Merry Bear-y Christmas

Started off the morning with breakfast, then went right into making Red Velvet Cupcakes. This one comes from a mix. I split the cupcakes between Dad and Charlie and his men. They couldn't have come out better, smooth and just moist enough. (I only had half a cup of buttermilk; the rest was water. Still smells good.)

Watched Cricket On the Hearth while I baked. This slightly dark melodrama from Rankin-Bass takes us to London to meet Cricket Crockett (Roddy McDowell), who just moved in with toy maker Caleb Plummer (Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (Marlo Thomas, Danny's real-life daughter). Bertha goes blind from shock when an especially insensitive undertaker tells her that her beloved fiancee Edward (Ed Ames) was lost at sea. Caleb goes into debt, and they end up working for a miserly toy maker named Tackleton (Hans Conried). Tackleton asks to marry Bertha. She's considering it, but Crockett won't let that happen! There's a little old man who just visited the Plummers who seems mighty familiar...

Headed to work as soon as the cartoon was over and the cupcakes were out of the oven. Work was a bit busier than it has been, though not as bad as it likely will be over the weekend when people start heading out of the malls. While I did get to sweeping the patio and doing the outside trash and recycling, I was mostly outside with the carts. I had absolutely no problems with this. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, breezy, and chilly but not outrageously cold for this time of year, probably in the mid-40's.

There was a package from Amazon waiting for me when I got home. Mom texted me earlier in the week and said she was sending me a present for Christmas. My gift was...a teddy bear! A big fellow with a cute pot belly and corduroy nose. He's adorable! His name is Pinchy. He has a sweet smile and long legs with plump paws. I just love him. He reminds me a lot of his fellow Gund bear Mint, who is much smaller and older and is, as his name indicates, mint green rather than Pinchy's cocoa brown. He has the same long legs and sweet smile, though.

I called Mom immediately to thank her. She said she thought he was adorable too and hope he'd bring "a smile to (your) face." Well, he certainly did that! I love him. He's a wonderful addition to my little bear family. She also sent me a pretty and simple red, white, and green "Tidings of Comfort and Joy" Christmas card separately.

Worked on writing for a few hours after I changed and cleaned up Pinchy's box. Gerda brings them into her massive crystal and velvet manor. Luke especially admires a holo-artwork of a pale woman in a crown made of ice. Gerda explains that she's the current ruler of the planet, Queen Frostra. Luke thinks she's beautiful, but Han insists that her heart is as icy as her demeanor.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. I ate Parmesan-crusted tilapia and roasted Brussels sprouts, then decided I'd make icing for the cupcakes tonight. I put way too much milk in, and the icing ended up being soupy. No problem! I saw recipes for "cake batter fudge" on Pinterest. Most of them used yellow cake mix, but mine went into the peanut butter cookies. I decided to make Cake Batter Chocolate Fudge using  chocolate fudge mix. Yum! It came out sweet and very chocolate-y. Now I just hope it sets.

Ran Ernest Saves Christmas while I wrestled with the fudge/icing. In the late 80's, Ernest is a taxi driver living in sunny Orlando, Florida. On Christmas Eve, he gives a ride to a kindly old man who says he's Santa Claus (Douglas Seale) a ride. They also pick up Harmony Starr (Noelle Parker), a runaway who lies at every opportunity. Santa is trying to recruit former local TV kid's host Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark) as his replacement. If he can't get Joe to take over for him by Christmas Eve night, the magic of the holidays will die out forever! Ernest finds himself having to rescue Santa when Joe's sleazy agent (Robert Lesser) has him arrested, then taking two elves to try to get the reindeer to the new Santa on time.

This was the biggest hit of all the Ernest movies and remains a holiday guilty pleasure of mine. Seale in particular makes about as perfect a befuddled Santa as one could wish. If you're a fan of Ernest, or even just want to check out his movies, this is one of the best in the series and isn't a bad place to start.

Finished out the night online while watching the original 1947 Miracle on 34th Street. We move from warm Orlando to chilly New York City for another story about believing in Santa. The new Santa at Macy's Herald Square (Edmund Gwenn) is the most authentic the store has ever had. He even suggested an idea about sending people to other stores for toys that has the heads of Macy's and Gimbles making a truce. Santa, however, insists that he's the real thing. Store manager Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) is bothered by this. She's raising her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) to only believe in reality after she was disillusioned by a bitter divorce, and Santa's claim that he's real confuses the girl. He's put on trial after the store psychiatrist (Porter Hall) insists he's crazy. Fred, the kind lawyer Kris rooms with (John Payne) takes his case. Fred has to convince not only Susan, Doris, and New York's judicial system, but all of New York that Santa - and Christmas magic - is as real as anyone.

This was the most popular of the three major Christmas movies that came out in 1946-1947 when it was released, and it remains a classic today. Gwenn won a Supporting Actor Oscar, and the screenplay and story also got nods. It's been remade twice on TV in the 50's and 70's, and again on the big screen in 1994, but the original, with it's unique cynical-sweet tone, is probably all you need.