Hello and welcome to recommendation number fourteen in Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!
Today I’ll be recommending
some Christmassy movies that you should be watching to brighten your day and
get you in the festive spirit!
Watching movies was one of the many, simple things I missed out on when I was an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital for two and a half years. We were allowed TVs, DVD players, and Freeview boxes in our rooms but we couldn’t watch anything until the evening when we had finished our therapeutic groups (there was a timetable and everything!). And what we did watch was regulated by the staff who banned films like Girl Interrupted because they believed it to be triggering and inspirational (in a bad way, obviously).
However, one of my favourite memories from being in that hospital (there were some good times too!) was lying in bed with one of the girls I’d come to be closest to on Boxing Day, and watching the Disney film; Tangled! I think it was especially nice that it was Boxing Day because it made the movie even more of a distraction and a brilliant method of escape! Being in a psychiatric hospital at Christmastime is so sad because so many traditional things are missed out on – not just visiting Christmas Markets or going to a carol service, but also not being able to have things like tinsel (ligature risk) and fairy lights (breakable glass to self-harm with)!
Fortunately, Christmas movies were one thing that wasn’t prohibited, and they became a luxury. I became more grateful to them because they were one of the few Christmassy activities we’d do at home that we could actually do in hospital.
So, with that in mind, here are my top five favourite Christmas movies, my favourite quotes, and links for you to buy each of them…
The Santa Clause, 1994
Buy it here
“Thanks, but I’m seeing someone in wrapping”
Jack Frost, 1998
Buy
it here
“My balls are freezing”
Miracle on 34th Street, 1994
Buy it here
“It’s silly, but I believe”
Elf, 2003
Buy it here
“Santa? I know him!”
Home Alone 2: Lost in New
York, 1992
Buy it here
“… you can’t mess with kids on Christmas”