"All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey

I was going to post this yesterday but I felt it was more important to watch "My Best Friend's Wedding" with my older sister. Because I've been lazy over the holiday, I've decided to scrap the third Taylor Swift song for this month. (You're welcome!) Anyway, this is my favorite Christmas song. Not very original. I'm pretty sure everybody's favorite Christmas song, at least of the female/gay male persuasion. I'm pretty sure most people can identify it - we've all had a Christmas where we couldn't be with someone we love, either due to distance, work obligations, or other reasons. My dad was deployed pretty much my whole childhood but I honestly can't remember a Christmas that he didn't spend with us. We were very lucky like that - other military families are not. I think that's the probably the hardest thing - missing someone so badly, knowing that they can't come home, even though you know they're missing you, too. I think that's why this song resonates with so many people. It captures a part of Christmas that isn't so happy, but it's still pretty fucking catchy.

I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

I don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

I don't need to hang my stocking

There upon the fireplace

Santa Claus won't make me happy

With a toy on Christmas day

I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

All I want for Christmas is you

You baby

I'm going to keep with the theme and talk about my favorite Christmas movie. It's "Love Actually." Don't act surprised. It was on TV last night, but I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix, too - not sure how long that will last, but it's there if you want to watch it. Basically, it's a bunch of different love stories (which revolve around Christmas) interwoven together into a cohesive narrative. I believe most of the characters know each other, at least by sight, so it's fun to see them weave in and out of each other's narratives. My favorite story out of the ones in the movie is that of Jamie and Aurelia. Jamie comes home to find his wife/girlfriend (it wasn't specified but they live together) cheating with his brother. To get some distance from the situation, he goes to his summer rental in France to work on his novel. Since the owner didn't expect him during winter, the usual maid that assists him wasn't available, so she's hired Aurelia. She doesn't speak English (or even French), just Portuguese. But they manage and, at the end of the day, he drives her home. My favorite scenes are when they are each saying something in their native language and it's almost the exact same thing but from the opposite perspective. For example, in my favorite scene, he's driving her home and he says to her, "It's my favorite part of the day, driving you home." And she replies, "It's the saddest part of my day, leaving you." Isn't that so sad? OMFG, the heart strings! But they get a happy ending. After Jamie leaves France, he starts learning Portuguese on his own. Mind you, he has no expectation that he'll ever see her again, no idea how she feels, but in his mind, a plan is starting to form. On Christmas, he is about to join his family but he has some sort of epiphany. He drops the presents at the door and runs to Heathrow airport. In his grand gesture, he walks the Portuguese district of Paris looking for Aurelia (with most of the residents of the area in tow). When he gets the restaurant where she works, he proposes to her in bad Portuguese. Aurelia says "Yes," in broken English. She learned English for him! "Just in cases." I think that's beautiful. Neither of them knew each other felt the same but they knew they had to overcome this barrier in order to even have a chance.

Anyway, a belated Merry Christmas to you all! There is an official video for this song. Enjoy!

"All I Want for Christmas is You" Video