by Kate McClanaghan, www.voiceoverinfo.com

I was about seventeen when I caught It’s a Wonderful Life on TV for the first time.  Thing was: the very first time I saw this movie Jimmy Stewart was already on the bridge and diving in after Clarence.  (I don’t think I’m giving anything away here, am I?)  Anywho, I LOVED it even then.  Of course, two to three years went by, but IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE had still not yet made it’s way into the collective Christmas psyche.  I remember asking people if they had seen this movie with Jimmy Stewart and his angel and, again having only actually seen HALF the movie I wasn’t describing it very well.

Then one lazy Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving while my Mom was baking more than her share of cookies for a fund-raiser and the house filled with an overall homey feel and aroma, I happened to catch the film in its entirety.

Friends and relations stopped by mid-viewing, but were immediately hushed and stuffed into a cozy corner.  We passed around and exhausted boxes of Kleenex in that sitting—we were sharing an experience.  We sighed and cooed and laughed and connected.  I mean we really connected. And not just all of us there in my family’s TV room that day watching that film in its entirety, nope, but all of us Americans; all of us Earthlings;  all humanity,  once and for all, all for one and one for all.  As it should be ‘cuz that’s really what it means to keep Christmas, to love being part of something bigger and better; to first acknowledge it and then to simply enjoy the fact of it.  ‘Cause there’s something so basic and true in that.  God bless it.

Guess that’s why I keep a large, framed poster from the original release of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE on the wall in my house in Chicago, just as a reminder to keep that feeling, that sentiment all through the year.

It’s what I wish for you now and always with all my heart.

Happy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and wishing you dreams fulfilled in the coming New Year! 

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Sound Advice Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.