Silver and gold and… sex?!

The festive holiday season comes with several traditions:  Decorating trees.  Getting together with friends and family.  Giving gifts.  And tuning in to an onslaught of TV movies and specials that for generations have followed the same “sugar and spice and everything nice” template.  But there’s one new addition to the holiday movie genre that’s set to add another sort of spice.

^{Image source: IMDb.com}

This Saturday (December 9), Lifetime is scheduled to premiere A Cowboy Christmas Romance (not to be confused with A Cowboy Christmas or Cowboy Christmas or Christmas Romance or any other film with cowboys and/or romance).  Judging from its description, the film will have the same saccharin-sweet plot line as every other film Lifetime, Hallmark, and other basic cable channels trot out every holiday season.

Allison is glad the holidays are behind her

So, peoples, it’s the 2nd week of January, and the question must be posed of all y’all:  How was your holiday season?  Okay, that may not entirely be a timely question now that we’re well into a new year.  No matter whatever you celebrated, however you celebrated it, and whomever you celebrated it with, here’s hoping it was a nice season.

As for me?  Meh.

Standing up for rainbows on holiday TV

If you haven’t noticed by now (and don’t go denying that you didn’t), it’s the holiday season.  As I write this, it’s the middle of Hanukkah, it’s a few days until Christmas, there are festive decorations everywhere, and there are crazy stories such as “Santa and his elves” making a drug bust in Peru.  Oh, and I’ve included my gift-wrapped banner at the top of this post, so I’m sure you’ve at least noticed that.

Four years after the second day of Hanukkah

It’s December 12 as I write this, and according to the calendar on my kitchen wall, it’s the second full day of Hanukkah 2020.  This is the eight-day period where those of the Jewish faith commemorate a revolt against Hellenising Greek forces; the miracle of how one day’s worth of lamp oil lasted for eight days; and the purifying and rededicating of a holy temple that was the center of Judaism.

More Hallmark holiday crap

That’s right, I said “crap” in the title!  And, yes, I’m gonna do some ranting.  Let’s face it, “crap” is what Hallmark Channel gives us every holiday season with their Countdown to Christmas series, and it’s the type of crap that has been ripe for parody.  Need proof?  Well, let me present you as “Exhibit A” this skit from last night’s (December 14) Saturday Night Live featuring guest host Scarlett Johansson.

Random stuff: SNL’s Hallmark Christmas parody

Two days ago, I took a stab at writing, or at least sketching out, my own Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.  Yes, they’re the kind of movies that feature the same things and themes every time out:  Cute girl (played by a “Hey, I know her from somewhere” actress) falls head over heels for handsome man (played by a “Hey, I know him from somewhere” actor).  They find that magical Christmas spirit together.  And they’re films that are all shot on the same Canadian studio lot that doubles for Anytown, U.S.A. and feature ample amounts of saccharin-sweet goodness.

As you may have judged from my own attempt, Hallmark Channel’s long, long list of identical/interchangeable Christmas movies are ripe for the parody… preferably not by this amateur but by skilled people who can do effective satirical parodies on a routine basis.  Well, lo and behold, the people at Saturday Night Live took that ball and ran with it on Thursday.  Or, to be more precise, a couple of weeks ago.

Allison presents “Yet Another Hallmark Christmas Movie”

I don’t need to remind you that this is the holiday season, though I should remind you that it’s only 5 days until Christmas Day as I write this (better get that shopping done très rapide).  This is the season chock full of traditions that normal people never get tired of:  There’s the tree.  The ornaments.  The decorations.  The greeting cards to send out.  The shopping for presents.  The carols and carolers.  The ugly sweaters.  And candy canes, sugar plums, and other similar stuff loaded with too much sugar.

Twas one week after Thanksgiving

Just thought I’d dedicate this post to some random holiday-related thoughts on this, 7 days after the American Thanksgiving Day.  First, a very-late question for my fellow Americans:  How was your Thanksgiving Day?  Mine was spent with my immediate family (mother, stepfather, sisters, their families) at Mom’s place.  Or to describe it more precisely, the combination lounge/kitchen on the first floor of Mom’s senior apartment building.  Since our extended family is too big for Mom’s modestly-sized apartment, Mom reserved the lounge for our Thanksgiving shindig.  On the good side, the lounge is pretty spacious and was perfect for our big family.  However, the newness of the first all-family Thanksgiving at Mom’s apartment building didn’t give the day that “at home” feeling I always felt whenever Mom at her old house or Sis at hers hosted whatever holiday shindig we would have.