Last night we got cozy in front of the roaring fireplace, with the Christmas tree lit, hot cocoa in hand, cats nuzzled all around and... Love Actually on the tube. Despite the fact that the voters on IMDB give this movie a barely-above-average 7.8 stars out of 10, I will go to my grave defending Love Actually as one of the greatest movies of all time.  Here's why:

1.  Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.  Though there are no fighting scenes like there are when these two appeared together in the Bridget Jones movies, we do get to see Hugh Grant as Prime Minister getting his dance on, with similar butt-moves as those in Music and Lyrics.  Really, any movie with both Hugh Grant and Colin Firth will make my Top Ten list.

2.  The airport hugging scenes.  This movie now has a monopoly on airport greetings.  You can't spend ten minutes in an arrivals area without overhearing someone mentioning that it reminds them of Love Actually.  And no, it's not always me saying it.  Seriously, I hear this everywhere now.

3.  The To Me, You Are Perfect scene.  J actually hates this scene because he once had a girl tell him she loved him after he'd already fallen for me, so it pisses him off.  But I actually think it's quite beautiful.  He doesn't have an agenda.  He's just saying what he feels.

4.  The guy who can't get a girlfriend in the UK, so decides to go to Wisconsin and make the most of his British accent, and winds up enmeshed in a five-some of hot Wisconsin chicks.  This is just so true.  Us American girls need to be careful with British boys.  When I first moved to London, I had to have my guard up.  A guy could come up and ask me whether I would like to be taken home and tied up and grotesquely murdered, but he'd sound so darn proper saying it that you'd struggle to refuse the offer.

5.  Stacey from Gavin and Stacey is a porn actress who meets her love while on the job.  If you know her character from Gavin and Stacey, you know that the idea that she could be a porn actress is just laughable. That'd be more Nessa's work.  Anyway, I love this storyline, and I love that actress, and it's all very funny.

6.  There's awesome London scenery.  In just a few shots they capture Trafalgar Square, the new Gherkin building, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street, and Selfridges (where I bought a duvet and duvet cover that I still own).

7.  Sam.  Who wouldn't melt at this kid, running through the airport to say goodbye to his true love in an act of gallantry?  Nobody with a heart, that's for sure.

8.  Mr. Bean's gift wrapping scene.

It's raining like crazy - I'm thinking of going into the ark business - but I'm up in my Girly Nook in the attic, snuggling with three cats and listening to the rain on the roof, so life is good.