Posted on 12/14/2017 6:12:41 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
For more than a year, I served as official caregiver to my wife of 46 years, Karen Clark.
Two years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two surgeries followed, along with three months of chemotherapy, and 37 radiation treatments.
It has been a life-changing experience, of course, and I am happy to report that all her doctors express great optimism about her prospects.
As a caregiver, I can testify that four powerful forces combined to help both of us through our struggle:
Medical science
Prayer and magical thinking
Comfort food (mashed potatoes and tapioca pudding)
Hallmark Christmas movies
(Excerpt) Read more at poynter.org ...
Have to admit, my Wife has been watching somme of these and I have, too.
They are nice.
Gotta admit it’s fun seeing seldom recently seen actresses on Hallmark. Danica McKellar, Lisa Whelchel, Nancy McKeon, and others.
And true ‘G’ rated. Safe for everyone.
We pay attention to talk radio, Fox News & FB during the day, but we’re watching Hallmark Christmas movies every night in our house. No fake news on Hallmark, just good old-fashioned Christmas...
Yes they are...
Safe for everyone, including kids, is exactly right. We’ve been recording some of them.
Talk about blasts from the past.
My wife watches them, and I often look up from my book to follow along. They are formulaic, almost to the point that you know going into a movie how it is going to turn out. You’ve even seen the plot twists before. But they are pleasant and cheerful and inoffensive in a real old-fashioned way. They are Chistamasy. Sometimes I’m surprised that those kind of movies are still being made these days.
I’m a manly, manly, manly man with a hairy chest.
I eat chainsaws for breakfast and I pee crude oil.
I own many guns and have had many fistfights.
Men fear me and women want to be like me...er....anyway, not ashamed to admit, I will watch these sappy movies and enjoy them from time to time, but I never, repeat NEVER cry....or lie.
Ratings are high for these Christmas movies. Hollywood could learn a thing or two.
A nice movie that follows these same lines but stars the great Barbara Stanwyck is “Remember the Night.” A woman, sentenced to a jail term for theft, is taken to her mom’s home by the DA who feels sorry for her incarceration at Christmas time. Rejected horribly by mom, the DA takes her to his own Snowbound, USA, where she experiences love and kindness for the first time. Fred MacMurray is the DA and the movie is superb.
They're all the same.
He even lays out the basic plot skeleton in his article. The characters' names change, the town changes, the business changes, but they're always exactly the same basic plot with the same basic resolution.
I can't for the life of me understand how anyone could watch hours and hours of these movies. I'm one and done.
Will check it out...
Pure & simple ESCAPISM...
I especially like the few where there are no a**holes and everyone winds up happy. Matchmaker Santa, Lacey Chabert, comes to mind.
I like Candace Cameron Bure, but couldn’t stand her Journey Back to Christmas.
I’ll occasionally catch a couple in July, too.
And then there’s my favorite Christmas movie never made:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baFmgjwptic
Looks nice...
We actually liked Journey Back to Christmas. Reminded me of my Mom & Dad who lived through WW 2...
I love all the Hallmark Christmas movies......no sex, no violence. Always troubled people who find happiness in the end......
What makes these movies great FReep family viewing are the two subplots which permeate almost every film:
Subplot # 1 = Red America is Real America.
Most movies find a true-blue big city guy or gal transplanted into a small town/rural setting, hating it at first but eventually deciding to leave city life behind for real happiness.
Subplot # 2 = Remember the Eighth Commandment/Ninth Commandment and don't think the worst.
Almost every movie has a romance (or more) threatened by the discovery of something which turns out to be a partial truth at best or an outright falsehood. Great lesson for these times.
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