Hurried out to work after that ended. It wasn't busy at all when I arrived. There was plenty of help, too. The head bagger swept the store. By 12, a college student had arrived to help me with the carts, too. Even when it picked up a little bit later, it still wasn't bad. In fact, it was a little bit boring. I was in and out with no trouble. At least the weather was nice. It was chilly, but sunny and windless, probably in the upper 30's-lower 40's.
After I got home, I changed and had lunch while watching vintage sitcom and food show Christmas episodes. "Bah Humbug!" is the second WKRP In Cincinnati Christmas show. Nobody at the station is happy with Arthur not giving out bonuses. Arthur claims there isn't the money, but he's really just afraid of what his mother will say. He learns a lesson in giving when he eats one of Johnny Fever's brownies, passes out in his office, and dreams that four familiar ghosts show him what will happen if he doesn't change his stingy ways.
Alton Brown is having an even stranger Christmas Eve on Good Eats. Santa shows up, insisting on "The Cookie Clause." Seems he's tired of all the cardboard, store-bought cookies kids have been leaving him. Alton shows him how to make simple cut-out sugar cookies, then use sugar cookie dough to make chocolate-peppermint whirl cookies that need to be chilled, then sliced.
Headed to the Thomas Sharp School after Good Eats ended. We had 17 younger kids to start, more than I thought we would the day before Winter Break begins, but not an overwhelming group. After snack time, half of them settled down with Duplos, plastic dinosaurs, and Barbie dolls. The other half joined in for a really fun project. We showed the kids how to thread beads onto pipe cleaners to make candy canes, wreaths, and ornaments. I think most of the girls were more interested in making necklaces and bracelets for themselves. I helped one little cherub get her beads on her pipe cleaner and made sure one of the boys had enough beads, since the three of us were on the other side of the table from the bead bin.
The kids are such sweethearts. One girl and her family gave me a $10 Amazon card and a brown-painted snowflake she made herself. Two more kids gave gift cards to WaWa. Another girl and her family gave me a lovely card, an oven mitt embroidered with a pretty cardinal, lovely kitchen towels, and those chocolate-hazelnut cookie sticks.
When I got home, I took the recycling outside, took the laundry downstairs, then had a shower. Ate dinner while watching more sitcom holiday shows. It's "The Best Christmas Ever" for Ricky Stratton and his father Edward on Silver Spoons as they gear up for their first Christmas together. Ricky thinks he's just doing a favor when a boy asks him if he has any work for him. Turns out the kid is having a far rougher holiday than Ricky could ever imagine...but he and Edward find a way to help the boy and his family, making sure more than their Christmases are brighter.
Barney Miller and his men aren't happy to be working Christmas Eve on their "Christmas Story." Yemana feels better when he asks a lady on a date, only to discover she's not working...because she's an, um, "lady of the evening." Fish gets recruited to dress as Santa to find out who is stealing from department-store Santas. After Wojo gives everyone gifts, the others all feel compelled to give gifts too, despite Barney saying they wouldn't give gifts this year.
Finished the night back at YouTube after I got the laundry out of the dryer with more Christmas game show episodes. Christmas goes far back on game shows. I've Got a Secret brought in their youngest contestants for their 1957 holiday episode. The mother of a sweet infant revealed that her grandfather was seeing her for the first time on TV. An utterly adorable toddler miss turned out to be the godchild of two of the panelists. Two teen girls brought in a fruitcake with a far longer lineage than one expects to find in pastries.
Match Game celebrated its first Christmas in 1973 with Charles Nelson Reilly playing Santa Claus in a fake beard and an odd southern accent. Jack Cassidy made his first appearance here, with the late June Lockhart turning up for the first and only time. Family Feud also celebrated its first Christmases in 1976 and 1977 with fake garlands, hyped-up families, and holiday-oriented questions.
Classic Concentration was more elegant in 1989, with its gold and silver decorations, diamond and ruby jewelry, and trips to Paris. The young woman who was ahead the entire episode wasn't able to get the puzzle in a sudden-death round. The young man who beat her didn't do a whole lot better with the match-the-car bonus round. Marjorie Goodson tried to get reindeer antlers on her little dog, but he didn't seem too happy about it.
The Price Is Right also had a rough start in 1990, with contestants losing the first three Pricing Games. Things picked up in the second half when a young man who closely resembled a blond Michael J. Fox picked up furniture in The Clock Game. The Showcases were too adorable. The models dressed as little girls to give away Michael Jackson Moonwalker arcade games and too-cute giant stuffed pandas. Big sis Janice got a car. The second Showcase had the adult models getting huge projection TVs and microwaves. Holly got the big gift here, a motorboat.
Here's more Christmas game show episodes to play along with at your holiday parties this week! I'll even throw in two bonus episodes from the weekend Password marathons.
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