It took me longer to make my bed than I thought it would, and I didn't get out the door until 11, when I was supposed to meet Amanda. Good thing she was picking me up at the parking lot of Oaklyn's City Hall, less than a five-minute walk away. She was there when I arrived. I jumped in her car, and we headed down the White Horse Pike to the Legacy Diner.
We had a hard time finding a place to park at the diner. They were so busy! There's a church just a block from there, and a lot of people probably went straight from church to brunch. At least it only took about 10 minutes to seat us. We both had pancakes and bacon. She had chocolate chip, I had coconut pineapple. Hers was part of the Legacy Sampler, which meant she also got scrambled eggs. She had hot tea, I had iced tea. The Legacy Diner makes wonderful pancakes, fluffy and huge, the size of the plate, and full of fruit. They were also too big to eat in one go. Neither of us finished our pancakes.
Amanda loves coffee, so we headed back down the Pike to Common Grounds in Oaklyn. They too were busy, but Amanda got us a seat at one of the wrought-iron tables along the brick wall. She just had a cup of coffee. I had a matcha latte. We spent the next hour or so discussing our triumphs and difficulties with our students - she teaches kindergarten at a private academy outside of Vineland - and that she's not really close with most of her family.
It had been raining all morning, since before I left Amanda, not hard rain, but a persistent shower that would continue for most of the day. Between the bad weather and Amanda wanting to get home and decorate her own tree, we ended up calling it early and exchanging gifts in her car. She gave me two fancy tins of hot chocolate, a cute kitten playing with a laptop Hallmark ornament, and another bag of scone mix, this one chocolate.
After Amanda dropped me off, I went straight into putting all the ornaments on my tree, including the Strawberry Shortcake I bought in Vermont and the one Amanda just gave me. I have so many ornaments! Mom made the folksy-themed stitched Santa and heart, the Christmas tree with the buttons, and Holly Hobbie in the 90's. Later, she bought us all ornaments from Winterwood in Rio Grande, like the beautiful flowered heart, the gingerbread Man in the chef's hat, and the Willow angel with the heart. Mom gave Rose and Anny and me Willow Angels the year they came out. Rose's angel holds a rose, mine has a heart, and Anny's has a child. (She gave birth to Skylar that year.) There's all kinds of pop culture characters and figures I love, Lucy Ricardo in a snazzy green dress, a soft BB8, Yogi Bear, the Disney Cinderella (they both came from half-price after-Christmas sales), Pusheen, Shaggy and Scooby out sledding, Winnie the Pooh dressed as an angel while eating honey, Rudolph and the Misfit Toys. Even my star holds fond memories. I bought the silver-tinsel-trimmed topper from Family Dollar in the late 90's, well before I had a tree. I just thought it was too cute and retro.
I had a little time after I finally got the ornaments done. Since I just rearranged my stuffed animals on my bed anyway, I got the Christmas bears out. This dates to 1987, when Dad gave Mom a big white teddy bear from K-Mart wearing a knitted hat and scarf. She named him Chester and put him on her hope chest, then dressed some of our other bears in old baby clothes and scarves and hats and had them join him. It was an interactive display. We'd change their clothes throughout the season, even putting tiaras and top hats on them at New Year's.
By the early 2000's, only Keefe was left at home, and Mom was tired of putting the bears out. She gave Chester and the remaining Christmas-only bears and clothes to me after I moved to Wildwood in 2002. I had no idea where to put them. I don't have a hope chest, but I did realize it looked a bit bare under my Christmas tree. The Christmas bears and stuffed animals have gone under the tree almost every year since.
Listened to Christmas records all afternoon while I worked. I picked up Volumes 20, 22, and 23 of the True Value Happy Holidays series on eBay. Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" and the Carpenters singing "Sleigh Ride" are probably the big ones on Volume 20. Leontyne Price also does a nice "I Wonder as I Wander," and Ronnie Milsap's "It's Christmas" is very sweet. Volume 22 gets its country on with Milsap returning for "Silver Bells," Alabama doing "Homecoming Christmas," and Dolly Pardon covering "White Christmas." Ella Fitzgerald ends the album with a gorgeous "Silent Night." Bing Crosby's immortal version of "White Christmas" ends Volume 23, which Mom bought to play while we decorated the tree when I was a kid. It gets a lot more late 80's with "This Christmas" by the Jets and "Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz" by Ray Stevens.
Switched to 80's kids Christmas albums while I dressed the bears. The Pac-Man Christmas Album has a rather sappy story about the Pac family inviting the ghosts over for Christmas, but it does have some good songs. "Snowflakes and Frozen Lakes" and "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" are my favorite numbers here.
A Cabbage Patch Christmas is even better. In fact, I bought this album because it has four songs by the Sherman Brothers along with numbers by other hands. Ironically, the clear winner was one of the numbers by other hands. "Children Go Where I Send Thee" is the attempt by the Colonel to tell the Kids the story of Christ. The Sherman Brothers' best song is "Gimmie Gimmie Take Take." The resident villains in the Cabbage Patch are confused and annoyed by a time of year when their usual adversaries are more likely to give them gifts than run away from them.
Did True Value Happy Holidays Volume 38 after I got off. The Bing Crosby/David Bowie version of "Little Drummer Boy" that ends the album and "Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney are by far the most famous numbers here. I loved the jazzy Dave Koz "Winter Wonderland" too. Sawyer Brown's "Please Come Home for Christmas" was the best of the country numbers.
Finished the night after a shower with dinner and tonight's YouTube game show marathon. We leave Match Game behind tonight to honor one of the channel owner's favorite game show hosts, Dick Clark, whose birthday would have been next week. Clark, the world's oldest teenager, had already been hosting American Bandstand for almost a decade when he did his first game show. The Object Is..., which had celebrities describing a famous person by using objects associated with them. It was too confusing to last more than a few months in late 1963 and early 1964.
After the similar Missing Links also failed, Clark focused on radio and Bandstand until 1973, when he hosted The $10,000 Pyramid. He became so associated with the show, he'd host all versions through 1988 except the syndicated $25,000. I have fond memories of watching the CBS daytime New $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids when I was a kid.
Clark hosted many lesser-known shows, too. It Takes Two debuted on the Family Channel in 1997. Three couples have to decide between the averages tied to some kind of event, like a huge meal or how much three San Diego Chargers weigh. Not a whole lot too this one. He ended his career with two short-lived Who Wants to Be a Millionaire imitations. Winning Lines and the two-off special Challenge of the Child Geniuses were clearly designed to steal Millionaire's thunder. They both asked questions of a large group of people before narrowing the field down and asking questions in Millionaire style ladders. Winning Lines was slightly more interesting; the kids on the Child Genius specials were more uncanny than brilliant.
Clark appeared as a panelist on other game shows, too. He was either on the panel of What's My Line? or a Mystery Guest many times, both on the network and in syndication. Likewise, he was also a frequent panelist on To Tell the Truth, including its rare 1980 version. He helped a couple with some pretty wild stunts in the 1970 version of Beat the Clock with Gene Wood. His stint on I've Got a Secret in 1964 coincided with their "teenager day." They introduced famous young teenagers, including Carol Lynley, future basketball star Oscar Peterson, and Bobby Fisher, and showed Paul Anka singing a new song he'd written.
Celebrate the life and times of the man who could climb Pyramids, challenge child geniuses, and kept New Year's Eve and daytime rockin' for 40 years!
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