The Art of Gift Giving

It is slightly shocking to me how the idea that Christmas has been lost in the commercialism has existed for centuries now. Yes, centuries my friends. Apparently as people we are never satisfied that anything is ever exactly as it should be for us. I’m not sure what I think about Christmas. Truthfully I’m not sure that I have an opinion about the nature of the holiday one-way or the other. I do know this though that I absolutely love gift giving. Before the rants about commercialism begin please note that I love the art of gift giving year round from birthdays, graduations, holidays, to happy Wednesdays. And this has nothing to do with the consumer aspect. It’s not about the shopping, or the spending money, or the retail therapy. It’s not even really about me, or the self-satisfaction that can come from achieving to reach the end of a shopping list. No it’s about the art, better yet it’s about the potential for the incredible story telling.

A good gift to a friend or a family member can be many things. It can highlight or underline a great part of your shared stories. Or it can be a leading hook to a new chapter. Sometimes a gift could breathe new life into an old story or give the characters of your life a new outlook. Personally I tend to work in themes, umbrellas of general thoughts, making that my starting point every Christmas season. Being a storyteller I thrive on crafting messages and creating narratives. So that being said I start thinking of themes sometime in June and have usually nailed my encompassing plot point for gifts by September. This is for several reasons first because it’s a process that amuses me and second because I like to shop early and in segments.

This year I am working under the concept of my life being like a sitcom. Having myself spent most of the year watching some of the best television of the last decade it was an idea that came to me rather easily. Every movie or show that I watch, every book that I read, and every song that I hear has the possibility of reminding me of someone. The entire idea was based on making hand-made Christmas cards. The front of the card would state simply – “Sometimes My Life is like a TV Show (or movie depending on the gift)”. And the inside would finish the sentence, “with a great cast of characters.”  Then the personal note would vary based on what show/ movie I got for that particular person and end with wishing them a happy Christmas episode or scene. Because people in my life are my supporting cast, they are the constant characters there for every chapter or just guest starring. 

These gifts are fun and give me a way to demonstrate what my relationships mean to my friends. I gave someone the first season of How I Met Your Mother, with the reassurance that they were going to love the show and thanking them for being the Lily and Marshall in my life. While giving someone else the fourth season of the same show and telling them they had been part of all my legend – wait for it – dairy nights of my life. I gave myself the opportunity to give my friends a visual, a concrete example, of what our relationships mean to me. A picture is after all worth a thousand words, so you know, a moving picture should be pretty priceless. I gave someone the third chapter of Greek, praising them for being the Cappie to my Rusty. Or someone else the special edition of Gone with the Wind with a note that congratulated them for being the belle of all the balls I had been to and having the gumption of a certain Miss O’Hara. I was able to express gratitude to my friends for bringing magic, cleverness, friendship, and loyalty to my life by giving their chosen Harry Potter scarves and a season of Pushing Daisies. There are a few more, but honestly, this is a way to personalize an easy gift for the people in your life. There is something irresistibly powerful about being able to personalize something by relating it back to you.

So I know that Christmas is only a day away, but remember gift giving isn’t only done during the holidays. For all who dread gift giving, heed this advice the art of gift giving comes from thought and having fun. It’s about your relationship with that person. Think about why you like them, what you know about them, what makes you happy to see them. For example if you know someone drinks coffee from Starbucks everyday and you know they get the same drink everyday, get them a gift card. Last year a friend bought me a gift card for Starbucks for 17.75. How strange? Is what most people would think? But there was a thoughtful note attached, the amount on the card was the exact amount for a week of vienti iced lattes (my drink). It was so thoughtful, a way to bring in a note of personality to an otherwise impersonal type gift of a gift card. 

The idea is that you know someone else well enough to know what will bring a smile to his or her face. If you are one of the ranting critics of the commercialism of Christmas remember that though it might seem like it the art of gift giving is just about spending money, it really is not. Christmas is about family, friends, and the spirit of giving, miracles, and renewal. So let it be just that, enjoy the memories you create in the holiday episodes of your life.

And They Lived Happily Ever After.

Disney magic is pratically part of who I am as a person at this point. From my five years with the company, to my almost 9 years as an Annual Passholder, and my ridiculous amounts of visits to Disneyland. I have seen ever animated movie that has come out in my lifetime since Little Mermaid (excluding Home on the Range, which by the way was the 50th animated film ever made and I have NO idea why I still haven't seen it...). I use to glitter, well I still do sometimes, because of the glitter in the princess dresses and t-shirts at work and we would all joke that it was just the pixie dust. So as a bonfide Disney Fanatic even I admit that the latest few films have been missing a bit of that disney magic. Let me make something clear though, I was never one of those people that thought that the magic was lost because the movies were no longer in traditional 2-D hand drawn format. Don't get me wrong, I adore the original format and find it to be a great artistic treasure that we shouldn't lose just because we fear the market has outgrown it. My problem laid in the idea that Disney animated films had somehow lost their way in terms of how they told their story. The sincerity of the story and the power of the characters and the beauty of their setting, the universal themes that ring true from Snow White to Lilo are what I believe to be critical to the Disney legacy.

So Princess and the Frog had me excited for a lot of reasons. Yes, yes, like everyone else on a soapbox about the movie the beautiful art of hand drawn animation was something that I was excited about. It's not joke my friends, it's absolutely beautiful. The detail of every seen is beyond incredible, from the patterns of the wallpaper on walls to the delicacies of the dresses in the little Charlotte's room. Or the bayou, it's breathtaking, just breathtaking. Another reason for my excitement, it was a princess movie! And not just any princess movie, it was an American princess movie! From everything I read and watched (which was a lot) she was actually going to be a real princess, because I was worried it being in New Orleans it was going to be some fakey Mardi Gras princess thing. But no, Princess Tiana is indeed a princess not like Giselle who is NOT a princess at any point during, before or after her movie. What else could really have me excited you ask? There is going to be an evening star! There is wishing! There is singing by the characters! The director's are the men who shaped my childhood with the Little Mermaid and Aladdin. They brought to life two of my all time favorite princesses. And the music was being brought to life by Randy Newman (for those of you unfamiliar with him, he has done every Pixar film so far, so you know amazing). What else is so special about this movie, the entire company seemed to be behind it.

As you might have been able to tell, yes I have seen the film already. I went to one of the special advance screenings that were taking place at the Disney Studio in Burbank, just last night. The Disney Studios is one of two places in the world that wash me with a sort of calm and serenity while also instilling a sense of urgency and exicement. I'm not even sure if that's the best description to what I feel when I'm on the lot, but I walk around sometimes just taking in the fact that one man created this entire empire, this entire story and he walked those streets through those halls, etc. It's actually become one of my life goals to somehow achieve getting a Disney Legends award, because how cool would that be? Anyway enough about that for now, back to the movie. The audience for our screening last night got one great honor and surprised (though I don't think half the audience realized it, but the 30 cast memebers with me did) John Lassater actually introduced the film. John Lassater is the Walt Disney of our age, he's the man that created Pixar and is currently in charge of the films of the company. So he's part of the reason we're getting these new back to our roots stories from Disney. He did his little speech about Princess Tiana being a go-getter and a girl after her own dreams not waiting for her prince. I'm really not going to go into how much that particular description bothers me (because he's not the only one to be touting this statement). And though I love Tiana and I completely agree she's a hardworking girl that is working hard towards her dream and not just sitting around waiting. I can already hear the critics objections that she still compromises herself for the prince and that she is willing to give up everything for a guy. Not that I agree, I just can hear those Disney critics on their soap boxes shouting disney movies depict women as submissive girls, always slave to the men in the movie. I've got news for them though, their watching the movies wrong. Snow White protected herself by running away and finding a way to survive away from evil step mom. Cinderella didn't wait for her prince to come to her, she went right up to that palace and got him herself. Belle actually ran back to save the Beast from the angry mob of townspeople. Ariel found a way to get what she wanted and even without a voice was incredibly resoureful to her cause. Each one of our Disney Princesses didn't just wait around for anything, and even more so each one has been strong in her own way and it's absurd to claim otherwise.

Ok that might have been my little rant about that but really now onwards to the movie. The interesting thing about the Princess and the Frog is that it sort of starts where other fairy tales have ended. I don't want to give away to much but as you can tell from the trailers Tiana kisses Naveen the frog she turns into a frog herself. So the adventure isn't about the relationship so much as about getting back to being human. The love story stems from them getting to know each other. I found it to be a somewhat refreshing approach that here they were a very pretty girl and a overtly handsome prince (that was inspired by the Jonas Brothers) find a way to fall in love as frogs. I really liked the idea that they were falling in love with each other and not just with their titles, their looks, or their material objects. The story really is driven by the individual characters, by their adventure to self-discovery and like I said before I think that's what drives disney stories into our hearts. The audience can grow with the characters on screen as they go through a self-changing process of some sort that always involves some kind of magic that usually comes from themselves.

The setting and the music are as much characters in the film as are only of the actual characters. The city of New Orleans is beautiful and full of life and culture in every moment of the film. There was a moment when they were talking about gumbo that I think I could hear my stomach growl because I was straving. The colors are vibrant the backdrops are gorgeous. And the music! I was in love with the song that Tiana sings about almost being there from the first note. And the evening star is ever present in the sky and the resident firefly of the movie even has a crush on her (his Evangeline, as he named her). Aside from those aspects, I was thrilled to see a real bad guy. Dr. Facilier was evil, he wasn't a sugar coated verison of some bad guy that won't scare little kids. No this bad vodoo witch doctor was the real deal, reminding me of Scar or Malificent. He was dark, his numbers were creepy and the little girl sitting in front of me had to close her eyes during one of his songs (I think it was Friends on the Other Side). Now I don't need things to scare kids, but at the same time what is the struggle worth unless its actual against something truly evil? The bigger the bad, the harder the struggle, the sweeter the victory.

I could go on and talk about how Charlotte was a whimisical humorous character, that was somehow just perfect. Or about how the clothing was just perfectly matched and you're all going to wish you were a nine year old girl that could fit into that Bayou wedding dress. But really I leave you with these thoughts, go see the movie, promise at least one thing is going to make you smile or warm your  heart. Get the soundtrack because that is surely worth it. And get excited because we might be entering Disney's next golden age, I can not wait for Rapunzel next year...