…I visited the USA Today romance blog, Happy Ever After. That’s right, today it’s my turn to share a favorite holiday story as part of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” series.
I’m talking about the movie Christmas in Connecticut–which, if you’ve never seen it, is a lovely, funny holiday classic from 1945. The hero is a soldier, just home from World War 2 and craving an old-fashioned Christmas. The heroine is a supposed domestic goddess whose job depends on providing just that sort of Christmas celebration.
Too bad she’s a fraud.
To save her job, heroine Elizabeth (Barbara Stanwyck) goes to great–and hilarious–lengths to beg and borrow a perfect Christmas for hero Jones (Dennis Morgan). And though her deception is eventually found out, all’s well that ends well. Elizabeth winds up with a better job, and she and Jones fall in love.
As I mention in my post on the USA Today blog:
Why do I like this movie so much? Well, first of all, it’s nice to see a heroine having as much trouble in the kitchen as I do. But more than that, this is a movie about appearance versus reality. Elizabeth has built her career on a fake image of domestic perfection. While her job is at stake, she’s willing to go farther and farther with the charade. But when she meets Jones, she realizes she has sacrificed her personal life to this falsehood too. And she’s not ok with that; she wants to be known and loved for herself. Her real, not-perfect, could-somehow-burn-water self.
There are two messages in this movie that are lovely not only for the Christmas season, but for any time of year. First, happiness is far more likely to be found when a person is genuine rather than struggling for perfection. And second: imperfection, whatever its form, is worthy of love.
Some of these themes pop up in my new historical romance, SEASON FOR SURRENDER, too. I hope you’ll stop by and check out the post on Happy Ever After–and be sure to leave a comment over there so you can be entered for a signed copy of SEASON FOR SURRENDER! (You can still enter the other “Twelve Days” giveaways too. Author Ruthie Knox is collecting all the links here.)
Since it’s the ninth day of the blog series, I’m also giving away a box of nine delicious chocolate truffles. This box. To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling me about one of your favorite holiday treats! International entrants are welcome; I’ll choose a winner at random from among all commenters.
This truffle giveaway, and the book giveaway on the Happy Ever After blog, will both close at midnight ET/11 pm CT on November 25. Winners will be announced on Monday, November 26. Good luck!
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Okay, Theresa. You had me at the Truffles. I already have your book, and am planning to savor it during my Christmas break! It’s hard to pick just one holiday treat, but I love these butterscotchery-chocolatey rice krispie treats my Grandma makes. I’m sure they’re not too bad for you because the rice is mostly air. :0)
I commented over at USA Today, too. My mother-in-law (when she was with us) used to make chocolate covered pretzels at Christmas. I had NEVER had one before (can you believe it??) and I just adored the combination of sweet and salty. Another grand dame that I knew, a wonderful Irish mom, used to make her own Irish cream at the holidays…it had a kick. Every year now I get one of those tiny bottles of Bailey’s Irish Cream and drink a toast to her memory. Bailey’s is not quite as good, though!
Christina, thanks for getting hold of SEASON FOR SURRENDER! I hope you enjoy it. Mm, you’ve got me convinced of the excellence of a dessert featuring both chocolate and butterscotch. Do you stir in baking chips along with the marshmallows?
Catherine, thank you for stopping by both sites! Your holiday treats sound delicious, especially that homemade Irish cream. Any idea how she made it?
I also visited the USA Today site.
My Mom would always make a large variety of Christmas cookies. Many for gifts for friends and neighbors, but more than enough for us to overindulge in too. We generally had cookies for breakfast on Christmas morning. LOL
That’s a fun movie, Theresa. Thanks for revisiting it with us. Christmas sugar cookies were little works of art in our family. It wasn’t enough to just frost them–oh no–Each tree had to have matching decorations, each camel had a tasseled blanket, each angel had her own color-coordinated ensemble. There couldn’t be two candy canes or snowmen that looked the same. It’s amazing the artwork you can do with colored frosting and decors. And just to make sure the cookies tasted as good as they looked, each frosting color was a different yummy flavor–vanilla, almond, mint, chocolate, raspberry, etc. (But it kind of hurt to see them get eaten!)
Marcy–Christmas cookies for breakfast? I love it! That definitely gives the day a feeling of a special occasion.
LSUReader, that sounds like a lot of fun, though I can imagine it was a shame to eat those edible works of art. How did you make the flavored icing?
Theresa–We start with a basic buttercream frosting, then add drops of flavor extracts. These are just like vanilla extract, but there are many different flavors in the grocery store baking aisle. Have fun!
Every Christmas my grandmother makes buckeyes for the whole family. She doesn’t just stay with the traditional dark chocolate and peanut butter, but also white chocolate! It’s the best part of Christmas!
I love cookies… Christmas ones are the best. Love the sugary taste and the looks of it! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it….
Christmas treats! Yum. When I was a kid, my mom, who doesn’t really like cooking, did all the “functional” cooking (nightly dinners and such), but my dad, who actually does like to cook, would pull out his recipes for snickerdoodles and ginger crinkles. He’d always let my brother and me “help” bake them; not sure how much help we actually were, but we had fun.
The movie Christmas in Connecticut, sounds like a really nice one. I’ll have to rent it out. I usually visit my son and daughter-in-love around October or November for Christmas. On that day its TV and reading in the lazy boy.
LSUReader–Aha, I’ve seen those. Lemon, maple, etc? Sounds good; thank you for the baking tip!
Becca, I had to look up “buckeye”–I’ve never had those before. Now that I’ve seen a picture, I will have to change that ASAP, because they look wonderful. So white chocolate is good on them too? Yum!
May, you are making me want cookies right now.
Amanda, how cool! Part of a family tradition seems to be shaking up what’s normal, right? Mom makes the turkey, and today…Dad makes the dessert?! Kids helping bake is such a fun tradition too. Do you ever make those cookie recipes now?
Suzanne, let me know if you like Christmas in Connecticut! It might be a good one for watching during your family visit. Relaxing and reading is a GREAT way to spend a holiday, isn’t it?
Hi Theresa!
I couldn’t post on USA Today – Happily ever after because I don’ have the ability to put a picture on Facebook but I did post on Facebook!
I loved the post and if I could have posted I would have told you that and my favorite household job is cooking from scrach – no pre-packaged ingredients for me! The one think I wish I never had to do again is vacuum and dust! Washing the floors – no problem, doing all the laundry – that’s fine, but I don’t want anything to do with dust!
Perfect solution? Before I married my husband 42 years ago I simply told him I was alergic to dust! I make him do it!
My favorite Chirstmas treat is making a homemade cherry covered cheesecake from sratch! The trick is in the “crust” that you line the pan with. Instead of using graham crackers I use ziebach crackers – the kind you give to a teething baby! It makes all the difference and brings out the taste of the cream cheese and of course the cherries!
Of course it wouldn’t be Christmas without a Hershey chocolate bar in the stocking to start out the day! There nothing like a sweet treat to both start and end the day!
One of my favorite holiday treats is homemade Christmas cookies that my Mom has been making for over 40 years. Nothing makes it feel like Christmas more than a plate of cookies left for Santa!
I love making cranberry sauce, and bittersweet chocolate cookies. Pretty soon, I’ll be making gingerbread, and I’m going to try a pumpkin-caramel cheesecake for Thanksgiving. And while I’ve never had an actual buckeye candy, the buckeye ice cream in the Jeni’s cookbook is fantastic…
Jeanne, ha! I like your division of labor. Mr. R and I have different “most hated chores” too, so it’s nice to be able to foist those off on each other. Great tip about a crust made of zwieback; I’m interested in trying that. And of COURSE it’s always good to start the day with chocolate!
QuenKne, cookie traditions are so fun. Who gets to eat the cookies left for Santa?
Trix, yum! Those desserts sound great. Do you make the cakey kind of gingerbread? I’d like to find a good recipe for that.
My favorite holiday treat is my mothers pecan pie. She has made it every Christmas since I can remember. She makes the crust from scratch and it is so flaky, with the sweet filling, yummy. She is now 84 and still makes it and it is still the best.
Ann, what a delicious tradition. I *love* pecan pie, but I really struggle with crust. I’ve never been able to get it better than meh. Your mom’s sounds great. What does she use for her fat: butter, lard, Crisco?
Oh, I love cheesecake, for any holiday! I don’t usually bring it, because there are so many other desserts & my family expects my tollhouse cookies.
Egg Nog and Peppermint Ice Cream!
Sharlene, you can’t go wrong with tollhouse cookies! But I wouldn’t turn down a slice of cheesecake either.
aquariandancer, a fellow eggnog fan! Have you ever tried eggnog ice cream? It’s amazing.
Turtles and divinity are two of my favorite treats to make and share with family and friends during the Christmas season. I also love having a pumpkin roll to nibble on as I pass through the kitchen!! December is so bad for my waistline!!
My favorite holiday treat is eggnog. I don’t drink any other time of the year, but, during the holidays, I love me some eggnog spiked with brandy.
flip at ida dot net
Brenda, it’s so hard not to nibble on all the delicious treats! And there’s something about cold weather that puts me in the mood to bake even more. What’s your recipe for turtles? That’s Mr. R’s *favorite* treat; I never thought of making them at home. Sounds fun!
Phyllis, I’m a big eggnog fan too. As soon as it becomes available, I start buying it, and I add it to my morning coffee. (Er–not with brandy, though in the evening that’s a delicious treat.)
I like gingerbread cookies.
bn100, me too. Do you cut out and decorate yours? Little MIss R loves to do that (though she winds up eating rather than using most of the decorations).
pumpkin cheesecake
bituin76 at hotmail dot com
JanD, that sounds great. Save me a slice, ok?
Keep those holiday treats coming, folks! The giveaway is open until 11 pm CT/midnight ET today. I’ll announce the randomly chosen winner tomorrow.
Hi, everyone–thanks so much for entering this chocolate-truffle giveaway! The randomly chosen winner is May, who commented on 11-15 about her fondness for Christmas cookies. Congratulations, May! I’ll contact you about your prize.
To all of you: if you commented on my post on the USA Today HEA blog, you were entered for a signed copy of SEASON FOR SURRENDER. All the “12 Days” winners will be posted on the HEA blog within the next day or two. Thanks!
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