Promptvent - Day 20
25 days of winter prompts to thaw your writers (ice)block - and this year it's all about being Cozy.
Hello and welcome to day 20 of Promptvent!
If you’d like some wintry musical inspiration whilst you write, why not try listening to ‘Christmas Medley’ from ‘Elf (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ by John Debney on Spotify.
Listen to me read the guided invitation via audio below or if you prefer to read the transcript, that is also available for you underneath the audio.
Welcome back to our Promptvent village advent calendar where you find yourself standing once again before the cozy Christmas window.
Bundled up in your warm woolen mittens and thick scarf, you are eager to to know what wintry word of the day awaits you. What world will you step into and discover today? You lean closer, and can feel the eagerness in your fingers as you pull off your mittens and reach for the iron latch on the window, lifting it with care.
Inside the advent window is a small retro cinema, with red plush cozy sofa’s all facing a large white projector screen. The cinema is tastefully decorated with Christmas lights and trees and a few ushers gather popcorn into bags. You can smell the sweet and salty concoction of the delicious movie snack hitting your nostrils. An old fashioned countdown timer appears on the projector with the text, ‘Nostalgic Christmas Movie’, in 30 seconds.
All of a sudden the red wreathed door to your left slowly opens, inviting you further. You step through the door, stamp the snow off of your boots and hang your winter coat up on a golden brass hook. The warmth of the room is very welcome to your rosy cheeks and cold nose.
You are greeted by an usher who hands you some popcorn and a drink of your choice and shows you to the best seats in the house. As the timer counts down, snippets of timeless classic Christmas films pop up on the screen and you feel an excited pang of anticipation in your stomach, what film will it be?
You snuggle deeper into your chair and munch some popcorn, there is nothing like a Christmas movie to get you in the spirit. 3,2,1…the title of the movie shows up on the screen - and it is your all-time favorite movie. The movie that it wouldn’t really be Christmas without. It has everything, a kind festive message, some light relief, some heartbreak and reconciliation, animals, children and some gorgeous Christmas music.
As the end of the movie approaches and you wipe your eyes with a tissue, you can’t remember the last time you allowed yourself to sit down through an entire movie, you feel so much better! As the credits roll and you finish your popcorn, you notice something in the bottom of the bag, it is a notebook and pen. You open the notebook and see one word in large cursive script written at the top of the page.
It reads: MOVIE
You smile and think about all of the special moments watching Christmas films with family and loved ones, and introducing classic Christmas movies to young family members who will then go on to share that with their children. Then you pick up the pen - and you write.
Prompt Vent Day 29
Movie
It would be unthinkable in today's world but when I was about nine years old, every Saturday I would take my little sisters aged six and four and we would walk for an hour, beside a busy road, to the cinema for the afternoon matinee. It was always chaotic and very noisy with crowds of children desperate to be allowed in.
Before the screening started we were allowed to go on stage and dance. There we would twist and shake along to the Beetles and Cliff Richard. Then take our places in the deep plush red velvet seats. First would come cartoons, followed by a movie. I often sat holding hands with a boy from my school. We had bonded when we had both moved from the same area at the same time. At the interval I would queue for ice creams for me and my sisters. Then we had the long walk home, stopping off at the park to play on the swings and seesaw. we would use our pocket money at the little sweet shop to buy penny chews to eat on the way back. Nothing bad ever happened to us but in today's society I doubt any parent would allow their children the freedom we had. I certainly wouldn't have when my own children were that age.
Christmas films are somewhat I really don't do...spoiled for me by a selfush partner who would only ever watch their cgoice of movie. Every single year they would dominate the living room and stuff his face with the treats I'd tucked in the cupboard for when the family came, and the TV turned up so loud you couldn't escape the soundtrack anywhere in the house. And if I opted to go elsewhere for the duration my life was made hell.
It's put me off Christmas movies for life!
Now what I like to watch are box sets of crime dramas, where the blood and violence never disturbs my peace, and the storyline engages my mind for a while and silences the chattering of my over busy brain
Maybe there will come a time when I can watch a movie and enjoy it..but I doubt it will be a Christmas one!