It had rained hard all morning. Thankfully, it was slowing down a bit by the time I opened my blue umbrella and strolled to City Hall. Amanda was right there in her car when I arrived. We had no trouble making our way down the White Horse Pike to the Legacy Diner.
At quarter after 11 on a Sunday, the Legacy Diner was bustling with chattering families and older couples. We had to wait a few minutes for them to clear a table so we could eat. That gave us the chance to admire their huge cakes and Sesame Street cupcakes in their bakery display, and the nifty holiday penguins and wreaths painted on their windows.
Amanda had a "Cheesy Chicken Rancher" omelet with cheddar and mozzarella, chicken, ranch dressing, and roasted red peppers along with extra-crispy home fries and whole wheat toast. I had Apple Cinnamon Crepes with cinnamon whipped topping. They claimed the crepes were filled with apple chutney, but I suspect it was really apple pie filling. It still wasn't bad; Amanda ate her whole omelet, too.
I directed Amanda over the train bridge and down Atlantic Avenue into Oaklyn. She pulled in at the municipal parking lot and we headed across the street to Common Grounds Coffee House. They were almost as busy as the Legacy Diner! At least they finally launched their new Christmas menu. I had a red velvet cake pop and a spumoni hot chocolate. She had a chocolate mint latte and a huge slab of brownie she couldn't finish.
We mainly discussed Amanda's job as a kindergarten teacher for a private academy just outside of Vineland. She likes the kids, but many of them have difficulties that make them a handful. I told her about my accident on the bike and my own frustrations at work. She had an accident with her knee last winter that nearly landed her on the unemployment line. Thankfully, several gym sessions got her moving again, but she says it still gets stiff.
After Amanda finished her latte, she drove back to East Clinton. We spent the next few hours putting the ornaments on my tree. I have so many now, it's really a two-person job. There's fancy glass ornaments Mom bought from Winterwood and other gift shops in Cape May and felt folk ornaments she made in the 90's. I bought the Disney Cinderella surrounded by her mouse friends and Yogi Bear with a pic-a-nic basket full of candy canes from half-price after-Christmas sales. Two blue shells were dangling earrings in the late 80's whose hooks were too cheap for my sensitive ears.
Two plastic gingerbread people came from Macy's in Philly. One Cherished Teddy shopper was a gift from Mom; the other was a thrift shop find. Mom gave me the Willow Tree Angel the first year they came out. Mine holds a heart. Rose's has a rose, and Anny's has a child (that was the year she had Skylar). I bought the tinsel star, icicles, and box of basic ball ornaments from Family Dollar years ago. (In fact, I had the star well before I had a tree.) My cousin Samantha made the bead and sequin tree and the dangling bead ornaments. The yarn-wrapped wreaths and vintage wooden angel and toy soldier were yard sale finds.
Gifts were exchanged after we finished the tree. Amanda gave me the cutest puppy ornament! He holds a little garland in his mouth. I also got Christmas-scented soap and hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works and a cane-shaped container of Hershey's bite-sized candies. She loved everything I gave her, including the cat ornament from Salvation Thrift.
We watched Price Is Right: The Barker Era as we decorated the tree. Conveniently, this afternoon's episodes from 1983 were all holiday-themed. Prizes were wrapped to look like gifts. Johnny Olsen played Santa for (mostly) good little girl models. The set was draped with garlands and stockings. Wreaths were hung up behind the Showcase contestants; there was a tree in one corner. The first Showcase on Christmas Day showed what the models got from Santa Olsen. The second revealed what they gave him. Both involved cars.
Amanda left around 3 PM to avoid the traffic going home. I finished putting the candy canes on the tree, then put the Christmas bears under it. Dad gave Mom a big white bear in a knitted hat she named Chester for Christmas in 1987. She put Chester on her hope chest, then gathered other bears and dressed them in old baby clothes and hats and scarves. They were left out during the holidays as an interactive decoration. We'd play with their clothes, move them around, and even give them hats and tiaras on New Year's. After she got tired of putting out the display by the early 2000's, she turned Chester and the remaining Christmas-only bears over to me. I don't have a hope chest, but under the tree was pretty bare. The bears have gone there ever since, joined by some of my own bears and other Christmas-themed stuffed toys I have.
Worked on writing after that. Cora has lunch, then follows the yarn over the drawbridge of a forbidding castle and into the main hall. She doesn't find Stephen...but she does find a hungry lion who seems intent on having her for its own meal...
(Also checked the Eagles score at this point. Alas, they lost to the San Francisco 49ers 42-19.)
Finished the night back on YouTube with today's Match Game Classics marathon. Comedian and poet Nipsey Russell brought his wit and on-the-spot topical poems to the show starting in 1973. He appeared fairly often from 1973 to 1975, usually either in the first or third seat. He was around in 1974 for the week with Jackie Joseph when producer Ira Skutch's failure to match "friend" and "girlfriend" nearly caused a riot and the one where Jo Anne Worley swooned over a handsome young man with a long hair and beard who looked like a mountaineer. He sat in Charles' seat to Brett's right several times, notably the week that also featured Gunilla Hudson and in his first appearance on the show, Richard Deacon. He got to celebrate the arrival of the New Year in 1974 with James Darren and Juliet Mills, along with his poem on prosperity.
He was off Match Game from 1975 through 1977, thanks to Goodson-Todman throwing a fit over him appearing in a Match Game rival for another company. He returned by late 1977. Actually, some of his best work on the show was in 1979. He was on that wild week with the excitable contestant who dragged Gene around so much, he hid behind his question holder. The day after that featured a question about what incongruous company wanted him as a spokesman. His only syndicated appearance was late in 1979, when he helped the others try to put some pep into a very blase banker.
Bring your best poems and don't forget that oil can for the Poet Laureate of Television who knows how to ease on down the road!
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