Where I live on the west coast we won’t be having a white Christmas, but last night I watched the film version. Yes, White Christmas, the 1954 classic, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. It’s my favorite holiday movie of all time and I watch it every year, even though my family thinks it’s cheesy and can’t figure out why I love it so much!Maybe it’s the costumes. I adore the dresses with the full skirts and narrow waists worn by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. Not that my waist was ever as small as Vera-Ellen’s. At least not since I was ten. My favorite dress is the black evening gown Rosemary Clooney wears to do her solo performance at the nightclub in New York. In my imagination, I look just as stunning as she does in that dress. Isn’t an imagination a wonderful thing?
I love that the sets and backdrops that so unabashedly fake. In an industry now governed by computerized special effects, it’s refreshing that the simplicity of a cardboard set still works. At least it works for me.
And then there are Irving Berlin’s masterpieces. After all, who doesn’t love the title song? And Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen’s "Sisters" routine? Although I must say, I love Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye’s version even more!
The humor and the love stories are wonderfully heartwarming and innocent. And then there’s the way everyone helps General Waverly. Would somebody please pass the Kleenex?
At the end of two hours everyone's hoping it'll snow on Christmas Eve—and it does!
White Christmas is one of my annual traditions. When my shopping is done, the gifts are wrapped, and the house is completely decorated, I settle in for an evening with Bing and Danny and Rosemary and Vera-Ellen, and then it truly feels like Christmas.
Today and tomorrow are my two favorite days of the year. As I post this blog, my husband is driving to the butcher shop to pick up our free-range, organic turkey. This afternoon, as is our family tradition, we’ll put up the tree and decorate it, and then family will arrive for a Christmas Eve buffet supper. Tomorrow morning we have our gift opening and brunch, and in the evening, a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. And although there won't be snow, everything will be perfect.
My very best wishes to all Harlequin American Romance readers and authors for a wonderful holiday!
Lee
http://www.leemckenzie.com
http://thewritersideoflife.blogspot.com
15 comments:
I love White Christmas too – in fact, growing up and spending my whole life on the Wet Coast, I longed for the real thing, but mostly I had to go away to get one.
A few years ago, I spent the holidays with my husband's side of the family in Ottawa and Vermont – talk about a picture-perfect white Christmas! The next year my husband and dad and I went to Paris – a completely different white Christmas.
This year we once again have green trees (and at the moment a blue sky, which is a break from our more usual grey at this time of year) – and my new favourite Christmas movie is Love Actually.
Things change, but the feeling sure doesn't – great music and love and friends and families…
Happy Christmas!
Rachel
I also live on the west coast in the Pacific Northwest, so won't be having a White Christmas either.
Merry christmas, Lee!
Rachel, I'm not only having a green Christmas, I'm green with envy at the idea of Christmas in Paris. Tres romantique! Well, except for having Dad along ;)
Love Actually is one of my top favorites, too. The night I watched While You Were Sleeping - a '90s rom com with Sandra Bullock - which is another feel-good fav.
Happy holidays!
A green and Merry Christmas to you, Estella!
I'm in Ontario, Canada. In recent years we have had a green Christmas.This year I thought "we're going to have a white Christmas" But then it rained all day Sunday and all the snow melted. But when I woke up Monday morning everything was white again, mind you it was very windy but white. So last nights Christmas celebration was perfect. 5 of7 of us went to church while the other eight stayed behind and played Santa and put all the gifts under the tree.
So wishing all a happy holiday season no matter what color your holiday might be(I figured ours would be mud brown with all the rain we got)
One of my favorite movies, White Christmas! Perfect ending! :)
Where I live... it is always a white christmas... except maybe once where we had mostly ice!
I love the movie White Christmas :)
Hope everyone is having a great holiday!
Christa, how great that you had a white Christmas after all that rain. And if you had eight people playing Santa, I'm guessing you had a merry Christmas, too!
Sarita and Lily, it sounds as though we have the same taste in movies! I hope you're both having a wonderful holiday.
I also used to see White Christams every year with my mom, until I felt it was time to change... that happened 2 years ago when I catched Christmas in Connecticut on TV, and fell in love with it... so it is my newest holiday tradition!
I always like the idea of a white christmas... we mostly here have those! However, the cold associated to it is not appreciated!
Lee,
I love that movie, too. I love when Vera-Ellen and Danny Kaye are dancing. sigh. We have a clip with Rosemary Clooney talking about that movie. She said she loved that black dress, too...and that it cause quite a sensation! She said she liked that pin on her backside!
I'm glad you had a merry Christmas.
Shelley Galloway
It's my favorite holiday movie too. I watch it numerous times each Christmas as I'm wrapping gifts. I grew up with that movie and they just don't make them like they used to.
Nathalie, I'm not a cold weather person, either! Thanks for mentioning Christmas in Connecticut. It's been years since I've seen that movie, so I'm going to look for it at the video store.
Shelley, I love the dancing too! There's a Rosemary Clooney museum in Kentucky. I wonder if they have that black dress in their collection?
I agree, Jennifer! White Christmas is the perfect movie to watch while wrapping gifts and doing other holiday preparations - along with a nice hot cup of cocoa and some shortbread cookies.
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