The Snowman of Christmas Past
Nov. 26th, 2008 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
r_scribblesI haven't had an LJ comment notification in days now... I know Meg Mog's having the same trouble, I don't know if anyone else is... basically, if I haven't replied to something you've written I'm not necessarily being purposefully rude! I'm waiting for the day when I get a week's worth of comments all in one, inbox-clogging lump.
Anyway. I am feeling increasingly Christmassy at present, with Advent just around the corner. Getting very excited about it this year because it should be fun for Violet. She's got a Christmas party at her Toddler Group in a few weeks, we'll be having Nana Visits, which she'll love, and we intend to take her out to sing Carols with the Archbishy on Chrimble Eve. Touch wood she won't be poorly like she was last year!
Hubs bought The Snowman on a whim earlier this year, and Violet loves it. We watched it, at her request, both yesterday and the day before. As soon as the theme started and those scratchy, pencil crayon lines drew us down to a lonely country house deep in snow, I started to well up. Not necessarily just because I know the film has a sad ending, but because of something else - I feel that the film is deeply connected to my childhood. The images themselves have a faintly faded quality to them because of the way it was animated. I know the whole thing absolutely off by heart, and it really does take me back to childhood Christmases, when my Dad was alive and my parents were happy together, when my Grandparents were still alive and we'd get so excited about the long drive to visit them. Eating chocolate money in our pyjamas... playing Sardines at Nana & Grampy's with my cousins at New Year's Eve... the old plastic Christmas tree with the same baubles and tinsel as every year, and the Angel I'd made at Nursery school as the tree topper... The Snowman is the Ghost of Christmas Past to me. It makes me nostalgic for those simpler days, and it makes me sharply miss those people who I loved back then who are no longer with me, but it doesn't make me sad, watching it on our little sofa with my daughter on my lap, because it also reminds me that she has all the Christmases of childhood yet to come. Hopefully in 30 years or so, she'll be able to think back to being excited about seeing her Grandparents, and to happy, secure times with her mum and dad, and all those other things that I look back on now.
See, this is one of the big reasons that I love Christmas - it's such a Constant in our society. It's a real marker for you to reflect back on your life so far. I love it.
Anyway. I am feeling increasingly Christmassy at present, with Advent just around the corner. Getting very excited about it this year because it should be fun for Violet. She's got a Christmas party at her Toddler Group in a few weeks, we'll be having Nana Visits, which she'll love, and we intend to take her out to sing Carols with the Archbishy on Chrimble Eve. Touch wood she won't be poorly like she was last year!
Hubs bought The Snowman on a whim earlier this year, and Violet loves it. We watched it, at her request, both yesterday and the day before. As soon as the theme started and those scratchy, pencil crayon lines drew us down to a lonely country house deep in snow, I started to well up. Not necessarily just because I know the film has a sad ending, but because of something else - I feel that the film is deeply connected to my childhood. The images themselves have a faintly faded quality to them because of the way it was animated. I know the whole thing absolutely off by heart, and it really does take me back to childhood Christmases, when my Dad was alive and my parents were happy together, when my Grandparents were still alive and we'd get so excited about the long drive to visit them. Eating chocolate money in our pyjamas... playing Sardines at Nana & Grampy's with my cousins at New Year's Eve... the old plastic Christmas tree with the same baubles and tinsel as every year, and the Angel I'd made at Nursery school as the tree topper... The Snowman is the Ghost of Christmas Past to me. It makes me nostalgic for those simpler days, and it makes me sharply miss those people who I loved back then who are no longer with me, but it doesn't make me sad, watching it on our little sofa with my daughter on my lap, because it also reminds me that she has all the Christmases of childhood yet to come. Hopefully in 30 years or so, she'll be able to think back to being excited about seeing her Grandparents, and to happy, secure times with her mum and dad, and all those other things that I look back on now.
See, this is one of the big reasons that I love Christmas - it's such a Constant in our society. It's a real marker for you to reflect back on your life so far. I love it.
