence has made Christmas, a single day in late December, swell into a three month holiday season. "The holidays" -- with their sales, decorations and mall Santas -- now reign through nearly a quarter of the year for a day of utmost fun and frolic, strengthening the bond with loved ones, who exchange gifts and decorate the house with the varied Christmas décor items. Think red and green and parties for hosting and marshmallows for toasting. Sound the trumpets, it is Santa's big day with all the bustle. Hustle to what you require and get on your way to circle dances with singing but you ken call them carols. The earliest chants were all litanies and hymns from Latin works intended for use during the church liturgy, rather than popular songs. The 13th century saw the rise of the carol written in the vernacular under the influence of Assisi (Frances).

The best way to spread Christmas cheer still remains singing loud for all to hear & I just like smiling...smiling's my favorite! Later, the word carol came to mean a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. It fills the winter air. You ken hear it everywhere! Whistle blowing and said people going. Oliver Cromwell went so far as to cancel Christmas when he seized control of England in 1645 and you see what power ken do to a man! It's the most wonderful time of the year but during the British government under Cromwell, the British Parliament prohibited the practice of singing Christmas carols as pagan and sinful. Like other customs associated with popular catholic Christianity, it earned the disapproval of Protestant Puritans. Famously, Cromwell's interregnum prohibited all celebrations of the Christmas holiday. This attempt to ban the public celebration of Christmas can also be seen in the early history of Father Christmas. Remember, faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. The tradition of singing Christmas carols in return for alms or charity began in England in the seventeenth century after the Restoration and donations will gladly be accepted. Tree tops glisten and the children listen to the voices in their heads. There is only one major sin and that is to let the holiday cheer eat us alive while spreading ourselves too thin. Look to the Holly and the Ivy and keep reaching for more.

Wise men seek ‘em! Know Jesus & know peace! It is found within the orphanages and on the streets. Who doesn’t get homesick around the holidays, even if you happen to be home? Chestnuts roasting by an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose; Christmas has and always will be found in the open heart versus lying, ferociously financed, tightly wrapped under a tree. Because, as you see, it comes and it goes. Just ask Mike Tyson...

Christmas, children, is a state of mind, a spirit that is kind and forgiving, giving time for charity and goodwill until levels of exhaustion finally begin to set in. Unfathomable? Just ask Speedy B! This ken affect complete strangers or next family of kin as fellow passengers where time tapping is a wee bit more gentle and surprisingly lovely in it’s procession, dropping as freshly fallen snow and as more than a festival at the culmination of this revolving year; a bright and cheery voice of strong authority looking for those who do right, a vision found in the presence of a happy and tight family unit all wrapped up in the gifts of the season; Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

So, gimme one reason we shouldn’t be content with grand delusions of our former days and pleasures of a racy youth? These seem to transport any sailor from deep overseas and the traveler thousands of miles away back to the glow of their own fire-sides. Keep in mind, you don’t…have…to live like a refugee! When what's left of you gets around to what's left to be gotten, what's left to be gotten won't be worth getting, whatever it is you've got left. The anniversary of such merriments makes our hearts grow tender like succulent meat falling off the bone with sweet memories often touched up like a magazine model shoot; out of focus only to shine that much brighter; a deep resounding love of all kindred spirits without requiring a visitation from any of those creepy ghosts; past, future or present.

May peace be your gift and a blessing all year through, but never exaggerate about the size of your own Christmas tree. Besides making for wretched mojo, this will also make little difference in the amount of festivity that flows out from your burning hearth to society in the long run. Kindle the flaming fire of hospitality in the hall or wherever you may call the den. Start by wiping away any remaining shreds of loneliness amid the pillars of mounting stress. Obey that natural impulse to flood and truly express your sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, a wee bit foolish. I believe you ken fly. Being yourself during the holidays may be your only shot to do so with a live audience.

Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, and an abundantly warm home. Yuletide excitement ken be like a potent caffeine, no matter your age. This depends solely on the size of your spirit. Has anyone seen 3 wise men and a virgin? Christmas is when children whisper to the necessary adults with dreams of X-box what they want and adults simply pay for it no matter the price or inconvenience(s), making a clear distinction from when adults tell the government what they want and expect them to pay for it. Blessed is the season. Because if you stop opening presents for but a moment and listen on Christmas morning you will know the secret to all things considered holy. Loving, sharing, giving, are not bells, lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. The good you do for others is the good you do yourself. There's no greater gift than friendship.

In the old days, this time was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to the baah, cursed the silliness of the world and drank heavily, so please remember, love weighs more than gold!

Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air...I sometimes think we expect too much from Christmas Day. This is technically only a 24 hour period to open our hearts before the interest hits. Wreathed in smiles, how touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by Pepsi, Sonic, and Budweiser beer...who’da thunk, product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? I'd never marry just for wealth alone! Give another tradition a try: sit with the significant other in a room lit only by tree lights and remember that your blessings outnumber the lights. Repeat as often as necessary!

Remember just a few days earlier when you would follow that shopper from the mall and get into position for the prime parking. This is akin to the steady guidance provided by the North Star. It's like a gift from Jesus himself. Let's all be jolly! Haul out the holly. There is but few saving graces that finally make up for all the bother and the distress but defrost the chill of hide-bound hearts anyway. Do you take yourself too seriously? Remember during this time, grown men wear neckties made of holly leaves and drink alcoholic beverages with raw egg yolks and cottage cheese. Let's face it, most of us are scoffers. But moments before zero hour, it did not pay to take chances. Can I refill your eggnog for you? You guys give up yet? Or are you thirsty for more? Approach Peace and Goodwill with classic Irving Berlin tunes. Finish with your finest and next year’s money, as a public Santa for the merchants; sentiment without censure. The visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world but not to be a child on Christmas morning? Egads...seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see.
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more? Like a DELICATE fragrance THAT may weave a weary spell of nostalgia on the hardest of hearts. Taking away all narrowness, all thought of formal creeds and judgments. Let it be remembered as a story that has happened again and again, to men of as many different races, that has been expressed through many religions, that has been called by as many different names; as just games to keep us apart. Time and space and language lay no limitations upon the union of human brotherhood and just you remember, the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart. Ho ho ho ho ho.
Ho, Ho, Ho, is right blood! Thanks for the wonderful work, as usual, that you did on this week's edition of Name That Film!

I'm sure that you remember that this week's edition is 10 more Christmas movie quotes. Please read the quotes and name the movies in the comment section. I believe there are some for all skill levels this week. Good luck and thanks for playing Name That Film!!!

1. "I got invited to the Christmas party by mistake.....Who knew?"

2. "All that from water? It got wet?"

3. "BESURETODRINK......YOUROLVALTINE"

4. "Forgot my hat!"

5. "Let me ask you something. Why don't we just pay the fella the two hundred dollars?"

6. "If I could my will Nephew, every idiot who goes about this merry Christmas on his lips, should be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!"

7. "How can you talk about Santa Clause, when there's so much unhappiness in the world?"

8. "Hey, What do you say we both be independent together?"

9. "Happy Birthday!"

10. "You're a bad banana, with a greasy black peel."

Alright! There it is! Let's see some answers people! I know that it is a busy time, but take a moment or two to try your luck.

Thanks to everyone who has been playing and a special thanks to bloodredsox for his extrodinary introducitons and thoughful collaboration over the last year or so. Remember, if you like his intros, you'll love his blog! Check out "The Blood Blog". A link to it is on my sidebar.

Check back next week for a very special editon of Name That Film!!!

Merry Christmas!!!