New Year's With Sisters and Matches

Began the last morning of 2024 with breakfast and Arthur. "Arthur's Sleepover" is his first time having a backyard camp out with his buddies. D.W wants to join them too after she hears about alien ships being spotted in the area, but the boys have a way to turn the tables on her. He's determined not to stay up for "Arthur's New Year's Eve," but changes his mind when his friends tell him about all the cool things that happen at midnight. Grandma Thora reminds him that the real importance behind the holiday is to remember all the fun things you did in the year past, and the hopes you have for the year ahead. 

Watched Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! after breakfast. I went further into this Peanuts special from the 80's last New Year's at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!

Jessa called while Charlie Brown was on. We were originally going to go out to eat around 5 PM, but she got off work early. Did I want to do lunch instead of dinner? Sure! I had no plans. I suggested Tang Asian Buffet in Audubon for something unique to end the year with. She finally picked me up around quarter of 1. 

The buffet surprisingly wasn't busy. I guess everyone was getting ready for their New Year's parties. I tried steamed oysters for the first time...and didn't like them. Too slimy and mushy. I enjoyed the steamed mussels and vegetables, buttered shrimp, sweet and sour chicken, egg rolls, mozzarella sticks, rice pasta with vegetables, and dumplings far more. The chocolate and vanilla soft-serve ice cream and strawberry mousse cake were really good, too.

Jess drove us over to the mall next for some end-of-the-year shopping, starting at Goodwill. She bought The Big Lebowski on DVD and a pile of shirts and sweaters. I found a really cool two-disc Double Indemnity set, a bag with pockets for the American Girl dolls' shoes and accessories, a pretty fabric-covered vintage journal, and a recent Love-a-Lot Bear that's far nicer and fluffier than the ones I've picked up from Dave & Buster's.

We were in and out of stores for the next two hours or so after that. Neither of us got anything at Ross. Jessa bought a shirt at Five Below. I just got a bottle of Coke Zero. She didn't get anything at Marshalls', but I bought two boxes of strawberry and chocolate macarons. She drove us to Sprouts when I mentioned I wanted to find sparkling juice. I didn't find sparkling juice, but I did get blue corn chips. 

Came home just in time for a shower, a short and quick dinner, and the last Match Game marathon of 2024. No game show celebrated New Year's like Match Game. Every year on CBS from 1973 through 1978 they would celebrate the change of the number in the title with balloons, streamers, and hats and noisemakers for the panel. In 1975, Charles donned a fireman's hat and popped a big '75 balloon to reveal '76. They were joined by a very ugly paper mache eagle in '76 who dropped a '77 egg. Brett was out doing a play during New Year's week 1977. Fannie Flagg more than adequately replaced her. Gene helped Charles screw in the new removable number in 1978, followed by Brett and Charles launching it with bottles of champagne. 

New Year's on The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour coincided with the week featuring most of the Leave It to Beaver cast (and prop comedian Gallagher) and didn't really do much for the holiday besides Gallagher playing with balloons. Match Game '90 got far more into the holiday. Everyone dressed to the nines in gowns and tuxes and the set was decorated with arches of black and silver balloons. Brad Garrett channeled Charles Nelson Reilly, who was on vacation for the holidays.

No game show does New Year's like Match Game! Ring in 2025 with this festive marathon, plus two individual Match Game New Year's episodes from 1974 and 1976 and a Password Plus episode from New Year's Day 1980!

Match Game New Year's Eve Celebration Party Marathon

Match Game (1974)

Match Game (1976)

Password Plus (1980)

Finished the night with It Happened On 5th Avenue. I go further into this charming vintage comedy at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Happy New Year's Eve! - It Happened On 5th Avenue

And here's hoping you have a safe and happy 2025 with your family and all the people you love to match with! 

Sunny Day In Blackwood

Began the morning with breakfast and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. "Mickey's Choo Choo Express" has a tight schedule as it picks up riders heading down the hill to celebrate Professor Ludwig Von Drake's snow that doesn't melt. Not only do they have to stay on a tight schedule, but there's Conductor Pete to deal with, and they have two surprise guests who know a lot about snow to pick up as well.

Threw on the vintage Donald Duck short "Corn Chips" while getting ready to head out. Donald tricks Chip and Dale into shoveling his walk for him, then accidentally lets them in. He learns a lesson in doing his own chores when the chipmunks steal his popcorn, and his attempts to smoke them out of their tree just makes more of a mess than he started out with.

Called Uber soon as the cartoon ended. No trouble getting to or from Blackwood today. The driver going to Dave & Buster's took 5 minutes. The one going home took 7. In both cases, all the traffic was going in the opposite direction. He pulled into their parking lot around 11 PM.

Spent the next hour and a half or so running from spinning pirate wheel to ring toss to spin the Monopoly dice to the giant Pac Man and Galaga. Got Princess Peach on Mario Kart Deluxe and came in second. Did much better on Crusin' Blast, coming in first on the Death Valley course. Their Lane Master was working, and the skee ball, too. They were busy, and I did have to wait a minute or two for the ring toss, but otherwise, it went pretty well. 

I earned over 3,200 points, enough for another Care Bear. This time, I went with Togetherness Bear. This multi-colored girl has a rainbow heart as her tummy symbol. "Love All" is the saying on her tag, and apparently, she champions "acceptance, inclusitivity, and what makes us unique." She's one of the newest Bears, having only debuted in 2021. 

Walked across the street to the Blackwood Outlets for lunch and to finish out my shopping. They were very busy, I suspect partially due to the gorgeous day. It was sunny, windy, and in the upper 50's, not quite warm like yesterday, but warmer than it should be in late December. Didn't get anything at Go! Calendars and Toys, but I did pick up two more pairs of sleep socks from Eddie Bauer for $8.99 each. 

I was surprised when I quickly got a seat at Friendly's. They're the only sit-down restaurant left at the mall besides Starbucks. They were busy, but not overwhelmingly so. I had iced tea, a crock of broccoli and cheddar soup, and their turkey club as part of a three-item meal deal. Finished off my lunch with a scoop of Viennese Mocha Chunk under luscious hot fudge.

Was in and out of stores for the next two hours. I mainly wanted good brown shoes to wear with my brown, gold, and teal floral skirt. All I could find was a pair of brown loafers at Famous Footwear. Used a 10 percent off coupon on two t-shirts from Lucky Brand. One had Coca Cola Classic on the front. The other said Lucky Brand, but had beautiful flocked roses on the back. Picked up yellow jeans and 70's-style striped socks from Old Navy. Needed underwear at Lane Bryant. Found flowered and plaid ones on clearance 4 for $18.50, then grabbed two sold dark colors to go with them. Also grabbed a pair of khaki twill pants for work that will replace the jeans whose cuffs are too short for working in the cold. Looked at Rack Room Shoes, Adventureland, Toys and Socks, Hanes Brands, and Clarks, and a Christmas gift shop, but found nothing anywhere else.

I haven't had much luck with Uber drivers picking me up at the mall. It's too busy. They often miss me on the curb. I hiked back to Dave & Buster's and picked them up there instead. 

The last of my Amazon gifts from Lauren arrived just a half-hour after I got home. I've been trying to find the soundtrack from last year's Wonka film on LP since it came out. I also picked up two books:

Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey (one of four Elemental Masters books I've had a hard time finding around here)

Finale by Stephanie Garber (I couldn't find the last book in her Caraval trilogy around here, either.) 

Ran vintage sitcom episodes set on New Year's Eve while I got organized and did the laundry. It's "A War For All Seasons" on MASH as members of the 4077th get help surviving 1951 from a much-mauled Sears catalog. It provides the material for Father Mulcahey to start a garden, Hot Lips with yarn for her ever-evolving knitting project, and Hunnicut and Hawkeye to buy a wash basin for a liver transfer. Klinger convinces Winchester to put money on the Dodgers in the World Series, but it doesn't go like either of them hoped. 

Felix is delighted to bring Blanche (Brett Somers) and Oscar (Jack Klugman) together on the anniversary of their divorce in "A Night to Disremember" on the original Odd Couple. Seems the duo broke up on New Year's Eve, though they both recall it very differently. Felix has his own take on the night, leading them to realize that some things are best left unremembered.

Donna Reed tells her nervous teenage daughter Mary to "Have Fun" when she's out on a date with a handsome and smart student (George Hamilton) on The Donna Reed Show. Mary runs home shortly after, certain that the date went badly and her life is over. Her parents tell her about their own disastrous first date on New Year's Eve, though like Blanche and Oscar, they recall it quite differently from one another.

A kindly old man needs "A Place to Die" on Good Times. Florida Evans is against the responsibility of him dying in her home, but she's voted down by her children, especially her youngest son Michael who has befriended him. She's more upset when her husband James is snowbound and unable to come home. She assuages her frustration by helping her children give the elderly gentleman the best New Year's Eve he ever had...and a way for him to go peacefully and surrounded by family and friends when the time comes.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated during dinner and after I brought the laundry upstairs. Gene praises Susan Richardson's unique hairdo that had pale blonde pincurls framing her sweet face. Charles and Brett are more interested in teasing Joyce Bulifant, while Charles jokes about the poker tips a contestant gives out. Ted Lange and Robert Donner join in here.

Finished the night with New Year's game show episodes. New Year's goes back a long way on game shows. What's My Line? celebrated the end of 1961 with no one being able to guess that the older man in the beginning was the owner of the Peppermint Lounge, the nightclub that inspired the hit song "The Peppermint Twist." Mickey Rooney was delighted to baffle them as well.

The panelists on Line weren't the only ones dressing for the occasion. Alex Trebek donned a tuxedo for the second High Rollers in 1979 as he watched a younger woman and a twinkly-eyed older lady roll dice and win prize packages. Peter Tomarken and Rod Roddy also looked snazzy as Whammy pianists wrecked New Year's havoc on Press Your Luck. The panel on Match Game '90 not only dressed the part, but the studio was decorated with silver and black balloons, too. Brad Garrett did a dead-on impersonation of an on-vacation Charles Nelson Reilly.

Of course, not everyone celebrated with fancy duds. Susan Richardson joined Bill Cullen and Tom Kennedy on Password Plus in 1980 to help contestants figure out the last Password Puzzles of the year. The Price Is Right honored the start of 2013 with a huge double Showcase winner who picked up both the prize package revolving around starting the New Year right and the one on recovering from New Year's Eve.

Friends and relatives came for the New Year's celebrations on Family Feud in 1988, which ended with balloons being dropped down on the winning family. Monty Hall saw 1979 in on Beat the Clock as comedian Jack Carter, character actors Ellen Travolta and Louis Nye, and soap star Eileen Barnett tossed balloons and poured enough champagne to flow over a stack of glasses. 

Ring in 2025 game show style with these classic and often hilarious New Year's bashes!

What's My Line (1961)

Beat the Clock (1979)

High Rollers (1979)

Password Plus (1980)

Press Your Luck (1985)

Family Feud (1988)

Match Game (1990)

The Price Is Right (2013)

Of Feuds and Eagles

I was up so late last night and slept so late this morning, it was past 12:30 when I finally got going. Had brunch while listening to Billboard Top Rock and Roll Hits 1963. I have the revised version from 1993 that features "If You Wanna Be Happy" and "Deep Purple." "Surf City" is an old favorite of mine that I heard a lot growing up by the beach as a kid. Other songs I like here include "Sugar Shack," "Surfin' U.S.A," and the original "Louie Louie." 

Went for a short walk to Dollar General after I ate. I was almost completely out of pads. Grabbed granola bars, too, since granola bar sales haven't been great at any of the grocery stores. Treated myself to an Oreo Coke Zero while they're still available. I was hoping to get pretzels on the way back, but I forgot that the pretzel shop closes at 1 PM on Sundays. Not that the weather was great for lingering anyway. While it was warmer and far more damp, it was also gale-force windy, and the sun kept hiding behind heavy gray clouds. Not a great day for hiking around.

Soon as I got home, I had brunch, then spent the rest of the day (sans a shower later in the evening and a quick dinner) watching the continuation of last night's Family Feud marathon. There were even more episodes here, including the pilot and the series finale. The pilot had quite a few differences, starting with a smaller set and a lower, less elaborate board. The game play, however, remained the same from the beginning. There would be lollipop trees added in the last few years. The member of the family who chose the lollipop could win an extra $100 if they got a black-tipped stick.

Other than that, the show didn't change much over the years. Some of the weirder answers didn't change, either. The most infamous was probably the woman who answered the Fast Money question "How far into a woman's pregnancy does she begin to show?" with "September." Her sister was even goofier, giving the non-living "cuckoo" as a type of bird. There was also the supremely bizarre week ABC somehow got the Hatfields and the McCoys to play each other. I don't know if they were the real families, or actors hired to play them, but Richard spent a lot of that week with guns in his face. The final episode shown here even got a pig onstage (in a cage). 

Other ABC Feud specials made a lot more sense. Given they shared the mornings with Feud, it wasn't uncommon to to see daytime - and more rarely, nighttime - soaps playing each other. General Hospital was Mom and Dad's favorite soap in the 1980's, but they never seemed to do well. They lost their first time around to One Life to Live and their second to All My Children. Knots Landing did even better playing Dynasty, the show it spun off of. 

Less melodramatic shows also had a chance at winning for their favorite charities. One week featured vintage favorites like The Brady Bunch and Your Hit Parade. Another pit two very different series about stranded groups, Lost In Space and Gilligan's Island, against each other. (The guy who worked the Robby the Robot suit in the former was kind of cute.) Other shows focused on more recent series like Barney Miller and Welcome Back, Kotter. Charles Fleischer, the future voice of Roger Rabbit, was a riot on the latter. He just couldn't stay still, especially doing the first Fast Money round. 

TV show casts weren't the only ones who played, either. The Dallas Cowboys and their cheerleaders played each other on a sweeps week, with the Cowboys playing much better here than they did this afternoon. We saw the last episode of the week that had popular game show hosts playing each other. Despite flubbing some answers, Jim Perry still helped Betty White, Bill Cullen, Bob Eubanks, and Nipsey Russell do well at the Fast Money.

By 1985, the show had begun to falter in the ratings. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy drew people away from the syndicated version, while the daytime series had to compete with newer shows like Sale of the Century and Super Password...and the fact that ABC had just plain lost interest in daytime game shows. (They'd end daytime game shows all together by 1991.) The original Feud ended in May 1985 with a heartfelt speech by Richard on how much he enjoyed working on the show. He even acknowledged producer Howard Felsher, whom he'd notoriously clashed with and fought with many times during the run of the series

Check out more of the wackiest groups of people to ever play game shows in the most legendary episodes of the original Family Feud!

Family Feud Sunday Classics - Best Episodes With Richard Dawson Part 2

Oh, and in between all this, I also listened to the Eagles game on my new mini-radio. This time, they played like champs, running rings around the Cowboys at the Linc. The Cowboys couldn't get anywhere near them. The closest they got to them was a fight at the end of the game that ended with three players ejected. The Eagles went on to wallop the Cowboys good 41-7 and win the NFC East and the number 2 seed in the playoffs. 

Oh, and the rain that threatened off and on all day finally started around 7 PM. It's been off and on the rest of the night, though it seems to be off at the moment. 

Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough

Began the morning with breakfast and The Scooby Doo Show. Mystery Inc travels to Turkey to see an entire ancient city being unearthed. When they arrive, they discover that the workers are being scared off by "The Tar Monster," the guardian of the treasure supposedly buried deep within the city. When the treasure seemingly goes missing, the kids have to figure out who did it and where the treasure disappeared to.

Called Uber shortly after the show ended. My original plan for today was to hit the Blackwood Outlets...but it was showering when I got up and would continue raining in some form for the rest of the day. I decided to switch days and went to the Deptford Mall instead. I was pleased and surprised when the car arrived within a minute and dropped me off in less than 20. There was no traffic anywhere, not even on the highway. The cheerful older lady was a huge Michael Jackson fan. She blasted "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" all the way to Deptford.

Wanted to hit Round 1 Arcade first before I was laden down with packages. The Lane Master bowling game and several new games were down, but everything else seemed to work. Spent the next hour or so running from skee ball to the ring toss to the pirate wheel to Bust a Move to Pac Man and Hot Wheels. Got Yoshi on Mario Kart Deluxe, but I couldn't manage more than third. Didn't do so hot on Cruisin' Blast, either. Came in fifth there on the difficult Singapore course. 

Came up with over 2,790 points. They didn't have any interesting stuffed animals, so I decided to try something different. The back wall had "World's Smallest" versions of everything from hair dryers to ping pong games. I went with a mini vintage auto scan radio and a mini tool kit with tiny screwdrivers that really worked. 

Hurried across the mall to Red Robin for lunch. Maybe due to it being past 1:30 when I got there, I didn't have to wait in line. Tried one of their Tavern Burgers, a smaller burger made for less boisterous appetites, with sweet potato fries. Yum! The double patty burger, with its French-fried onions, was just enough, and the fries were good, too. 

I spent the next two hours walking around in the mall. Peeked at Go! Callenders and Toys, Box Lunch, Spencer's, FYE, Aeropostale, and Champs Sports, but I only ended up buying clothes in the anchor department stores. I picked up a long-sleeved pale green shirt at Boscov's and a darker green short-sleeved shirt and black jeans on good sales at JC Penney. (The t-shirt came out to $5; the jeans were $23.)

Headed out around 3:30 to Barnes and Noble. This was a lot harder than crossing the street at my birthday was. The traffic was absolutely terrible. At least the rain was down to a drizzle at that point. I was mildly damp as I made my way past the abandoned mall that used to house Bed, Bath, and Beyond and the Christmas Tree Shops.

Barnes and Noble was even busier than the mall had been. I didn't find any of the books or records I was looking for, but I did turn up a few things. I only have the original soundtrack for the Disney Little Mermaid on a cassette that's currently in storage. Found a picture disc vinyl version with all the songs and some instrumental tracks, plus two books: 

Death In a Castle Dark - Victoria Bond

Beastly Beauty - Jennifer Donnelly (This was a teen novel with a female Beast who is rescued by a male thief Beauty - frankly, it sounds like "Tangled and the Beast" or a romance novel, but I love unique Beauty and the Beast stories, so I'm willing to try it. Besides, all hardbacks at Barnes and Noble are currently 1/3 off. I got it for $13.)

Since cookies were buy one, get one half-off, I had an oatmeal and a peanut butter cup along with a Gingerbread Frappucino while calling Uber. Between the rain coming down harder by 5:30 and it being the height of rush hour, it took almost 20 minutes for the driver to arrive this time. At least he was pleasant when he did come, and he went through Oaklyn to avoid traffic.

Had dinner when I got home and watched tonight's game show marathon on YouTube. With the Family Feud holiday episodes having been well-received, the owner of the Match Game Productions channel did a marathon of even more famous non-Christmas episodes of the show. Some of the craziest answers of any game show could be heard here. In one episode, when Richard said "name an animal with a three-letter name," a young man said "frog." His father's "alligator" answer was even worse. (And frankly, most of their remaining answers weren't much better.) Not that all the answers were that goofy. In 1978, a woman because the first to give all number one answers and win her Fast Money on her own. 

Celebrities generally tended to do better. Betty White turned up twice here, in the game show host week leading the Marvelous MCs along with Jim Perry and Bill Cullen and in the Walk of Fame special with none other than head producer Mark Goodson leading the men. Feud prime-time specials were a great way for teams from ABC shows of the time to play each other and plug their own program. The first had The Love Boat and Eight Is Enough and Soap and Three's Company playing each other. The second contrasted city and suburb with the sitcoms Angie and The Ropers and the drama The Waltons and the action show The Dukes of Hazard. Three's Company won the first special, with John Ritter adorably clumsy even on a game show. Angie killed the competition in the second. Debralee Scott became the second contestant in the marathon to get all her Fast Money answers in one go. 

Other things happened on this show besides actual playing. Rodeo champs from Nevada in big ten-gallon hats showed up in the very first syndicated episode. Kids performed break dancing moves in another...and then announcer Gene Wood showed off his idea of street dancing. Richard's sons Gary and Mark and Mark's wife brought him a cake for his birthday in a celebration that took so long, they let both teams play Fast Money to make up for the curtailed questions. Sammy Davis Jr. had a blast talking to the contestants and even hosting a question in another show.

Let's see the origins of the Feud and enjoy some of its most famous episodes in this hilarious and heartfelt marathon!

Family Feud Saturday Classics - Best Episodes With Richard Dawson 

Finished the night at Tubi with The Snow Queen. I went further into the first US dubbing of this exquisite Russian fairy tale at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Snow Queen

(Oh, and I tried the radio when I got home. It works great, and it just needs two AA batteries. I got a jazz station and absolutely loved it. And since it looks like a vintage radio from the 30's, it might make a great accessory for Molly and Kit. The mini-radios American Girl had for them are long retired.) 

Night of the Haddon Avenue Excursion

Began the morning with breakfast and Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Hattie is thrilled to share "A Hat-Tastic Hanukkah" with his friends and his father, especially after his dad says all the holiday food will be cooked on the hibachi grill. He's upset when Fergie the White Rabbit is better at cooking vegetables than him, but Alice reminds him there's still other things he can do well. It's "A Snow-Drop Summer" when Alice shares her snow cone Snow-Drops with their caterpillar friend who has never seen snow. The Snow-Drops do their work a little too well, making it snow all over Wonderland! The kids finally admit they got carried away with the snow and figure out a way to melt it.

Headed out shortly after the cartoon ended. I wanted to go for a walk in Collingswood before the rain we're supposed to get all weekend arrived. Started at Occasionette. This is a lovely little gift shop filled with fancy stationary, cookbooks, ornaments, and kitchen items. Nice store, but even the sale items tend to be expensive. 

Peeked at Innergroove Records next. They were too busy with record lovers and college students looking for new music for me to prowl the dollar bins, but I found some great stuff in the 2 dollar stacks and elsewhere anyway. One was a spurge, but I've never seen it anywhere else:

The soundtracks from Diamonds are Forever, Bugsy Malone, and the 1972 animated Charlotte's Web. (The last-named has a really cute pop-up cover depicting Zuckerman's farm. It was the splurge at $17, but this is the first I've seen of it, and I do love that film.)

Something Festive, a unique Christmas collection from A&M Records that includes everyone from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to Liza Minnelli. Honestly, some of the titles aren't all that Christmas-y, and the cover isn't, either. You'd never know it was a holiday album unless you looked at some of the instrumental numbers. Supposedly, this is pretty rare, and it was one of the two that came out of the 2 dollar bins. (The other was Bugsy Malone.) 

Went across the street to the Collingswood Library next. Dug a book set among both wealthy blacks and poor ones migrating from the South in early 20's Chicago off the for sale shelves: 

The Mayor of Maxwell Street - Avery Cunningham

Since it's only on the next block over from the Library, I had lunch at the Pop Shop. They were very busy with hungry families and kids off for Christmas break, but I still had no trouble getting a booth. Tried their Banana Foster Bettys pancakes. Caramelized bananas and toasted walnuts with powdered sugar. I'm not the biggest walnut fan, but these weren't bad. They were also too big for me to finish in their entirety. 

I was originally going to hit the pop culture thrift shop Time Lapse next, but they were closed for their own Christmas break. I peered briefly around another thrift shop, the more elegant Clutter, before moving on. Hurried down Haddon Avenue to Samaritan Thrift in Westmont. I made it in just ten minutes before closing. I didn't really see a whole lot I wanted there, anyway. Ended up with a bright blue L.L Bean turtleneck in perfect shape.

Westmont Party is next-door to Samaritan Thrift. Though they had birthday party napkins and plates on a table outside, I was really interested in their New Year's decorations and noisemakers. I've had my New Year's accessories for at least a decade now. I found metal and paper horns, two metal twirlers (one of mine broke ages ago), a glittering gold banner, and two tiaras, one trimmed with feathers, one with garland.

Dodged traffic on Cuthbert all the way down to the Westmont Plaza. Wanted to hit up Sprouts to do my grocery shopping there. I didn't need a whole lot. Got two Nixie sodas, two more probiotic sodas, a box of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on clearance, and a bag of loose dried cranberries. They were busy, too, but I managed to catch one of the self-checkouts when it didn't have a line.

It was almost 4 by the time I finished there. Not only was traffic on Cuthbert getting worse, so were the kids at the Westmont Plaza. Local pre-teens hang out there, probably due to the Target and Dollar Tree, but they also tend to use the parking lot as a skate park and playground...and get into the way of pedestrians, shoppers, and cars. I rushed out in a hurry.

Put on The Wild Wild West while I got organized. James and Artemis realize they've been rooked when the Albanian princess they're supposed to be protecting turns out to be an impostor. Her brother claims he wants to find her. but he really has something more sinister in mind. They must rescue her when she's hidden during a ball that turns into "The Night of the Dancing Death" and keep her brother from letting the criminal organization he belongs to take over.

Worked on the inventory next. Added the four records I found today, plus two CDs Lauren made me for our first Christmas as best friends in 2004. I made her a cassette of my favorite Christmas music, so she sent me two CDs of hers. It's mostly country and rock holiday songs, with a smattering of songs taken directly from cartoons and Christmas TV episodes. 

Checked my schedule after that. In good news, I am indeed off until New Year's Day. Two of those are just plain old days off because I ran out of vacation time, but I still wanted to enjoy my holiday week. At least I work four hours each day for the remainder of the week, and only Thursday is early.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated while I worked. They first finished up the week with Fred Grandy, Marjorie Wallace, and Gary Crosby. After that, Betty Kennedy took over Brett's seat while she was out doing a play, and we get big George Kennedy and Phyllis Diller as a very unlikely ingenue. 

Finished the night at YouTube with more Christmas game show episodes. Christmas 1988 on Card Sharks brought in a very funny older lady and a brand-new bonus round. Here, they hear a question and slide a marker to the right answer. If they're right, they win the car. Awkward and not as much fun as turning over cards, but the lady did win.

Gene Rayburn had his own trouble on Match Game '76. Near the end of the episode, he literally ran over and beat up on a cameraman when he forgot his cue! The panelists for next week are also missing (and apparently are on GSN's airings as well - CBS must have forgotten to edit them in). 

The ladies finished dominating the week on Password Plus with Gina Hecht getting to Alphabetics with Dick Gautier. They missed the big money by literally less than a second! Debralee ended up being the big winner that week, followed by Gina, Dick, and David Doyle.

Family Feud was the biggest game show on TV when the 1981 Christmas episodes debuted. All the families brought Richard Dawson something here, including a T-shirt and a stuffed mouse. The 1982 holiday episodes were lost for 40 years before Buzzr unearthed them last year. At least one family was brought back over the judges mistaking "driftwood" for "shipwreck."

We're ending our Christmas game show week with grand championships, angry hosts, and a double dose of the Feud!

Match Game (1976)

Card Sharks (1978 and 1988)

Password Plus (1980)

Family Feud (1981)

Family Feud (1982) 

Angels Of the North Country

Began the day with breakfast and the 2018 Muppet Babies. The kids want to do a "Mitzvah for Miss Nanny" after she explains about Hanukkah and how "mitzvahs" mean doing nice things for others. Piggy tries to make a frame for Miss Nanny's family photo, but she ends up helping the other kids with their party instead. She thinks she hasn't done a mitzvah, but as Miss Nanny says, helping her friends in need was the most important "mitzvah" of all. Skeeter and Gonzo take part in a "Winter Sport-a-Thon." Gonzo tries avoid admitting he can't tie his shoes. They literally trip him up at every turn, until the other Muppets insist that it's ok to admit you can't do something and ask for help.

Since it was already past 11 AM and the showing for A Complete Unknown I wanted to catch was at 12:35 , I took Uber to Somerdale. The lady arrived within 4 minutes. No trouble on the road, no traffic anywhere. She did drive around the back of the buildings with the theater and shops and restaurants. For some reason, she thought I was going to Walmart. I did want to hit Walmart, but not right then. I finally got off at the theater instead.

Hit Dollar Tree quickly for a huge bottle of Propel-style electrolyte water and a small bag of popcorn, then had lunch at Applebee's. Considering how quiet they were, I must have been one of the first people there. My fried chicken sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles was delicious, very hot, tender, and juicy. It was much better than their grilled sandwiches tend to be. The fries were nice and hot and crispy, too.

Even with lunch and the short stop at Dollar Tree, I was still 10 minutes early. The Cinemark was a lot busier than usual for a Tuesday afternoon. I was far from the only person spending the day after Christmas seeing a movie. Even the R-rated Complete Unknown only had a few seats left. It's a good thing I got my snacks elsewhere, too. The line at the concession stand stretched all the way around to the very end of the queue. By the time I got my snacks, the movie would have been half-over.

As for A Complete Unknown, I go further into this excellent biography of legendary folk-rock musician Bob Dylan at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

A Complete Unknown

Oh, and of the many commercials in front of the movie, the winners were Better Man and Captain America: Brave New World. Looks like next year is going to be a good one for nice-guy superheroes. I'm dying to see the next installment of the Captain America series, especially with Harrison Ford playing the president and the Red Hulk. Better Man is another rock star biography, this one of British star Robbie Williams. Looks like it's also going to try for something unique by depicting Williams as an upright-walking chimpanzee. Better Man will likely be my first movie in the theater of 2025; Captain America will be fun for the week after Valentine's Day. 

Headed right up the hill to Walmart after the movie let out. I didn't see any records or books that interested me and decided I already had enough TV shows I hadn't finished watching and just opted to do my grocery shopping here. Restocked yogurt, Propel drink mix, and cough drops. This is one of the few places I can find those Junkless granola bars. The Made Good bars are cheaper here, too. 

Went down the hill to wait for the bus in front of Taco Bell on the White Horse Pike. They were slightly late, but nothing outrageous for the 4:30 rush hour. At least the weather was nice to wait around in. It was sunny, dry, and chilly but not overly so for this time of year. The bus wasn't terribly busy despite the hour and pulled into Oaklyn within 10 minutes. 

Went straight into Match Game Syndicated when I got home. They're up to the week with opera star Diana Sorvino, a friend of Charles'. It's too bad they never got her back, or any other opera singers. She was not only pretty funny, she and Betty White got to serve spaghetti to the panelists. Gary Crosby, Marjorie Wallace, and Fred Grandy return in the last episode. 

I also got one last present from my mom. The Swiss Colony box she mentioned earlier in the month finally appeared. It was a bit squished, and so was the chocolate-covered Dobosh torte. The other torte was fine, and it's hard to damage fake and real blocks of cheese and tubs of cheese spread. The cheese and sausage will be great for New Year's Eve. 

Worked on the Seasonal inventory while the shows ran. Finished the Happy Holidays series with Volumes 31 through 35 and 39. I picked all of these but 39 up when they came out from Swain's Hardware in Cape May. Volume 39 came from a yard sale in Audubon around 2011. 

Went to YouTube after dinner for more holiday game shows. The contestant who won so much money on the 1978 Card Sharks yesterday was defeated by a pretty, perky miss, who didn't do quite that well, but still picked up her own considerable amount. Christmas 1987 on the Bob Eubanks Card Sharks coincided with their Young People's Week. The kids not only played for cash to be put in a trust fund, but a trip to Hawaii. 

By 1980, Family Feud got far more into Christmas. Richard heard one family sing for him, and several gave him gifts. The questions were also a lot more holiday-oriented as well. This time, both families did well at the Fast Money round, the first winning it with plenty of room on the board to spare.

The day after Christmas on Match Game '76 introduced George, a kindly young man with a lovely wide smile who would become one of the longest-running winners the show ever had, lasting well into the New Year. Rip Taylor flipped his wig on Match Game '90 when he used it to smack Fred Travalena for doing a poor imitation of him. Marcia Wallace turned up in the beginning heavily bandaged, once again with a goofy explanation that had something to do with the games she and her hubby played at night.

Things didn't go nearly as well on either of the Passwords. The celebrities missed an easy puzzle that almost everyone in the chat got on Password Plus. David Doyle got nervous and badly fluffed his and Dick Gautier's shot at the Alphabetics round. Mary Ann Mobley and Gary Collins weren't much better on Super Password, though Mary Ann did get one that almost everyone else missed. 

Finished the night back at The Roku Channel for Charlie's Angels. The girls are shocked to hear a message from a friend of Charlie's who is killed telling him that someone is out for an Angels' blood in "Angels Belong In Heaven." They think it's Sabrina after she's attacked, but Kelly is beginning to think that her best friend's new fiancee sounds awfully sketchy. 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Began a cloudy gray Christmas Day nice and warm inside with Colliers Harvest of Holidays. Of the three longer pieces, my favorite is "Flora McFlimsey's Christmas." Santa recruits an old doll who has wandered down from the attic to be the Christmas gift for one of the little girls in the house. The new dolls make fun of her old-fashioned summer outfit, until the tree angel and her friends the mice find her original Victorian velvet splendor. Little Sophie is encouraged to save her money in an applewood box until her brother asks for a wooden star, and she knows it's the right time to spend her last coin on "A Star for Hansi."

Watched Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales during breakfast. This series of skits was made to fill an hour slot with Charlie Brown Christmas, but it has some entertaining material in its own right. Sally writes to "Samantha Claus," Snoopy deals with Lucy while working as a sidewalk Santa and dodges the cat next door, and Lucy tries to get Linus to buy her gifts.

Moved on to Garfield's Christmas while I got dressed. Jon takes Garfield and Odie to his parents' farm for Christmas. Garfield's not too happy about it, until he bonds with Jon's supremely tough and sarcastic grandmother. Grandma's badly missing her late husband, but Garfield stumbles onto something in the barn that might make her holidays a little merrier.

Ran Little Drummer Boy and Little Drummer Boy Book II next. I went further into these on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog Christmas Eve 2020. 

Little Drummer Boy and Little Drummer Boy Book II

Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas was one of the first Jim Henson productions to use relatively realistic-looking animals, and among the first original holiday specials on HBO. Impoverished Emmett and his Ma are facing a bare Christmas, until they hear about a talent contest being held in the nearby town on Christmas Eve. They give up the things they use for their regular work for their acts...and while it doesn't work out like they expect, they get something even better in the end.

I called Rose to see when I could come over...and as it turned out, it was not today. She and her family were going to Craig's parents house in Westmont for Christmas. I was very disappointed. I was looking forward to spending time with them and giving them my gift after I had such a lovely Thanksgiving with them. She said I could come over on New Year's Day after the Mummers' Parade instead.

Ended up joining a friend and  her family for Christmas instead. I had a lovely book shaped tea tin for her, sheet music books for her daughter, cookies for her son and his girlfriend, and a bag of treats for their cat. They and my friend's sister gave me a pair of wonderfully warm fur-lined knitted boot slippers and tons of candy, including chocolate-covered sea salt caramels, a bag of Goetz caramel creams, and a whole box of assorted Russell Stover chocolates. 

After we opened gifts, I quickly rode my bike over to Rose's. I had to bring her gifts over today. The cookies weren't going to keep another week. I left the bag with their presents and cookies on her front stoop, then went for a short ride around the neighborhood behind the school. Maybe it's just as well that I wasn't out for long. Though it wasn't raining or snowing, it was also chilly, cloudy, and damp. Not the nicest weather. I hurried back quickly.

They started Elf shortly after I got in. My friend's son and his girlfriend are big fans of this wacky and heartfelt 2003 comedy. They even had Elf wrapping paper. Buddy (Will Farrell) is a very tall elf who discovers from his adopted father (Bob Newhart) that he's actually a human. His birth father Walter Hobbs (James Caan) now works for a publishing company that's desperate for a best-seller. Buddy's delighted that he's found his father, but Walter finds him to be more of a nuisance, especially after he inadvertently insults a writer (Peter Dinkalage) by saying he's an elf. He has more luck when he falls for department store worker Jovie (Zooey Deschanal), charms his stepmother Emily (Mary Steenburgen), and wins over his half-brother Michael (Daniel Tay) after helping him with bullies in Central Park.

After Walter insults him, Buddy takes off. He couldn't have left at a worse time. Santa's sleigh crashes in Central Park, and there's not enough Christmas spirit to take him back into the skies. It'll take a concentrated effort from Jovie and everyone Buddy has touched on his journey to prove that Christmas spirit really can be found everywhere, even in the hearts of jaded New Yorkers.

Some of Farrell's brand of manic comedy may not work for everyone, and there's dated aspects (like how that short writer is treated) that would never fly even 20 years after this film's release. Still, there's enough charming and enjoyable moments to make this a favorite of many. Farrell and Caan are the stand-outs as the man-child who wants everyone to love Christmas like he does and his taciturn, frazzled father. Well worth checking out if you're a fan of Farrell or are looking for a more recent Christmas film for older kids and teens.

The movie ended literally just as my friend declared dinner was ready. We had huge lobsters, tails and claws and all, with sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, cucumber salad, and a stuffed butternut squash for her son's vegetarian girlfriend. It was all amazing, especially those juicy lobsters! The sweet potatoes tasted just as good dipped in butter as the lobsters did.

Headed upstairs after dinner to finish the night online. What little I saw of the Match Game Christmas Day marathon was a repeat of yesterday's, but I did get to see Rip Taylor in a Santa costume. I did better with other shows. We continued yesterday's 1978 Card Sharks as that lady, to her delight and shock, went on to pick up almost $20,000 on the Money Board. Bob Eubanks' first Card Sharks Christmas pit a young lady against a very funny older man.

Family Feud celebrated Christmas 1979 with gifts for Richard and the contestants singing carols for him. Charles continues to spend the week on Match Game '76 complaining about not being able to play Santa that year while the others get to know a woman who brings a sock-type puppet along to help her nerves. Rip Taylor, on the other hand, did get to play Santa on Match Game '90...three days late. Debralee Scott and Gina Hecht continue to do well on Password Plus, once again making it to the Alphabetics round. Gary Collins did get his contestant to the Super Password bonus round, but he misunderstands a word and just gets the lady confused. 

Finished the night with The Walt Disney Very Merry Christmas Parade from 1988. Joan Lunden and Alan Thicke are the hosts here, with Regis Philbin interviewing the crowds and plugging the then-upcoming Disney-MGM Studios. Sarah Purcell hosted the segment in Disneyland, while Scott Valentine tried to get on the just-about-to-open Splash Mountain. Almost all of the floats but a beach-themed one and one with the Country Bears represented a then-popular Disney animated film. We even saw movies like Robin Hood and The Jungle Book that would likely never even be mentioned in a Disney parade today! The show begins and ends with dancers doing Christmas Carol medleys. The opening has them dancing down Main Street. The sleigh-based finale is performed at Cinderella Castle.

Here's all of tonight's programming, so you can enjoy your own vintage Christmas! And I hope you had a wonderful holiday with all the family and friends you love to match with.

Match Game - Merry Christmas Blank-a-Thon

Match Game (1976)

Card Sharks (1978 and 1986)

Family Feud (1979)

Password Plus (1980)

Super Password (1986)

Match Game (1990)

The Walt Disney Very Merry Christmas Parade 1988

Walking In the Air

Since I awoke to ice and snow falling softly outside, I began Christmas Eve morning with breakfast and The Snowman. This gorgeous British animated special follows a little boy and his beloved frosty friend as he shows him the inside of his home, then his yard. His friend then takes him to the North Pole, where he has a party with Father Christmas and other snow people. He's thrilled with the trip and the fun...but snowmen don't last forever...

It continued to rain and ice as I got dressed. I tried to call Uber, but the only car I could get wouldn't be there for 25 minutes! I'd be too late. I ended up taking the bike, despite the roads being frosted with snow and slush at that point. I was still ten minutes late, but it could have been worse. At least there wasn't any traffic. 

Thank heavens that was the worst that happened all morning. I was only alone for the first hour. From 10 AM onwards, I never had fewer than three college-age boys helping me gather trash, sweep, and push carts. Good thing I did have all that help. We were just as busy today as we were yesterday, especially once the snow ended around 9:30 and the sun started coming out. Between the mess inside and the rapidly improving weather, I couldn't have been happier to spend the rest of the morning with the carts, dodging shoppers and the men taking down the Christmas tree lot.

By the time I got off work, it was sunny and much warmer, in the lower 40's. It had become such a nice day, I went home, changed, and went back out again to deliver the cookies and cards to my neighbors across town. I caught Brittanie's husband just as he pulled up in the driveway and was able to give their cookies and card to him, but everyone else's were left on porches or in mailboxes. 

I debated eating out, but I'm going to be doing that a lot on vacation later this week and early next week. I opted to have lunch at home instead while watching Christmas Eve On Sesame Street. I go further into this sweet holiday trip to the most beloved fictional neighborhood in New York at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Merry Christmas Eve! - Christmas Eve On Sesame Street

Switched to The Bishop's Wife after lunch. Henry (David Niven) is the bishop of the title. He's so obsessed with getting a wealthy and selfish older woman (Gladys Cooper) to donate the money to build his lavish cathedral, he's neglected his daughter Debbie (Kathryn Grimes) and his sweet wife Julia (Loretta Young). He literally gets divine intervention from Dudley (Cary Grant), an impossibly debonair angel. Everyone who meets him comes away spiritually enlightened, even a cab driver named Sylvester (James Gleason) and their eccentric friend Professor Wutheridge (Monty Wooley). Julia is especially charmed by Dudley...too much for Henry's liking. He worries that he's lost his dear wife forever, until the Professor reminds Henry that he's human, while Dudley is not.

Young is simply luminous as Julia, who is so lovely and gentle that you can understand why a bishop and angel almost come to blows over her. Niven is also excellent as the worried bishop, and Grant makes the perfect angel! This is a great, cozy movie to watch while snuggling next to the Christmas tree on a cold Christmas night. 

After the movie ended, I went on YouTube and was surprised to discover a Match Game marathon. This one had all of the episodes made on or before Christmas Eve, including one from 1978 with a damaged tape that's extremely rare today. Charles complained in 1976 and 1977 that he hadn't been allowed to play Santa again. (He played Santa ONCE before that, in 1973.) Christmas Eve on The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour brought a choir of panelists singing before an electronic tree, Jon Bauman sporting a Santa hat and beard that eventually migrates to the contestant, and Marty Cohen reminding everyone that Hanukkah is in a few days. Christmas Eve in 1990 brought us Marcia with two bandaged fingers (something about what she and her husband did at home). 

In addition to repeating the Match Game '76 and '90 episodes, we had other shows from Goodson-Todman. The lady from yesterday's Card Sharks lost to a woman who came back on the Money Board to win at least some cash. She was playing a very excited Hispanic gentleman as the show ended. The Bill Rafferty-hosted syndicated Card Sharks only lasted a year and is much rarer today. The Christmas episode had contestants playing for an organ on the regular round, then one actually found the car after winning cash on the Money Board.

It was the battle of the Browns three days before Christmas 1978 on Family Feud. The brown Browns got the best of the regular rounds, but they had trouble with the Fast Money round. They did much better with that in the next episode, after beating a family called Smith.

The ladies continued to beat the tar out of the guys on Password Plus. Debralee Scott and Gina Hechit made it to the Alphabetics again by the end of the episode. Gary Collins had a far easier time helping his contestant with the Super Password bonus round after he was the answer to one of the Password Puzzles!

Here's all the episodes from tonight, including the marathon!

Match Game Holiday Classics - Merry Xmas Eve Party

Card Sharks (1978 and Syndicated 1986)

Family Feud (1978)

Match Game (1976)

Password Plus (1980)

Super Password (1986)

Match Game (1990)

Put on A Disney Channel Christmas after the game shows ended. This is actually two older specials blended together with new material at the end. Jiminy Cricket narrates the first half, giving us the "Waltz of the Flowers" with the Frost Fairies from Fantasia, the romantic skating tale "Once Upon a Wintertime," and the classic shorts "Donald's Snow Fight," "Pluto's Christmas Tree," and "The Art of Skiing." The middle section is given over to sequences involving magic, parties, winter, or gift-giving from Peter Pan, Bambi, Cinderella, Pinocchio, and Snow White. After the dwarfs' party ends, we get four more shorts, Donald's "The Clock Watcher," the lovely black-and-white "Mickey's Good Deed," and the two Santa Silly Symphonies, "Santa's Workshop" and "The Night Before Christmas." The new material is the past sequence from Mickey's Christmas Carol, which was so new when this came out, Jiminy says it's "now appearing in theaters." 

Moved to two very different specials revolving around the two most famous events on Christmas Eve at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog next. I went further into 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Small One at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in 2019 and 2022 respectively. 

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

The Small One

Finished the night back at YouTube with two vintage holiday cartoons featuring Raggedy Ann and Andy. The Great Santa Claus Caper is the first of the two, originally released in 1978. This very Chuck Jones production has Comet taking the rag dolls to the North Pole to deal with an imitation Wil E. Coyote who wants to cover Santa's toys in unbreakable Gloopstick and charge money for them. After he gets his paws on Raggedy Arthur, the duo discover that their love for each other is stronger than any Gloopstick.

Snowden: Raggedy Ann and Andy's Adventure was a direct-to-video special created around Target's holiday mascot in 1998. This is the cartoon that the darling little Gosling stuffed toy I found at Salvation Thrift last year is based around. Marcella, the Raggedys' owner, accidentally leaves them behind at Grandma's when she's called home. Ann wants to go back right away, but Andy loves playing with the forest animals so much, he wants to be one. After dodging a cat with a mouse, trying to fly with a cardinal, and bouncing with a bunny, the two toys decide they're happy being dolls and going home to Marcella. 

And as Jiminy Cricket said earlier tonight, from all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas! Here's hoping you have a wonderful holiday season with all the people you love to match with. 

Christmas Is Waiting

Began the morning with breakfast and The Bears Who Saved Christmas on Tubi. Teddy bears Christopher and Holly head out into the snow-covered wilderness after their family is stranded in a mountain cabin. Holly is determined to bring back a tree for the children who own them, but the woods hold many dangers. With the help of a flashlight who is scared of the dark, a compass with a bad sense of direction, a beaver and his mother, and a grouchy bear, the teddies discover that giving is its own reward, and the real magic of Christmas is in helping others.

Bluey is excited to be a "Verandah Santa" when she and her cousins take turns being Santa and pretending to give gifts while waiting for the real one. She's upset when her littlest cousin Socks bites her and gives her no presents. Bluey thinks she's justified, until her father Bandit points out how badly she's hurt Socks' feelings. 

Though it was a little bit warmer than yesterday, it was still pretty cold. I took Uber again. The driver was on time, but he had to make a detour that took him through Audubon and around the shopping center. Thankfully, I called early enough to be right on time.

That may have been the last time things went right the entire four hours at work. It was a mess there today. One of the cashiers called out, and the head bagger took her place. I could have used her help. The carts kept vanishing. It wasn't as bad when I arrived and when I left, but it got insane in between. They'd call me to put away cold items or clean up a mess, too, and that would put me behind on carts. I just couldn't keep up with them. Needless to say, I was very happy when I finally finished. 

Maybe the weather brought everyone out. It was sunny and breezy, not warm, but not quite freezing like yesterday. Still too cold for this time of year, but much easier to tolerate without the wind.

Didn't have as much luck with Uber going home. Everyone is busy transporting people to their families or parties for the holidays. I couldn't get a driver for 15 minutes. At least this time, he turned up when he said he would, and there was no trouble with traffic once we got started.

Took out the trash and recycling when I got home, then changed and brought my laundry downstairs. After I got them in the wash, I decided to try something I'd been wanting to do for three weeks now. Amanda gave me a gourmet mix for apple cinnamon scones as part of my Christmas gifts, but not only did I not have the time to try them until now, I didn't have the heavy cream, either. All it called for was heavy cream. That's why I bought the big bottle last week. I wanted enough for the scones. I even added an apple I had with a top that had a big brown spot. I still had a bag of cranberries, too, so I decided to give cranberry sauce another chance.

And this time, they both turned out very well. I had a hard time patting the scone dough into a disc, so I made drop scones. Other than I browned the bottoms slightly, they tasted like a rustic apple orchard and smelled amazing in the oven. The cranberry sauce came out perfectly too, just sweet-tart enough and the right jelly-like consistency. 

Went upstairs after putting the laundry in the dryer for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. All Clark Grizwauld (Chevy Chase) wants is a good old-fashioned family Christmas like the ones he remembers from his childhood. As usual, what Clark imagines and what he gets are two entirely different matters. None of the grandparents he invites over get along. He wraps his house with so many lights, he shorts out the neighborhood power grid. His misery boss (Brian Doyle Murphy) barely seems to notice him, much less give out the bonus he badly needs. Even after he finally gets the lights going, his cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his family show up in their rattletrap RV and cause even more chaos. In the end, as the SWAT team is coming through the windows and his tree is burning to a crisp, Clark finally realizes that we can't make Christmas perfect...but we can make it memorable.

By far my favorite of the five Vacation comedies, even over the original. The sentimentality that John Hughes' work is prone to actually blends pretty well with slapstick antics that border on black comedy at times. Mae Questal and William Hickey steal the show in the last 20 minutes as senile Aunt Bethany and her sarcastic husband Lewis, along with Quaid as the backwoods cousin we all dread showing up at our holiday gatherings, 

Scatological and sexual humor makes this perfect for teens who are now on their own Christmas breaks and adults who have probably gone through just about everything Clark does here at one time or another. 

After Clark, I brought the laundry upstairs, then switched to another famous family celebrating the holidays. Joanie Cunningham spends her "Christmas Time" in the sixth season of Happy Days complaining about her father bringing home one of the tinsel trees that were popular in the 50's and 60's instead of a real one. Her brother Richie, his buddies, and his girlfriend Lori Beth are having more trouble trying to decide how much they should spend on gifts for one another and how to stick to that budget. Fonzie is so upset that the father he's never known wouldn't show his face to him, he won't even open his present, until the Cunninghams remind him that this is the season for forgiveness. 

Worked on the Seasonal inventory next. Added the Happy Holidays series Volume 26 through 30. I've been hitting eBay over the past few years and buying some of the older titles from before I started collecting. My cassette for Volume 29 is the original one from 1994. I picked up Volume 30 on CD at a yard sale a few years ago.

Watched Match Game Syndicated while I worked. Fred Travelena did not have an easy time of it in these episodes. He nearly started a riot twice over answers that were too specific for Ira. Elaine Joyce spent most of these episodes arguing with Brett and Charles.

(Oh, and the next Buzzr marathon after Betty White Christmas will be Match Game '90 starting January 13th. It sounds like they're about to add it to the schedule. Awesome! I like this version of Match Game. While the Match Up round does slow things down a bit, this is otherwise a lot of fun, especially given I was 11 when it debuted and remember many of the celebrities on the panel very well.)

Went to Plex for the wonderful Remember WENN Christmas episode as I ate dinner. It's "Christmas On the Airwaves" as the cast of radio station WENN in Pittsburgh prepare for the holidays in 1940. Writer Betty Roberts is happy to be going home to Indiana for the holidays, but she's also worried that the station won't be there when she gets back. Mr. Pruitt, a miserly financier, tells them to take down their decorations and stop mentioning Christmas on their shows. Seems the station's owner, former singer Gloria Redmond, doesn't want to be reminded of Christmas after she lost her husband during the holidays the year before. It'll take an effort from everyone at the station to remind Gloria that our loved ones are never far from us, and Christmas is a wonderful time for a heart to start healing. 

Finished the night at YouTube with more Christmas game show episodes. Match Game Productions is really spoiling us this year. He's going to be running Christmas game show episodes all week from 8 through 12 PM, starting with the 1978 Card Sharks. One lady really had a lucky Christmas, barely managing to get to the Money Cards before picking up $3,600 on them. The next round was tougher, as she and the other woman would get to the end of their cards, only to miss the last card and have to go back.

Richard Dawson had more luck with Family Feud in the mid-70's. The show did Christmas episodes from the start in 1976 and would do them again in '77. Some of the answers to these questions seem a little racier than they would in later years, including the woman who answered "Naked body" to "name something you'd find in the bathtub." Two families did great and hit the Big Money, one barely one question into the second round. The other did not.

Richard returned to Television City to celebrate Christmas week 1976 with Gene Rayburn and Match Game. Mary Wickes and Orson Bean were also along for the ride, the latter for the first time in over a year. Mary Wickes couldn't help commenting that she was a little jealous of the champ's very slender and pretty waist.

Speaking of Match Game '90, they really got into their Christmas week, with huge trees and tons of decorations everywhere. Rip Taylor and his toupee and confetti were more than happy to replace a vacationing Charles Nelson Reilly for the week. Meanwhile, Marcia Wallace relates the story of how her cut finger somehow ended up on a splint.

Christmas 1980 at Password Plus didn't bring out decorations, but it did debut new host Tom Kennedy after Allen Ludden proved to be too sick with stomach cancer to continue. It replaced trees with star power in the form of Gina Hecht, Debralee Scott, David Doyle, and Dick Gautier. The ladies made it to the Alphabetics round first, but Debralee got nervous, and they didn't do very well.

Super Password was far more festive, with two big trees on either side of Bert Convy's entrance door and lots of decorations. Married couple Mary Ann Mobley and Gary Collins kept it a family holiday this week as they played each other. Gary and his contestant got to the Super Password bonus round first...but Gary muffed a clue and he only got 900 instead of $20,000

Celebrate the holidays game show style with these thrilling and festive treats!

Card Sharks (1978)

Family Feud (1976)

Match Game (1976)

Family Feud (1977)

Password Plus (1980)

Super Password (1986)

Match Game (1990)

And here's even more vintage holiday programming to tide you over until Santa comes tomorrow!

The Wish That Changed Christmas

The Smurfs' Christmas

A Cranberry Christmas

A Christmas Carol (1971)

Mole's Christmas

'Twas the Day Before Christmas (A Chucklewood Christmas)

The Teddy Bears' Christmas

Famous Studios: Santa's Surprise

The Spirit of Christmas - Philadelphia special with the Mabel Beaton Marionettes

Annabelle's Wish

Woody Woodpecker - The Twelve Lies of Christmas

The Night Before Christmas (1968)

The Nutcracker (Russia - 1974)

Baby, It's Really Cold Outside!

Began the morning with breakfast and The Monkees' last album as a group. Christmas Party is also their only holiday album. It was made long after Davy Jones died, but they do include his versions of "Silver Bells" and "Mele Kelekimka" from an earlier album. My Target copy also has "Christmas Is My Time of Year," a number Davy, Peter, and Micky recorded together in 1976, and "Riu Chiu" from the TV Christmas episode. 

"Riu Chiu," with all four guys singing beautifully in harmony and Micky taking the Spanish-language solo, is by far the best track, but some of the others aren't bad. Mike does a lovely "Christmas Song," while Micky has more fun with "Unwrap You at Christmas" and "Wonderful Christmastime." Possibly due to Peter's cancer struggles (he would pass on less than a year after this CD's release), he's only gets "Angels We Have Heard On High." 

Called Uber after the CD ended. It was way too cold and windy to ride my bike today! They arrived in five minutes and took less than five to get to work. For once, I even arrived slightly early. 

No problems at all today. There were at least two other baggers working at one time or another, and they took care of sweeping and inside work. I spent the entire time pushing carts. It was crazy when I came in and picking up again when I left, but could have been worse in between. Everyone went home for parties, baking, wrapping, or the Eagles' game. 

And while it was cold, it was also sunny. The sky was so radiantly blue, it hurt to look at it. The wind, though still bitter, had died down since yesterday, too. 

(The Eagles' afternoon wasn't nearly as pleasant. They seemed to start off well against the Commanders, but Washington caught up in a big way in the second half. The Commanders just barely won 36-33.)

I picked up the last things I'll need for the next few days before and after work. I used up most of my peanut butter on the cookies. Grabbed a turkey cranberry wrap for dinner. Wanted more of that Christmas Hint water, too, since I was taking Uber and could carry it home. 

Had more trouble with Uber going home. The original driver was supposed to come in five minutes. They didn't come in five minutes. In fact, it turns out she canceled, and another driver took my place. At least, once again, there was no traffic on the road, and I was able to get home quickly. 

My first Amazon gifts from Lauren were waiting for me when I got in. I've been looking for the eclectic soundtrack from Deadpool Vs. Wolverine since the movie came out. You have everyone from Jimmy Durante to NSYNC on this album.  I also bought a CD case for my seasonal CDs. I eventually want to transfer all of my CDs to cases, but the binder for the seasonal CDs is falling apart, so it came first. 

Finished with dinner and tonight's Match Game marathon after I got my gifts opened. There were a lot more references to Disney films and fairy tales than you might think on this very adult-oriented show. In at least two episodes. there were questions asking who would play the Beast to Betty White's Beauty. Many questions joked about Snow White's relationships with her dwarfs, including one that asked what she'd use to rub together and start a fire. 

They did quite a few Frog Prince jokes as well; one involved what the frog did after the princess kissed him. Darryl Anderson of Lou Grant sported a long nose in a 1979 episode that inspired many Pinocchio quips. When asked who should play Snow White, Jimmie Walker thought she should look a lot more like him. In another episode, the question asked who Charles would play in Snow White. Most everyone said Snow White, but Jo Anne Worley knew Charles would go for the meatier, villainous role...

Whistle while you match and experience the circle of life with this hilarious and unique marathon!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Disney Marathon

White Christmas Weekend

Began the morning with breakfast and Sheriff Callie's Wild West. Toby hopes to have "Toby's Christmas Critter" so he can ride with Callie and Peck. He thinks he's found the perfect critter when he runs across a "prickle pony" wandering around the canyons. She's really Santa's reindeer Comet, who leads Toby and his friends to the bandits who stole Santa's sleigh. It's "A Very Tricky Christmas" when Tricky Travis and Oswald the Bear steal the town's Christmas tree, but they bring it back when, like a certain Grinch, they see how happy the townspeople are whether they have a tree or not.

Switched to Netflix for Scrooge: A Christmas Carol. I go further into this animated remake of the 1970 live-action musical Scrooge at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Musicals On Streaming - Scrooge: A Christmas Carol

Hurried off to work after Scrooge ended. Today was the Acme's big employee party, and there was tons of food! Someone ordered sausage stromboli from Tu Se Bella's, and there were ham, prime rib, and chicken empanadas. Sides included macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, broccoli bacon salad, maple-glazed carrots, green salad, and green beans with bacon. My cookies were joined by bakery sugar and oatmeal cookies and real home-made marshmallows covered in powdered sugar. I had an empanada, a slice of stromboli, the broccoli bacon salad, maple-glazed carrots, a ton of cookies, and Diet Pepsi.

Work wasn't really much of a problem, either. It was harder to keep up with the carts during the first half of my shift, when it was busier and I was doing the sweeping and the carts. The afternoon bagger arrived at 2 to take over the sweeping and help me with the carts. I was in and out without a fuss.

At least it felt festive inside and out. It snowed here last night. There was only about an inch or two on the ground, just enough for it to feel like the first day of winter, and none of the streets or sidewalks. It was bitterly cold, though, and the frigid wind blew something fierce. 

Tried to make that candy when I got home...but the filling still hadn't solidified. Turns out it required baking chocolate or good chocolate bars. I didn't think it would matter if I used chocolate chips. It's all chocolate. Apparently, there is a difference. I had to throw it away. I think I'll drop making candy for a while and just stick to cookies at Christmas.

Spent the rest of the evening watching tonight's Match Game marathon after a shower. No less than four Match Game regulars have birthdays this month. Match Game Productions saluted the one closest to this weekend, Elaine Joyce. Perky, sexy blonde dancer Elaine pretty much ran the gamut as one of the premiere ingenues on the series, starting in 1973 and ending with an early week of The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983. She occasionally appeared with her dancer husband Bobby Van, including the one time she sat next to him in '73. She gave an answer to what Batman and Robin are that was so sexually charged, the episode is now banned from the airwaves.

In the later syndicated years, Gene would often call Elaine out to show off her fashionable and very early 80's collections of belted tunics and thick sweaters. She mellowed out once she had her daughter Taylor, and did it even more after Van died tragically of a brain tumor in 1981. Taylor turned up on the show twice during its last two seasons, once to let her mother show off her adorable Polish dance costume, again the next season hiding under her mother's desk from Great-Uncle Gene. 

Elaine may have had a reputation as a ditz, but she frequently won people money, especially in syndication. At least twice, she won people $10,000 on the Star Wheel. She could also be counted on for some creative answers, along with frequently feuding with Brett and Charles, who tended to talk over her and tease her.

Salute the blonde bombshell of game shows with this wacky birthday bash!

Match Game Saturday Classics - Elaine Joyce Birthday Celebration Party

The Secret of Snow

Began the morning with breakfast and the first holiday episode of The Backyardigans. Uniqua travels to the frozen north to learn "The Secret of Snow." Ice Lady Tasha has no time for her queries and first sends her to the desert, then the jungle. Her assistant Austin helps Uniqua, Cowboy Pablo, and Tarzan Tyrone out of jams, then gets them up north. They're happy together even after Tasha puts them to work. When they save Tasha, they learn to appreciate and have fun with their friends no matter what the weather.

It was just cloudy, chilly, and damp when I headed out late this morning. My first stop was Target. Needless to say, they had long lines, but there were a few things I couldn't avoid. Picked up pet gifts for Rose's dogs and cats and a friend's cat and the cherries with stems my friend wanted. (In fact, they turned out to be cheaper at Target anyway.) I also peeked in Dollar Tree, but only walked out with powdered sugar for the Cherry Coconut Bars crust. 

Dawn called while I was in Target and said she'd be slightly late arriving at the Haddon Township Library. That worked out very well. I saw a book on adults with the inattentive form of ADHD on the new releases shelf and was reading it when she arrived.

Frankly, we've had very little luck checking for jobs recently. I found one online in the past week. Dawn decided we needed a break and offered to take me out to lunch instead. I suggested the Westmont Diner on the hill under the Library after I checked out the book. It would require less driving than a trip to Collingswood, with easier parking. 

I'm glad we went. They were busy when we arrived, but we didn't have to wait too long for a table. They're having winter lunch specials that come with soup or salad, pudding or ice cream, and beverages. She had a giant plate of chicken stuffed with spinach and cheese surrounded by tons of buttery mashed potatoes. I had a turkey wrap with tasty fries. She apparently loves rice pudding. I had pumpkin pie ice cream. She had a diet Pepsi, I had iced tea. We both had a spicy seafood bisque with real crab pieces. (And we got the same gift certificates they gave last year to be opened by the waitress between January 1st and 31st. I'll have to eat there on New Year's Day again.)

Whomever does the painting on their windows is really creative. The pumpkins and squash from last month had been replaced with Christmas lights and garland. It looked pretty and colorful as we ate. 

(Oh, and this is likely the last time I'll be getting together with Dawn for the year. She's off for the next two weeks after this. I'll text her again with my schedule the Friday after New Year's.)

Dawn drove me back up the hill, and I dodged traffic and very light rain on Cuthbert riding home. When I got in, I went straight into making the truffles. Of course, first of all, it turns out the chips I bought were green mint white chocolate, not chocolate. Oh well. They'd just be green mint truffles. And then the candy wouldn't set after I'd boiled and whisked it. I left it in the fridge overnight to see if that made it more easy to handle.

Making the coconut cherry bars turned out to be much harder. I couldn't find the square cake pan...because it turned out that the owner saw the non-stick coating was coming off and threw it away. I used two cake pans instead. And I almost forgot to add the coconut. At least everything went fine once I did add it. The crust and topping baked fine and were easily cut.

And that means...yes, other than shaping the candy, everything I need to do for Christmas is now complete. The cookies are made and boxed. The gifts are wrapped and either sent to their intended destination or waiting to be given to their recipients. Now everything just needs to be given out.

As I made the coconut cherry bars, I happened to look up at the window overlooking the refrigerator...and saw snow. It actually snowed pretty heavily for a while. Nothing stuck to the ground and it turned into all rain later, but it still looked pretty, and we can still say we got snow for Christmas. 

Threw on two classic holiday sitcom episodes next. Finished out The Monkees with "The Christmas Show" from the second season. The guys get roped into babysitting for the nephew of a wealthy woman while she's on a holiday cruise. The boy is a grumpy human machine who resists all of the Monkees' attempts to show him the Christmas spirit...until Mike Nesmith figures out what he really needs.

Laverne and Shirley are devastated in "Oh Come All Ye Bums" when Laverne's Dad Frank is fired from his job as a department store Santa and declares he won't be able to have his annual Christmas dinner for the homeless in Milwaukee. The girls and Carmine try singing for the money first, but they just end up in trouble. The girls and the homeless are the ones who finally take it on themselves to bring Christmas dinner to Frank.

Checked my schedule online next. In good news, I did get my vacation days, which means I'll be off starting Christmas Day. On one hand, I'm also working from tomorrow through Christmas Eve. On the other hand, the only long shift is Sunday, and that's a normal six hours. My other shifts are all four hours and relatively early. I'll be able to finish the candy and deliver everything.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated next while rearranging the Seasonal inventory. McLean Stevenson joins the crew for the first time since 1978 here. He would stay on permanently starting in the next season. This time around, he had a lot of fun sitting between Jonnelle Allen and Debralee Scott and watching a smitten contestant flirt with the former.

Watched The Muppets Christmas Carol during dinner and Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol afterwards in honor of having started my annual reading of A Christmas Carol yesterday. I went further into these in 2018 and 2019 at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

The Muppets Christmas Carol

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

Moved to Disney Plus for Mickey's Christmas Carol. Here, Uncle Scrooge is his namesake miser who learns the holiday lesson. Mickey is Bob Cratchit, Donald is Nephew Fred, Daisy is Belle, Goofy is a hilarious Jacob Marley, and Big Pete puts in his scariest performance as a very dark Ghost of Christmas Future. Other than I never understood why Disney went for the fire and brimstone in the Future segment, this is far and away my favorite condensed half-hour version of this story.

Finished the night at YouTube for a holiday special that's so weird, I've watched it for a decade and still can't believe it exists. Amazingly enough, The She-Ra He-Man Christmas Special really is a thing. Orko is stranded on Earth after he crash-lands an experimental spaceship and befriends two human kids who teach him about Christmas. She-Ra and He-Man are having their own problems dealing with Hordak's rock monsters who are bullying a group of small but feisty locals. Orko accidentally brings the kids to Eternia after Man-at-Arms figures out how to get him home. Neither Skeletor nor Hordak want these shining beacons of goodness around. Skeletor tries to kidnap them, but (very) reluctantly ends up learning his own lesson in the holiday spirit when he defends them from Hordak and his boss.

Let There Be Lights

Began the morning with breakfast and A Scooby Doo Christmas at Tubi. Scooby and Mystery Inc. find themselves stranded in a small western town during a blizzard after they discover that the bridge is out. This town doesn't celebrate Christmas, thanks to the Snow Demon who destroys their homes every year around the holidays. The gang takes it on themselves to bring Christmas to the town and figure out what it is that scary snowman is really after. 

Watched the second half of Tattletales next. They're just running the week with Betty and Allen, Jo Ann Pflug and Chuck Woolery, and Bill and Ann Cullen again...but that week was so funny, I have no complaints. Bill tells them in one question that he once took a photo of Ann doing a headstand when her skirt fell down and revealed far more than she wanted to, while the ladies admit they have no problems with joining their husbands to watch a woman dressing in a window. 

Let it run into Press Your Luck while making my grocery list and getting ready to run errands. The first half went wild with Whammies. All of the contestants hit at least one, and two of them got two within the first minute. Things went better in the second half. The young man who won took home a trip, a sailboard, and a pile of cash.

Headed out after the show ended. The weather was really nice this afternoon, sunny and chilly for this time of year, but not too cold. I wanted to take advantage and get shopping done before it rains tomorrow. Stopped at Sprouts first for two Nixie sodas, a box of cranberry oatmeal cookies off the baker's clearance rack, a bag of Cortland apples, a bag of good chocolate mint chips to melt for truffles, and dried apricots and unbleached flour from the bulk bins. Restocked yogurt, clementines, and bagels and picked up three Olipop sodas at the Acme. Bought heavy whipping cream for the truffles and got free butter with an online coupon. 

Took the shortcut back to Oaklyn across Newton Lake Park. It's really winter there now. The trees are bare, and the grass remains yellow and appears to have not recovered from the drought in October and early November. Taking the path up the hill probably wasn't the best idea I ever had. For one thing, it was slippery and very muddy. For another, there were men near the Environmental and History Center who were blowing leaves off the path. 

Stopped at A&A Pretzels for a really quick lunch. They were out of the stuffed cheesesteak pretzels, so I went with pepperoni and two regular ones. Got a can of Diet Pepsi, too.

Ate lunch while watching Super Password. For the first time that I can remember, along with the Betty White Christmas marathon, Buzzr is running holiday episodes of their regular shows during the actual holidays, not just in July. Ilene Graff of Mr. Belvedere and Pat Harrington of the original One Day at a Time celebrated the holidays with a battle of sitcoms that ended with Graff getting her contestant to the Super Password bonus round.

Spent the next few hours downstairs, baking my Christmas cookies. I make five kinds of cookies and give them away to neighbors, to family, and to the Acme for their employee luncheon. The last-named is this Saturday, which is why I wanted to do it today. The cake mix peanut butter came out beautifully. The ginger molasses had browned bottoms, but weren't that bad, and they smelled amazing in the oven. (And they used up the last of my black strap molasses, which is why I wanted to make them.) I read the recipe wrong and put baking powder instead of soda in the oatmeal chocolate chip, so they didn't spread right. Made up for that by adding the chocolate chips from Sprouts and other half of the white chocolate chips from the Red Velvet Yum Yums yesterday.

Listened to Christmas records while I worked. Holly-Daze features four Looney Tunes stories revolving around the holiday. "Bugs the Red-Nosed Bunny" goes all the way to the North Pole to help Santa when Rudolph gets sick. Elmer claims he'll give his entire fortune to anyone who can cure his "Santa Claustrophobia." Bugs and Daffy pose as a psychiatrist and nurse to help him with his problem and get their hands on those millions. Bugs and Granny are in a "Holly-Daze" when they're stranded in a western town on Christmas Eve and Yosemite Sam thinks they're notorious bank robbers. "Twas a Sight Before Christmas" has Bugs interviewing the other Toons to convince his skeptical nephew that Santa does exist.

Albert Finney may seem to be a strange choice for Scrooge, but he's not too bad in this lovely musical version of A Christmas Carol. The rousing "Thank You Very Much" was Oscar-nominated, and I've heard the number at the Fezziwigs' party "December the 25th" pop up elsewhere as well. My favorites are "Christmas Children" for Bob Cratchit and his little ones as they do their holiday shopping and "I Like Life" for the Ghost of Christmas Present.

The best of the Great Songs of Christmas albums came out in 1965. Diahann Carroll has two lovely old ballads, "Some Children See Him" and "Lo, How a Rose Er Blooming." Anna Maria Alberghetti sings the sprightly "Caroling, Caroling" and the gentle "Star Carol." Steve Lawrence and Eyde Gorme enjoy their "Sleigh Ride," while Maurice Chevalier sings about "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and wishes us a "Silent Night" partially performed in his native French. The album ends with Sammy Davis Jr. showing a passel of kids why "It's Christmastime All Over the World."

The Beach Boys were at the height of their initial success when The Beach Boys' Christmas Album debuted in 1964. It introduced the holiday standards "Little Saint Nick," "The Man With All the Toys," and "Santa's Beard." Some of the covers are a lot of fun, too, notably 'Frosty the Snowman" and "We Three Kings of the Orient Are."

Oh, and I got my Christmas present from Lauren and her parents when I brought in the mail. Lauren's parents always send me $20 for lunch when I go out Christmas week. Later, I checked my e-mail and discovered Lauren gave me a very generous online Amazon gift card as well. 

After I finally got everything cleaned up, I decided to go for a walk to check out lights in my neighborhood. I love how festive Oaklyn gets in December. I strolled down Clinton and back around towards the lake and saw everything from a house sporting a single porch light that blinked red, purple, and green to houses wrapped in lights, with every possible Christmas icon studding their front lawn. My favorite of the few inflatables I saw was Santa riding a very happy Tyrannosaurus Rex. Loved the fabric and lights statue of the cowboy snowman on Beechwood, too. 

Made a brief stop at Dollar General. I forgot to buy a friend maraschino cherries with stems earlier. They didn't have them, either. I did get gift tags...and forgot what else I was there for, which was pet gifts for my sister's dogs and cats and a friend's cat. I'll do that tomorrow, too.

Watched Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper while eating dinner when I got home. Yogi and Boo-Boo evade Ranger Smith long enough to head to the city to see the Hanna Barbara funny animal crew, not knowing they went to Jellystone to visit them. They hide from zoo keepers in a department store and pose as Santa and an elf to evade them. Little Judy Jones thinks Yogi really is Santa and tells him she just wishes her father was there, which makes Yogi believe she's an orphan. As it turns out, she's the daughter of a wealthy businessman who is too busy for her. While he sends cops to search for her, the others look for her family with the help of Pixie, Dixie, and Mr. Jinx and Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. 

Switched to It's Christmas Again on Tubi after a shower. I go further into this Christian teen musical that gives us the birth of Christ through the eyes of a modern teen boy at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

It's Christmas Again

Finished the night with Happy Holidays Vol 31. This is my favorite of the CDs I bought in Cape May along with Vol. 28. I first heard Eartha Kitt's version of "Santa Baby" and "Carol of the Bells," here performed by Kenny Rogers, on this album, and "Little Saint Nick" pops up here, too. Other fun numbers include Frank Sinatra singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas," Donna Summer's lovely "White Christmas," Amy Grant's brief but adorable "Santa's Reindeer Ride," and the original "Snoopy's Christmas" by the Royal Guardsmen.