I can still remember the excitement and joy I experienced as a kid as my family and I snuggled up on the couch in front of the TV during the Christmas season. There would be smells of Christmas cookies in the air; the white lights from our tree reflected in the glass of our screen. We had family movie nights all year long, but there was something different, something special, about watching movies like Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Muppet Christmas Carol, or even Elf, that centered around this holiday in particular.
The Christmas season has finally arrived, and alongside all of its visual cheer, treats, and holiday music come the long-held traditions that bring shape and focus to what this season is all about. Many beautiful religious traditions remind us of the reality of God becoming man: Advent candles, hallelujah choruses, nativity scenes, and more. There are also many wonderful secular traditions that bring cheer and laughter: lights, caroling, and gift-giving, for example. But there’s one tradition that, over the past seventy years, has solidified itself as one of the most important and memorable parts of this season: gathering as family and friends around the TV and watching a Christmas movie.
On the surface, watching movies during this season can feel like a more shallow and simple activity, one that doesn’t hold the weight and seriousness of the Christmas prayers and services that feel more important and meaningful. But as I look back through the years and Christmases I have experienced, watching Christmas movies has served as one of the most integral and meaningful practices in helping me “get into the spirit of Christmas” and find a greater understanding and appreciation of just what this holiday is celebrating.
For all of human history, we have developed methods and practices to help ourselves understand the reality of large and beautiful concepts (like Christmas and the incarnation) that include music, prayers, art, feasts, and more. But the most effective and lasting method has been storytelling — from the time the first humans painted on cave walls, to telling stories around the campfire, all the way to gathering around the living room to watch a movie. Stories bring definition to reality and ideas in a way that we can grasp and understand them in the context of our narratives. Every culture has told stories differently with different tools and forms, but every culture has told stories. Here in modernity, we tell our stories on screen through the art of film.
So when we watch Christmas movies, it’s not just a shallow, time-killing exercise that pales in comparison to other more “important” traditions. But rather, watching a Christmas movie with your friends and family, or even by yourself, is a practice that stretches back through all human history. It’s a practice that not only brings joy, laughter, and escape, but one that helps us bring shape to why this season is uniquely special and will ultimately point us to the greater truth of the beauty of what we’re celebrating.
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If you feel like you’ve seen every Christmas movie ever made five times and you’re looking for new Christmas films to bring into your home this season, let me humbly suggest my original film, Miracle on Highway 34, a hopeful and human film that gets to the heart of what this season is all about.
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