My ideal "Christmas" Holiday story, a la Seasonal Television Special: a checklist

[capri0mni]

Now, even though I'm not Christian (I'd say: "any more" -- but my mother had Pagan leanings for as long as I can remember, even if those leanings were 95% tongue-in-cheek), I still enjoy the holiday specials that pop up on TV this time of year. Mostly for these three reasons (and yes, in this order):

1. I can be assured the story will have a happy ending,
   
   
2. Even in stories aimed at adults (such as the special "holiday" episodes of regular series), when it comes to resolving the conflict and saving the day, all cynicism is suspended until further notice (well, until the first weekday after the New Year), and
   
   
3. Grownups are allowed to play and make-believe without being scorned or mocked.

But:

These stories also have recurrent tropes that I would be happy to never see again. And if (when) I ever get around to writing my "Ultimate Holiday Story" these are the tropes I'd love to subvert (somehow):

1. Mandatory Snow as the signifier of magic and happiness. Not only do "The Holidays" fall in the middle of summer for people in the Southern Hemisphere, there are plenty of people who live in the Northern Hemisphere who've never seen a White Christmas either.
   
   
2. Belief in Santa as a prerequisite for being on his "nice list" / getting presents. Because, let's face it: that's blaming the victim for their own poverty, right there.
   
   
3. You must forgive them -- because it's the holidays -- and they're family! And no matter how badly they've abused you in the past, all it takes is for them to show up in the last five minutes with a big, shiny, wrapped present as a sign of their regret for how they've treated you in the past, and all is well. I'd rather see an ending that shows the family working together to earn forgiveness and heal old wounds -- maybe with a scene of parent and (grown) child staying up late at night mending a toy that was broken in years past, so it can be passed on to the next generation...

Bonus:

• If I end up writing a fantasy, I'd try to even the score for the horrible way the Abominable Snowman was treated in Rudolph. the Red-Nosed Reindeer by having a big, toothy, scary-looking monster be one of the good guys -- and have their teeth and claws and such be totally incidental to their special skill or power.

Comments

[vilakins]

Ha! I've not heard of her, but that must be where the American coal for bad children tradition came from, with all the Italian immigrants.

Yes, I think every culture added something they related to, like shoes, chimneys, stockings etc. We also got a lot from deliberate scheduling of Christmas at the same time as Yule and Saturnalia as we've kept elements of both, and a lot more.

Hanukkah OTOH hasn't changed much at all, like other Jewish festivals, except that it was once a fairly minor one that has only gained huge importance because of Christmas.

Not that there's as much fun in having Hanukkah - or Christmas - lights when the nights are so short. It's not till around 10am that it's properly dark.

[capri0mni]

Hanukkah OTOH hasn't changed much at all, like other Jewish festivals, except that it was once a fairly minor one that has only gained huge importance because of Christmas.

Well, the whole point of Hanukkah (aiui) is the celebration of the fact that the Jewish people resisted cultural assimilation... so...

Yeah.

I heard it said (by Jewish people) that every one of their holidays can be summarized with:

They tried to kill us.
They failed.
Let's eat! ;-)

[vilakins]

They tried to kill us.
They failed.
Let's eat! ;-)

Oh, yes! Just a pity that the foods for each festival don't match our seasons here. Same old story.

[capri0mni]

I've never been south of the equator, but even as a little kid, I got prickly over the fact that people in Australia (wasn't as aware of New Zealand when I was ten years old) celebrated Christmas in December, instead of June; by then, my mother had already taught me that Christmas rituals were a Winter Solstice holdover. ...I did say she was very pagan, despite being Christian on paper, yes?

But I've mellowed about it since. It could very well be that I'm now at a place in my life where I spend much of my time being homesick for my childhood home, but I now see the value of syncing your holiday activities with those of your extended family, and choosing that over syncing them with the regional climate. And I imagine that the homesickness factor would have been even greater back when the majority of English settlers to the region were teleported convicts, brought there against their will.

The difference between Cold Spring, New York and Chesapeake, Virginia isn't as great as England and Australia, but it's enough to still cause cognitive dissonance -- and I've already lived here 21 years. I'm still not used to the difference in seasons.

[vilakins]

Convicts were sent to Australia, not here. Most of ours were settlers who came to get land, though it was a hard life, and some "remittance men", black sheep paid by their wealthy families to stay well away. Even a couple of generations on, they'd talk about "home" meaning England, though they'd never been there. We have a lot of their traditions: mince pies and fruit cake (both yummy!) and there are still a few who eat a big winter-style meal.

I wish we could move all the festivals 6 months, but it would cause chaos. Wondering what "a spring release" means is bad enough.

I like the seasons here being much more defined than in Auckland: colder in winter and drier in summer. Many trees are beautiful in autumn, but then again they're the imports; all the natives are evergreen.

[capri0mni]

Yes... I realize that it's Australia, not New Zealand, that was settled by convicts.

But I figured that Australia is so big and so close, that there must be a lot of cultural attitude spillover...

Meanwhile, this video popped up in my recommendations, recently -- The video maker is in southern California, where it's also warm, this time of year, and it's five suggestions for Christmas themed Ice Cream flavors.

Seems like something better fitting your holiday: https://youtu.be/k5gDL6EePjI

[vilakins]

We do share a lot of culture, but there are differences. Australians are much more confident and outgoing, almost American. I think we would do well to borrow some of their pride in themselves, but still keep our fair-play culture that allows us to applaud opposing teams and not "sledge" them (insult players to put them off their game) the way Aussies notoriously do.

I've been eating ice cream lately, especially the local ones. My favourites are caramel (hold the salt, why ruin a good thing?), ginger, and coffee (not together). I've saved that video - thanks! - as the base recipe is so easy, and I could add powdered and crystallised ginger, or cold espresso, or dried fruit and nuts; lots of things! I've done it before by softening commercial ice cream, mixing stuff in, then refreezing, but this will be much better.

[capri0mni]

Glad to be of help.

Ooh... Ginger ice cream! I consider ginger to be one of my four food groups. ;-) and one of my favorite flavor combinations is ginger, orange and peach (I like to put frozen peach slices [from the freezer section of the grocery store] in a blender with O.J., ginger juice, and plain or vanilla yogurt, and make a smoothie out of it).

[vilakins]

My go-to-flavourings are ginger, lemon juice, and chili (sometimes all three in stir-fries) but alone is also excellent. Also coffee.

Ginger rocks! Ginger beer is the only fizzy drink I'll have apart from plain fizzed water. I also have ginger juice and syrup which both have many uses.

Have you tried Gin Gins from The Ginger People? They are the best sweets, especially the extra-strength ones. I found them while travelling down here (three days on the road and I get motion-sick on windy roads) but they're also great for random nausea or pain, or just to enjoy! It's their juice and syrup I have.

[capri0mni]

I love Gins-Gins!

Maybe I'll buy some for myself for my birthday -- they also make a coffee flavored ginger chew (I believe it has actual coffee), which I'm thinking of keeping on hand when I feel a migraine coming on...

Hm...

[vilakins]

I have the coffee ones: awesome! My favourites along with the plain ginger ones. Apparently there's a peanut one but I haven't seen that here; I'd try that too.

[capri0mni]

I've tried the peanut! It really is my favorite. But apparently, it's only sold in America...

Maybe I could send you a Christmas in June care package (When it makes sense for you)?

[vilakins]

No, that's fine. I'm really very happy with the strong ginger ones and the coffee one. Besides, I might end up craving it once I've tasted it, like a gingery chocolate bar only available in Australia.

[capri0mni]

Okie-doke!

Besides, if you have peanut butter, you can blend it with the ginger juice, and get a similar flavor (I also like to schmear
peanut butter on ginger snaps).

[vilakins]

Yum! I'll have to try that! I use Pix peanut butter, a local brand with nothing but nuts in it, and I'm so going to try it with ginger.

[capri0mni]

:-)