It’s a Wonderful Life — and Love is a Wonderful Thing

Every family has their own special holiday traditions, some common and some uncommon. For instance, on Christmas Eve it is common for families of Southern Italian descent (such as my own Sicilian-American family) to eat seafood. We call it the “Feast of the Seven Fishes.” On Thanksgiving my family always has “The Godfather” – parts one AND two -- on while we cook, eat, and clean up. (That tradition might be a little less common than fish on Christmas Eve.  😊)

Another cinematic tradition at our house is that we always watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” at least once during the holiday season. My parents always loved that movie, and they passed that love on to me, which I dutifully passed on to my husband. It is a classic movie about duty, honor, family, and love. I find the romance between Jimmy Stewart’s character, George Bailey, and Donna Reed’s character, Mary Bailey (née Hatch), just so wonderful. George is a good man down to his very soul – as evidenced by his agony over the lost money. George always does what’s right, even if it’s not easy nor what he wants to do. And Mary, to her credit, stands by George every step of the way. She has loved George since they were children (we see this when they’re kids at the soda shop, when she whispers into his “trick ear” and says “I love you, George Bailey, and I will until the day I die”) and as he enters into his crisis, she exemplifies the vow “in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer...” Mary stands by him no matter what, and rallies the town around him in his time of need.

There is one scene in particular from Frank Capra’s masterpiece that always reminded me of a romance novel. As I said, George and Mary were childhood friends. She was the kid sister of one of his friends from high school and he never had really given her a second thought… until that fateful dance above the swimming pool. Talk about a “meet cute!” Suddenly George sees Mary in an entirely new light. As he struggles with his decision to pass the chance of college on to his brother, George finds himself in front of Mary’s home. He wasn’t aware of this but Mary was being courted by the wealthy Sam Wainwright – a far more advantageous match for Mary (at least according to her mother).
As Mary and George share a telephone receiver to speak with Sam, the sexual tension between them fairly sizzles. We see it, George and Mary feel it, and it practically radiates from the screen. They finally share a kiss, one full of desperation and need, as George pours every ounce of his inner torment into Mary and Mary absorbs it all. I wonder if Mary also feels the same torment: does she go with Sam and live a life of wealth (one pleasing to her mother), or does she go with George, living a life of -- if not outright hardship – modest comfort? As they cling to each other, they pour their anxieties into the other and find comfort in each others’ arms.

And isn’t that what love is, in the end? We see the one we love at their highest and their lowest, and we don’t don’t stop loving them. We absorb their torment, their stress, their joy, their sadness, their successes and failures. And they absorb ours. Seriously, it sends a shiver down my spine.

I hope this holiday season brings you all comfort and joy (which is, coincidentally, the title of this month’s Romance Required book – ah hah, see what I did there?), coupled with your own personal or family traditions. Don’t forget, Romance Required meets the last Friday of this month, December 27th, at 1pm. I hope you’ll join us – and if not, I wish you a happy holiday season, and a happy, romantic, and prosperous New Year!

(PS: I mean, come on! Look at that photo... They couldn't get closer to each other if they tried. You can see George's need etched on his face, the way he is white-knuckling the phone. I guess it only goes to show that romance doesn't have to be explicit to be spicy.)