In our family the Annual Christmas Day Movie is an Event. When the whole family was still home, it generated weeks of discussion before we finally chose The Movie. Since Ralph died, one or both of my children has gone to the movie with me to keep the tradition alive.
Some of our best choices have been Schindler's List, Shakespeare in Love, Tootsie. Some of the worst, at least in my opinion, have been Avatar (I hated the story and the big blue people; even the special effects didn't impress me) and Sweeney Todd (great music, but too gruesome--grinding up people and eating them? Come on!)
This year we made a great choice: True Grit. I liked it even better than the original. The little girl was amazing. Even the music was wonderful.
When we first began going to the movies on Christmas Day, we thought we'd come up with our own individual solution to the "What do Jews do when everyone else is celebrating?" problem. Since then I've learned that a movie and Chinese food has become a Jewish Christmas Day ritual. Not religious, of course, but cultural. Why Chinese? Because Chinese restaurants are open on Christmas. If you never eat Chinese the rest of the year, you do on Christmas--sort of the way you eat matzah balls on Passover even if you don't like them.
Anyway, it was a fun day. And I'm grateful to my children for keeping our family tradition going.
See True Grit. Even if you don't like westerns, you'll enjoy this one.
