168. Christmas Movie Magic
- Show Notes
- Transcript
Nora loves a lot of things, but chief among them is holidays movies — the tackier the better. But not everyone can just sit back and enjoy the absurdity.
About It's Going to Be OK
If you have anxiety, depression or any sense of the world around you, you know that not *everything* is going to be okay. In fact, many things aren’t okay and never will be!
But instead of falling into the pit of despair, we’re bringing you a little OK for your day. Every weekday, we’ll bring you one okay thing to help you start, end or endure your day with the opposite of a doom scroll.
Find Nora’s weekly newsletter here! Also, check out Nora on YouTube.
Share your OK thing at 502-388-6529 or by emailing a note or voice memo to [email protected]. Start your message with “I’m (name) and it’s going to be okay.”
“It’s Going To Be OK” is brought to you by The Hartford. The Hartford is a leading insurance provider that connects people and technology for better employee benefits. Learn more at www.thehartford.com/benefits.
The IGTBO team is Nora McInerny, Claire McInerny, Marcel Malekebu, Amanda Romani and Grace Barry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.
INTRO MUSIC
I’m Nora McInerny and … it’s going to be okay.
And today…
I have a cure for whatever holiday blues ail you.
Or, for SOME holiday blues that could ail you.
I have a cure for some holiday blues that have ailed me, and people I love, and will ail me again because there’s just something about this season that brings out my inner sad girl.
And that cure…
Is Christmas Movies.
Not classics. There’s a time and a place for Home Alone or A Christmas Story or Miracle on 34th Street or whatever christmas movie makes you truly feel festive.
But I’m talking about something else entirely.
The genre of holiday movie that goes from a writer’s brain right to the TV screen.
Something that’s filmed in a matter of days. Something that takes place in a small town, where a high-powered businesswoman has to return to her roots and fall in love with a butcher or a mechanic or a farmer. A guy with rough hands and a soft heart.
Something with a very clear narrative arc that goes: things are mostly okay but could be better, then they get slightly worse but not that bad, and then it’s all really good at the end.
These are not movies that require your full attention, and in fact it’s best if you’re not paying full attention to them. But they are movies that are…movies, I guess, legally speaking. They are movies, can’t deny it!
They’re movies that act to my brain like a kind of pink noise. They relax me. They soothe me. They make me laugh when they’re not even trying to.
I start with these movies as soon as they’re up on Netflix or Hulu or whatever streaming platform available to me, and I don’t stop until Christmas Day, and the kids know that if I sit down on the couch, we’re checking another Christmas movie off our list…and yes, there’s an actual list on our fridge.
And if you don’t believe in this cure, let me read you the descriptions of some of my favorites.
The Princess Switch (Vanessa Hudgens) – Competing in a Christmas baking competition in Belgravia, a Chicago baker bumps into the prince’s fiancée–who looks just like her. They switch lives for two days.
A Castle For Christmas (Brooke Shields) – To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle – and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it.
The Knight Before Christmas – That’s knight with a k. Also starring Vanessa Hudgens! A medieval English knight is magically transported to present-day America where he falls for a high school science teacher who is disillusioned by love.
The magic of these movies is that they’re all kind of the same movie, and they’re all so wonderfully forgettable that you can watch them every year and not even remember what happens. I had to look up the descriptions of these and I’ve seen each of them MULTIPLE TIMES!
And the magic of any movie is that it just gives you a break from wherever you are, and whatever you’re going through.
UNLESS YOU ARE A PERSON WHO CANNOT RELAX AND HAS TO POST ABOUT ERRORS ON IMDB.COM WHICH I WILL NOW SHARE WITH YOU.
Warning: contains spoilers.
Some of us love these movies. And some of us are watching closely enough to critique the language used by a 14th century knight who is trying to fall in love with a 21st century high school teacher!
OUTRO MUSIC
CREDITS
Nora loves a lot of things, but chief among them is holidays movies — the tackier the better. But not everyone can just sit back and enjoy the absurdity.
About It's Going to Be OK
If you have anxiety, depression or any sense of the world around you, you know that not *everything* is going to be okay. In fact, many things aren’t okay and never will be!
But instead of falling into the pit of despair, we’re bringing you a little OK for your day. Every weekday, we’ll bring you one okay thing to help you start, end or endure your day with the opposite of a doom scroll.
Find Nora’s weekly newsletter here! Also, check out Nora on YouTube.
Share your OK thing at 502-388-6529 or by emailing a note or voice memo to [email protected]. Start your message with “I’m (name) and it’s going to be okay.”
“It’s Going To Be OK” is brought to you by The Hartford. The Hartford is a leading insurance provider that connects people and technology for better employee benefits. Learn more at www.thehartford.com/benefits.
The IGTBO team is Nora McInerny, Claire McInerny, Marcel Malekebu, Amanda Romani and Grace Barry.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.
INTRO MUSIC
I’m Nora McInerny and … it’s going to be okay.
And today…
I have a cure for whatever holiday blues ail you.
Or, for SOME holiday blues that could ail you.
I have a cure for some holiday blues that have ailed me, and people I love, and will ail me again because there’s just something about this season that brings out my inner sad girl.
And that cure…
Is Christmas Movies.
Not classics. There’s a time and a place for Home Alone or A Christmas Story or Miracle on 34th Street or whatever christmas movie makes you truly feel festive.
But I’m talking about something else entirely.
The genre of holiday movie that goes from a writer’s brain right to the TV screen.
Something that’s filmed in a matter of days. Something that takes place in a small town, where a high-powered businesswoman has to return to her roots and fall in love with a butcher or a mechanic or a farmer. A guy with rough hands and a soft heart.
Something with a very clear narrative arc that goes: things are mostly okay but could be better, then they get slightly worse but not that bad, and then it’s all really good at the end.
These are not movies that require your full attention, and in fact it’s best if you’re not paying full attention to them. But they are movies that are…movies, I guess, legally speaking. They are movies, can’t deny it!
They’re movies that act to my brain like a kind of pink noise. They relax me. They soothe me. They make me laugh when they’re not even trying to.
I start with these movies as soon as they’re up on Netflix or Hulu or whatever streaming platform available to me, and I don’t stop until Christmas Day, and the kids know that if I sit down on the couch, we’re checking another Christmas movie off our list…and yes, there’s an actual list on our fridge.
And if you don’t believe in this cure, let me read you the descriptions of some of my favorites.
The Princess Switch (Vanessa Hudgens) – Competing in a Christmas baking competition in Belgravia, a Chicago baker bumps into the prince’s fiancée–who looks just like her. They switch lives for two days.
A Castle For Christmas (Brooke Shields) – To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle – and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it.
The Knight Before Christmas – That’s knight with a k. Also starring Vanessa Hudgens! A medieval English knight is magically transported to present-day America where he falls for a high school science teacher who is disillusioned by love.
The magic of these movies is that they’re all kind of the same movie, and they’re all so wonderfully forgettable that you can watch them every year and not even remember what happens. I had to look up the descriptions of these and I’ve seen each of them MULTIPLE TIMES!
And the magic of any movie is that it just gives you a break from wherever you are, and whatever you’re going through.
UNLESS YOU ARE A PERSON WHO CANNOT RELAX AND HAS TO POST ABOUT ERRORS ON IMDB.COM WHICH I WILL NOW SHARE WITH YOU.
Warning: contains spoilers.
Some of us love these movies. And some of us are watching closely enough to critique the language used by a 14th century knight who is trying to fall in love with a 21st century high school teacher!
OUTRO MUSIC
CREDITS
Our Sponsor
The Hartford is a leading insurance provider that’s connecting people and technology for better employee benefits.
Learn more at www.thehartford.com/benefits.
Have a story you want to share?
Share your OK thing at 502-388-6529 or by emailing a note or voice memo to [email protected].
Start your message with:
"I’m (name) and it’s going to be okay."
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