Every year around this time for the past 5 years I have found myself watching my favorite Christmas movie, The Family Stone. I can never wait until December or even until Thanksgiving to watch it. The first year I watched it I didn't realize it was a Christmas movie (I guess I didn't read the back of the box) and I watched it in October and it has been a tradition ever since.
It's not exactly your feel good Christmas movie, it is more the family chaos Christmas movie and I usually hate those. I tend to prefer It's a Wonderful Life (AMAZING!) or funny movies like Elf. Also I should probably mention that this movie is not the cleanest nor the most pure of Christmas movies. So what draws me to this movie? Is it the close knit siblings that love one another despite their arguments and differences? The big white house out in the snowy woods? The funny nature of some of the characters? Or the warmth of the whole family coming together for the holidays? I love all of those elements, but what draws me to this movie is how much it makes me think about my mom.
The first year that I watched The Family Stone was 2009, the year my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and got extremely sick from the chemo. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie, SPOILER ALERT, the mother is dying from breast cancer and none of her children know it. In fact you, the audience, don't even know it until close to the end. I really feel that this movie did a great job of capturing how a family handles this tough news while trying to make the most of life and the holidays. It makes me cry and laugh all at the same time and I just love it.
Also for the oddest reason Diane Keaton, who plays the mother, has always reminded me of my mom. I think it's her smile and a few of her expressions. It's certainly not her craziness or uncensored mouth (If you knew my mom you knew that she was extremely sweet and even tempered along with a squeaky clean vocabulary.) I think I turn this movie on each year just to watch her and to feel like I am little bit closer to my mom.
This year is extremely hard already without my mom who passed away in 2011. She would have been so excited to have two grandchildren born on the same day (My sister had a baby girl the same day I had Desmond.) and I can just imagine her driving back and forth between the two of us to help out and love on these sweet babies. My heart breaks each time I think about Desmond (and any future kids) not getting to know his amazing grandma. Something I will never forget about my mom getting so sick was how she was torn up by the fact that she could no longer get down on the floor to play with her grand kids, that's just how she was. She loved her family so much and wanted to be a part of everything going on. I'm so thankful for the mother that I had. She was always there and ready to take care of me. I grew very close to my mom towards the end, driving her to doctors appointments and hanging out at her house for hours just talking or sitting in silence. She is extremely missed and loved. Though the holidays can be hard without her I would rather feel the heartache of noticing our loss than to just move on. It says something about you when your family is still heartbroken almost 3 years later.
We love you mom and can't wait to see you in Heaven. I am so thankful that you knew Christ and surrendered your life to Him, because of this we have hope and don't have to say goodbye for good. Until then I will be sitting down to watch the Family Stone every year to feel just a little bit closer to you, despite how odd that may be :)
No comments:
Post a Comment