This being my final installment before Christmas 2004, I thought I might type a few words on the subject.
We finally dropped the cards in the mail. Again, we found ourselves building little Christmas packages out of letters, photos, and cards. Again, we had to make tough decisions about who would get a letter printed on which of the two kinds of pretty paper and which of the three cards were most appropriate to send to whom. For example, actively Jewish friends should get a "Happy Holidays" card and so much a "Merry Christmas (You Damned Christ Killers)". Still, I think the process went a little more smoothly this year than in previous. I only raised my voice once all afternoon and I didn't get a cramp in my writing hand. So most folks should be receiving their cards before the big day. The friends and family in New Zealand will just have to get New Year cards, but they probably wish each other a Happy Christmas, which just isn't the same anyway.
Then there are Christmas movies. My first knee-jerk reaction was to declare that all Christmas movies sucked balls. If you're wondering about the source of my scroogey attitude, I just sat through The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2 in the last couple of weeks. Some might argue that anyone who actually wants to watch these two movies has a few soft spots on their head, but such is not the case. My wife merely has a soft spot for schmaltz. I can't fault her for that, seeing as I have a laundry list of soft spots for things like big radial engines and used book stores.
Speaking of soft spots, I feel like a clarinet and the entertainment industry is playing me like Benny Goodman. Despite the fact that I have theatrical release of Aliens on VHS and Aliens: Special Edition on DVD, the bastards have packaged both the theatrical release and the special edition on something they call Aliens: Collector's Edition. I covet it. I really appreciate all the extra bits in the special edition, but Aliens was already an overlong movie. The majority of added scenes mess up the pacing, except for maybe the sentry gun sequence. Besides, the theatrical release is what is lodged in my brain. So now I must pony up the cash once again. I'm really looking forward to the industry either shifting to a higher quality format, or going completely pay-per-play or solid state. All media should be solid state like Atari 2600 cartridges. Those things were almost bulletproof. It took steamrollers to kill all the unwanted copies of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. I'm tired of worrying about scratches, or fingerprints, or specks of dust. Laser media has turned us all into late-60s audiophiles juggling our 21st-century LPs.
Back on topic: The first movie was merely execrable. The second movie actually kept my interest for a while. I suppose it helped that the love interest, played by Elizabeth Mitchell, beamed the same sort of razor-sharp, witty sexiness of Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life. It rendered the Insta-Romance required by the plot the tiniest bit more believable.
Donna Reed... mmmmm...
In the meantime, our son benefited from Santa's screen time and all the flying reindeer. He's now more likely to recognize the jolly old elf and is hopefully less likely to scream bloody murder if we ever get him near a Santa lap again.
Pakeha