The Holiday Cheer of Rose and Rosie’s Vlogmas

By: Kathryn Trammell

It’s that time of the year again when we exchange the shorts and sleeveless shirts that fill our drawers with long johns and woolen socks, when we descend the steps into our basements in search of our holiday decorations and space heaters, when we trade pumpkin lattes for peppermint mochas and when we curl up in front of the fireplace to binge watch episodes of Rose and Rosie’s Vlogmas series. What? You don’t do the last one? Well you should.

Rose and Rosie might boast over 600,000 subscribers and over one million total views on their main channel as well as a 2016 British LGBT Award for the work they’ve done on YouTube, but it’s the chemistry between Rose Ellen Dix and Rosie Spaughton’s that makes their videos so endearing and entertaining to watch. Rare are the details of their relationship that are off limits to their audience and plenty are the fans (“Boobies”) who appreciate their decision to be so open. Their kind of vlogging is the honest kind – the sharing of moments that are never scripted and never weighed down by people who take themselves too seriously – and it is this honesty that brings such charm and hilarity to each video they create and share.

This charm is amplified to a level beyond the usual when on the first day of December the couple begins a 25-day long vlog series aptly named “Vlogmas.” The series documents slices of their life in the days leading up to Christmas and involve the same mundane tasks with which most of us are familiar when we begin preparing for the holidays. Except when Rose and Rosie take on the tasks of solving the prickly puzzle of assembling a Christmas tree and untangling wads of Christmas lights it is somehow becomes less menial and more hilarious when they do it compared to our own undertaking of the same tasks. This is not to say some of us don’t have our own funny Christmas tree assembly stories. But after watching the first episode of this year’s Vlogmas series, I immediately found myself forgetting about the cuts on my cheeks and hands from plastic pine needles and immediately began imagining the fun I would have assembling the tree with my own wife.

Hilarity continues to ensue when in Episode 2 we are introduced to the true star of this year’s show: Aisha the “Christmas Fairy” and the future bane of Rose’s existence. At the beginning of the episode, Rose comes hopping down the hallway with Christmas cheer and stops dead in her tracks when she notices a present sitting under the Christmas tree. There are few moments when Rose is truly caught off guard in her videos – when her reactions are meant for Rosie rather than her audience – and this is one them. Rosie tells her the gift is meant to be opened now and with little convincing Rose begins to dig in, but not before searching the room quickly for a (re)gift to give to Rosie: a candle that has been sitting on their coffee table as decoration. It’s the thought that counts.

Once the present is open, Rose pulls the gift from its box to find a “Christmas Fairy” inside. For those of us familiar with the Vlogmas episodes of Christmas past, we know just how thoughtful this gift is considering Rose loathes their usual Hello Kitty tree topper and Rosie is obsessed with Hello Kitty. With this gift, Rosie has put aside her obsession to offer Rose a proper angel to top their black Christmas tree…only Rose hates the angel. This is apparent from her half-hearted attempt at keeping the disgust hidden from her face the moment she pulls the angel from its box. Maybe she was expecting something else. Maybe it’s the angels knobby elbows that are bent at an inhuman angle or the fact that her hands are wrapped in bubble wrap as if “she has a history of violence,” but Rose generates a bias against the angel from the moment she sees it that carries over into the rest of the episodes. And it is hysterical.

At first Rose tries to dispose of Aisha the Christmas Fairy by staging her in scenes of various treacherous situations, something she is all too willing to deny having had a part in when Rosie confronts her. But at some point, the angel stops being a victim and becomes a demented Elf on the Shelf when she first gets tangled into Rose’s hair while she tries to sleep and then gets “caught” a few days later shopping for meat cleavers online. It’s absolutely hilarious – the kind of ridiculousness that has the power to make the holidays so memorable – but it’s Rosie’s second and third gift to Rose that remind us why value these videos so very much.

In Episode 7 we are asked by Rosie to become part of yet another prank on Rose (I’m certain Aisha was a prank gift – Rosie knew what she was doing when she gave it to Rose). She shows us before wrapping both presents that Rose’s first gift is a tub full of water. It has no lid, so we can only imagine what will happen when Rose goes to shake the gift. As predicted, she shakes her gift and water pours out of the wrapping paper and onto her lap. Rose becomes upset, but knows she is being filmed and reigns in her reaction for the sake of her audience.

Rosie then gives Rose her second gift, which we never see the contents. Her face lights up the moment the box opens. Inside are two Slytherin scarves, a pair of Slytherin gloves and a chocolate frog. “You see, I thought you’d detect the water and Slytherins like damp, wet places,” Rosie explains softly, her peace-offering having its desired effect on Rose who has all but forgotten she is soaked from the first gift. It’s adorable, kind and the very reason why Rose and Rosie have earned so many followers. Their videos may be chalked full of funny jokes, pranks and silly adlibbed songs, but at the end of the day hilarity will always take a back seat to general kindness.

Ask any of their biggest fans why they enjoy the content of Rose and Rosie’s videos so much and they will inevitably say that it’s the ability both YouTubers have in making the audience feel so included in the best parts of their lives. This feeling of inclusion, of being a part of the hysterical, kind and genuine moments they show us that is what makes Rose and Rosie so special. They don’t just show us Christmas pranks. They ask us to be a part of them. And for many of us who might be alone for the holidays (in whatever physical or mental capacity that may be) being made to feel like you have two friends who are genuinely kind and beautiful people is certainly powerful. Rose and Rosie represent the best parts of our relationships amplified and we couldn’t be more grateful for the cheer this spreads every holiday season.

Rose and Rosie’s Vlogmas series can currently be seen on Rosie’s YouTube channel, TheRoxetera.