Santa-Pallooza Day 1- ELF

Santa-Pallooza 2010 Begins!!

Christmas time makes me an even more avid movie watcher. I watch probably 5 movies a week during a normal week in my life. Some in the theaters. Some on my portable DVD. Some through the brilliance of Netflix Instant Watch. I love the world movies create. December brings a new love of movies to my life. I love holiday movies and every year there are more and more to add to the list. It is hard to keep it at only 25!

I watch a holiday movie daily to get me in the holiday spirit and wrap my head around the craziness that is December. I started this tradition a few years ago and I LOVE IT! This year I decided to add in my facebook friends and my blog to make it a little more interactive and get everyone involved who wants to be. I’ll post them five at a time so you have time to get them from Netflix or the movie rental place. (See- THIS is why Blockbuster can’t go out of business!) Each day I will write about what the movie means to me and why I chose it. I’ll post things to look out for and how long the movie is, as well as what age group it’s appropriate for. Kind of like a Christmas movie guide….filled with my opinions.

I hope you enjoy it. Here are the first five movies:

- Elf (12/1)

- The Holiday (12/2)

- Love Actually (12/3)

- Miracle on 34^th Street (12/4)

- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (200 and/or 1966) (12/5)

So join me if you can. Truthfully, I hope I am able to keep up with it. I know I can, so here is the test. And it’s good practice because my goal for 2011 is to take on a big project and make it happen. More on that later.

Elf- Wednesday December 1 Santa-Pallooza Movie #1

(95 minutes, rated PG) No bad words, no sex, no scary, no villans, no violence. The PG is for the adult humor.

Tonight I am cleaning my house and getting it ready for my Christmas tree, which I’ll get on Sunday. I have to move boxes and make a space for it. In fact, I might just put the tree ON boxes since it will only be about three feet high. But I have some amazing ornaments that I want to get some tree time this year. So a tree it is. Plus I want the smell of a fresh tree. And the glow of the tree lights as I fall asleep every night. I am embracing Christmas this year, and a tree is the best way to do it. Having “Elf” on in the background as I do it is going to be the icing on the gingerbread.

I saw Elf for the first time when I was working on Main Street in Disneyland in 2004. It had come out the previous year so John brought in the DVD backstage for us to watch during our breaks. It was perfect! We sang in octets on Main Street so the green room was filled with carolers laughing at the craziness of Buddy the Elf. Soon, since we watched it every day for weeks, we were able to quote him and no place was safe from Elf nonsense. Since then the movie is a Christmas staple in my life. John (my tenor for over three years with the same sense of humor as me) and I would pull random quotes out of the air during the season and we wouldn’t even have to look at each other to know where the conversation was going. It is a uniting movie, and even the most skeptics of movie watchers eventually succumb to the brilliance of Buddy’s humor. “Ooh what’s a skeptic? I want one!” I’m sure having the TV run it every day has played a big part in wearing down people’s resistance.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!! See you tomorrow!