Today is when I allow the Christmas Season to start. Malls, radio stations, grocery stores, and catalogues may try to push its advent ever sooner, but I refuse to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel the Christmas spirit until December 1. And so, as the frenzied countdown to the greatest of all days begins, I would like to give you a gift. It's called Meet Me in St. Louis.
Meet Me in St. Louis my favorite Christmas movie. Okay, so it's not technically a Christmas movie. Whatevs. The most pivotal moments happen at Christmas, and it gave us "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," the greatest Christmas song Of All Time.*
Early on in the film, the main character, Esther Smith, played by Judy Garland, has the following exchange with her older sister while they get ready for a party they're throwing:
"I'm going to let John Truett kiss me tonight."
"Esther Smith."
"Well, if we're going to get married, I may as well start it."
"Nice girls don't let men kiss them until after they're engaged. Men don't want the bloom rubbed off."
"Personally, I think I have too much bloom. Maybe that's the trouble with me. "
That's my personal diagnosis for everything. Whatever ails me, I just say I have too much bloom. John Truett is their new neighbor, whom she has never met. She tries to lure him into kissing her after the party, but he shakes her hand instead. They do eventually kiss on Halloween, after she beats him up for being mean to her little sister. They're in love and happy, and then her father announces that the family is moving to New York just after Christmas, thereby placing a pall on the celebrations. After rejecting John's plan to drop out of school and get married so that she can stay, Esther sings the truest, most melancholy and hopeful Christmas song of all time.
So, have yourself a merry little Christmas. Here's hoping that next year all our troubles will be out of sight.
*It's also the movie that gave us Liza Minelli, as her parents met on-set.
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