Christmas Movies

We have watched a lot of Christmas movies this season. Elf, Fred Clause, Snow Buddies, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Polar Express...those are the ones we watched together. And of course I watched It's a Wonderful Life. And we have seen scores of Christmas specials from our friends on Disney and Nickelodeon. Well, tonight I got it in my head that I wanted to watch The Passion of the Christ.

That didn't go over too well at first. Gav was quick to point out that, "we've already seen that movie!" To which I responded with a dead stare. Seriously, how many times have we seen the episode of iCarly where Spencer starts pranking people and can't stop? Or the one where the gang gets locked in a crazy girls basement? Or the one where they go out in the woods looking for Bigfoot? We have seen those a lot. A lot lot. That doesn't even include repeat episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place, Big Time Rush or Hannah Montana. So I just gave him the look.

And then he said, "I thought we were going to watch a Christmas movie?"

Me: Who is The Passion about?

Him: Jesus

Me: Who is Christmas about?

Him: Jesus. (This he said with resignation, because he realized I had won.)

Me: Great, let's watch it.

I know I get accused of "throwing blood on the manger," but the cradle and the cross just go together if you ask me. I'm happy to throw swaddling clothes on the cross at Easter if that makes anyone feel better.

I love watching The Passion with Gavin. Love it. He asks so many questions. How long did it take? Why is she crying? Why are they doing that? We look stuff up. We compare texts. We talk about how we might have felt if we had been there.

This time was different from when we watched it at Easter, because he exclaimed at things. He really responded to what he saw. And it was awesome to see how much he remembered from the last time. I had explained to him about death by crucifixion, and he told me all about it. He remembered other things too, and asked me about them.

So we discussed tonight how Christ came for a reason. He was born that we may have life. Not just born for you or Gav, or the right, or the strong, or the good, or the smart...but for all of us sinners who don't deserve what he did.