The Belles, the Nephews, and the Mouse

Started off today with oatmeal and a pear for breakfast and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas. As with the first film, this is an anthology of several short cartoons revolving around the Disney gang. Unlike the first movie, the animation is done by computer, the cartoons are much shorter, and there's five instead of three.

The theme here is dealing with the stress of the holidays. In "Belles On Ice," Daisy and Minnie (and the dancing hippos and crocodiles from the original Fantasia) compete with each other in a huge skating show, but when the competition gets too fierce, they learn a lesson in friendship and cooperation. Huey, Dewey, and Louie are afraid that they're on Santa's naughty list, but when they go on a "Christmas: Impossible" quest to the North Pole to change Santa's mind, they learn that sometimes, it feels good to put others first. Goofy tries to impress college-age Max's new sweetheart in the musical short "Christmas Maximus." Donald just wants to escape the holiday furor in "Donald's Gift," but he discovers that the holidays are even more fun when you share them. Even Mickey can get upset; he blows up at Pluto when his beloved dog accidentally destroys his party decorations in "Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas." Pluto runs away and finds a home with Santa's flying reindeer...but the only present either wants under the tree is their renewed friendship.

While I admit that I liked the original better, these are fun, too. There were a lot of complaints at Amazon.com and elsewhere about how nasty the characters were to each other...but let's face it, the holidays can be overwhelming. Who hasn't competed with a friend, embarrassed an older child who brought friends or significant others home for the holidays, yelled at friends or pets over petty things, or just tried to escape when it all seems unbearable? It may be too much for the very youngest, but slightly older kids may enjoy these surprisingly and refreshingly realistic takes on one of the craziest times of the year.

I might have to start doing the laundry on Tuesdays more often. When I arrived around 11, there was not a single soul in the laundromat. Not even the little old lady who manages the place. It was just me and the news on Channel 10. A few men arrived later, but it never got anywhere near as busy as it usually is on Monday.

The weather may have scared people off. It was cloudy and too warm, in the 60s, all day. It rained on and off, too, though never as heavily as in the past few months. It wasn't even doing that when I rode back to the apartment.

When I got home, I put the laundry away, then had the rest of that chicken wrap from yesterday for lunch. I did this year's Christmas cards as I dubbed the 1986 Babes In Toyland with Drew Barrymore for my friend Lauren.

It was showering lightly when I headed out to work, but it wasn't hard enough to call for a ride. I just got slightly wet. Work was a pain again. We're still getting beginning-of-the-month customers, and people are starting to shop for Christmas, too. One couple bought piles of books and activity sets from the discount bin, then almost put them back because they wanted to use a store coupon that isn't good for another two weeks! I don't know why they couldn't have just bought the darn things without it. They ended up letting them use the coupon anyway. It was busy right up until an hour before I left. Thankfully, it slowed down enough that I was able to leave with no relief (though I was late getting out, thanks to one of the cashiers being late coming back from break - she always is).