It’s a Wonderful Life

I’m watching the tail end of this and the tears are streaming down my face. Imagine, this movie was released in 1946, over sixty years ago, and it is still as powerful and wonderful as ever. I know there are some people who have never seen it. Pierre never did until we met. But if you haven’t, then I strongly recommend that you don’t.

Jimmy Stewart is incredible in this movie as George Bailey. I can’t imagine it with anyone else, but perhaps that’s because I’ve watched this every single Christmas for as long as I can remember. Donna Reed plays his beautiful wife, Mary, who is always supportive and never complains. The premise of the movie is pretty simple – an angel appears to show a man what the world would be like if he had never been born, and he realizes that he has touched lives and is loved by many. Others have redone the idea, but none as well as It’s a Wonderful Life. Yes, it’s a corny, sappy idea, but in this movie, it works. Have the tissues handy.

“Remember, George, no man is a failure who has friends.” – This is what the angel Clarence writes in the copy of Tom Sawyer that he leaves for George Bailey at the end of the movie. It’s a wonderful thought, and it’s most definitely true.

Here is the short story that It’s a Wonderful Life was based upon – The Greatest Gift.

Even if you don’t normally comment, I’d love it if you’d leave just a brief Christmas greeting this Christmas eve. Do you know that you’re loved and appreciated?

Christmas Dinner Menu

What do you serve for Christmas at your house?

Christmas Eve, after Midnight Mass, we will have Eggnog and Tourtiere. I’m trying to convince Pierre that we should eat *before* Mass and then go to bed immediately after Mass. Or just avoid the whole “out in the freezing cold at midnight on Christmas Eve” thing altogether. We’re still negotiating.

And no, I’m not Catholic. I am, however, happily married to a French Canadian. French Canadian and French Catholic are synonymous. “All English marrying a French Catholic will promise to attend Mass on Christmas Eve and Easter and give all children a saint’s name” – I’m sure it’s in the laws somewhere up here. Staying up way past midnight, eating incredibly rich food and drinking plentiful wine on Christmas Eve is a “French thing” that I have difficulty getting used to.

I’m English – we threaten kids that Santa doesn’t come until they’re asleep, spend Christmas Eve making last minute preparations, and get to bed early because we know the kids will be waking us up before dawn with “Santa came! Santa came!”

Christmas Morning, we will have Crepes, Bacon and copious amounts of Hot Chocolate while Papa* and mon oncle* help Baby Boy open presents.  We’ve all decided that the baby gets the honour of opening everything this year. Mommy will sit and sip Hot Chocolate because the blending of French and English traditions makes for a sleepy Mommy in the morning.

We will then nibble on clementines and candy while the house fills with the smells of cooking.

Christmas Dinner will be …

Shrimp rings
Turkey
Gravy – Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Creamed Corn – Baby Carrots
Homemade Rolls
Coleslaw – Cottage Cheese – Pickles
Citrusy Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
Eggnog
Blueberry Pie
Coffee and Hot Chocolate

Pierre is perturbed that we’re not having “Pork Hog Stew” on Christmas Eve, but I’m just not up to making that in the same year that I attempt Tourtiere. I’m sure that we’ll have some leftover Pork Hock Stew at the home of some relative or another. The shrimp rings are an appetizer. I stared at my husband when we bought them, amazed that he can even think of needing an appetizer before this Feast of Gluttony and Plenty.

Plum Pudding would be traditional English dessert. Buche de Noel (Christmas Log) would be the traditional French dessert. Everyone, however, loves blueberry pie. Next year, I will plan a little better and make some oh-so-Canadian Butter Tarts and Shortbread.

*Papa is French for Daddy and Mon Oncle “My uncle” is what French Canadians call uncles, even if he is not your uncle. I would say to a child “Is mon oncle Jean coming over?” and I would mean the child’s Uncle Jean.

This is for you …

For those parents who have lost a child to death and grieve this Christmas,
For those parents who will be separated from a child this Christmas,
For those single parents who wonder if they can make Christmas happen, alone,
For those children of all ages who miss their parents,
For those who wonder how their babies grew up so fast,
For those who wonder where their children are and if they are safe,
For those facing divorce and wondering what 2009 will hold,
For those who know the only gifts in the house will be donated by angels in human form,
For those who will be alone while it feels like the whole world rejoices,
For those receiving food baskets in order to afford a Christmas dinner,
For those who wonder how they can start over after losing everything,
For those in hospitals, prisons, shelters, and halfway houses,
For those who have children in hospitals, prisons, shelters, and halfway houses,
For those who are abused and praying they can make 2009 better, alone,
For those who will eat Christmas dinner at a shelter or soup kitchen,
For those who wonder if your prayers are heard at all,
For those who grieve and cry and hurt and wonder and hope …

Remember this,
A teenaged girl, unmarried and pregnant, traveled with the man who promised to care for her and her baby.
They arrived in his home town, but no one, not even a distant cousin, would take them in.
Perhaps because they had heard? The baby wasn’t even his.
The world was small and scandalous news travels fast.
No one would take pity on a young girl, heavy with the weight of her unborn child.
To those with money, there is always an available bed, and they had little.
Without a bed to be found, they took shelter in a stable,
And there she labored.
No mother, no aunts, no midwife or doctor, not even a female friend to give her comfort,
During the most terrifying time in a young woman’s life.
She labored and gave birth to her first born son in a dirty stable surrounded by animals.
This could not possibly have been how she had imagined the birth of her child.

If this Christmas finds you alone, poor, scared, hurting, …
You’re not alone. If you can only remember one thing … you’re not alone.

No matter the circumstances of your life, may this Christmas find you with peace in your heart and joy in your soul.

God loves you, and so do I.