Not So Merry Christmas Thoughts: About the Love Actually Movie Story

(Love Actually movie poster)

My not so merry Christmas thoughts are not of the usual gifts and presents, lights and decors, food and parties; my thought of Christmas are of family and friends, of love and peace.

Although I regard the 25th of December to be historically incorrect for Jesus Christ's birth, this is not about dates and traditions anyway. Though I was not technically with my family for the first time ever for the holidays because I have work scheduled for Christmas as well as the New Year, my thoughts are of them as well as that of my friends; of the love I have for them and them for me; and of peace on earth and goodwill to men (haha!!!).

It's way past Christmas day here although it's still Christmas in the U.S. and the only thing special I may be thinking now would be thoughts about a 2003 Brit movie Love Actually that I only watched recently. Not knowing it was a Christmas flick, I just picked it up because it's an all-star cast of British actors, but the movie has more to offer than the names and faces, herewith is the spirit of Christmas portrayed in different ages, walks of life, and circumstances.

Love Actually Movie Story

Though Christmas is for kids as they say, for kids gets all the gifts and red cards there ever is when we attend family gatherings and all. In the movie, starting to roll the dice on age: be it infatuation as it is that the boy may have over the American girl (though he claims it to be love); and be it that the step dad tells him he is too young to be in love, it's the thought about seizing the day which makes Christmas special not only to the young but to the old. You see, the step dad regrets that he seldom tells the boy's mum how he loves her and she died a few weeks before Christmas, so in relation to that, he helped the boy express his feelings to the girl with the thought that he may not have the chance to it so again. The airport scene is of course too dramatized but at least the thought that such a moment may never happen again so it's too precious to let it pass can hit anyone right thru the heart, not only during Christmas but everyday there ever will be.

Still on age, there was a couple who had been married for 13 years and were almost ruined during Christmas because of lust. The wife had not gagged the husband about a gift she saw before Christmas but had not received it on the night itself. It was given to an employee who tempted him to buy it for her. The wife had cried by herself, pretended she did not know, and did not ruin the night for her kids. Nobility aside, is that how simple it is to get a gold necklace (weh! ;)?

Another character can be mentioned in relation to age, she is in her 40's and chose to attend to her emotionally challenged brother's needs over her own desire for a younger co-worker who is too good for her yet stooped down to her level. I'd like to think of it as selfless love, neglecting your own in exchange for another's.

My thoughts extend to different couples as well on all walks of life. One of which are porn actors who felt something beyond the physical, they were able to connect to each other while chit-chatting during the actual film session and she told him something cheesy that goes like, "all I want for Christmas is you,!" as one song sings it so. I guess I belong to a third world left behind in terms of open mindedness because such a job would have been ridiculed already had there been anyone like them here.

There was also another couple who just got married and the best friend went up to her with a Christmas carol playing on his boom box while he flashed large cards to her finally admitting how he really felt for her without expecting anything in return. It's backed up by the thought that at Christmas, you tell the truth. She just kissed him in return and sped away back to her husband. This is sort of related to the previous thoughts to seize the day and to be selfless. The best friend never came up to her probably because he let himself go to keep his friendship with the groom (his best friend) and yet when he finally had the strength to say it all in words, he still unselfishly did so without asking for anything in return. Funny how she get to watch the video he made at the wedding and saw how it was all about her yet she wondered why when he never talked to her and she always assumed he just did not like her for his friend; and funnier how at the wedding, another lady noticed how sad he was looking at the newlyweds that she asked if he loved him. (',)

Still about different walks of life, the then single prime minister actually fell for a staff, a chubby event's coordinator who lived in an over populated apartment. She had just been out a relationship where she described the guy as a not-so-good-person calling her a log growing in size, while he had been busy with national issues. All is that ends well since they end up together anyway when they opposite worlds finally collided. "Plumpy" as her family calls her had also made me think of becoming verbally liberated when she said something like, "where the fuck is my fucking coat?!" She still is pretty inside of the big words. For all the inhibitions one has, I'd say it actually feels good when you cuss without being hindered by thoughts about being proper and all that. Maybe that's what untrimmed people feels, so I'll cuss all and everything in the local tongue now... (tang-ina!!!)

One other couple is also on different worlds, she barely speaks English and he thinks Spanish is the same as Italian and French (honestly I have no idea what her language is ;). It may probably because his wife screwed him with a common friend that he became vulnerable to fall but it could also be that he really became attracted to her and her sincerity. He studied what I believed to be French? and flew to her country to propose marriage right away not knowing that she in turn had at least tried to scarcely learn English for him and of course, said "yes" right away too.

Lastly and definitely not the least, is the young Brit who brought to the screen Christmas thoughts on age, walks of life, of seizing the day, of nobility and selfishness, err... selflessness all rolled into one. He was young, carefree but feels like he gets less adventure in Erin's shore. So he decided to hop aboard Titanic (a ship, I mean ;) to America against wise advise from a close friend. So he seized the day, broke his wallet and broke his... pants! It may sound like lust but there is no nobility in denying one's self of personal desires (be it lust ;) for any kind of setback other than that of the lady in her 40's and her emotionally challenged brother.

To conclude, I have no personal merry Christmas thoughts other than thoughts suggested by this movie I have been writing about. If I ever will have any thoughts whatsoever, it is about a bolemic China girl in her undies lying down on her right side, hands in binds, stocked in a big box - supposedly a gift in an online Christmas card for someone - and all the never ending stream of thoughts I have engulfing that said picture.