Holly Jolly Christmas

I got up so late, it was nearly afternoon when I was having breakfast. I decided to cheer myself up on my last day of vacation with the original Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph is an adorable baby reindeer with a big problem - his nose glows bright red. He's shunned by the other reindeer in the conformity-obsessed North Pole, except for sweet doe Clarice. Hermie, an elf who wants to be a dentist, also feels shunned. The two run away to find a place where they'll be accepted, accompanied by boisterous miner Yukon Cornelius. When even the Island of Misfit Toys can't take them, Rudolph realizes that he can't keep running away...and that even misfits can have a place where they belong.

Headed out around 12:30 to run errands. Started off at the Oaklyn Library. I didn't linger too long there. There wasn't really much to do, and I couldn't reach a lot of the kids' DVDs because the graham cracker "gingerbread houses" that were going to be judged for a contest were blocking them. After I got bored with listening to the librarian and the one older woman on the computer fuss over politics, I left.

I wanted to buy tins for cookies to be sent in the mail, and I was out of parchment paper. I plan on starting the Christmas cookies tomorrow. I originally went to Family Dollar for tins, but they had none. I ended up buying the tins at a very busy Dollar Tree and riding down to the Westmont Acme for parchment paper. The Acme, surprisingly, was not busy, but it wasn't rush hour yet, either.

At least it was a nice day for a ride. The clouds from the morning were gradually giving way to a sunny afternoon that was a little bit warmer than it has been. I cut through part of Newton Lake Park, which despite the suddenly-decent day, wasn't busy. The only creatures I saw were Canadian geese. I ended up pushing my bike up some of the stone steps leading up the hill, since it was kind of getting late.

Ate lunch and watched a fairy tale-related episode of Max & Ruby after I got in. "Little Ruby Riding Hood" wants to take a basket of cookies to Grandma's house. The Big Max Wolf won't make that easy! Ruby tells Max the story of "Max and the Beanstalk" to get him to eat his green beans, but Max misinterprets her tale. Ruby and Louise are against Max's frog joining their play, until Ruby remembers one fairy tale that does feature a princess and a frog, "The Froggy Prince."

Did some writing after lunch. Ashoka gives Luke and Ben a cart to carry the gold and hen in. They manage to get out of the dining hall just in time. Vader awakes and chases them. The mouse pulling their cart runs into a mouse hole. The hole leads them to Vader's treasure room. Chewbacca, a huge thief, is already there, along with Threepio, the chatty golden harp. He and his partner Han came up the beanstalk the night before, hoping to find something to steal. Han tried to take the hen that laid the golden eggs, but Vader caught him. Chewie escaped down the mouse hole. Luke and Ben offer to take him and Threepio back up to the main room to rescue Luke's sister, his friend, and the people of the land who were turned into trees.

Charlie came upstairs just as I was finishing my writing for the day. First of all, the lights he put up yesterday haven't been working. Second, he said there was a package downstairs for me. They left it on his side of the house for some reason. I don't know why he couldn't have brought it upstairs - I had to go retrieve it.

It was from my good friends Linda and James Young. Most of the packages inside were for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but there were a few I could open now. One was a pretty necklace with a pendent that repeated Oscar Wilde's "Be yourself - everyone else is already taken" line. One was I believe a beaded bookmark. The other was a "My Little Demon" parody dressed as Jem of Jem and the Holograms that James apparently found at DragonCon, the Atlanta sci-fi convention Linda and James attend every year. I put the magnet up right away, but I'll have to look for an interesting spot for the card. (Speaking of cards, they also gave me a really cute Christmas card with the Peanuts singing in the snow.)

I'd had a can of tomato paste and a pack of chicken thighs around for a while. I tossed both together with onions, mushrooms, herbs, and water in the Crock Pot. By around 6:30, the kitchen smelled wonderful. Yumm. It came out very nice and rich. Had it with defrosted snap peas and leftover mashed sweet potatoes.

Ran Garfield and Friends as I ate. The fat cat and his barnyard pals did indulge in fantasy and fairy tale spoofs from time to time. "The Worst Pizza" is Garfield's tale of how a cat saved an Italian village from a baker's (Jon) terrible pizza. Even after Orson finishes their bedtime book, the chicks, Wade, and Roy want to know "Jack II: The Rest of the Story." Orson's too tired to continue it, so they make up their own ending. "The Garfield Opera" is a spoof of a typical episode...that's totally through-sung, as per the title.

Finished the night with Lego Star Wars. Tried the Super Story for New Hope, but got stuck on "Death Star Escape." (I was way over an hour by that point, anyway.) Did the "Retake Theed Palace" and "Gunship Calvary" blue piece challenges and managed to complete the latter.