So I've Been Thinking....

I know I said I'd see you next year, but that's days away, and... I missed you guys. Besides, I've got something to say.

When we started Mainlining Christmas, Lindsay and I discussed, among other things, what would and would not constitute a "Christmas movie." It's not as easy to delineate as you'd think. Originally, I excluded Die Hard, reasoning that an action movie wasn't a Christmas movie, regardless of when it was set. We went ahead with it this year for a few reasons, not the least of which being that we wanted to watch something good.

But there's more to it than that. As we've covered more and more classics, the line's gotten blurred. Holiday Inn is considered a Christmas classic: hell, it's where the song "White Christmas" originated. But Christmas actually only represents a small portion of the film's time and attention.

The rule of thumb I've been using so far has been that if something feels like it's quintessentially a holiday film or special, it's been fair game. It's been a good rule, and I believe a necessary one. Die Hard qualifies, but we don't want to "water down" the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas deluge of holiday cheer with Lethal Weapon or Long Kiss Goodnight: that would feel like cheating. And yet... our archive of reviews is growing. It's reaching a point where Mainlining Christmas could - perhaps should - strive to be something more.

But those two goals are conflicting. If we want this include everything, we need to start interpreting the phrase "Christmas movie" a hell of a lot more broadly than we have been. But that would lesson the intensity that lies at the core of this experiment.

Unless....

Unless we continued updating after Christmas. That would give us a chance to expand our archive without changing the experiment this blog was built on. I'm not saying we'll be updating every day - or even every week, but there's no reason we can't review movies with a holiday aspect as we see them. We'll reserve the holiday season for the stuff we've been doing - the stuff that's indisputably holiday oriented - but open up the rest of the year for related movies and specials.

Things that might feel like a stretch around Christmas but are still connected to the holiday will be fair game. The most obvious examples are the myriad action movies set during the holidays, but there are others. The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe is winter-themed and even has Santa show up for a scene. It also means we can get to the Grinch sequels, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, and other things that exist on the fringe.

In addition, I'm sure there'll be a handful of more traditional Christmas fare mixed in. Hell, we just saw the new Doctor Who special: there doesn't seem much point in waiting a year to review it. Plus, there are always short pieces we come across. Half the time, we forget about these by the time Christmas rolls around.

I'd like this blog to be the biggest and best. I'd like it to be a tool where you can find a review of damn near anything Christmas related. I want Mainlining Christmas to be the premier place to go for anything holiday-related.

Because, frankly, most of our competition sucks.

I think it's time we stepped up our game here. We've got a respectable archive, sure, but there's too much missing for my taste and not enough time between every Thanksgiving and Christmas to get to it all. So, with that in mind, I'm pleased to announce that Mainlining Christmas is going to honor Christmas in our hearts all the year. You know, just like cholesterol.