Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Report

I had a nice Christmas this year, but it was sort of a strange one- for the first time, I was the only one of my siblings who came home for the holidays. In addition to family, church, presents, food, and drinks, there were two noteworthy events.

1. I watched It' s A Wonderful Life for the very first time. I loved it! This holiday classic stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man undergoing a crisis, frustrated because his life hasn't turned out like he had hoped it would. I think part of the reason why I liked the movie so much is that I feel like I can relate to George Bailey. George and I share the same affliction- we're discouraged. Like George, I dreamed of travel and adventure and success and accomplishing great things. But the years go by, and I find myself not living the life I had imagined, and it's hard not to feel disappointed. Maybe everyone can relate to George Bailey, and that's why the movie is so popular.
So an angel comes down and shows George what life would have been like had he never existed, and it opens his eyes to all of his joys and blessings, all of the good things in his life that he's been ignoring. So even though I'm broke and single and live in a rodent-infested apartment and am pretty fucking miserable when it comes to grad school, I am surrounded by amazing friends and a loving family, and that's what really matters. It is a wonderful life, after all. (Hey, it's Christmas, I'm allowed to be cheesy and melodramatic.)


2. Matching sweater alert! My grandmother gave out two sets of matching sweaters this year- one to me and my mom, and the other to two of my cousins. Here are a couple of shots from our sweateriffic photo shoot:








Tomorrow I head out to Binghamton, NY, a.k.a. the Carousel Capital of the World so I'll post again next week with tales from the trip and a Best of 2008. I hope that everyone has an enjoyable holiday week!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe this is your first time watching IAWL! It's one of the few movies that can make me cry. In fact, one time I watched just the tail end of it (we're talking 3 minutes here), and I even cried then, too! It's one of my all-time faves!

carmen said...

your grandmother is too cute

Anonymous said...

Oh my, I am glad you posted the photographic evidence. I will say, though that the female ones are not too bad. Unfortunately I can't say the same for your poor cousins...

HH said...

you know - i still haven't seen "it's a wonderful life." i feel like i need to rent it now...

eileen said...

Yeah, I like my sweater, but find the fact that my mother has the same one in different colors to be hilarious.

oh, and IAWL is great! and totally made me cry, too.