Sunday, December 22, 2019

Yes, There Is a Santa Claus

Began the morning with reading for Hanukkah, which begins today. It's the only Jewish holiday with material in Colliers Harvest of Holidays. Along with an essay on the story of the Maccabees and how the oil in the temple lasted for eight days, there were poems and a chapter from More All-Of-a-Kind Family on how the family celebrates Hanukkah, including attending a family get-together, playing the dreidel game, enjoying potato latkes.

Work was on-and-off steady for most of the morning. It was a beautiful day, sunny, bright, and chilly but not to the degree it was last week, and the Eagles game wasn't until 4:30. At one point, there were three baggers outside gathering carts. I alternated between gathering carts and doing returns all morning, with no really major problems.

Forgot oatmeal and evaporated milk yesterday, so I grabbed some on the way out. The Acme's having a buy-one, get-one sale on their generic oatmeal brand, and I needed the evaporated milk for fudge later in the day. There was no line in the express line; I was in and out.

When I got home, I had a quick lunch before starting today's projects. I tried making peppermint patties from uncooked fondant last year, but it proved to be too messy. This year, I rolled the fondant into balls, then into cocoa, and called them Peppermint Truffles. They came out quite nicely - and very minty!

Moved on to Chocolate Fudge next. That's what I bought the evaporated milk for. I found a simple fudge recipe called Remarkable Fudge in my vintage Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cook Book, appropriately in the section on Christmas candies. Considering my fudge hasn't always come out the best, this one seems to have set very well, nice and chocolatey.

Watched White Christmas while I worked. I go further into one of the most beloved of all holiday musicals at this Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog entry from last year.

White Christmas

Switched to making muffins after the fudge went in the fridge. I basically just threw leftover evaporated milk and mini chocolate chips into Alton Brown's Old School Muffin recipe and made Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins. A little dry, but also sweet and kind of rich.

Watched Ernest Saves Christmas while I made the muffins and they were in the oven. Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) is working as a cab driver in sunny Orlando when he picks up a jolly old fellow from the airport. Turns out, the gentleman is the real Santa Claus, who is in central Florida looking for a replacement. That replacement is one Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark), a former kid's TV show host who is now considering a role in a Christmas-themed slasher film. Ernest also almost literally runs into a street kid named Harmony Starr (Noelle Parker), a runaway who lies about everything possible, from her age to why she left home. Santa has to get Ernest and two elves to bring the reindeer downtown and prove to Harmony and Joe that Christmas magic is the real deal, or the joy of the holidays will fade away forever!

My personal favorite of the Ernest films is a long-time guilty pleasure of mine. We watched this quite often on cable during the holidays in the late 80's and early 90's. If you're a fan of Ernest, or just want to give one of his films a try, this is one of his better ones and isn't a bad place to start.

Worked on writing after the muffins were out of the oven. Nipsey is more than happy to offer Della his arm and tapestry and help her inside. She claims she's one of the Legendary Princesses, the Princess of Strength. Brett knows her name, though she's never seen her, and she knows hers. Brett's able to convince Queen Isobel that she's on the level, but she's not quite sure about Della

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Just had soup while finishing the night with Miracle on 34th Street. We move from sunny Orlando to chilly New York for another story about about believing in Santa. Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is such a sensation as Santa Claus in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, their manager Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) hires him to be their store Santa. Doris, however, has her misgivings. Kris claims he's the real Santa. She's raised her daughter Susie (Natalie Wood) not to believe in fantasy of any kind, and what Kris is shakes those beliefs. When the store psychiatrist (Porter Hall) declares Kris insane, lawyer Fred Gailey (John Payne) takes his case, setting out to prove to Doris, Susan, and everyone in New York that there's a little bit of faith and imagination in all of us at this time of year, and that sometimes, the most real things are the ones we can't see.

Gwenn won an Oscar as one of cinema's most delightful Santas; the witty and original screenplay also won. Gwenn and Wood have wonderful chemistry in their scenes together, especially when he's teaching her how to be a monkey and asking her what she really wants for Christmas. I also like Gene Lockhart as the nervous judge, Jerome Cowan as the district attorney who takes the opposite side of the case, and William Frawley as the judge's cynical political adviser. They all add a nice note of cynicism to a story that could have easily gotten too sugary.

There were remakes on TV in the 50's and 70's and one on the big screen in 1994 (none of which I've seen), but for my money, the original is probably all you need. Highly recommended.

Oh, and this leaves only the pumpkin bread for Christmas brunch left to be baked. I'll do that sometime after work tomorrow. In equally important news, the Philadelphia Eagles kicked the Cowboys' rear ends 17-9 this evening.

And to all who celebrate it, I hope you enjoy the eight days of Hanukkah!

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