Cinerant

Holiday Traditions

Tonight is the annual airing of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and though "Ugly Betty" is reairing one of its strongest episodes, you never encourage someone not to watch this Christmas classic. I had a roommate in college who loved this more than he did the "1812 Overture" or sleeping in. (Sometimes his love for the "1812 Overture" prevented my sleeping in, but--BYGONES.) It was his big Christmas tradition to watch "Rudolph" and it gave him an excuse to act like a child at Christmas all over again. It was a die-hard tradition for him.

That got me thinking about my live free or die hard traditions at Christmas. I don't mean the--we're going to this family's for Christmas lunch and then we're going to go see your aunt, etc. I meant the fun, random ones. After my paternal grandparents died and we quit trying to get that side of the family together on Christmas Eve, my parents, brother and I did get in the habit of going to the mall on Christmas Eve, laughing at last minute shoppers scurrying around. We'd then go see a movie, though not always together. (I specifically remember hanging out in the theater lobby for over an hour with my mom and brother while my dad's movie--"Bugsy"--just kept going on and on. Even the theater employees felt sorry for us, because it was obvious we were bored. I think they gave us free popcorn since our little movie was short and to the point. Dad's had to lay the groundwork for the Beatty-Bening marriage and family. Of course, his was going to be longer.) But at some point, that tradition got dropped. (It might be because of the bad taste in movies my parents have--and their lack of understanding in my good taste. Apparently, a couple of years ago we hit a real low point when they took me to see "Cheaper by the Dozen" while I was home and I laughed so loud at Ashton Kutcher's bad acting that people in the theater turned around and looked.) The last couple of years, I've taken videos home that I really think they'd like that they never would've rented. (They really liked "In America" and were moderately amused by "Napoleon Dynamite".) Unfortunately, I just can't think of anything this year that I think they need to see.

So I need a new Christmas tradition. The more superficial, the better. (I mean, this is me we're talking about here, right?)

Any ideas?

posted by cinegod @ 8:43 AM