What a fun day to celebrate, especially during the holiday season! While I’m not a chocoholic, preferring other flavors over chocolate, I don’t turn my nose up at it either. My grandson Dayan and I had already planned an event for the afternoon. This “holiday” provided the perfect excuse to stock up on chocolate covered snacks.
I picked Dayan up after school and we bought an assortment of goodies including chocolate covered donuts, chocolate covered peanut butter rice krispy treats and white chocolate covered Christmas tree shaped pretzels! Dayan went all out and got chocolate covered milk….otherwise known as chocolate milk…as well. With our stash, we settled into my daughter’s living room, to watch….The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, extended edition.
I can hear the groans. The Hobbit again? Didn’t I just do a Hobbit movie marathon yesterday? Haven’t I watched this movie enough? Yes….yes….and no. I never tire of the Middle-Earth films. As often as I watch, I learn something new, see something I haven’t seen before, hear a truth that escaped me before. In ways that are difficult for me to explain to anyone else, movies speak to me. They impart truth and knowledge and guidance. They reveal patterns and fuel my passion and creativity. Much like those who read the same book over and over again, I watch the same movie over and over to keep learning from it, and simply because I enjoy it.
I love watching movies with my grandchildren. Dayan, at 15, has been a long time movie companion. Our whole family took him to see his first movie when he was 8 months old. He sat in rapt attention during Toy Story, occasionally looking at me with his wise brown eyes before continuing to watch the story unfolding on the big screen. We’ve been to countless movies since.
We had a plan, Dayan and I, that we couldn’t execute until this week when the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies released. We wanted to watch all six Middle Earth films, in chronological order. We began today with the first Hobbit movie, and after we watch the newest Hobbit movie, we will progress through the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the extended editions. In this way, we will get to see the whole story, told through film.
Not only did we enjoy our movie, and our chocolate covered treats, we had great discussions about the films, Tolkien and Peter Jackson. I got to share with Dayan about how foreshadowing in this movie hints at what’s to come in the later films. And we tuned in to Howard Shore’s amazing soundtrack which subtly supports and enhances the movie. Dayan has a great ear for music and quickly learned to distinguish the different themes throughout the film. There is the Hobbit theme, Rivendell theme, Dwarves theme and many, many more. Each race and place has a musical theme that accompanies them and signals the arrival of key moments. When Gandalf speaks to Galadriel about the courage of Hobbits, the Hobbit theme plays softly in the background for a few bars. Even the eagles in the movie have a theme. We enjoyed connecting the information together that is woven throughout the films, creating an intricate, beautiful tapestry that tells such an amazing story. I joyfully anticipate watching each Middle-Earth movie again with Dayan and hearing his input.
This afternoon we laughed and talked and watched and wondered and snacked. It was a great celebration of all things Hobbit and of Chocolate Covered Anything Day and of life.
