It wasn't raining hard when I went to work, but it was supposed to rain all day. This was no day for riding the bike. I called Uber. The drivers going to and from work picked me up in 7 minutes. I even had the one going home before. I got there and back within five minutes and had no trouble whatsoever.
No trouble at work, either. Between the rain and this being the middle of the week and the middle of the month, we were dead all morning. It was so quiet, at one point, I did returns because the carts were full. And no wonder. It was gloomy, gray, and too warm for this time of year, probably in the 60's. The rain wasn't bad at work, but it did shower off and on for the entire morning. I was in and out with no trouble whatsoever.
(Thankfully, the rain wouldn't pick up until about a half-hour after I got home. It's been raining off and on, sometimes heavily, since then.)
Had lunch while watching PAW Patrol. "The Pups Save Christmas" when they have to rescue Santa after he has a crash-landing during a storm. Rocky and Rubble repair the sleigh. Chase rounds up the reindeer and helps Santa find the magical Christmas Star that allows them to fly. The others deliver the gifts around Adventure Bay.
Spent the next four hours wrapping gifts and boxing them. I want to send out any boxes that need to be mailed first thing tomorrow. There is one present left I need to pick up, but it's not something that's going in the mail. I'm hoping to find it in Collingswood tomorrow. At the least, I was right to buy another roll of wrapping paper. I did use up most of the gold reindeer paper.
Watched It's a Wonderful Life as I started the wrapping. George Bailey (James Stewart) has spent his whole life working for his family's building and loan in a small New York State town. He loves his wife Mary (Donna Reed) and their kids, but envies his brother Harry (Todd Karns), who had so many opportunities he was forced to give up in order to keep their business out of the hands of miserly Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore). He's horrified when Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) loses the money they're supposed to deposit in the bank and is ready to commit suicide, until he's stopped by sweetly eccentric Clarence (Henry Travers). Clarence is an angel who has watched George his whole life. When George makes a passing remark about how everyone would be better off without him, Clarence gives him a chance to see what those he loves would be like if he'd never been born...and learns why he truly has a wonderful life.
This has been one of my favorite movies for years, if for no other reason than it features one of the greatest collections of character actors in any Hollywood movie, from Lillian Randolph as Annie, the Baileys' hilarious housekeeper, to Beulah Bondi as George and Harry's mother, to Ward Bond and Frank Faylen as George's buddies Bert and Ernie. It's not for those who don't agree with director Frank Capra's pro-small town sentiment, but if you're a fan of Stewart or any of the cast, you'll absolutely want to check this out.
"It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special" is a pitch-perfect spoof of Wonderful Life, down to Buster attempting to jump out of the film when Montana Max takes over directing the Toons' holiday show. A certain very tall rabbit named Harvey shows Buster what it would have been like if he'd never been on the show...and it's not much prettier than what happened with George.
Stayed with the Looney Tunes as I packed the presents for Anny and her kids, Lauren and her parents, and the family in Virginia in boxes to be shipped out tomorrow. Bugs Bunny's Christmas Tales is an anthology of three original holiday shorts made directly for TV. The first is a version of Christmas Carol with Yosemite Sam as Scrooge, Porky as Cratchit, and Bugs as Nephew Fred and the ghosts. The second takes Wil E. Coyote and Road Runner out of the desert and into the snowy mountains for some fun with ice. Bugs has to defend his home against a hungry Taz wearing a Santa suit in the third.
Had just enough time to add the first three Goodyear Great Songs of Christmas albums to the Seasonal inventory, then had dinner while watching Match Game '75. Carol continues her winning ways in the first episode, though she doesn't have as much luck with Brett in the head-to-head this time. She finally loses during the first day of the next week with Sheldon Leonard and Louisa Moritz. Bob Barker turned up again in the last episode from 1977 with Eva Gabor.
Finished the night after a shower with more family favorites. March of the Wooden Soldiers is the Laurel and Hardy version of Babes In Toyland. I went further into this film in a Musical Dreams Movie Reviews entry from late November 2018.
Inspired by Linda Young's comment on yesterday's blog, I looked up the original Raccoons specials on YouTube. The Christmas Raccoons introduces us to Ralph, Melissa, and Bert, who lose their fir tree home after Cyril goes on a sawing spree and destroys half of the Evergreen Forest. The human children and their sheepdog Schaeffer (Carl Banas) take it home to be their Christmas tree. Schaeffer chases them when they try to get back to it, but helps them out when they explain what happened and what Cyril is doing.
The Raccoons On Ice is pretty much what it is on the record, with the addition of a few low-key songs by Rita Coolidge (who voices Melissa in these first two specials) and Leo Sayer (who took over for Rupert Holmes here) as background. It's even funnier when you can see everyone's expressions, including the big hockey game in the end.
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