Excuse me, but I like them

Hallmark movies are the best.  Christmas Hallmark movies are even better.  I’m sure I’m not the only one that, at least once in a while, likes to see sappy, always-a-happy-ending stories.  Seriously, check out a few of the titles, A Bride for Christmas, The Christmas Song, The Christmas Spirit, Finding Christmas, A Very Merry Mix-Up, A Royal Christmas, One Christmas Eve, and The Nine Lives of Christmas.  Could these movies have anything BUT a happy ending?  Call me a sucker for them, but I just can’t get enough; and lucky me, they were on the Hallmark channel lineup at the end of October!   Even before Thanksgiving.  Every, single, night.  Woohoo!  And I’m not the only one.  Noooooooooooooooo.  There are others out there like me.  Last Saturday night I was partying (not, not really, I was home in my pajamas) and my little sister called and asked if I wanted to go over for pizza and a Hallmark movie.  Yup, she’s hooked too!  I have a male friend who told me he has tons on his DVR.  Tons!  And he’s a guy!  Oh the shame!!  

Why do I enjoy them so much?  Because even though I’m a true realist who appreciates credible stories; and even though I’m sometimes ironic to a fault, I still need something that tugs at my heart strings and makes me smile.  I know that these movies are not cast with the brightest of Hollywood stars.  The stories are cheesy and really improbable at best.  But there is always pretty snow everywhere and the spirit of Christmas is apparent in all smiling townspeople and the homes and towns’ decorations.  And because there are pretty girls and hunky guys who inevitably fall in love and all will be right with the world in the end.  And if a dog was lost, he will be found by Christmas morning.  Because even as I'm probably the most pragmatic person I know, I still want to believe in the miracle that is Christmas.  And it might remind me of a loved one no longer here; or reminisce about a once-important connection.  I want to remember some long-forgotten moment that made a long-forgotten Christmas the most special one ever.  Now, excuse me, because I have to get back to my movie.