Thursday, December 31, 2020

New Year's Matches

Began the morning with a phone call from Rose as I read Christmas and New Year's stories by L.M Montgomery. She invited me over to her house for lunch and to do my laundry, instead of hiking to the laundromat on a cold, cloudy day. I happily accepted her offer. I hadn't met their new puppy Cider yet, and I'm tired of braving the weather.

After I finally finished, I had breakfast and Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! Charlie Brown's stuck reading War and Peace over Christmas break for a school project. He's easily distracted by Peppermint Patty's big New Year's Eve party, especially once he realizes he can invite the Little Red Haired Girl to be his date.

Began whole-wheat rolls while watching Rudolph's Shiny New Year. I go further into this Rankin-Bass tale at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews New Year's blog entry from last year. 


Did this year's New Year's Eve review while finishing the rolls. Once I signed into TCM on my TV (which took a few minutes), I was able to watch the Debbie Reynolds-Eddie Fisher romantic musical comedy Bundle of Joy. I also go further into this at Musical Dreams Movie Reviews.


Rose knocked on my door as the movie was winding down. She drove me to her house; got to say hi to Craig just as he left for his job as a chef at a high-end Italian restaurant in Haddon Heights. Finley was watching her favorite show Bubble Guppies and playing with Cider, their new puppy. She's a frisky miss who is white with pale brown spots. She's teething, so she tends to want to chew on everything...especially the little legs of her older sister Kelsey the Miniature Pincher. 

After Rose showed me where her washer and dryer were in the basement, we went upstairs and had lunch. She treated all of us to hoagies from WaWa. I had a roast beef and provolone "shorti" on a whole-wheat roll. As I ate, Rose opened the blow-outs she bought for tonight and let Finley and me play with them.

I spent the next few hours watching cartoons with Finley, and then with Khai and the dogs after he was dragged from video games and she took a nap. While Cider and Kelsey chased each other, Lynx the big striped cat decided he wanted to leap from Cider's enclosure up onto the scratching post he shares with his little sister Toothless and watch all from above. 

Rose switched to Netflix, first with We Bare Bears. Finley loves it when the three goofy Cartoon Network bears are baby bears, as in "Christmas Movies." The Baby Bears are working in a video store and watching Christmas videos all night when they hear a voice. A burglar wants to steal their holiday cheer...but the bears make use of what they've seen in the movies to convince him it's better to give than receive. 

The bears make their own metal fourth "Imaginary Bears" member, but he ends up causing more trouble than he's worth. Grizz Bear works at "The Mall" as a cop, while Panda tries to see a famous singer and Ice Bear joins a figure skating competition. The bears discover "Tunnels" under Panda's bed, dug by moles who worship his adventure comics. The have to convince the moles to help them keep their home from sinking. The baby bears return to help a young woman in Japan perfect her "Ramen" and impress her father, a former ramen chef who still owns her shop.

After Finley passed out, we switched to Khai's favorite, The Garfield Show. This is more-or-less an updated CGI version of Garfield and Friends, with more characters from the comics and no "Friends." I have to admit, I like the CGI here -it's made to look like rubbery stop motion animation. 

"Little Angel" appears to be a kitten, but he's no angel. He's really a nasty older cat who makes a mess and gets Garfield thrown out. Garfield has to alert an animal catcher to his location to get rid of him. Garfield becomes a "Fraidy Cat" when a mad scientist who uses his gizmo to eliminate Jon's fear of mice uses it to make Garfield afraid of cats...including himself. 

After Rose dropped me off, I put everything away, then worked on writing. They're able to find Goodson's cabin, but it's locked. Gene ties the sheets together to swing into the cabin through the window...but Betty may have another way...

Switched to Holiday Inn while making ham and Swiss sliders with roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato fries for my New Year's Eve dinner. I go further into the Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire musical that introduced the beloved song "White Christmas" at a previous Musical Dreams Movie Review from New Year's 2019. 


Finished the night making an Orange Cake with Whipped Cocoa Frosting while watching Buzzr's Match Game "Blanking In the New Year" marathon. The New Year's episodes on the 70's Match Game were legendary, with streamers and balloons falling at the end (or in 1977, the beginning) of the episode and Gene announcing the changing of the show's logo to reflect the upcoming year. In 1976, a huge paper mache bird dropped an egg with a 1977 label into Charles Nelson Reilly's waiting arms. Charles popped a huge 1974 balloon, revealing a smaller 1975 one, and he and Brett launched the new sign in 1978 by breaking champagne bottles over it.

Here's the New Year's marathon on the Match Game Productions YouTube channel from last year, so you can ring in 2021 with all of the panelist's wild, matching antics! 


As I switched to The Price Is Right and made my usual Whipped Syllabub, I heard popping out my kitchen window. Fireworks exploded over the river, blooming with sparkles of white and gold. Here's hoping that all of you had a glowing evening and enjoy a safe, healthy, and far happier 2021! 

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