Grabbed my raincoat around 1 PM and headed out to run errands. I awoke this morning to fog so heavy, I could have reached out and cut it with a knife. While not quite that thick by then, it was still very heavy and damp as I made my way to Dollar General. I wanted snacks for New Year's Eve. Picked up original Sun Chips. I haven't had those in years. They had a few bottles of that Mountain Dew Fruit Quake left, too, so I thought I'd try that. To my surprise, it wasn't bad. It didn't taste like fruitcake. It tasted (and looked) like grape-raspberry soda.
I originally intended to get a soft pretzel or two from the store two blocks from Dollar General on the White Horse Pike. I had no idea they were closing early for New Year's Eve. I walked in just as they were shutting down. To make up for it, they gave me the rest of their inventory. I kept three soft pretzels and gave two to the daughter of a friend and her best friend for their sleepover.
On my way home, I saw a house with furniture sitting in front of it. Among the items were a slightly spindly white mesh and metal shelf with slide drawers. It would be perfect to hold snack food in my room. My snacks were previously in two soft coolers that looked clunky and took up way too much room.
Wiped down the shelves when I got home, then loaded the food into them. That went so well, I opened the box of bathroom supplies I got from the storage unit and reorganized the narrow closet that held odds and ends. Some of the things that didn't stay in the closet went into plastic bins. Others went downstairs.
Watched Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! while I worked. Chuck's stuck spending his New Year's reading War and Peace for a book report. Peppermint Patty invites him to her New Year's party, but he'd rather invite the Little Red Haired Girl. Lucy wishes Schroeder would invite her, and Sally's waiting (and waiting) for Linus to ask her.
Switched to Rudolph's Shiny New Year as I finished up and had lunch. I went further into Rankin-Bass's only New Year's special at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog entry for New Year's Eve 2019.
Went online to do some writing and watch A Very Merry Pooh Year on Disney Plus. I go further into this hybrid of an original New Year's short featuring the Hundred Acre Woods gang and the 1991 Christmas special at Musical Dreams Reviews.
Broke at 7 for dinner. Watched Laverne & Shirley while I ate. "New Year's Eve - 1960" is shaping up to be a great one for the girls. Shirley's going to her big party with Carmine, and Laverne's going with the guy of her dreams. To her disappointment, he ends up back with his girlfriend right before midnight. Shirley, who's coming down with a cold, manages to comfort her best friend in time to watch Lenny drop Squiggy instead of the ball.
Did a few cartoons as I cleaned up and got organized. Bluto and Olive say "Let's Celebrake" when they go out for New Year's Eve, but Popeye insists on bringing Olive's grandma, too. A little spinach gives Granny enough pep to take part in the big New Year's dance contest with Popeye. A jealous Bluto disrupts Popeye and Olive's act in "Morning, Noon, and Nightclub." Popeye finds a way to turn the tables on him.
(And boy, am I glad I wasn't in New York. It started to pour around 5 or 6 PM and has been raining, sometimes hard, off and on ever since.)
Finished the night on YouTube with Match Game Production's Match Game New Year's Eve marathon. Every year during the 70's run of the show, Match Game did an episode celebrating New Year's and the arrival of a new number in the logo. In 1975, Charles popped a huge 1975 balloon, revealing a smaller one for 1976. A very ugly paper mache bird swooped down and dropped a '77 egg into Charles waiting arms in 1976 before boss Mark Goodson came down to praise the job they were doing. The streamers and balloons came down first in '77. Charles, Brett, and Gene celebrated their new, easier-to-change sign in 1978 by breaking bottles over it before Gene passed out from the excitement.
1979 was the last year for the original show on CBS; there would be no New Year's shows in syndication. They didn't celebrate New Year's Eve again until Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983. Even then, this was limited to comedian Gallagher playing with balloons during the Leave It To Beaver theme week. As they did with other holidays, Match Game '90 got more into it. Not only did they have balloons and streamers, but everyone dressed in gowns and tuxes. Brad Garrett did a dead-on imitation of Charles Nelson Reilly, who was on vacation at that point.
No game show does New Year's like Match Game! Celebrate the start of the year with these hilarious episodes!
The marathon ended literally as I heard booms going off behind me and a Mummers group practicing down the street. Snuck in one last Match Game episode before the night ended. Charles Nelson Reilly introduced the series finale of the 1979-1982 syndicated run during a New Year's marathon in 1999. The episode in and of itself is funny as heck - check out Charles and his "chick," the dummy used to test color levels, in the beginning, or the contestant who wants to kiss McLean Stevenson...and really plants one on him when she does so! As Brett points out, McLean's blushing when she's done. It prompts Skip Stevenson to run over and kiss the other contestant, too!
And I hope all of you have a safe and happy 2023, with all the people you love to match with!
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