12 Days of Christmas: Molly O'Keefe shares a memory
HEA readers, have I got a treat for you! No, it's not a belated Halloween thing — it's an early Christmas thing. For the next 12 business days (cuz, you know, HEA takes the weekends off so we can do all our romance reading), 12 romance authors who have books coming out will visit HEA, bringing cheer, gifts and nog. Well, OK, not nog (sad face). But cheer and gifts, definitely. Kicking things off is Molly O'Keefe, whose contribution to the Naughty & Nice holiday anthology (out Monday!), All I Want for Christmas Is You, is a prequel to her Jan. 29 release, Crazy Thing Called Love.
Molly: It's funny what memory does, isn't it? My favorite holiday tradition might not have happened more than once or twice. But because it is such a GOOD memory, so encapsulating of everything I love about the holidays, in my mind it happened every year. Without fail.
After church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, my family would go chop down our Christmas tree. Once it was home and placed in its stand, Mom and I would painstakingly decorate our tree. It took hours to place the tinsel, string the lights, find the perfect spot for my favorite macaroni and felt ornaments from kindergarten.
My brother, a teenage sloth, slept wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. Dad would go down to his woodshop because Mom insisted on listening to Christmas records. But when the tree was declared perfect, and Carol of the Bells had played for the hundredth time, Mom popped popcorn and we all sat down in front of the TV to watch my favorite Christmas movie: the 1970 version of Scrooge,with Albert Finney.
When I looked this movie up again, it's billed as a musical. But I really don't remember a whole lot of music. What I remember is that Scrooge — without a doubt — was the scariest movie I'd ever seen. And certainly the scariest holiday movie ever made! First of all, Albert Finney is so convincing, so ugly in his unhappiness, that he's kind of scary. But the minute the ghost of Jacob Marley starts ringing those bells and clanking around those chains the movie goes from spooky to terrifying.
When I was young, Mom always made the argument that the movie should be turned off, because I was so scared, at which point I lied and said I was fine. Because I wanted to see the other ghosts. The red-dressed and regal Christmas Past and the giant and jolly Christmas Present surrounded by a feast which set the standard by which all other movie feasts were to be judged.
But the moment I was truly waiting for was the Ghost of Christmas yet to be. Just when I thought poor Ebeneezer had been through the worst of it, the Christmas Skeleton shows up and pushes Scrooge into the grave.
I was terrified. Thrilled. I cried a little bit for Tiny Tim. All in all, this movie put me through the ringer and I loved it.
My son is getting close to the age that I remember watching Scrooge and as he loves to be scared I can't wait to start my favorite holiday tradition all over again with him.
What's your favorite Scrooge moment? If you leave a comment here, you could win a digital copy of the Naughty and Nice holiday anthology from me, with stories by Ruthie Knox, Stefanie Sloan and myself. Also, be sure to stop by my website and leave me a note to win a beautiful pen — crafted by my father in his woodshop. (You can enter the contest through midnight ET Sunday, Nov. 25. Winner will be announced on Monday, Nov. 26.)
And be sure to come back to HEA every day this week (and beyond) to catch posts and giveaways by your favorite authors. Up next: Robyn Carr.