Imagine this. You’re a big, hot-shot corporate executive, but you have to go back to your small, quaint hometown somewhere in New England for the holidays to help your widowed father keep the family business afloat. While leaving the local coffee shop, you bump into a rugged local man and accidentally spill your coffee all over his flannel shirt. Whatever do you do? 

That’s right. It’s a Holiday Rom-Com. You know the drill:

• That man is one of your father’s employees. 
• He’s widowed, of course, with a cute moppet/kid. 
• You bake cookies together, accidentally get a little flour on your face. 
• You go to a tree lighting ceremony.
• You go ice skating. You’re really bad at it, but every time you fall, he helps you up, ever so carefully.
• On Christmas Eve, you break the news to him that you’re selling the family business and heading back to the city. 
• You argue, he leaves, and you cry yourself to sleep. 
• Your definitely gay-but-not-actually-said-to-be-gay best friend calls you, and you recount the story. He says, “Girl, you gotta get that man!”

I love Rom-Coms. Movies like this remind me of getting cozy on the couch with too many blankets and a cup of hot chocolate in my hands. It reminds me of all the lines that me and my family have memorized, the ones that we re-played 10 times because we couldn’t stop laughing. 

And don’t get me wrong, I 100% agree that there are problems with holiday rom-coms. They often lack diversity, are heteronormative, are christian centric and have outdated and problematic gender roles. Oftentimes promoting the “damsel in distress” trope, or implying that you can only choose your career or true love, and are selfish if you choose your career.

However, no one watches these movies for the plot, and while they are behind the curve, more and more movies have diverse casts, gay couples and don’t always center around Christian holidays. They are still quite behind on gender roles though- especially anti-feminist tropes.

All in all, there are problems with holiday rom-coms but that can also be beauty in them. They’re so horrendously bad that you’ll have inside jokes about them forever, and remember all of the good memories spent watching them with your loved ones.

So when the time comes, chase after that brawny man and apologize profusely. He won’t seem to be having any of it, but later while boarding your plane back to the big city you’ll hear someone calling your name. You spin around and see him running towards you. You get all flustered as he comes up to you. You’re about to say something, but he stops you with the driest kiss of all time. Perfection.