First it was A Charlie Brown Christmas, which we showed the kids for the first time as a better option for our dinner viewing than another Christmas-themed episode of The Simpsons. My wife made plates of leftovers from lunch, while we finally got to eating at close to 9 o'clock.
Best possible outcome: My wife and I revelled in the nostalgia of our own childhood viewings, while the kids made no comments about it being old or lame.
One thing my wife, the notable atheist, did comment on was that she had forgotten how religious it was. She seemed only a tad put off by this because it does have that place in her own childhood, but as you will recall, Linus teaches us all a lesson on the true meaning of Christmas by quoting from the Bible.
I wouldn't say this is unambiguously a message of support for the Christian origins of the holiday, and in the context of the special, it is presented more as an antidote to Charlie Brown's concerns about the holiday's increased commercialism and materialism. Don't forget, the thing that ultimately "saves" Christmas is the kids decorating Charlie's woeful little tree, the one so skinny that its back is broken by a single bauble. Still, the traditional nativity story is never even mildly repudiated, which would happen if A Charlie Brown Christmas were made today -- or likely they wouldn't even go there in the first place.
It did prompt me to comment that I thought the nativity story and all the bells and whistles of Christmas were inseparable. I don't feel you could have one without the other. As basically devoid of religion as my wife is -- though I was raised as a Unitarian, and my lone tattoo is actually Unitarian themed -- I still could not give up the nativity story. As a child, I loved hearing this story read during the annual Christmas Eve service, as the church became steadily more lit by candlelight. Without it, the gift-giving frenzy and all the decorations would just be too garish. That said, that part is the most present in my life, so I'd never be able to sustain my holiday season on just candlelight and wise men and frankincense and myrrh.
My religious pondering was put to a further test in my chosen viewing for the evening, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. I'm conscious of a desire to watch something wholesome on Christmas night, but something that nonetheless has the possibility of being one of my favorites of the year. Last year it was Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, which didn't exactly rise to the heights I hoped it would -- was sure it would. With a little less pressure but probably similar acclaim, Margaret did rise to those heights.
I must have not read the Judy Blume book, though, because I forgot it was primarily about a girl's attempt to incorporate a religious outlook into her life. I knew she talked to God -- it's hard to escape that conclusion when you've got a title like that -- but I thought these conversations were mostly about her first bra, her first kiss, and getting her period. I didn't remember, or possibly didn't know, that she is the child of a Jewish father and a fallen devout Christian mother, whose parents effectively disowned her when she married her husband. And she samples Judaism and about four different Christian denominations throughout the narrative, none of them giving her a sense of the presence of God.
It's easy to watch Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and have your experience be entirely about the nostalgia easily recreated by Kelly Fremon Craig, including the aforementioned significant benchmarks in the life of a girl who's just turned 12. But Craig clearly cares about the struggle to find God within the character's life, considering it more than just a necessarily evil to adapting this novel. The film is earnest in every aspect, and its conclusions about feeling the influence of the divine in our lives, even in ways that would otherwise seem perfectly secular, was an enriching takeaway of a Christmas Day viewing indeed.
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