There are days in December when I find myself wishing that I could magically transport myself into the world of the Hallmark Christmas movies. These movies are quite a viral cultural phenomenon these days. I’ve seen ads all over the internet for special movie watching socks. They say, (on one foot) “If you can read this (and on the other foot), leave me alone. I am watching Hallmark Christmas movies.” I think of the scene in Mary Poppins where Mary and Bert and the children jump into a chalk painting and wind up in an alternate universe, where they sing with talking animals and dance with penguins. In my Hallmark Christmas land, anything even remotely connected to my holiday is marvelous. I never feel stressed. I never feel sad.
In Hallmark Christmas land, my hair is shiny and my cheeks are rosy and my house is warm, cozy, tastefully decorated, but never cluttered. There is never any thought about the electric bill and how much does it cost to heat this place? There is a wreath on the front door and twinkling light outside. The Christmas tree (maybe I would even have two!) is decorated with cherished ornaments. I’m in the kitchen, happily baking Christmas cookies, and my teen son eagerly helps decorate them. He even tells me that he would rather do that than play video games or watch influencers on YouTube who play them! There are no bowls and baking sheets stacked in the sink after the baking, because somehow they are magically washed and put away. Also, everyone enjoys the cookies without fear of gaining weight or diabetes or acid reflux.
In Hallmark Christmas land, there is always snow! There is snow, but there are no chain controls or having to get down on your knees in the muck to put the blasted chains on. There are never blizzards in Hallmark land, or spin offs on the highway that close the road. Everyone arrives at their destination safely without incident. All the Hallmark characters love driving in the snow and have solid, steady, reliable forms of transportation. Or big 4×4 diesel trucks, if they are the male love interest.
In Hallmark Christmas land, there are mountains of presents under the tree. Everyone receives the perfect gift. But also, somehow, there is no clutter. There are no overflowing trashcans on December 25 at 10 am. There is no stress over whether or not you should try to reuse the bows, the gift bags, the barely crumpled paper. Nobody has to go outside and stomp down the boxes to get them ready for recycling. Most importantly, in Hallmark land, there is no dread about opening credit card statements come January. There is no debt in Hallmark land.
After the clutter free gift opening, in Hallmark land, everyone gathers around the table for our traditional Christmas breakfast. We would ooh and ah over the Christmas casserole that I had carefully prepped the night before so I just had to pop it into the oven on Christmas morning. We would drink hot chocolate with whipped cream and laugh at each other’s foamy mustaches. We would all look fantastic in our Christmas morning photos. Maybe we would wear adorable matching pajamas, even our pets! Our hair would never be squashed funny, our bangs never greasy.
Oh, to transport myself into that Hallmark Christmas movie world.
Sure, those movies always have a little problem at the beginning, an interesting conflict, or there wouldn’t be a story, right? But everything always resolves so beautifully. And all the Christmas stuff in those movies? It is beautiful! The people, the towns, the houses, the tables, the food, the décor, the animals, the love. Such love. Such sweetness. Dreams come true. It’s a happy forever.
I think I am drawn to those movies, not just because they are gorgeous fantasies, but also because there is truth in them.
They point me toward a different kingdom, a place where everyone is fed and warm and safe and loved (except for the bad love interest, but that’s what he deserves in Hallmark land, no?). There are no tears at the end of the Hallmark movies, no sickness, no grief. That’s what we long for. That’s what we crave.
The good news for us is that this world that we yearn for is at hand. It’s not the Hallmark Christmas movie world. This world is really real, and is anchored in truth that is deeper and more beautiful than anything the Hallmark writers could ever imagine.
Walter Brueggemann writes in Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent, “Here is the good news I am privileged to announce to you. There is a new world available that is here very soon…It is a world that invites us to move out from here to there in joy, in obedience, in discipline, to begin again….The world of advertising…offers us endless phoniness…and invites (us) into a virtual world that has no staying power. You cannot count on such a world, as it will turn on you and cost you dearly. And yet, out beyond that fickle world there is the world of God’s reliable fidelity, a God who makes and keeps promises, and you can dwell there.”
It is “good news” that “there is a new world available” to us. We can hope in “God’s reliable fidelity,” that all of us will be a part of that coming kingdom where, in the end, all will be love. This is where I want to dwell. I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that the path to that kingdom is not through the beautiful land of Hallmark but through following Jesus, and (unfortunately if I’m longing for Hallmark land) that fellow doesn’t avoid the rough stuff. So I come back to Richard Rohr’s wise words: “The pattern of transformation is always death transformed, not death avoided. The universal spiritual pattern is death and resurrection, or loss and renewal, if you prefer.”
So a new world awaits. It does! That reality this Advent, though, will not come through dunking myself in a vat of Hallmark holiday happiness. I need to let all those pretty, idyllic images go. Just give them up. And come back to this moment, where I am right now: at the kitchen table, with dishes piled in the sink, and the sudden realization that my sweet dog must have picked up ticks on our walk earlier this evening, because they are crawling all over his head. Four of them! There are no ticks in Hallmark movies. So I get up, find a cup, fill it with warm, soapy water, pluck them, drown them, and pray for the grace to embrace my reality, all of it. Even the ticks. Because this is my Advent, and I am trusting that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
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