Puttered around a little on the computer after the cartoon ended, hoping the dark and gloomy weather would subside. It didn't, so I just set out to run my errands anyway. My first stop was Dollar General. I was hoping to pick up heavy cream and good chocolate for truffles somewhere, but they didn't have either. I did replace the boxes I used for Jessa and Lauren's gifts and bought limeade water mix for hydration and a bottle of maraschino cherries for coconut cherry bars. A quick walk to CVS revealed nothing useful. I was in and out of there.
I originally wanted lunch at the Japanese restaurant on the White Horse Pike, but it would seem that they've gone back to pick up only. Ended up at the White Horse Pub instead. That may have been the better choice. I was the only person there besides the waitress and the bartender, both of whom were very sweet to me. The bartender even offered to put Christmas shows on the nearest TV for me. The turkey and bacon wrap with sweet potato fries were really yummy, too. They even had warm syrup to dip the fries in. More people came in for drinks as I continued my lunch, making it a rather pleasant meal.
It had been lightly misting when I originally started out. By the time I finished eating, the mist was gone, but it remained cloudy, damp, and chilly. I limited my walk to one last stop. Family Dollar didn't have anything I was looking for, either. No chocolate, no heavy cream. I'll have to get it from Sprouts or the Acme later in the week.
When I got home, I put everything away while watching The New Scooby Doo Mysteries. Fred returns to help Daphne, Shaggy, and the dogs out in "A Nutcracker Scoob." They put on a pageant for an orphanage, only for their show to be attacked by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Be. The gang has to figure out what the Ghost is after and how to stop a miserly old man from having the orphanage condemned on Christmas Eve.
Switched to Christmas In Connecticut while resting. Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) may be the most popular homemaker and recipe columnist in the United States during World War II, but there's one slight problem. In reality, she's a city girl who lives in an apartment and can't boil water. All her scrumptious recipes come from her Uncle Felix's (SZ Sakall) restaurant. She panics when not only does her boss Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) invite himself to her non-existent farm for the holidays, he brings a long handsome war hero Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) as well. John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner), the boring architect who has been pursuing her, just happens to have a farm in Connecticut. She agrees to marry him out of pure desperation...but didn't realize how hard she'd fall for Jefferson. Thanks to runaway cows, missing babies, and Felix's matchmaking, Elizabeth finally learns that honesty really is the best policy, especially where love is concerned.
This old favorite of mine coasts on the charming performances of its four leads. Sakall and Greenstreet are especially good as the two bosses with very different methods of dealing with their employees. Highly recommended for romantic comedy fans or fans of the stars.
The Christmas In Connecticut DVD comes with the Oscar-winning short subject A Star In the East. Master of accents J. Carroll Naish plays Tony, the jaded Italian owner of a desert hotel. He's driven crazy by the incessant demands of his cranky customers and thinks there's no goodwill left in the world. Nonsense, says a mysterious drifter. There's plenty of kindness to go around, especially at Christmas. He's proven right when a young Hispanic couple turn up at the hotel looking for shelter. Tony only has room for them in the shed...but that's enough for everyone in the hotel to rally around them, reminding Tony of the true spirit of the season.
Took my laundry downstairs, then spent the next few hours working on the inventory. I added all of the Christmas records with music by a solo, duo, or group artist. Other artists in my collection along with Mariah Carey and Ella Fitzgerald include The Beach Boys, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams (with and without his brothers), Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, The Harry Simone Chorale, Nat King Cole, John Denver, the Supremes, and Barbra Streisand. That completes the record part of the inventory. I'll start in on the seasonal CDs tomorrow before work.
Ran The Andy Williams Christmas Show from 1966 on YouTube as I worked. Williams did a lot of holiday specials, but this is one of my two favorites. We get the genuinely charming opening with him in town, buying a Christmas tree from the Osmonds. They have a bizarre number that involves them as elves working happily together, but most of the best moments go to Andy. Him singing "Love In a Home" with his wife Claudine and their parents is my favorite segment. It's so homey and cozy.
Watched Match Game Syndicated next after I put my laundry in the dryer. The first episode was the last from the week with Susan Howard, Gary Burghoff, David Doyle, and Marcia Wallace. Marcia was thrilled when the young male contestant kissed her after she gave him the right Audience Match answers. We moved to the next week for the remaining two. That was the week Bart Braverman and Fred Grandy spent goofing off and playing kazoos to anyone who would or wouldn't listen. Dolly Martin has to spend the week explaining why her finger is on a splint.
Moved to the Christmas episode of Hart to Hart next as I ate dinner and brought my laundry upstairs. "'Tis the Season to Be Murdered" has Jonathan and Jennifer Hart investigating a leak who has been selling the designs from their toy company. They first go in disguise to find the leak, then send in Max. It'll take a stakeout and help from a very attractive engineer (Elaine Joyce) to figure out who is after the latest Hart toy, an advanced robot.
Finished the night back at YouTube with Christmas game show episodes. Christmas and game shows go back almost to the beginning. The original I've Got a Secret always did at least one Christmas episode a year. I went with one of the earliest from 1954. Here, the contestants are eliminated in favor of asking the panel questions to see what else they can do. I especially like the ladies' talents. Jayne Meadows grew up in China and sang a Christmas song in Chinese, while Faye Emerson gave a wonderful reading of the famous "Yes, There Is a Santa Claus" letter.
The Price Is Right is another game show that does annual Christmas episodes. I dug up one of the shows that didn't make it onto the Bob Barker Price Is Right Christmas marathon yesterday. Christmas 1995 featured contestants playing for two expensive cars (one got it, one didn't) and a cute showcase with Rod Roddy as Santa checking his Christmas list to make sure he bought all the Showcase prizes everyone wanted.
Whammies abounded on the first holiday episode of Press Your Luck, especially in the second half. Though a lady tried hard and kept getting spins, in the end, the man in the middle wound up the winner with a big $20,000 score. He also got two trips for Christmas, including one to Japan he seemed really excited about.
Alex Trebek spent Christmas 1988 on Classic Concentration loudly protesting having to wear a heavy Santa suit. Though the woman contestant did well enough, she kept missing the answer in the end. The guy wound up with a ton of prizes, including a trip to Paris, but he didn't have as much luck with winning a car in the bonus round.
Kids had fun on game shows at Christmas, too. Lynne "The Chief" Thigpen and Greg Lee spend their holidays on Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego? trying to solve "The Case of the Purloined Pole." Somehow, Robocrook managed to swipe the North Pole, which doesn't make Santa happy at all. Greg led three kids from Poland to Arizona and back in search of the Pole and the elusive Carmen.
The Nickelodeon show Finders Keepers did two Christmas episodes in 1987. Wesley Eure reads the clues as kids search for items in holiday pictures, then run wild in a Finders Keepers house that that now included Santa's Workshop and a dining room set up for Hanukkah. Both teams got four out of five rooms in the big "search the rooms" bonus round, but kept missing the top prize. One pair did get a trip to Walt Disney World as an added prize in a "secret" room.
Celebrate the holidays game show style with these classic episodes!
(Oh, and it started raining again later in the evening and has rained off and on since then.)
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