More attempts at holiday merriment

On several recent occasions, we've taken a break from the usual Connect Four evening action to wonder if there might be a visual holiday treat on television. And usually, there is! We've seen some Santa, some Rudolph, some Charlie Brown, some Frosty the Snowman -- even some Muppets. We have several of these on DVD; I have no idea why it's a thrill to see that they're in the TV listings and make a plan to watch them then instead of just getting out the DVD. A throwback to childhood, when we didn't have a choice? Who knows, but I've heard we're not alone in that foible.

One night, there wasn't a holiday show per se, but some station was showing Home Alone. Which kinda counts. It's Christmastime in the movie, after all. And Macaulay Culkin used to seem festive, before he grew up and got married at age 17 and drove drunk and did drugs or whatever the heck it was that he's done.

I thought Lizzy would get a kick out of the movie, which (for those who haven't seen it) breaks down into Culkin looking cute, doing impossibly grown-up things when his family, who thinks he's a little kid and therefore worthless, fly to Paris and leave him all alone in their cavernous, though tackily wallpapered, home; and the leadup to the big shebang -- Culkin setting all sorts of traps to foil the attempts of two bungling burglars from invading his home. Oops! Did I give anything away there? Sorry for the potential spoiler. The clever-little-kid schtick is a lot more annoying than I remembered, that's for sure.

Of course, the burglars are stupid, and of course they fall for every trap, exactly as planned. But as this latter part of the movie unfolded, Lizzy began to get visibly uncomfortable. Then she said she wanted to stop watching the movie.

Matt and I asked her, why? What is it about this that's bothering you? It's okay! They won't hurt the little boy! He's taking care of himself just fine, and after all, it IS just a movie!

But that wasn't it. She felt really bad seeing the burglars getting repeatedly and rather nastily injured. Burns, falls, sharp broken ornaments on their bare feet -- they were having quite a time of it. And she didn't like to see it.

Matt and I were kind of touched. You just never know how a kid will take something. Poor Lizzy is as sensitive to weirdness in movies as I was at that age, I'm a little sorry -- yet glad -- to say. Sorry, because it means we have to be on our toes, and deal with nightmares, etc. Lizzy talked herself into my bed that night because "what if she has a nightmare?" Yet I'm glad because it means she's thinking of others, at least sometimes.