I know, it’s a little early in the season to be talking about Christmas movies, but stick with me, there is a reason!
One of my favourite, most cherished, Christmas memories comes from when I was about 6 years old. I was helping my mother decorate our apartment for Christmas, setting out the smaller, non-breakable ornaments, and snacking on goodies while Christmas specials ran on the little tv in the living room. At one point during the day my mom gave me a bag of Christmas M&M’s and asked me to put them in these little red woven baskets that she used as decorations. These baskets were tiny, bigger than a Barbie picnic basket but smaller than the palm of an adults hand. They were the perfect ‘snack size’ baskets for kids. After carefully filling them all, and still having half a bag left, I turned to see a new Christmas special starting. It was one I had never seen before and I was instantly captivated. I sat down on the couch and didn’t move for the entire show. Well…that’s not entirely true, my hand and mouth moved. I was so enthralled by the show that I managed to eat ALL of the M&M’s that I had just put out. I emptied every single basket. I didn’t touch the half full bag though, just the baskets. About 5 minutes in, my mom came into the living room and sat with me which was a big deal. My mom worked a lot, usually nights and I was left with sitters quite a bit. Days were usually consumed by household chores and errands, normal life things. My mom was a big reader and if she had a few spare moments, she would spend them reading, I was often left to my own devices during these times. So my mom coming to sit with me and snack on M&M’s while watching a Christmas Special was a HUGE deal.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas was the movie we watched and it resonated with us for a couple of reasons outside of the ‘Henson’ factor. Firstly, the story centers around a single (albeit widowed) mother and her son, trying to make their way in the world the best they could. This really mimicked our situation, for the first seven years of my life it was just me and Mom. My mom also used to tell me the ‘Gift of the Magi’ story quite often (a married couple secretly buy each other presents but have to hock their possessions to do so) and there is definitely a LOT of that influence in Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Forty-some odd years later, my mom is gone and the little red baskets have disappeared, likely into some version of the Sally Ann back home. Every Christmas though, for every one of those years, I have sought out this movie whether it was on TV, VHS or DVD and had my own little visit with Mom. I eat half a bag of Christmas M&M’s (one year it was actually the whole bag and I paused the movie, ran to the store, bought and ate another half bag, but that was a hard year) in tiny little spurts, just like I did that first time, and every time I wish I had those baskets back.
Earlier this week it was announced that Brett McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords fame is slated to work on a new version of Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Now, I’ve never read the book which was originally written by Russell Hoban, so Henson’s adaptation is the ‘original’ in my mind. I REALLY enjoy Flight of the Conchords, I think they’re a super talented group and I thought their television show was brilliant. I just don’t know if I want them messing with a show I love so much. Sure, I could just avoid watching the reboot (much the way I’ve avoided going to see my favourite bands when they switch singers so I don’t sully my memories) but realistically I’m going to be too curious. It’s going to be hard to ‘compartmentalize’ and judge the movie without feeling like a part of my childhood has been messed with. On the ‘big plus’ side of things, McKenzie is not only a talented musician/comedian, he was also the music supervisor for the 2011 reboot of The Muppets and actually received an Oscar for one of the songs he wrote for the movie (‘Man or Muppet’). Obviously he’s a Henson fan, so hopefully he won’t mess with the formula too much.
Do you have a favourite Christmas movie that you have immediate good memories attached to? Let me know in the comment! Check out a clip of the original Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas below as well!
