Blogmas Day Three: Christmas on Wheels

Christmas on Wheels

As the movie begins, we see a mother and her young daughter getting into a beautiful red convertible. Years later, all grown up, Ashley collects Christmas antiques, but never goes home to Robinsville for the holidays, because it’s too painful after the loss of her mother.

She and her mother spent her early years loading the car up with gifts for those who were less fortunate, and they traveled from home to home, giving out what was needed at Christmas time, along with toys for the kids. When her uncle calls to ask her if she wants the car, she says no, and suggests he could “do whatever he wants with it.”

But when she comes home one holiday season to help care for him after he injures himself, and finds out that he sold it, she is heartbroken. 

She finally decides to look for it and eventually gets it back. She soon decides to resurrect the Christmas on Wheels charity drive that will help her bring gifts to those in need again, and the entire town gets in on helping her raise the money.

Her dream is to own an antiques store, and while she’s staying with her uncle, a friend calls to tell her that she shop she has been keeping an eye on is finally available to lease. The town, of course, hopes she will stay.

Throughout her time there, her uncle’s lawyer and friend, Duncan, has been helping her and they’ve been spending time together. When he finds out that she is considering the lease, it seems to throw cold water on their budding relationship.
​

What Can We Learn from It?

What I see in this movie - grief over the loss of her mother changes Ashley, and dims her joy during the holiday season. Buying Christmas antiques is the outlet for that joy that she allows, but due to her grief, she avoids other reminders of holiday memories with her mother.

Coming back home begins to return her to herself. And before long, she lets herself open up to everything she had previously been avoiding.
​

This void I’ve always felt at Christmas - I realize that I’m the one who created it…
- Ashley, in Christmas on Wheels

Something to think about - grief and loss are inevitable. And it can change you in ways you might not even notice.

But you’re likely to find that the more willing you are to stay present with your grief, the less of yourself you lose, and the easier it is to find yourself again when you’re ready.

See you next time!

Love, Jeanine
​