Chances are you’ve seen a few festive rom-coms over the years. Think Love Actually, Holidate, or most recently- Love Hard.
These narratives all share the common theme of loving and being loved at Christmas, the message being what’s Christmas without someone to share it with?
But with some of us scrolling aimlessly through Tinder or Grinching and grieving over the holiday season, these films can end up making us feel less close and cosy and more lost and lonely.
Love Actually tries to touch on the reality of relationships but there are still quite a few Hallmark movies circling the TV channels and falling into the commercial holiday tropes.
Like seriously, how many whiny city girls falling for family-friendly farmer boys in tiny towns do we need to watch?
I’ve started to wonder where the romantic connotations surrounding Christmas came from.
Let’s set the scene on the OG Christmas plot. Mary and Joseph (and donkey) in the inn, waiting for little baby Jesus to enter the picture.
I don’t know about you, but labour and contractions without a bed or epidural don’t really scream flirty and fun to me.
So if Christmas romance didn’t arise from Christianity, why are we so obsessed with it?
The reality is that Christmas can be quite sad – with long-distance relationships, the memory of lost loved ones, the ill and the homeless, plus many more reasons.
Maybe it’s not that we expect the holiday season to be just like The Christmas Prince or The Holiday.
Maybe cheesy Christmas movies are the adult’s escapist equivalent to Santa.
And I’m not denying having binged a fair few festive films in the run-up to Christmas; disclaimer, I’ve lost count of how many.
It’s more that it’s important to remember that Christmas isn’t always picture perfect and to let go of that unnecessary pressure to make it like the movies at this time of year.
There’s way more to the holidays than surprise proposals in the run-up or who you kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Just like a puppy, coupling up shouldn’t be just for the festive season.
Featured image credit: Pexels
20 year old queer poet and journalist 😎
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