I asked Alexa for a Christmas movie and what she gave me was Christmas Town. To say this is a bad movie is not enough. The film should come with a warning: it is a slough of syrup that sucks you into its sticky self until one hits a bottom of cynicism from the sugar shock. Hard to believe that the makers of the film thought kindly of those of us who love Christmas, romance, and our sentiments seriously, because this film mocks us by cheapening simple pleasures: the family, holidays, and decorations.
Common pleasures are all around, but to slather them in sick sentiment may make us unable to enjoy what should be fundamental. Not everyone has a decent family, but if we do, then we should be able to enjoy the everyday pleasures of home. Our friends do not need to do much, just be themselves. Sitting with them and a glass of wine on a Thursday night after work is a simple pleasure: nothing from the wine to the room is grand, but then neither are we!
A film like Bambi or any movie made by Frank Capra deals in common sentiment, makes us feel what is often mis and this is good for us. Simple happiness comes when we eat our family foods, made as we make them. There is higher pleasure, but the plain sentiment is good. Walking home from work is good, not great, but often happy.
Eschew false sentiment for real sentiment. If cynicism grips you, step back. Buy nothing. Fast from excess and look for a place to serve. Go home and work to make someone else happy without ostentation, but by merely doing something simple that pleases him or her. Find old ways, simple pleasures, sing old songs sincerely, listen to the words, and ask Jesus to help you. The Christian life encourages a mindfulness that allows for true sentiment in simple things.
One thing I try to do during Advent is eschew debate and disagreement when I can. Nothing blocks simple pleasures more than arguments.
As for me, I walk home from work, enter a house and look at the pictures of the kids, children now adults. I do my evening work and then just putter a bit as I prepare for bed. This is happy, not grand, but jolly. Sentiment is not cheap, it is common. The common grounds life: common men make sound republics, common pleasures a good life. Inexpensive does not mean cheap. People mock gilt Christmas ornaments as fake. Nonsense. In the context of a family Christmas tree gilt, shiny gold that is not gold, is affordable and fit for a tree in a house like our own. As the years pass, the gilt gains sentimental value. There are inexpensive ornaments that are lovely, though of course there cheap, ugly knock offs. Our first ornaments came from Woolworths and the trick as we shopped with so little money was to find the common amongst the cheap. We still have some tiny metal ornaments made to look like old fashioned toys. We passed on the angel tree-toppers with frightening faces for one where some artist who cared about his job had made lovely.
We took them home, put them on our tree, praised God for the gift of His Son, and were happy. Our tree was not beautiful, but common as bread, common as we are. Simple sentiment is sweet, like a Snickers bar, not great candy, but pretty tasty nonetheless. For God so loved us, He made a world that is full of sentiment. Run away from Christmas Town. Run instead to Christmas: the celebration of a baby being born. There is grandness there, hear the angels, but also common sentiment. We may not up to angels (Who is?), but mother and her baby.
I saw Hope give birth to our children four times and the sight never stopped making me . . . sappy. That is sentiment, the sentiment of Christmas.
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