Spent the rest of the morning dressing the dolls for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Samantha is in her original Cranberry Christmas Dress. The red bow shoes from her green Spring Dress match it perfectly. Barbara Jean is ready to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas in Julie's previous purple paisley mini dress with the filmy white sleeves and lace stockings. Molly loves to twirl in her velvet Evergreen Christmas Dress and black strap shoes borrowed from Samantha. Felicity can't wait to join the dance lesson at the Governor's Palace in her blue taffeta ball gown with the lace stomacher. Kit's in her first Christmas dress, long-sleeved red outfit with the triangular white collar.
Ariel also gets an earlier Julie Christmas outfit, in this case the wine velvet jumper with the flower embroidery and ruffly white blouse. I never liked the gold stockings and black platforms that originally went with that outfit, so she wears white tights and white t-straps. Whitney wears the beautiful blue-violet velvet and tulle Snowflake Ball Gown Lauren found at a yard sale with a black shrug from another outfit and black velvet shoes. Josefina is pretty as a Spanish princess in her original yellow-striped Christmas Dress with the black mantilla. Jessa honors her heritage in the first Chinese New Year's outfit American Girl released in the late 90's, which she wears with mules borrowed from Josefina.
Watched Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving as I worked. I went further into this direct-to-home media blending of two New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh shorts and the Pooh Thanksgiving special at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog in 2021.
Switched to Thanksgiving variety show and sitcom episodes as I ate lunch. The closest The Muppet Show got to a Thanksgiving episode was when Arlo Guthrie was the celebrity. His folksy presence inspired a down-home setting and several numbers with the Muppet jug band. Meanwhile, the Swedish Chef tries to find something to make for Thanksgiving dinner that won't attack him and Fozzie attempts to read Robert Frost poetry, only to be interrupted by Gonzo singing "Hernando's Hideaway."
Marian Cunningham on Happy Days is fed up with her family paying more attention to the Green Bay Packers game than her big dinner. She tells them her version of "The First Thanksgiving" to remind them of why we celebrate this holiday. The Cunninghams are a pilgrim family, Potsie and Ralph are trappers, and Fonzie is an outsider who gets into trouble for inviting Natives to share their celebrations.
Listened to The Story of Hans Brinker album as I gathered everything for work. This is a pretty straightforward retelling of the original book by Mary Mapes Dodge. There's a few changes; his sister Gretel doesn't enter or win the race, his father falls off a dyke during a storm, and Hans now wishes to attend school for art, rather then medicine.
Headed out after the Hans Brinker record ended. I'm glad it was an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny and in the 50's. This is the nicest day we'll have this week, and the kids got to spend most of it running around in the playground, chasing each other, playing house, and looking for ladybugs in the mulch. (And this time, we did get them to put their back packs back on the concrete where they belong, not under the playground equipment.)
I did have trouble with two of the older boys, who got into a fight over some game one of the girls concocted. She said they'd get points for how high of a rung they could jump off of on the climbing pole. First of all, they shouldn't be jumping off of it at all. Second, the boys took it way too seriously, especially when the girl gave one of the boys extra points after he'd gotten hurt previously. We had to separate the boys when we came inside. At least the games of Heads Up 7 Up and Silent Ball we played in the library with some of the kids went a lot better. In fact, they could be downright hilarious, especially with Silent Ball.
Took out the trash and brought up the laundry after I'd taken it downstairs during lunch, then watched Match Game '76 as I ate dinner. We got the tail end of Debralee Scott's first week as Scoey Mitchilll drooled over a pretty curly-haired contestant. Picked up the next week with the debut of a very different comedienne, character actress Mary Wickes.
Finished the night after a shower with Thanksgiving game show episodes. Thanksgiving goes back a long way on game shows. The episode of I've Got a Secret I have here from 1964 lets comedian Louis Nye show off his modern method of cooking a complete Thanksgiving dinner in 10 minutes - in what looks like a huge microwave oven.
Sale of the Century got an early start on Black Friday with their big Thanksgiving deals in 1985. Likewise, the Wink Martindale syndicated High Rollers stuffed their Thanksgiving pots with tons of cash and prizes, including a car, in 1987. Family Feud celebrated the holiday in 1989 with questions about what to do with turkey leftovers and a big meal in the end for host Ray Combs and both families.
The Price Is Right has done Thanksgiving episodes since the mid-70's. The one I have here is from 2003. There were a lot of newlyweds that year - two turn up on this episode, and one makes it to the Showcases. One showcase shows where you can eat Thanksgiving dinner. The other gives us things to do on the big day, including watch football on an enormous big-screen TV and ride around in a black convertible.
Let's give thanks for food, family, and games with these hilarious and heartfelt episodes!
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