Today I’m grateful for the annual viewing of White Christmas.

11.25.2022

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Tonight my parents and I watched the movie White Christmas. For any of you who have not had the pleasure of watching it before, White Christmas is an old movie musical starring Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. It came out in 1954 (I googled that) and it’s a story about two Army veterans turned performers. They meet two sisters (also performers) and together they work to save a bed and breakfast that their old general owns. It’s got music and dancing and romance and laughs and a very simple, sweet Christmas-y plot. It’s a nice movie. It also happens to be my dad’s all-time favorite Christmas movie.

You can pretty much guarantee that there will be an official viewing of White Christmas in the Wiebel household sometime between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. We’ve all seen the movie many, many, many times. I’m not there for the grand viewing every single year, but I’ve definitely seen it enough times that I can quote various lines of dialogue and sing along to most of the songs. My parents practically have it memorized.

About halfway through the movie there is a certain dance scene that we don’t particularly enjoy. It’s the dress rehearsal scene of the musical number “Choreography.” During this part of the movie it’s pretty common for everyone to get up, refresh their drink or use the bathroom. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever sat through the entire Choreography scene. It’s been this way as long as I can remember. Tonight during this scene, we ran to the kitchen to cut slices of the leftover french silk pie.

I love that I got to watch White Christmas with my folks this year. Some years I watch it on my own and some years I miss it altogether, but I really enjoy the years when I’m able to watch it with them. I enjoy the movie, but I enjoy the experience of it even more. I love the good-hearted joking about how my mom could totally pull off the acrobatic dance moves. I love how we all smile and silently laugh when Wallace and Davis step in to do the “Sisters” song and dance act. I love how we all quietly hum along when the soldiers sing to General Waverly.

The annual viewing of White Christmas is an important part of the Wiebel Christmas season – especially if you ask my dad. I feel like after tonight’s viewing, the Christmas season has officially begun. The whole experience is a bit of a tradition and I’m grateful to have been a part of it tonight.