Baby It's Cold Outside!

Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus. "Minnie's Rubber Ducky Doozy" has everyone decorating rubber ducks at her Clubhouse for the Rubber Ducky Parade on Star Lake. Willie the Giant blows them across the lake at first, until seahorses decide to toss them around. After they retrieve them, an old friend helps them figure out how they can have their parade and involve the seahorses, too.

Called Uber after that. It was barely in the 30's today, too cold for biking. Unfortunately, neither Uber showed up quickly. The one going to work took 13 minutes. The one going home took 10. At least there was no traffic either way, but it did make me slightly late to work.

That was the worst thing that happened all day. Between the cloudy, cold weather and most people focusing on gift shopping right now, we were steady at the most during 11:30-12. I ended up sweeping and doing the carts and trying to figure out how to explain to customers early this morning that there was a water main break and our toilets weren't working for the first hour I was there. 

It took them forever to put it up, but I did get my schedule at work. In good news, back to regular hours. In bad news, not enough hours, and I forgot to ask for the 10th off because the school is on half-days next week due to parent-teacher conferences. I'll have to come in late on Wednesday. 

After I got home, I had lunch while watching the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I went further into this at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog way back in 2018.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Called Uber again even before the special ended. Though they took 10 minutes to arrive, I called them early. Too early, as it turned out. I went for a walk around the block until school ended. Though it was still somewhat cloudy and very cold, at least it wasn't windy this time. They only took 7 minutes to come going home.

I don't know if they were tired of being stuck inside or it was just end of the week jitters, but the kids were really rowdy today. They just would not listen and sit down, even when a teacher spread blankets on the floor and let them pretend to have a pajama party while she read stories. The older kids were taken to the library to do crafts while we helped the younger ones build with wooden blocks or magnetic tiles, color, or play with plastic dinosaurs. I got recruited near the end to help the head teacher greet parents and sign them out.

When I got in, I had dinner while watching Match Game '78. The first hour featured the infamous week where Jack Klugman and Brett Somers appeared together well after they'd divorced or separated. For some reason, the second hour jumped back to earlier in the year. Richard Dawson was back, this time with female Welcome Back Kotter Sweathog Helaine Lembeck. 

Finished the night with Scrooged. IBC Network president Frank Cross (Bill Murray) does not hate Christmas. Far from it. He appreciates it as a time when people stay home and watch television. He's pushing his big live Christmas Carol, but he's also treating those around him badly. He fires an employee (Bobcat Goldthwait) who protests his ridiculously violent commercial for the special, won't go to his brother's (James Murray) Christmas party, and makes his secretary (Alfe Woodward) work late on Christmas Eve when she has to take her mute son to the doctor. His social worker ex-girlfriend Claire (Karen Allen) wishes he'd learn to treat people better. She gets her wish when Frank encounters a zombie version of his ex-boss (John Forsythe) and three of the scariest and most violent Ghosts of Christmas Past  (David Johanssen), Present (Carol Kane), and Future who literally frighten him into changing his ways.

This black comedy version of one of the most beloved holiday stories on the planet got a mixed reception when it came out in the late 80's, including in my own family. Dad thought it was hilarious. Mom agreed with most critics and thought it was too mean-spirited. I agreed with Mom then, but it's grown on me over the years. I've seen holiday comedies come out since then that were five times nastier than this. It's worth seeing just for Murray, who puts in one of his best performances as the cynical executive who literally needs to be knocked on the head to learn the error of his ways. The makeup work on the Ghosts was so groundbreaking, it won an Oscar. Not for those in a warm and fuzzy mood, but if you like your Christmas comedies toasty-dark, you'll want to join Frank Cross as he learns the true meaning of Christmas from four of the wildest ghosts around.