Christmas is coming, turkeys are getting fat

'Christmas is coming, they're cutting down trees' - a Joni Mitchell number quoted in another Nora Ephron movie, 'Sleepless in Seattle'. Always a good one for this time of year to blow away the cobwebs and limber up the lower lip a bit. 'She died. There's no reason, no answer why ... and if we start asking why we'd just go crazy.' One of the best beginnings of a film ever.

So 'this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over. A new one begun.' Good old John Lennon knew how to twist the light back on the interviewer/consumer/fan, and ironic that one of his fans took his life so close to this season. 'War is over ... if you want it, war is over ... now! And so this is Christmas.' There's a lot in that passage alone. There's pain, suffering, there's conflict, and depression; but there's also choice and love, 'if you want it', because 'Love is all you need'.

Ally McBeal once said that she could never marry a Jew if it meant converting as she wouldn't want to give up Christmas. It makes me wonder how they do spend the time waiting for Hanukkah whenever a lot of the world are spending quality family time together. I'm pretty sure Nora Ephron is Jewish herself, though there is the recurring theme of Christmas in her films, and also the New Year celebration. The latter, I suppose, is not so atraditional. Aaron Sorkin of the 'West Wing' and the creators of 'Friends' are Jewish but they always did Christmas well. Better often than the way it is sentimentalised and socialised away from all religious meaning in other series.

'Walking in a winter wonderland.' Snow is such a potent image. It is so beautiful to see it blanketing a landscape with trees and telephone poles piercing through, and yet it chills and freezes its viewer who insists on first-hand knowledge. It conjures up the thought of cosiness within, when it is freezing without; and justifies the analogy of fire with love, for no snowy scene is too cold to walk in for those who are in love. And walking in a winterwonderland with another is tantamount to an avowal of affection, as one could walk in the sun with anyone; but you do not walk with just anyone in the snow. 'Serendipity', the Ephronesque with John Cusack, invokes this to good effect, with a healthy dose of stars and ice for good measure.

Homecomings and goings are what occupy much of the emotional soundtracks of our lives, and especially so at Chrsitmas. Even though 'Love Actually' doesn't actually approach the proper balance of 'When Harry met Sally', being too smaltzy a Christmas film - if we can allow the attribution of a Yiddishism to such a thing, which seems appropriate - but its airport moments make the point. Classic though is Rowan Atkinson's portrayal of what I think is the most unrecognised Angel motive in film history, where he shows up first at the department store taking an age to wrap the cheating husband's gift for his to-be mistress, in its package of lavender and rose petals, admiring the aroma as he conspires to delay the sale. He then shows up mysteriously at the airport towards the end, making the young boy's airport kiss a possibility. Ok, even that was still a bit smaltzy. But you can't be too cynical about these things your whole life.

The motive of the angel brings us along towards the piece de resistance, 'It's aWonderful Life'. Originally sent round as a Christmas story, because no one would buy it for publication, now it has become the second most popular Christmas story of them all. How it never fails to work its magic, and normally it gets seen at this time of year as is of course its right mental and emotional slot. Angels are absent-minded but good-natured just like us, and we're reminded it is not what a man owns that makes him rich in truth. 'No man who has friends will ever be poor.' Good old George Bailey struggling away, putting his family and other people's lives first, trying to better their lot, being left behind on account of his deaf ear, flat feet and reluctance to get into plastic! But whenever he sees the effect he's had around him, knows the people who love him and for whom he wants and needs to live, he realises that it really is a wonderful life, and 'When a bell rings' teacher says 'an angel gets her wings'.