Love Actually

What can I say except that I love this movie?  It has become an annual tradition to decorate our Christmas tree while watching this movie.  He said to me the other day that when this movie first came out, everyone probably thought it was just a cute Christmas movie, and boy were they in for a surprise.  It is funny, sad, light-hearted, heart breaking, endearing, and marvelously put together with an all star cast of Brits--and I have heard talk of them making another one.  This girl will be in line to see it as soon as it is released.

While Christmas is the setting of this movie, the topic of the movie is love.  It has me thinking about the opening of the movie where Hugh Grant's character says this in the opening voice over, "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around." I find it to be very profound as most people, the real people of the world, do not have fairy tale romances, soap opera beginnings and ends, but have real life quite loves that bloom to be relationships of the heart.  Some will last, some will fall apart, and every once in awhile, one will blossom into greatness and grandness.  But that is romantic love, what about the love that we have for our friends, our family, our fellow man/woman?  Or for that matter, the love you have with your beloved pet?  I think what people do not realize is that love is everywhere you look--it's just how you look for it.  It is typical and probably not particularly dignified, but it is there.

I hope this Christmas season has people looking around a little more for the the not particularly dignified or newsworthy love as they celebrate the season from the one who gave us the biggest love of all.

Merry Christmas and go watch Love Actually.  Just do it without little ears and eyes around.  ;)