Headed out after that to deliver a small bag of donations to Goodwill and finish my Christmas shopping. I started around front at Goodwill. They were incredibly busy when I got there with people on their lunch breaks. The only thing I found was a copy of the two-disc Woodstock DVD set...but the line was so long at that point, I decided to go back later.
Did better at Marshalls. Found a really nifty gift in a book-shaped tin for a friend of mine. Thankfully, the line there wasn't anything resembling as long. I was able to buy my present and elegant boxes for gift cards with little fuss.
Had lunch at Tang Asian Buffet after checking out Five Below really quick. They were surprisingly busy as well for 1:30 in the afternoon. In addition to the rice noodles and vegetables and chilled mussels I love, I tried a cheese and spinach casserole, a seafood and cheese dish, sugar-covered donuts, egg rolls, two little spring rolls, slightly dry sweet barbecued beef, a cream cheese and clam appetizer, steamed vegetables, and a strange custard-y egg and crab dish. Had two little slices of strawberry and espresso mousse cake, a dry slice of cake roll, and a bit of banana pudding cake for dessert.
Ducked back into Goodwill after lunch. Thankfully, the line was a lot shorter this time. I was able to pick up Woodstock with no trouble. Grabbed an Oreo Coke Zero from Five Below on my way home. At least it wasn't too cold for running around. It was wet when I went out - it must have rained last night or early this morning - but the sun was trying to come out when I was at Audubon Crossings. It was relatively warm for mid-December as well, probably in the lower 50's.
(Incidentally, that only leaves one person for me to shop for, and I know what I want to get them. I'll pick it up on Thursday.)
Soon as I got home, I went online and watched The Lemon Drop Kid on Amazon Prime. I go further into this Bob Hope comedy about a con-man who poses as a corner Santa to make money to pay back a gangster at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Worked on the seasonal inventory during and after the second half of the film. I really got a lot done today. Added the remaining soundtracks and cast albums, including Scrooged, Here's Love, the 1970 Albert Finney Scrooge, and the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I also got Christmas In France and all seven Firestone Your Christmas Favorites albums in there. Scrooge, Christmas In France, and the Firestone albums go back the furthest. I don't remember where I got Scrooge and Christmas In France from. I think they were Abbie Road or thrift shop finds. Two of the Firestone albums came from a yard sale in 2011, two from what was the Bellmawr Goodwill in 2014, and one from the Collingswood Library's book sale in 2009.
Switched to The Price Is Right and Match Game '75 after the movie ended and as I had a quick dinner. Match Game '75 was the hilarious week featuring Bob Barker and Arlene Francis where contestant Carol Bartos became the all-time biggest winner up to that point with over $20,000. After Fannie got her the winning Head-to-Head match, she threw her bow tie onto the stage and everyone started kissing everyone else! Later on, for some reason, Gene had a hammer in his coat and Bob decided to auction it off.
Finished the night with old and new children's Christmas albums. The Pac-Man Christmas Album features a goofy story about how the Pac-Family befriends the Ghosts on Christmas Eve, but it also has a couple of decent songs. I like the opening "The Magic of Christmas" for Mrs. Pac, "Snowflakes and Frozen Lakes" for the Pac couple, and "Friends Again" as they explain to the Ghosts why they gave them gifts.
My family owned four of the 6 Little Golden Book Stories for years. I wouldn't be surprised if Mom or one of my sisters still had our copies of Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, The Night Before Christmas, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer around. The Twelve Days of Christmas sounded really strange recited rather than sung. The only one that's new to me is How Lovely Is Christmas, the story of a pioneer boy who dreams of being able to clear land for his parents...and gets help from some of the most famous characters in American western legend.
The Raccoons On Ice is also familiar from my childhood. The Disney Channel used to run this Canadian special every year during Christmas and the winter. The Raccoons - Bert and his married friends Ralph and Julie - love skating on the local pond every year. They're horrified when they learn that wealthy aardvark Cyril Sneer intends to pave over the pond to make an industrial complex. Bert challenges Cyril to a hockey game, but Cyril corrals a team of professional hockey-playing bears. The Raccoons may lose their beloved pond, unless they can convince Cyril's nerdy son Cedric to join them.
We used to love the show and the specials when I was a kid in the 80's, and they're still a lot of fun to listen to. This one does seem to be missing the songs from the special, but otherwise, it's pretty intact. Rich Little does the slightly bemused narration. Probably not the most necessary thing in the world if you don't have fond memories of the show like I do, but I'm still glad I found it.
Oh, and the rain finally hit around 10-11. It's supposed to pour all night and into tomorrow. That's going to be a problem with work. I may have to take Uber.
2 comments:
Have you seen the Christmas Raccoons? Rupert is the voice of Dan the forest ranger in that one and sings two songs.
Saw it on the Disney Channel as a kid in the 80's, but not since then. I need to re-watch the specials and the show.
Post a Comment