I’m a sucker for holiday movies. Some of my greatest memories are of my sisters and I snuggling up with my grandparents on our annual visits to their home in Philadelphia and watching some of the best ever made. We grew up watching Miracle on 34th Street to It’s a Wonderful Life over and over, year after year. Holiday films bring families together and bring in a sense of warmth, nostalgia, family, tradition. In recent years, the classics have turned from black & white to color and my kids now love watching Elf, Home Alone and Scrooged.
Love The Coopers follows The Cooper clan as four generations of extended family come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. As the evening unfolds, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday…and it’s all told from a dog’s point of view (the family dog). The film has an impressive cast including Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ed Helms, Diane Keaton, Jake Lacy, Anthony Mackie, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei and Olivia Wilde. With a cast like this, the film is pretty irresistable, particularly my all-time fave, Diane Keaton partnering up with John Goodman – great pairing. And I adore Marisa Tomei, who plays a very relatable middle-aged woman feeling very alone in mid-life. While it wasn’t my favorite holiday movie, the premise was all there – we all need to appreciate life more and be more grateful for the people around us. Besides, you can return your family! That’s a lesson I’d like to teach my kids more often and a good reason to see Love the Coopers.
To celebrate the film’s opening TODAY, I’m giving away a Visa gift card for $50.
To enter, answer this in the comments: Tell me about a time you did everything you could to make the holiday perfect but things went very, very wrong.
For an additional entry, tweet this:
I entered to win @LoveTheCoopers (now in theaters everywhere) $50 Visa card via @hollychronicles! http://bit.ly/1RTOXBT
Winner will be selected randomly. This giveaway will end on Thanksgiving Day at 9am EST. Winner will be posted here, on the Culture Mom Facebook page and via email and will have 24 hours to accept their prize.
Disclosure: I was not compensated to write this post the same prize to facilitate the post. Giveaway is courtesy of CBS Films.
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tweeted
https://twitter.com/thomasmurphy40/status/669708465837883392
One year I tried to make the holiday perfect but a big snow storm hit so most of my family could not come.
tweet–https://twitter.com/WildOrchid985/status/669553801288925184
One time, I had everything perfectly planned…or so I thought. I forgot to thaw the turkey in time!!! Ugh…never made that mistake again.
Thanks for the chance to win!!
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/SmartAnnSavvy/status/669393499117219840
tweet
https://twitter.com/aes529/status/669274742340349952
I cooked a turkey but ended up dropping it on the floor
i am lucky to have had things go right for the holidays. the only time i can remember something gone wrong on the holidays was when i was little and was horribly sick on Christmas morning.
TWEETED:
https://twitter.com/heavensangel238/status/668256646229962752
Thanks for the chance to win! I would LOVE to see this movie!! 🙂
Being young and a first time Turkey maker- I tried two years ago to bake a turkey in the oven. Unfortunately, no one had told me that you have to thaw it.
It was not cooked all the way, it was not thawed. It was disgusting trying to get the part of the insides out of the turkey. It was just gross. I know now why my mom always bought Honey Baked Hams. lol. 🙂
Thanks!
https://twitter.com/SmartAnnSavvy/status/667583966816243712
tweet https://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/667552177360105472
When I visited the in laws even though they are rude and nasty people, I thought it would get better but they ruined my holiday and my children
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
Tweet https://twitter.com/JalapenoMama/status/666842270793080832
That would be the first Christmas dinner I made for the in laws.
It was my first turkey and I didn’t know to take the inside parts out.
Also the gravy was lumpy and the pie sure wasn’t the best!
It was not a good first impression for my cooking skills.
And I wanted everything to be perfect!
thank you
https://twitter.com/yarbr012/status/666599398957293568
I tried to make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, but there was a snowstorm and my brother got stuck in Colorado and it was too dangerous for the rest of my family to drive. I had to many leftovers because no one came.
tweeted
https://twitter.com/cshell202/status/666530861475467266
cshell090869 at aol dot com
I have to say I cant think of anything that went too badly on a Holiday. The worst time I can think of is the very first time my son cooked the turkey for Thanksgiving and he forgot to take out the bag of giblets and the turkey didn’t cook all the way through.
cshell090869 at aol dot com
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/SmartAnnSavvy/status/666449677701681152
Julie smartsavvymama@gmail.com
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/666238599545921536
We always do a lunch on Christmas Day but one year nobody showed up because it snowed so much.
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/PeachesDreams77/status/666013896432594944
One year I burned the turkey so badly even the doggies wouldn’t touch it! Major disaster ~ we wound up eating a frozen lasagna I had in the freezer! 🙂
https://twitter.com/sohamolina/status/665731275924213760
I usually host Christmas EVE and one year, most of my guests had to cancel because they had the flu!! That was sad.
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/SmartAnnSavvy/status/665722752620335105
Julie smartsavvymama@gmail.com
I was hosting Thanksgiving for the first time after getting married. My husband’s side of the family was coming over. Everything was going well until the garbage disposal broke and water started coming up. Then of course the toilet clogged and one of the kids got sick. Thanks for the chance to win! Julie smartsavvymama@gmail.com
For Thanksgiving, The hardest part is making for all different dietery and allergy needs. of course there is one person we forgot to take into account.
I burned the turkey, burned the cookies. Nothing went right that year, but I still had a great time.
My first Thanksgiving dinner was disaster! The turkey was burnt, half frozen, gamey tasting mess!
https://twitter.com/gigig99/status/665513587025166336
Nothing ever goes right when you are trying to make a special thanksgiving dinner for everyone to enjoy but you have to cook for people who each have a different allergy and can’t eat what is on the table.
One of the first turkey dinners I cooked I invited a lot of friends, and I underestimated my timing and the dang thing was so far from done at the time I thought it would be. It was a total timing failure. It was certainly no fun to have everything ready HOURS early… somehow people claimed that they still enjoyed it (good liars!)
Oy, Kim, I’ve made several dinners that went wrong and everyone has always been diplomatic…aka liars!
last year I tried to do some really special things for my kiddo and get her something nice. The gift turned out to be a bust and I broke it trying to put it together the night before. never again lol
But you tried, Sarah! “A” for effort!
I have two children with Autism, so things frequently go wrong. I did everything I could to plan for my children to visit family and it ended up with my oldest escaping and us chasing him through the snow. Everyone ended up safe and that is all that matters.
https://mobile.twitter.com/dawnmonroe83/status/665340817230417921
I tried to do the perfect holiday when I first got married. I baked the turkey with the bag still in it, burnt the pies and made gravy that tasted like lumpy flour. The worst part was one of the kids had the flu and got sick all over the living room.
And why is the the woman who’s expected to cook?! Been there, done that, Dawn!
https://twitter.com/yarbr012/status/665328893448994816
tweet
https://twitter.com/jwatson50/status/665329447378227200
Last Christmas I cooked the entire meal for my family. We had a lot of guests and family members from out of state that had traveled a long distance. We finally get everything out on the table to serve, and my youngest grandson ended up throwing up all over the table. He had a really high fever and my daughter took him to the urgent care center. Turned out, he had the flu! Then all of our guests were concerned afterwards that they were exposed to the flu. I tried everything I could to make our Christmas nice for all but at that point it was out of my control!
OMG, Janet, sounds awful. I hope this year is better!
Congrats – you are the winner!
I remember one Thanksgiving I tried my best to accomodate each person’s diet preferences but it became too stressful to make a billion different dishes and I lost my temper.
Natalie, hopefully everyone understood and is coming back again this year?
tweet https://twitter.com/kraftmaking/status/665311554863104000
The one Thankgiving with my in-law was stressful and painful to remember. MIL complained about traffic and food the whole time, friends and family had to listen to her for hours. I felt sorry for everyone who came over.
May this year be better, HS!
tweeted – https://twitter.com/sandyhills25/status/665300827452678146
I would have to say that when I tried preparing for first feast with in-laws. It was our first year and very young too. The turkey came our really bad and we all had to eat out in a restaurant instead
Oh, well, blame it on being young, sandhills!
I had a big dinner party at my house a couple years ago and while guests brought side dishes I was in charge of the main meal (roast and a turkey) . Both items came out perfect and were put in the fridge to rest as I was busy doing a million other things. When I went back in the fridge to get them, I had accidentally punctured the bottom of the tin the turkey was in without knowing when I was poking around to see if it was done and the gravy had spilled out all over my fridge ruining other items! It was a big mess, people were coming, I didn’t have time to do everything.. it was stressful!
Hopefully you learned that you need help this time, Elle!
Tweet – https://twitter.com/PrettyHotPink6/status/665255295266893824
I was going to do my first Thanksgiving dinner, and wanted to have turkey and lasagna. When I went to the store to get the ingredients for the lasagna, a few Italian grandmothers looked at my cart and asked me what I was planning on doing! I was wondering why they would ask. I had 5 packages of lasagna noodles, 7 large cans of tomatoes, three 3-lb ricotta, several 1 lb of mozzarella, and all the other yummy ingredients like sausage. When I started cooking all the packages of noodles, I realized why the grandmas’ eyebrows were raised. I had enough lasagna to feed the army, maybe the navy, too!! I gave away sooo much and had leftovers for an entire year! Mangia!!!!
Sounds like a great meal, though. No disasters, Rosie!
tweet
https://twitter.com/Kellydpa/status/665238202446446592
One Christmas I tried making sugar cookies for family and all of the shapes ended up spreading on the pan while baking and I had one big cookie when they came out of the oven. They are hard to share that way!
I just made a batch like that THIS WEEK, Kelly!
I was hosting Christmas 3 years ago and my husband, my son and myself all came down with the flu. People came took food and left us there to clean up. It took the entire week for us to feel better, clean and eat leftovers that we couldn’t even eat.. It took my son all week to open his gifts because he was so sick. It was awful!
Oh, sounds unforgettable, Milena!
tweet: https://twitter.com/akronugurl/status/665228634676977664
https://twitter.com/Joan_1969/status/665228647956000769?lang=en
Tweeted! https://twitter.com/barrettboys/status/665228467315810304
i dont host parties but we go to my grandparents house
My mother called to invite me for Thanksgiving diner. I asked what time to come and she said “whenever, around diner time”. So I got there at about 4pm, I wanted to come early to help her out and visit, when I got there dad said oh we ate HOURS ago!
Oops! That’s funny, Joan.
I used to live in S. Florida, and the “fried” turkey craze took over all American families. I purchased my fryer, and claimed I read all the instructions.
However, when it came to the real frying, I almost burn the house down. All I remember was that I was showering the fryer with water instead of cooking it. I was so upset at myself because I felt I had failed. My children were looking forward to this, but at the end of the day, I can say that no one was injured, burn or anything bad. I ran to Boston Market, and ordered a meal for 4. Even though it was not received well, we had something to be grateful, our lives and our commitment to be together as a family.
As for me, I will never attempt this, but I’m still willing to try it already made.
You almost burnt the house down on Thanksgiving! Oy, But you tried, Pamela!
We were waiting for guests to come over for a Thanksgiving dinner and had everything cooked. They got stuck in traffic and never arrived, so we ended up with all the food leftovers that we had to eat for weeks.
That’s something I like – leftovers – so I don’t have to cook!
That would be last year! My mom and I ordered a lot of nice gifts online for my brother’s wife and 2 kids. I cleaned the house for 2 days before they arrived. We cooked a wonderful meal. When they showed up, we got no compliments on the food, the decorations or cleanliness of the house , nor hardly a thank you for the gifts. They ate, unwrapped their gifts and threw the trash on the floor and then basically left. We felt so bad!
We have already talked to my brother about not inviting them this year, Only him. It’s a shame when you can’t enjoy your holiday because of people like them. Never again!!
That is so disappointing. Not easy to get over, I’m sure, Amy.
I tweeted! twitter.com/KsWifeZsMama/status/665208214267502592
Last year, I went above and beyond with my present giving and I was hosting Christmas for the first time at my house for my in-laws. Well, my husband was apparently too busy to give me anything for Christmas and then after I preheated my oven for baking, I started to smell something… my husband had left his rubber work gloves in there the night before (he was trying to dry them out) and they had melted all over my oven! So, the house smelled like burning rubber, I had to clean the oven, I didn’t get any presents, I was behind on my cooking, and my in-laws were about to show up! This year, things had better be different or I’m gonna kill him. Seriously. lol
Uggh, Shannon!
my tweet https://twitter.com/LuLu_Brown24/status/665205905638621184
jslbrown2009 at aol dot com
We have my family over for Christmas a few years ago. We cooked many different things to accommodate different wants and tastes. I warned my husband that we were making too much food and that there was no way to control when things were ready when they needed to be served so we all could sit together and not eat cold or luck warm food. It turned out, I was serving food and taking away dishes, the entire time, so I could not sit with my family, relax, and eat with them. My husband in the end admitted “we” did the meal wrong.
jslbrown2009 at aol dot com
tweet-https://twitter.com/JewelWood/status/665203945497759745
I tried to cook the perfect dinner one year for my new husband and I and it turned out to be a disaster. I made apple pie that burned, the gravy was lumpy with no flavor, the Turkey was dry and the mashed potatoes were lumpy. We had to go out to eat that Christmas Day and luckily we went to eat at my sister’s house and her dinner was perfect! Lucky lady!
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/665202666386141185
The Christmas my husband and I bought our first house, we had a fire! It was a new construction and apparently the construction crew had left some debris in one of our ducts and when the heat turned on, it caught fire. Luckily the fire department came quickly and we were all safe. We stood outside shivering with our dog while they checked everything out.