"You see George, it really is a wonderful life..."

It's the typical week before Christmas. A million gifts to wrap, a million left to buy, Christmas cards that need to be sent, cookies to bake, packing before I travel home tomorrow, and (most importantly for a Cosmo girl) finger nails that still need to be splashed in my favorite holiday color - Red. With all of these tasks lingering on my mind, there is only one thing that I truly must do.

So.... I pop the cork on a bottle of red, light the awesome peppermint candle I received as a gift yesterday, wrap myself in a fuzzy blanket, and dive into the couch wearing my most comfy jammies. I press play on the dvd remote and the screen flashes on...

"It's A Wonderful Life"

For years now, it has been a Courtney holiday tradition to watch this incredible Frank Capra film before Santa comes a-knockin' on Christmas Eve. As much as a well-lit tree is essential for promoting holiday cheer, so is this movie for me. Consider it my holiday good luck charm - I simply have to have it.

So here we are, me & George Bailey, on our annual holiday date. George has just saved little brother Harry from drowning (5 minutes in) and I'm already beginning to tear up.

I take a sip of vino.

George accompanies Mary on a midnight walk through Bedford Falls. "What is it you want, Mary... You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down." And, of course, George and Mary fall in love. But even this love will not subside the frustration of dreams he once believed in, soon to be lost in the shuffle of obligation.

Another sip of vino.

I wish for a moment that I had burning logs in the fireplace to complete this perfect night at home... and then my mind quickly takes me to the fireplace catastrophy of last Christmas (a story for another day).

But I digress. A desperate and suicidal George is soon greeted by his guardian angel Clarence. In an attempt to help him realize his own self-worth and essentially save him, Clarence creates a life in which George Bailey never existed.

Half a bottle of vino and and hour & a half in, my heart is feeling warmer. There is just something about this movie that compacts all of my worries into a ball and thumps them right out into oblivion. As Tucker sneaks up onto the couch and snuggles in beside me, I feel a lump in my throat when George and Clarence arrive at the cemetery...

Clarence: Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine.
George: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war - he got the Congressional Medal of Honor, he saved the lives of every man on that transport.
Clarence: Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry. Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole!

TEARS. STREAMING.

Clarence is right, you know, and I believe that's what I love so very much about this movie. It always serves as a reminder to me of what I have and what I have accomplished. I read a book recently called "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" - fantastic read! Go to the nearest Barnes & Noble today, literally, and buy it. In it, the author uses the same idea, different method, to remind his readers that we live unaware of the great impact in which we have on other's lives.

In the end, George Bailey returns to his family and with the help of his friends, the crisis is overted. As George reads Clarence's final words of wisdom, "Remember, no man is a failure, who has friends", a bell rings to signify that Clarence has received his wings. My heart is literally bursting with happiness and Christmas spirit as the sounds of "Auld Lang Syne" fill my apartment and the movie closes.

Christmas mission accomplished.

It is a 'Wonderful Life'!