Filmotomy Christmas Advent Calendar 2018 – Day 9

Discovering Christmas

For many a reason, my mother was not someone I had an interest in film-debating with. “Have you seen XYZ? Did you enjoy it?” is about as deep as it got. And that’s fine. A visit to her house a couple of years ago, she was flicking through the Christmas movies section of Now TV, asking what we would like on. The Nightmare Before Christmas stood out like a beacon amidst this animated mediocre and that dull festive comedy romance.

Within minutes my mother had switched it off, replacing it with a Martin Freeman voiced animation none of us actually watched. Why did she turned it off? It’s a bit scary for Athena (no, it really isn’t), and it was not a Christmas film (yes, it is). The daughter already started watching it days earlier. Hypothetical head shakes all around.

These days, thankfully I have many a debate with my wife, basically because we’re both film nuts. But yeah, our film-related conversations tend to cross paths into all manner of movie elements. “We should do a podcast.” I say a lot. We haven’t as of yet. Anyway, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a huge favorite of The Greek’s, who rightly gave me the evil eye when I started watching it with the daughter without her. Shame on me.

In all honesty, though, my then four year-old was glued to The Nightmare Before Christmas, asking all sorts of relevant questions while we watched like “Why does her hand fall off?” or “Is he skinny?”. But the good news is she was invested in this Halloween-Christmas holiday classic. The Greeklet got distracted somewhere around the mid-point of the movie. Understandable given her age and temperament, sure, but not forgivable. I kid of course.

Athena is now six, and The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of her very favorite Christmas movies. I included the wife that time. And the time after. But the daughter and I share an interest in the movies, which is great. And I haven’t had to shove it down her throat either. Which I was willing to do. So, for many a reason, I’ll have many a film debate with my own kid. And I can’t wait.

Robin Write

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