Freshen up your holiday traditions

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This article was published 19/12/2020 (2100 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As we mark a Christmas unlike any other, many of us — understandably — want to surround ourselves with familiar traditions. At our house that means watching A Charlie Brown Christmas; How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original 1966 version); The Snowman, a lovely, almost wordless animated adaptation of Raymond Brigg’s children’s book; and maybe It’s a Wonderful Life, if I can get through the scene where Uncle Billy loses all that money.

But it’s always good to throw a few fresh options into the mix, so here are some movies, series and TV episodes to consider for the unprecedented holiday season of 2020:

SOMETHING OLD:

In the vintage Christmas film The Bishop’s Wife (available to rent on several streaming services), Cary Grant plays Dudley the angel.

Dudley comes to earth to help out Episcopalian bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven), who’s lost sight of his true purpose while chasing funds to build a magnificent cathedral, and to cheer up Harry’s neglected wife, Julia (Loretta Young).

Sure, this feather-light 1947 comedy is hokey (but what’s Christmas without a little hoke?). And occasionally slipshod (Cary Grant’s skating stunt double looks nothing like him — but then, who does?).

But Grant is just irresistibly charming. Dudley charms Harry’s maid, Harry’s secretary, Harry’s child, even Harry’s dog. And he charms and disarms the audience.

On top of all that Christmassed-up Cary Grant charm, there’s Monty Woolley as a curmudgeonly classicist, Gladys Cooper as a haughty society matron, and various street urchins who form a heavenly boys’ choir.

The divinely assisted uplift is conventional and sentimental on the surface, but the central premise — an angel so sexy that all the women swoon — seems a bit subversive. Seriously, should angels be hot?

SOMETHING NEW:

Dash & Lily (just premièred on Netflix), a limited series rom-com aimed at young adults, feels like a fairy tale of New York, as opposites attract during a picture-postcard big-city Christmas season.

Dash (Austin Abrams) is cynical poor-little-rich-boy loner who hates “wassailers” and all things Xmas. Lily (Midori Francis) is a sunny bohemian optimist who loves hot chocolate and carol singing and matching family pyjamas. Even though these seemingly mismatched 17-year-olds have never met, they bond over a notebook Lily leaves wedged into a bookstore shelf — in the Salinger section, of course — using its pages to challenge each other with escalating truth-or-dare stunts and revelations.

https://youtu.be/AmW5GO6btMM

Along with showcasing some NYC landmarks — the Strand Bookstore, McSorley’s ale house, the Morgan Library — the series riffs on Home Alone, You’ve Got Mail and other holiday standbys.

And it manages to be rather sweetly romantic while also deconstructing its own clichés, including the risks of carrying around some idealized boy or girl in your head.

SOMETHING CHRISTMAS-ADJACENT:

Well, yes, there’s Die Hard, but if you’re looking for a less lethal Xmas-adjacent option, why not try The Apartment (available to rent on several streaming services)? The key events in Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning 1960 pic take place over Christmas week, including a boozy, Mad Men-style office party and a killingly ironic rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

Originally billed as a comedy, The Apartment seems awfully melancholy 60 years on. Jack Lemmon does a terrific take on his “decent, harassed everyman” persona as C.C. Baxter, a low-level corporate drone whose hopes for promotion are pinned on the fact he lets his married superiors use his apartment for sexual trysts. This already tricky situation gets worse when C.C. realizes that Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator operator with whom he’s smitten, is his slippery boss’s latest girl.

The premise may be worldly and cynical, but The Apartment still manages to be a true Christmas movie — and not because of the tired tinsel on C.C.’s tree. In the end, this is a redemption story, as two bruised and lonely souls blunder towards some hard-won hope.

SOMETHING ANIMATED:

Community (on Netflix) may be known for its elaborate Halloween episodes, but this fan-favourite ensemble series, set at a comically hapless community college, also does Christmas right.

And Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas (Season 2, Episode 11) seems particularly apt this year, since it’s basically about what to do when your cherished holiday plans are upended.

This special episode features stop-motion animation — though it should be noted, it’s not really meant for small children — as Abed and the rest of the study-group gang go on a wild Christmas ride that’s part pop-culture fantasia and part psychodrama.

Channelling the show’s zany-smart, snarky-sweet tone, the episode actually has some wise things to say about the often overwhelming crush of Yuletide expectations.

Also, what could be more festive than a Christmas pterodactyl?