"I've got plenty to be thankful for: no private car, no caviar, no carpet on my floor. Still, I've got plenty to be thankful for.  I've got eyes to see with, ears to hear with, arms to hug with, lips to kiss with, someone to adore.  I've got plenty to be thankful for." (Irving Berlin, 1942)

As we end the year in continued isolation and consider a fall and winter of potential rising COVID- 19 cases, it is perhaps wise to reflect on what we are thankful for and count our blessings.

Welcome to the November -  December 2020 Edition:  Holiday Inn and White Christmas ~ Holidays in Isolation.

As the Guidebook opens on these holiday favorites, we find two men Jim Hardy (Holiday Inn) and Bob Wallace (White Christmas), eagerly awaiting change. Jim is eager to "give up the grind" of nightclubs and retire to an isolated farm in Connecticut. Bob is open to finding the girl who will have him and "settle down and start having those nine kids."

The pressures of fame have led these men to reconsider their priorities.

Jim desires a "lazy" lifestyle ("Under that awning, they call the sky.  Stretching and yawning, and let the world go drifting by.") Bob, at the urging of his friend Phil, desires a weekend away in the snow. ("I'd like to stay up with you. But I recommend a little shut-eye. Go to sleep and dream of snow!")

They each find the peace they desire at isolated Inns.

In Connecticut, Jim finds that farming is anything but peaceful. However, when he turns the farm into Holiday Inn, he finds "a simple little layout, where we could do our best at the work we know, without having any illusions of glory."  At the Columbia Inn in Vermont, Bob finds a "big empty ski lodge that is ideal for trying out new material."

As each gentleman finds a surge of creativity and success in their surroundings (Holiday Inn is a success with shows for Valentine's Day and Independence Day.  Columbia Inn prepares for a Christmas show "Playing Around"), they also find love. Jim with Linda Mason, Bob with Betty Haynes.

Love in isolation progresses well for both couples (Jim and Linda get engaged and enjoy an Easter Sunday carriage ride. Bob and Betty share a sandwich and a kiss and count their blessings  by the fire before  Christmas.)

At this point, we are thinking: Perfect! Each couple has what they want "someone to adore." Let's stop here and bask in love found! However, we all know that the movie musical isn't complete unless the boy loses the girl. This happens through schemes and misunderstandings, and each "boy" finds himself isolated from the "girl" he loves.

For Jim, his sadness is so great that he closes the Inn and spends his Thanksgiving in isolation. "Sitting around like a jellyfish with the misery," he feels his schemes and emotions are justified when he  tells Mamie, "I tried to keep her here!"

For Bob, being separated from his love doesn't make him sad or resigned; it makes him angry at those who schemed to "get the mother hen to leave the roost." ("Brother you laid a Vermont volleyball!") 

As each "boy" sets out on the path to get the "girl" back:

• Bob: "Betty. I know that knight of yours has slipped off his white charger. Why I don't know, but I'd like to do all I can to get him back up there again for you."

• Jim: "Mamie, you don't try to take a fellow's gal away from him after he's bought the ring.  Or, as I recall, do you?"

They do so with:

• A little scheming: Jim locks Linda's fiancee in a closet and hides backstage during the filming of a key scene in a Hollywood movie.

• Honesty: Bob tells Betty via a television appearance that "'Operation Waverly' is a way to give the nicest Christmas present to the nicest guy we'll ever know."

And A Song: White Christmas! 

The song and symbolism (a pipe on the piano, a knight on a white horse) bring the couples together. Thus ending their isolation and setting them on a path to happily ever after at the Inn!

~Have a Safe and Socially Distant Holiday Season!  

Thank you for joining me for this interesting and always changing year of blogs. What began as a conversation about friendship turned into one about isolation.  

In writing about this topic,  I realized two things. First, how relevant these films are to this time,  generations after they were made.  Second, the #PowerofReminiscence is alive and well, and reminding us that we have "plenty to be thankful for" and to "count your blessings" in this ever-changing world.

Stay Safe and Well!

~Lori