Blustery Christmas

I awoke to chimes in the distance and clouds on the horizon. Cheered up the gloomy morning with classic animated shorts revolving around Christmas and winter. "Snow Foolin'" and "Winter Comin' On" are part of the Paramount Famous Studios Screen Song "follow the bouncing ball" series from the late 40's and early 50's. "Snow Foolin'" has animals playing in the snow before we sing "Jingle Bells." "Winter" is a bit less festive. Birds prepare to fly south, to the tune of "Alabamy Bound."

"The Snow Man" is an oddity from I believe the 30's, from the rubber-hose, pie-eyed designs. An Inuit and his Arctic animal friends build a snow man, but their frosty buddy somehow transforms into a nasty Yeti! They have to figure out how to dodge this angry snow creature.

Popeye the Sailor's only Christmas short was "Season's Greetinks." He takes Olive skating, but Bluto's attempt to show off may leave her on thin ice. "I Ski-Love Ski-You Ski" is similar, only this time, Bluto interferes when Popeye takes Olive mountain climbing.

"Mickey's Orphans" was the first Disney Christmas sound short, and the first Mickey Mouse short to get an Oscar nomination. A basket of kittens is left at Mickey and Minnie's home. They want to give them a nice Christmas, but the kids may be more energetic than they - and their house - can handle.

Headed out shortly after "Mickey's Orphans" ended. I really needed to do my grocery shopping after all the baking and cooking I've done this week! Candied fruit was on sale, and I had an online coupon. I also grabbed pecans and decided I'd try making fruitcake muffins. Found another fish fillet, this one almond-crusted flounder, and a small container of shrimp for dinner later next week. Restocked brown and powdered sugar, tea, butter, skim milk, honey, whole wheat and unbleached flour, eggs, diced tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, apples (they had that bag of galas on sale for $1.49 again), bananas, and pads. The quiche I made for Easter came out so well, I thought I'd try making one for Christmas. Bought bacon and a small salad bar container of broccoli florets for it. (If I end up eating out for Christmas Day, I'll do it the day after.)

Ran a few more shorts as I put everything away and had a really quick yogurt-and-banana lunch. "Chip n' Dale" was the first cartoon to name the chipmunks who drive Donald and Pluto crazy. Here, they're trying to get their log home and nut supply back from Donald, who's using them for firewood. "Toy Tinkers" gets a bit more violent as Donald defends his Christmas nuts from the two hungry rodents.

Sylvester the cat thinks Tweety is "Gift Wrapped" just for him. Actually, he's Granny's Christmas present. The feisty old lady spends  her holiday keeping Tweety out of Sylvester's mouth and Sylvester away from a big, hungry bulldog.

Went back out again to do this week's laundry. I had a lot to do there, too. Had to wash a pair of jeans along with the towel and cloth I use for making cookies. They were a little busy, but not nearly as much as they have been the past couple of times I've done the laundry on Saturday. I worked on story notes and half-listened to a British soccer game on NBC.

As soon as I got all the clothes folded and put away, I went right into making peppermint patties. There's a simple recipe for uncooked fondant in The Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book that works well for peppermint patties. I just needed to replace the almond extract with peppermint and melt dark chocolate chips and milk to dip them in. I think I'll let them firm up before I coat them with chocolate next time. While they did set better than the fondant I made during the summer, the chocolate made the patties hard to handle, and I couldn't get them to cover all the way. They don't look pretty, but boy, are they minty! I think I might dial down the mint a bit next year.

Watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while I made the candy. Clark Grizwauld (Chevy Chase) is looking forward to a perfect Christmas, with all his family gathered round a table laden with food while a Christmas tree twinkles nearby. As usual, what Clark imagines and what actually happens are two entirely different matters. The two sets of grandparents he invites bicker constantly. His miserly boss (Brian Doyle Murphy) won't give out Christmas bonuses. His tree is bigger than his house, never mind his living room. The spoiled yuppie couple who live next door think he's off his rocker. His house is covered with so many lights, they short out the neighborhood power grid. Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his family show up about mid-way through the season and cause even more chaos. In the end, as the SWAT team is coming through the windows, Clark finally learns that we can't make Christmas perfect...but we can make it memorable.

Along with A Christmas Story, this is my favorite holiday comedy of the last 30 years. The occasionally violent slapstick makes it more appropriate for young teens who just started their own Christmas vacations and adults who have probably been through a lot of what happens to Clark here.

Went right into making pumpkin bread as soon as I finished the peppermint patties. This is the last thing I need to make for Christmas. I'll be giving it to Jodie for her Christmas Day brunch. It took forever to cook, but when it finally came out, it smelled amazing and tasted even better.

Worked on my fanfic as soon as the bread went in the oven. Luke and Leia convince Han to come out and have fun in the snow with them. Actually, it's Chewie who convinces Han to join them. He'd rather get some shut-eye before dealing with the queen. Meanwhile, on a hill above the manor house, three trolls reveal a magic mirror that can turn any human who is speared by its pieces into something cold and unfeeling. They shatter the mirror and send the shards flying towards the manor on the wind...

Broke for dinner at quarter after 6. Threw the Parmesan-crusted tilapia on a cookie sheet with Brussels sprouts and let them all bake. Did one of the two Christmas episodes of The Backyardigans as I ate. In "The Action Elves Save Christmas Eve" from the fourth and final season, Tasha, Uniqua, and Pablo are super-powered elves assigned to get Santa's magic sack back from the Abominable Brothers (Tyrone and Austin), who think it's a bag for their snowballs. They use their own magic tiny hammers to transform snow and wood into the vehicles they need to catch up with them.

After I ate, I got the rest of my Christmas food gifts organized. Jodie's bread went in one of the bags I picked up at Dollar Tree last week. Found an older tin that would work for the peppermint patties, once I lined it with parchment paper.

(And incidentally...that's it. That's the last stuff I have to do for Christmas. The fruitcake muffins are intended to be an experiment to take to work this week, not something to give away.)

Ran Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas while I worked. I go into more detail about this direct-to-home-media Disney extravaganza at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Switched to A Disney Channel Christmas next. I've watched this every holiday season since my family first recorded it around December 1988. It's a fusion of two classic Disney holiday TV specials, Jiminy Cricket's Christmas from the 50's and the 60's, and A Disney Christmas Gift from the 70's. Jiminy Cricket hosts a collection of shorts and segments from beloved Disney movies, including a preview of Mickey's Christmas Carol. (It was so new when this debuted, Jiminy says it's "now playing in theaters.") Along with the lovely theme songs "From All of Us to All of You" and "On Christmas Morning," we have classic shorts like "Donald's Snow Fight," "The Art of Sking," "Pluto's Christmas Tree," and "Mickey's Good Deed," along with the two Santa Silly Symphonies and mildly gift or winter-themed segments from movies like Peter Pan, Snow White, and Fantasia.

My favorite part is the finale. I still get a lump in my throat when Jiminy sings "When You Wish Upon a Star" with all the Disney gang gathered around him.

Finished the night with more Looney Tunes. Bugs Bunny's Christmas Tales is an anthology of three all-original holiday Tunes shorts. The first is a spoof of A Christmas Carol, with Yosemite Sam as Scrooge, Porky as Bob Cratchit, and Bugs as Nephew Fred. Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner take their usual antics to the snowy mountains in the second short. The third has Bugs trying to figure out how the Tazmanian Devil ended up in a Santa Claus suit.

And...yeah, the wind has been going like crazy all day. I can hear it blasting across the back yard right now. Miss Willa's chimes are almost drowning out Scrooged downstairs. It's supposed to calm down by the end of the weekend and be perfectly normal by Christmas Day. We'll see what happens.