In her review for A Slip of the Keyboard, Carrie talks about how she reads Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather every December. I know a few people on Twitter have talked about books they re-read every year, and I know there’s folks who watch movies like Love, Actually every year.
I have a few yearly ritual repeats, too. By ritual repeats, I mean the things we read or watch, or re-experience, because of a specific event or season. For my ritual repeats, the trigger is almost always a change or a holiday, and the things I choose to re-experience have a purpose, either to adjust my perspective (especially if I’m grouchy) or to remind me of a framework with which to view that event or holiday.
For example, I sometimes re-watch the Yom Kippur episode of Northern Exposure around the high holidays, Shofar, So Good. It’s from the otherwise crappy sixth season, but the blend of A Christmas Carol ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd )and Northern Exposure is a heady, brainful combination for me. Yom Kippur is a powerful and troublesome holiday for a lot of reasons, and I like this particular episode because it says, basically, “Look, dude, how you act and how you treat people is important. What you do has meaning and has an effect on everything around you.” I also re-watch Babette’s Feast around Thanksgiving. I watch this by myself because it’s all subtitles and Danish, but I love this movie so much I kind of have to watch it alone. It has more of an impact that way, and I’m less distracted (or interrupted).
In the film, and I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it, food is something that must be plain and tasteless to be sufficiently holy, but it also becomes a truly glorious expression of love and reverence for beauty and holiness. I watch it at Thanksgiving to remind myself why cooking is meaningful – that preparing food for someone is meaningful because of the reason behind it, and not always just who it is you’re cooking for.
Here’s New York Times critic AO Scott discussing why he recommends this movie, too:
My ritual re-reads – specifically books – include Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) because it’s a novella, so it’s a quick read, and because it’s about as close to contemporary romance perfection as I’ve found. It’s set around Christmas, but it’s also about caring for the people you love in obvious and basic ways, like making sure they are safe and warm and able to toast bagels.
I asked the reviewing posse if they had ritual repeats or re-reads, too.
Amanda:
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami ( A | Au | WorldCat ) – I don’t really have a season or anything; it’s just a book I make a point to read yearly. It’s not a romance and it contains graphic violence, but I remember when I first read it. I remember analyzing my friends, thinking about what I would do if I were put in the same situation as the protagonists.
My much-loved copy was passed around amongst my friends and family, and we all did the same amount of analyzing each other. It’s definitely a bit twisted, but fun, and has the makings of a good drinking game.
The Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas
I love, love, love this series so much. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite and I feel like it changes yearly. I’ll read at least one every summer, if not all of them. I’ve yet to meet a person who didn’t enjoy this series. Four different couples in one lovely historical setting.
Carrie:
I love reading comfort stuff during the holidays!
For fun, comfort, and emotional bliss:
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson ( A | K | AB | Au | WorldCat )
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | WorldCat )
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd | WorldCat ) (It never gets old!)
For ideas and inspiration:
The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas, by John Matthews
Circle Round, Raising Children in Goddess Traditions, by Diane Baker and Starhawk ( A | WorldCat )
RedHeadedGirl:
Oh Thanksgiving, I rewatch the greatest Thanksgiving episodes of any TV show that ever happened- “Shibboleth” and “The Indians in the Lobby” from The West Wing.
How can you not be charmed by Sam and Toby coming up with a new prime time tv series about how the Pilgrims came to America to worship according to their own beliefs and also to fight crime? President Bartlet calling the Butterball Hotline to see if he’d accidentally kill his guests with oyster stuffing? (Not that that’s a dealbreaker, mind.) Or Bartlet worrying about his reputation on being soft on turkeys?
Here, enjoy one of the scenes in question:
I also tend to reread at least one Little House book around Christmas.
This year on my Christmas list is the annotated Pioneer Girl manuscript that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote and tried to sell before she was encouraged to try making them into children’s books.
Also the food she talks about, especially in Farmer Boy ( A | G )? Good God.
What about you? Are there books, movies, shows or other pieces of entertainment that you make sure to re-experience at certain times? What are your ritual repeats?
One of the best WW moments ever. I especially enjoyed the indictment of the US education system and the lack of effective Civics classes.
I drink bourbon and watch The Thin Man on Christmas Eve. I moved in with my partner this year, and he has two kids, so I’m moving the watch-date up by a couple of days (the night before they get here), but I’m pretty excited about sharing the ritual viewing with someone this year.
I re-read Balogh’s Slightly Dangerous at the drop of a hat.
I am a Little House on the Prairie fangirl. In fact, I just completed an online course from Missouri State about Laura Ingalls Wilder that was led by Pamela Smith Hill.
LHOTP books are old friends to me.
I re-read Jane Austen (P & P, Persuasion, and Emma) every year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
Every Thanksgiving I watch (and FB post) Gilmore Girls “Friday Night’s Alright for Fighting” epi. It’s not a Thanksgiving episode exactly, but that Friday Night Dinner *feels* like Thanksgiving. I watch WW regularly anyway, so it’s not a yearly event for me, more like weekly. lol
I think I read American Psycho about once a year.
I reread Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) and Tempting Fate (Chelsea Quinn Yarbro) at least once every couple of years, just because I really love them (though for different reasons), but that’s as close to a ritual rereading as I get.
I’m a big ritual rewatcher though. Christmas eve I rewatch Christmas Eve on Sesame Street and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, because the evoke warm nostalgic memories and because they still hold up as entertainment. Then I rewatch Terminator 2, because something about the ending puts me in a Christmasy mood.
In recent years I’ve also added “The Gift of the Wheelman” (Due South’s version of “The Gift of the Magi”*), “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” (The Simpsons), “The Tick Loves Santa” (The Tick (animated)), and “Amends” (Buffy:tVS), but those often have to wait for Christmas day due to time issues.
On Easter I watch Jesus Christ Superstar, The Last Temptation of Christ, and The Life of Brian. (I started watching them when I spent more time watching movie channels, which were always showing epic religious movies I hated that day.)
NYE, I throw movie or TV marathon, though what its a marathon of started to vary about a decade ago. (It started out as all episodes of Forever Knight.)
*One of these days I should really read that.
Hogfather, absolutely! But also Connie Willis’ “Miracle and Other Christmas Stories,” which I reread every year. And cry. I’ve also been known to corner people and read stories from that book to them, and I’ve bought copies for at least three other people.
Not that I’m a little obsessive or anything. /o\
200 Cigarettes is a very good NYE movie.
Around this time of year, I used to find, Auntie Mame and The trouble with Angels. Both starring Rosalind Russel.
Also, for nostalgic sake, I watch Rudolph and remember the excitement of our Florida family coming up (to VA) and watching it with my cousin.
The last MUST watch movie (to remind me my family could be nuttier) is…
National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.
I totally channel Chevy Chase when doing my lights. Totally. There are a ton and only half light. 😉
I’ve got various rituals / mood-driven rereads/watches, etc, but I only have on Christmas-specific one. I don’t know why. Probably a product of working retail and not having time to do very much except work and sleep, and also the fact that Christmas is my birthday, so Christmas isn’t allowed to take over completely.
But yes, my Christmas ritual – I watch A Muppet Christmas Carol whilst I wrap all my presents. This may involve watching it more than once or twice or thrice. No regrets. I bloody love that film.
Books I reread-Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, The Autobiography of Santa Claus and How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas, both by Jeff Guinn.
Movies I rewatch-Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon version, while I do the tree), and Miracle on 34th Street (Mareen O’Hara version).
There are other books and movies that I try to read and watch, but these are the one that are a part of every Christmas.
Christmas is empty and meaningless for me without at least one watching of The Office UK Christmas special. I leak tears every freaking time. Dawn Tinsley, as I live and breathe…
Have to say I’m hugely relieved I’m not the only one who reads American Psycho once a year.
I reread “How Far to Bethlehem?” by Norah Lofts almost every Christmas. I have also loaned it out so many times it’s now held together by a rubber band because the pages won’t stay in anymore. I also reread “Spindle’s End” by Robin McKinley at least once a year, and whenever I’m in crisis mode I turn to Julia Quinn. I just marathoned the entire Bridgerton/Smythe-Smith collection while waiting for my biopsy and the results.
DH also insists on watching “A Christmas Story” every year, as well as “A Wish for Wings That Work” by Berkeley Breathed, although the latter will be a little sadder this year, hearing Robin William’s (uncredited) voice.
I watch Elf every December. My boyfriend insists on watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation too.
We watch “A Christmas Story” on Christmas night after dinner. Sometimes we fall asleep before it ends, but we know how it ends. I am married to a Ralphie and we have visited the Christmas Story Museum in Cleveland.
Bookwise, I treat myself to a hard-bound Christmas-themed book every year. This year it is By Winter’s Light by Stephanie Laurens. I’ll re-read some of the previous year’s books during the holidays.
Wow, I have a LOT of Christmas books, so many that I don’t re-read all of them on any given year. But I do tend to re-read two Carla Kellys: “Marian’s Christmas wish” and “Mrs. Drew plays her hand” every year, along with a couple of picture books: “The Christmas cat” by Efner Tudor Holmes (with pictures by her mom, Tasha Tudor) and “Dance in the desert” by Madeleine L’Engle, which is not strictly speaking a Christmas story, but is still a lovely book.
Then there’s my three favorite Christmas movies, “The Thin Man,” “Donovan’s Reef” (where else can you find a Christmas pageant with Lee Marvin as one of the Wise Men?), and of course “White Christmas,” which I try to watch with my sister. I also have three “Nutcrackers:” Baryshnikov (le sigh), Covent Garden, and “Nutcracker: the movie” which has sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak.
My family watches a movie called We’re No Angels on Christmas day. It’s an older movie starring Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, Peter Ustinov, Leo G. Carrol, Joan Bennet, and Basil Rathbone. I love all these actors, love the story, love the secular moral of the story, and love the stagy, slightly stilted style of the dialogue. My husband and daughters are equally hooked, though the fiance/boy friends’ eyes tend to glaze over every year. My older daughter is breaking in a new one & it will be interesting to see how he responds to our family’s annual Christmas cult classic.
I watch Die Hard every year before Christmas. And I usually reread Connie Willis’s All Seated on the Ground while I’m recovering from Thanksgiving, just to kick things off in style.
I have a number of ritual re-reads.
1) The Windflower by Tom & Sharon Curtis – My favorite romance of all time, I re-read it every year. I love the prose and the subtle humor.
2) Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas – Jack Travis is my favorite romance hero of all time, so I re-read him at least once a year. I’m a sucker for the Caregiving Alpha.
3) Warprize, Warsworn and Warlord by Elizabeth Vaughan – I read these every year, generally on vacation.
TV/Movies:
I’m a ritualistic re-watcher of movies, (I’ve seen Pride & Prejudice, Star Wars and the Star Trek movies each more than 50 times) but on New Year’s Day, we always watch all three LoTR films.
Throughout the year, my husband and I will watch all of the West Wing, but we do it in fits and starts. We’ll watch three seasons, then take a break for a month or so, then go back and watch more.
We also watch Elf, The Year Without a Christmas and Scrooged every Christmas.
Personally, I’m greatly looking forward to watching Love, Actually and Elf in the near future. My ritual re-read, however, is Lamb by Christopher Moore, which I read in lieu of going to church during Lent. I am breaking this rule, as I am currently reading it at the moment, but it’s one of my all-time favorite books, so I have no qualms about reading it again in another four months.
@EC Spurlock:
I hope you are ok!
Before a child ate all my choice TV time, I used to make a point of watching When Harry Met Sally every New Years. Fingers crossed for this year!
Long time (7 years!) lurker, first time commenter.
I always read one of Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael books, preferably The Virgin in the Ice. Since 2012, my new Christmas tradition is to rewatch the last two episodes of BBC’s Merlin (the last episode was shown on Christmas Eve 2012, probably because someone at the BBC is a sadist). It never fails to make me cry!
And I somehow always end up watching Home Alone.
I was just thinking last night that it’s almost time for my annual Little House series reread. They just all have a good holiday feel to them for me. And of course we watch all the usuals on tv this time of year- Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, Elf, and I love to watch While You Were Sleeping, too. For Thanksgiving, I try to watch the Buffy Thanksgiving episode, with the “you made a bear! undo it, undo it!”, it’s just perfect to watch while cooking.
Re West Wing–I still laugh whenever I think of President Bartlet on the Butterball Hotline. Phil Baharnd is still my son’s go-to pseudonym all these years later!
Our Christmas Eve tradition is Red Lobster for an early dinner followed by viewing either/or (and sometimes both) Love, Actually and The Holiday. Red Lobster was where my late mom used to take the grandkids that afternoon to get them out of the way so we frenzied moms could finish shopping/assembling/wrapping/whatever. 30 years later the other kids are no longer part of it, but my son and I look forward to it every year.
@Linnet: Oh, yes, VIRGIN IN THE ICE. One of my favorite Peters’ titles.
THE WEST WING episodes mentioned are priceless. To the watch list, I’ll add WHITE CHRISTMAS and INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS. Must have buttered popcorn.
Kelly Campbell, I also just completed the online Laura Ingalls Wilder course from Missouri State!
And I also reread Connie Willis’s “Miracle and Other Christmas Stories.” If I don’t have time to reread the entire book, I make sure to read “Inn” on December 23rd, because that’s when the story takes place. I reread at least one of Carla Kelly’s Christmas stories. I watch the dramatization of “A Christmas Carol” with George C. Scott as Scrooge every Christmas eve, and I reread that as well: I’ve collected a bunch of illustrated editions over the years. I almost always reread some favorite children’s books between Christmas and New Year’s, though which ones vary from year to year.
O! Baryshnikov’s Nutcracker! We used to watch that and decorate the tree. Also the OLD Sesame Street Xmas Special where Bert and Ernie to The Gift of the Magi with MR. HOOPER!!! 😀
I read The Killer Angels every 4th of July. I normally start it on the 1st so I am finishing it on the 4th. My Dad loved that book and always recommended it to me. I am so glad that I read it before he died and we got to talk about it.
I also read Jane Eyre every 12 to 16 months. The first time I read it I was 14. Last, is Ride the Wind by Lucia St Clair Robson.
I can’t claim to have a regular ritual, but I try to fit in viewings of The Nightmare Before Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in St. Louis, and a good version of A Christmas Carol somewhere around this time.
Also, in the spring I like to re-read Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson.
Being Jewish, I’ve usually OD’d on Christmas long before the actual day rolls around, but I always try to watch “Year Without A Santa Claus” because I loves me my Heat Miser & Snow Miser. Also, for over 2 decades, Boxing Day has been Star Wars Day. And thus – ta-dah! – the holidays are complete.
Though I do re-read favourite books, I don’t have any particular scheduled re-reads; however, I always seem to do big glom re-read of Guy Gavriel Kay books every couple of years, usually at the point farthest removed from both the most recent release and the upcoming release. Withdrawal sets in and I get tetchy.
I reread Pride and Prejudice as well as Persuasion every year. I’ve recently added Deborah Harkness’s All Souls trilogy to the list of rereads since I’m on my four reread of book one and so forth. I have a bunch of other random fantasy titles that I’ll pull out of the box in storage every summer and reread, trying to keep current with my favourites when my favourites amount to a hundred titles.
Every summer I also reread What the Best College Teachers Do but that’s more for work than pleasure, although it’s a great read nevertheless.
My favorite Christmas reread (not always annually, but often) is “The Stupidest Angel” by Christopher Moore. Very dark, very funny. I think I know what I’ll be doing on the plane ride home for Xmas…
One of the local PBS stations does a Mystery marathon every Thanksgiving, so curling up on the sofa with tea and a blankie is my everyone’s gone and the third round of dishes are done treat.
It’s not Christmas till I’ve had my Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer viewing. Now that I’ve got the DVR, I don’t have to worry about them showing it on an inconvenient day. I have it whenever I want it, FOREVER!
I don’t have a ritual reread, although I reread books regularly, but the last few years I have spent October/November searching out holiday themed reads for those very rare quiet moments between Thanksgiving and New Years. You all have been very helpful that way, and I thank you.
The Toy That Saved Christmas – A Veggie Tale story – is a movie I love to watch every Christmas. It’s good fun.
@SB Sarah, surgery was successful and no sign of malignancy but so far condition not much improved. Now we know what the problem ISN’T, we need to figure out what it IS.
I’ve had a tradition of watching While You Were Sleeping around Christmas/New Year’s for a long time now. I added the 2001 Royal Ballet version of The Nutcracker when I bought it, and about eight years ago I added Millions.
I’m amazed at the traditions. I don’t have any tradition or schedule for watching anything, perhaps because I’m often at family or friend’s homes, each with their customs. There’s so many books that I want to read that re-reading is a guilty pleasure; the same with movies. One not mentioned that might fit this list is Winter Solstice. I did re-read The Mischief of the Mistletoe this year.
I usually end up reading Persuasion again. I always have enormous plans to read things I haven’t had a chance to get to all year, but then realise that I only end up having a couple of hours to myself. I always watch the Doctor Who christmas special, though.