So, Thanksgiving break is over. We’re in that weird period between breaks where I don’t want to do my homework but I have finals and projects to prepare for.

However, there’s one thing I love about the holidays: the aesthetic.

I love seeing all of the holiday lights, going to the Christkindlmarket in Chicago and I’m most excited for the vacation that my boyfriend and I are going on towards the end of the month, right before Christmas.

Oh! I forgot to mention something: my boyfriend thinks I love holiday movies.

There’s something that I should say in elaboration to that: my boyfriend thinks I love holiday movies and it turns out I only love to make fun of them.

Think about it, these movies are basically all the same type of tropey plot with the same ending (if not the same, they are very similar) and same type of characters.

You’ve probably seen this type of movie around this type of year. Think bigshot baker from Chicago enters a baking contest in a foreign country only to find her archrival and a really hot prince who is set to become king.

The baker wins the contest while their arch rival *barely* gets second and to put icing on the cake, if you will, the baker and the prince get married as the credits roll.

Or an author from another completely different urban area goes back to their small hometown to find themselves and they coincidentally fall in love with their middle school crush who never left town. Like with the baker, the author gets married as the credits roll.

All of these movies have similar things, so pick a baker or an author and you’re pretty much set.

As an English major, I like reading new things and about new topics. So, it’s not really interesting to me to watch the same movie with the same plot over and over.

It’s also sad to me to see that there isn’t much variety in terms of cast either. Not only would I love to see a new plot, but I would also love to see a wider variety in casting choices.

Here’s what I think should happen in holiday movies instead. I’d love your opinions.

So picture this movie plot: let’s say I’m a hot shot…I don’t know, lawyer. I’m 27 years old and I was that girl in high school that had parents that wouldn’t allow me to date.

Now they’re worried that I’m ‘old,’ so I’ll never find a hot guy to marry and settle down with in the next three days.

I go back to my suburban area on the opposite side of the country in the San Fernando Valley.

I’m back in my childhood bedroom and bam! My parents set me up on a blind date. I get there and it turns out that my date is my dad’s business partner’s son.

However, he’s not as… gorgeous as my parents thought.

The date ends up going horribly and the movie still ends with me single (sorry for the spoiler).

While I’m sure many people love holiday movies, which is great, I just wish there was more variety in the movies we saw over the holidays.

These movies are not at all representative of what everyone experiences over the holidays and they should be.

Maybe I’ll actually start to like them if they finally become representative.

Katja Benz is senior English major. She can be reached at kkbenz@eiu.edu or 217-581-2812.