Star Wheel Matches

Began the morning with breakfast and the rest of the Brian Setzer Orchestra Boogie Woogie Christmas CD. Switched to Merry Christmas From Sesame Street after that ended. As far as I can tell, this is the very first Sesame Street holiday album from 1975. A lot of what's here would be adapted for Christmas Eve On Sesame Street three years later, including Oscar's "I Hate Christmas," the cast number "Keep Christmas With You," and the entire Bert/Ernie/Mr. Hooper "Gift of the Magi" segment, complete with Bert and Ernie singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." 

Most of the other songs exclusive to this album are covers, but we do have a few unique items. "A Christmas Pageant" for some reason involves Bert posing as a Christmas tree and the other Muppets "planting" him. "The Night Before Christmas On Sesame Street" is David's solo, and it reads more as "a mid 70's New York hipster's version of 'The Night Before Christmas.'" Hispanic neighbors Luis and Maria sing two untranslated Spanish numbers, "Saludo" and "Arrurru." The Count gives us his...unusual...rendition of "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth."

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wrapping presents. I managed to get through half of them, including all of the gifts for Mom, Keefe, and Keefe's family, all of Lauren and her parents' gifts, one of Finley's gifts, and one of Khai's gifts. I'll finish the rest tomorrow.

Listened to two more Christmas children's albums while I worked. My family had 4 of the 6 Little Golden Book Christmas Stories when I was a kid in the 80's. For all I know, Mom or Rose may still have "Jingle Bells," "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and "The Night Before Christmas." Of the two books narrated on the LP I don't recognize, "How Lovely Is Christmas" is the more interesting one. A young boy who wants an ax that's his size to clear trees for his pioneer parents dreams that American tall tale icons Johnny Appleseed, Daniel Boone, and Paul Bunyon give him gifts to help his family. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" isn't nearly as effective when the lyrics are recited rather than sung.

Dickens' A Christmas Carol from 1974 is the original version of what would become Mickey's Christmas Carol almost a decade later. There were quite a few changes from the LP to the big screen. Merlin from Sword and the Stone was the Ghost of Christmas Past. The Wicked Queen in hag mode from Snow White was Christmas Future. Gideon and Foulfellow from Pinocchio were the men collecting for the poor. The biggest change is the addition of six songs, none of which would make it to the animated version. To be honest, I suspect the reason for that is they're not that memorable, although I do like the delicious march "Money" as Scrooge explains what he loves most to Mickey Cratchit. 

I was just having lunch when I looked at my watch...and realized it was quarter after 2. I was supposed to have been at work at 2! I was thinking of the after-school program's schedule, not the Acme's. I usually work there in the mornings. I raced around like crazy after that. Took Uber because I thought it would be faster, and because I would be at work after dark. Even with Uber only taking 6 minutes to arrive, I was still a half-hour late.

It was really busy when I got in, much more than it has been. Good thing the Eagles aren't playing until tomorrow night, or it might have been even worse. I ended up getting help with the carts from one of the guys who were supposed to be cashiering. Thankfully, it slowed down enough by the end of the night that I was able to get the carts done on my own, though I never did get to the trash or the side by the pharmacy. Uber took 11 minutes to get me home, not bad for the height of rush hour.

Spent the rest of the night after dinner watching the Sunday Match Game marathon. The addition of the Star Wheel in mid-1978 was controversial from the outset. Admittedly, it did allow contestants to win more money, up to $10,000 on the daytime show and $20,000 on the nighttime syndicated run. It was also supposed to give panelists other than Richard Dawson a chance to play the Head-to-Head. Richard was furious, to the point where he only lasted two weeks after they changed the set to work better with the Star Wheel.

While the idea of giving everyone a chance to play may have been nice, it didn't always work. Some of the panelists weren't that crazy about doing the Head-to-Head, even the ones like Brett who were actually good at it. Sometimes, the Wheel would land on someone multiple times in a row, like it ironically did with Richard the first couple of times it was used. (In fact, the moment it landed on Richard the first time, most of the panel, including Richard himself, walked out!) I know it landed on David Doyle at least four or five times in a row one week during the syndicated era, too. 

Contestants had fewer problems with it, other than some of them weren't all that great at spinning it. It did allow them to win a ton of money. This was particularly true in the nighttime syndicated show. Joyce Bulifant got the chance to help a man dressed all in blue win $20,000. Charles made him his "code of arms" to remind him of a slip-up on the Audience Match and of his big win.

Spin that Star Wheel to get big bucks the Match Game way in this hilarious marathon!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Star Wheel "Special Moments" (1978 - 1982)

The Secret of Snow

Began the morning with breakfast and the first holiday episode of The Backyardigans. Uniqua travels to the frozen north to learn "The Secret of Snow." Ice Lady Tasha has no time for her queries and first sends her to the desert, then the jungle. Her assistant Austin helps Uniqua, Cowboy Pablo, and Tarzan Tyrone out of jams, then gets them up north. They're happy together even after Tasha puts them to work. When they save Tasha, they learn to appreciate and have fun with their friends no matter what the weather.

It was just cloudy, chilly, and damp when I headed out late this morning. My first stop was Target. Needless to say, they had long lines, but there were a few things I couldn't avoid. Picked up pet gifts for Rose's dogs and cats and a friend's cat and the cherries with stems my friend wanted. (In fact, they turned out to be cheaper at Target anyway.) I also peeked in Dollar Tree, but only walked out with powdered sugar for the Cherry Coconut Bars crust. 

Dawn called while I was in Target and said she'd be slightly late arriving at the Haddon Township Library. That worked out very well. I saw a book on adults with the inattentive form of ADHD on the new releases shelf and was reading it when she arrived.

Frankly, we've had very little luck checking for jobs recently. I found one online in the past week. Dawn decided we needed a break and offered to take me out to lunch instead. I suggested the Westmont Diner on the hill under the Library after I checked out the book. It would require less driving than a trip to Collingswood, with easier parking. 

I'm glad we went. They were busy when we arrived, but we didn't have to wait too long for a table. They're having winter lunch specials that come with soup or salad, pudding or ice cream, and beverages. She had a giant plate of chicken stuffed with spinach and cheese surrounded by tons of buttery mashed potatoes. I had a turkey wrap with tasty fries. She apparently loves rice pudding. I had pumpkin pie ice cream. She had a diet Pepsi, I had iced tea. We both had a spicy seafood bisque with real crab pieces. (And we got the same gift certificates they gave last year to be opened by the waitress between January 1st and 31st. I'll have to eat there on New Year's Day again.)

Whomever does the painting on their windows is really creative. The pumpkins and squash from last month had been replaced with Christmas lights and garland. It looked pretty and colorful as we ate. 

(Oh, and this is likely the last time I'll be getting together with Dawn for the year. She's off for the next two weeks after this. I'll text her again with my schedule the Friday after New Year's.)

Dawn drove me back up the hill, and I dodged traffic and very light rain on Cuthbert riding home. When I got in, I went straight into making the truffles. Of course, first of all, it turns out the chips I bought were green mint white chocolate, not chocolate. Oh well. They'd just be green mint truffles. And then the candy wouldn't set after I'd boiled and whisked it. I left it in the fridge overnight to see if that made it more easy to handle.

Making the coconut cherry bars turned out to be much harder. I couldn't find the square cake pan...because it turned out that the owner saw the non-stick coating was coming off and threw it away. I used two cake pans instead. And I almost forgot to add the coconut. At least everything went fine once I did add it. The crust and topping baked fine and were easily cut.

And that means...yes, other than shaping the candy, everything I need to do for Christmas is now complete. The cookies are made and boxed. The gifts are wrapped and either sent to their intended destination or waiting to be given to their recipients. Now everything just needs to be given out.

As I made the coconut cherry bars, I happened to look up at the window overlooking the refrigerator...and saw snow. It actually snowed pretty heavily for a while. Nothing stuck to the ground and it turned into all rain later, but it still looked pretty, and we can still say we got snow for Christmas. 

Threw on two classic holiday sitcom episodes next. Finished out The Monkees with "The Christmas Show" from the second season. The guys get roped into babysitting for the nephew of a wealthy woman while she's on a holiday cruise. The boy is a grumpy human machine who resists all of the Monkees' attempts to show him the Christmas spirit...until Mike Nesmith figures out what he really needs.

Laverne and Shirley are devastated in "Oh Come All Ye Bums" when Laverne's Dad Frank is fired from his job as a department store Santa and declares he won't be able to have his annual Christmas dinner for the homeless in Milwaukee. The girls and Carmine try singing for the money first, but they just end up in trouble. The girls and the homeless are the ones who finally take it on themselves to bring Christmas dinner to Frank.

Checked my schedule online next. In good news, I did get my vacation days, which means I'll be off starting Christmas Day. On one hand, I'm also working from tomorrow through Christmas Eve. On the other hand, the only long shift is Sunday, and that's a normal six hours. My other shifts are all four hours and relatively early. I'll be able to finish the candy and deliver everything.

Switched to Match Game Syndicated next while rearranging the Seasonal inventory. McLean Stevenson joins the crew for the first time since 1978 here. He would stay on permanently starting in the next season. This time around, he had a lot of fun sitting between Jonnelle Allen and Debralee Scott and watching a smitten contestant flirt with the former.

Watched The Muppets Christmas Carol during dinner and Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol afterwards in honor of having started my annual reading of A Christmas Carol yesterday. I went further into these in 2018 and 2019 at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

The Muppets Christmas Carol

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

Moved to Disney Plus for Mickey's Christmas Carol. Here, Uncle Scrooge is his namesake miser who learns the holiday lesson. Mickey is Bob Cratchit, Donald is Nephew Fred, Daisy is Belle, Goofy is a hilarious Jacob Marley, and Big Pete puts in his scariest performance as a very dark Ghost of Christmas Future. Other than I never understood why Disney went for the fire and brimstone in the Future segment, this is far and away my favorite condensed half-hour version of this story.

Finished the night at YouTube for a holiday special that's so weird, I've watched it for a decade and still can't believe it exists. Amazingly enough, The She-Ra He-Man Christmas Special really is a thing. Orko is stranded on Earth after he crash-lands an experimental spaceship and befriends two human kids who teach him about Christmas. She-Ra and He-Man are having their own problems dealing with Hordak's rock monsters who are bullying a group of small but feisty locals. Orko accidentally brings the kids to Eternia after Man-at-Arms figures out how to get him home. Neither Skeletor nor Hordak want these shining beacons of goodness around. Skeletor tries to kidnap them, but (very) reluctantly ends up learning his own lesson in the holiday spirit when he defends them from Hordak and his boss.

Ghosts Stories for Christmas

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel's Winter Adventure" takes him, his father, and Prince Wednesday to a snowy hill to learn to sled. The boys are intimidated by how high the hill is at first, until Dan Sr. suggests they take it a little at a time. Likewise, when Dan is having a hard time learning how to ice skate, his mother says he should do a little, then a little more, until he can stand up in them on his own. Daniel saves the "Neighborhood Nutcracker" when he replaces an ailing Prince Wednesday in the title role. He's nervous about having to learn the dance so quickly, but Henrietta and Katarina teach him one step at a time.

Headed off to work after Daniel Tiger ended. It wasn't much busier today than it has been. People are still in the malls. Not to mention, though it remains cold, it's also sunny, dry, and windless. I spent the entire four hours pushing carts with no trouble whatsoever.

My schedule next week is somewhat similar, only this time, I have Friday instead of Tuesday off and the longest I work is five hours on Sunday. I'll try to get as much baking and candy making done as I can from Wednesday night through Friday.

Did some grocery shopping after work. Took advantage of sales to pick up two boxes of cake mix, butter, and white chocolate chips for cookies. Found Kind granola bars with clearance tags on them and bakery chocolate chip cookies on a good sale. Restocked oranges, yogurt, and bagels for lunch this week.

Put on A Christmas Story when I got home. All Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsly) wants for Christmas 1940 is a Red Ryder BB Gun "with a compass and a stock and this thing that tells time." He's the only one who thinks that's a good idea. His mother (Melinda Dillon) insists that he'll shoot his eye out. His teacher (Tedde Moore) gives his essay on what he wants for Christmas a low grade. Mr. Parker (Darren McGavin) is seemingly too busy fighting with the furnace in the house and the next-door neighbor's dogs to notice Ralphie's desires. Not to mention, Ralphie may not survive childhood pitfalls like bullies, kids' shows that turn out to be barely-disguised ads, and a harrowing visit to Santa (Jeff Gillan) at the local department store long enough to make it to Christmas Day!

I grew up in the 80's with two sisters, a working mom, and a stepdad whose religion was "motorcycle," and I can still relate to so much of this. My sisters used to hide under the sink when they were upset. I spent most of my childhood dealing with bullies not far removed from Ralphie's. Dad claims he actually got his tongue off a frozen pole as a kid by wetting the area around it...but of course, Dad was also known for his tall tales. (One thing that would not have happened in my family was the leg lamp. Mom would have taken one look at it and either said "get it out now" or dumped it in a less-used corner, major award or not.)  

If this is a favorite of yours that you can relate to as well, don't wait for the annual 24 marathon on TBS to check this classic holiday comedy out. 

Switched to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town next. I went further into this one, along with Rudolph, way back in December 2018 on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Worked on the Seasonal inventory next. Finished off the Happy Holidays series and the rest of the Christmas music collections, including the two I bought yesterday. I picked up most of the Happy Holidays records off eBay in the last four years or so, though Volume 16 came from Goodwill. I know I bought the Columbia Musical Treasury set Home for Christmas from a yard sale or thrift shop, but that's about all I can remember now. A Very Special Christmas also came from a yard sale in 2014.

Watched Match Game '77 while I worked and as I had dinner. Buzzr finished up their all-Bob Barker marathon with the week Eva Gabor called him a sex symbol in her native Hungary. Bob's more interested in trying to sell refrigerators to an unruly crowd. (And Buzzr's going right into another one-star marathon after this. Their annual Betty White Christmas event will be starting Monday and running until Christmas Day.)

Finished the night after a shower with spooky stories and bizarre specials in honor of Friday the 13th. My favorite version of A Christmas Carol is the British movie from 1951 with Alistair Sim as the infamous miser who learns a spooky lesson in charity from three ghosts one memorable Christmas Eve. This one features a pitch-perfect performance from Sim and an expanded past sequence that allows us to see more of how Scrooge went from an idealistic young clerk to a cynical businessman who cares only for profit.

Having enjoyed Paul Lynde's Halloween special for the past few years, I thought I'd give his version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas a shot. Lynde plays the cranky father of a large brood who do nothing but fight each other, whine for presents, and ask him questions about Santa he can't answer. Anne Meara is his gentle wife, while Martha Raye and Alice Ghostley are the two grandmothers with very different ways of dealing with their rowdy grandchildren. The last ten minutes, with Lynde having a grand time acting out the poem, are pretty fun, but getting there is more annoying than hilarious. It's something of a Victorian National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Lynde's character is even named Clark. It all ends well, but getting there is something of a hassle unless you're a really huge fan of Lynde or the ladies. 

Before he explored Christmas around the world, Perry Como enjoyed more typical variety show holidays in the late 60's and early 70's. The Perry Como Winter Show is my favorite of these early vaudevillian efforts. He's joined by Jack Burns, Avery Schriberer, Sally Struthers, and the music group the Establishment, whisking them from Metromedia Studios in LA to a cozy house in Vermont. Perry takes Avery to see Santa (Jack), Avery, Jack, and Sally portray toys in the store who haven't been bought yet, the Establishment and Avery peek at Sally and Perry singing under the mistletoe, and everyone gathers at a frigid nightclub to do imitations of actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Weird, yes, but a lot of fun. The copy I watched on YouTube even came with the original commercials and recipes for various Kraft foods. 

The Holidays are Coming

First of all, here's my review for Moana 2, which I saw on Tuesday. Yes, I did enjoy it...mostly, anyway. Find out more at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog! 

Animation Celebration Saturday - Moana 2

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and Charlie & Lola. Lola keeps begging her brother "How Many Minutes Until Christmas?," even when they're opening the doors on an advent calendar. She's upset when her letter to Santa gets mixed up with her card to Lotta, and then when her grandparents can't come...but the worst comes when they can't find the door in the calendar for Christmas Day. They create their own, then imagine themselves in the North Pole, helping Santa when he runs out of wrapping paper.

Rushed out after that and just barely got to work on time. That was the worst thing that happened all day. We were quiet in the morning and when I left. It did pick up during the noon rush hour, but by the time of the evening rush hour, I was finishing. I was alone for my first couple of hours, but had help from the afternoon bagger after 1 AM. It also remains bitterly cold and clouded up later in the day, though the wind has since vanished. 

I had a few Christmas gift cards I wanted to pick up after work that I intend to send out in the mail this week. I needed gloves for work, too, and a warm headband to wear when I ride my bike (my hats are too thick to work under my bike helmet). Grabbed a Christmas present for my nephew Collyn as well, along with more of those pumpkin spice sandwich cookies on the bakery clearance rack.

Went straight in the shower when I got home, then had dinner while watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in honor of its 60th anniversary this year. I went further into this at my Musical Dreams blog way back in December 2018. 

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Since I was doing Rankin-Bass, I ran one of their later animated specials next. I went further into their underrated animated version of A Christmas Carol, The Stingiest Man In Town, at Musical Dreams in December 2020.

The Stingiest Man In Town

Worked on the Seasonal Inventory while the cartoons were on. I did albums for spring, summer, and the first two for Halloween. The two Columbia Records spring collections go back the furthest. I'm pretty sure I found The Music of Spring and the Halloween jazz album Witchcraft...! in 2013, either at yard sales or the church thrift shop in Audubon. 

Finished the night at YouTube with the Match Game Saturday Night Marathon. Many a handsome leading man of the big and small screens tried their luck at this show. Michael Landon, Pa Ingalls himself, was on the very first week in 1973. Mork and Mindy star Jim Staal and Love Boat purser Fred Grandy turned up during syndication. Brett was more than happy to kiss Robert Urich of Vega$ and Spencer for Hire during his one week in 1975. Leslie Nielson and William Shatner also made appearances later that year. The Flying Nun's favorite Argentinian Alejandro Rey turned up for a memorable week in 1974. Scoey Mitchelll also made his first appearance in 1974. 

Take a gander at your favorite male star of the small and big screen in this hilarious and sexy marathon!

Match Game Saturday Night Classics - Male Heartthrobs On the Panel

Put a Little Love In Your Heart

Began the morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "It's Snowflake Day," and Dan is excited about the Neighborhood's big winter festival. He's going to be the snowflake narrator of the kids' play this year, if he can get over his stage fright. Later, after the lights go out, he's the one who suggests the adults use their Snowflake Day lamps to give them enough light to get through the rest of the show.

It was so late by the time I finally got downstairs, I ended up calling Uber. Thank heavens, they picked me up in less than two minutes and got me to the Acme in less than five. I got into work right on time.

Which is really the worst thing that happened the entire day. We were once again quiet. We're between holidays. Most people won't come out of the malls and start thinking of Christmas baking until next weekend. I did have to do the trash at one point and mop the women's bathroom, but I was mostly outside with the carts. I had plenty of help, too. The head bagger was there for an hour or two until she had to go in a register, and then the afternoon bagger came in. 

Maybe the weather scared them off. It was sunny, but bitterly cold and very windy early in the morning. The wind did die down as the day continued, but not the biting chill. At least it was bright and sunny, without a cloud in the sky.

Grabbed my schedule before lunch. Not as many hours next week, but more than I was getting a few weeks ago. Monday off instead of Sunday and a perfectly normal six hour day next Saturday. Good. I'll have plenty of time to finish Christmas shopping, wrap presents, and get cards and gifts out in the mail. 

Did a little grocery shopping next. Mainly restocked yogurt, fruit, soda, and granola bars. I had online coupons for Kind bars, bags off clementines, and the new Chobani protein yogurt. Had an online coupon for the bakery cookies, too. I got the soft, very chocolaty brownie cookies. Grabbed two bagels for lunch this weekend. Since they were only a $1.50, I picked up a roll of pretty green wrapping paper with a Christmas flower print.

Had more trouble getting an Uber driver going home. It was 5:30 by then, well into rush hour. It took me ages just to get a driver, and they took 24 minutes to pick me up. At least there was no traffic when she did finally get me and we got home quickly after that. 

Switched to A Charlie Brown Christmas while getting organized. Most of the Peanuts are excited about Christmas, but Chuck isn't feeling in the spirit. He's tired of all the grabbing around him. Lucy convinces him to direct their local Christmas pageant, but the other kids seem more interested in turning it into a jazz concert. Chuck thinks a Christmas tree will set them right. The others make fun of the tiny tree he brings home, until Linus relates bible verses to remind them of what the holidays are really all about.

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is really more a series of skits about the Peanuts' later holiday adventures. Linus tries to get Sally to ride down a hill in a cardboard box, but she's not crazy about that idea. Charlie Brown attempts to sell wreaths in order to earn money to buy a gift for the Little Red Haired Girl. Snoopy puts up with Lucy's complaints about his bell as a sidewalk Santa. Peppermint Patty attends the Hallelujah Chorus with Marcie, tries to avoid Christmas break homework, and is horrified when Marcie gets to be Mary in the school pageant, and she's only a sheep. Sally tries to remember her one line for the pageant and is embarrassed by what she does say when onstage.

Worked on the Seasonal inventory next. Added the soundtrack from Get Crazy and my Guy Lombardo album for New Year's, an Al Hirt Mardi Gras album, and George Winston's Winter Into Spring. Al Hirt goes the farthest back here. I found it at the Logan Presbyterian Church Thrift shop in December 2011. 

Finished the night with dinner and Scrooged on Paramount Plus. Frank Cross (Bill Murray) may be the youngest president network IBC ever had, but he's also one of the biggest jerks on television. He pushes his live Christmas Carol show on Christmas Eve hard, overworking his secretary (Alfre Woodard) who needs to get her mute son to the doctor, firing another employee (Bobcat Goldthwait) who protests his overly violent commercial for the special, and ignoring his brother James (John Murray). His social worker girlfriend Claire (Karen Allen) wishes he'd treat people a little better, including her. Frank finally learns his lesson when a zombie version of his late boss (John Forsythe) and three rather noisy and violent ghosts pay him a visit during the broadcast, showing him his difficult past and present and reminding him of what will happen to those around him if he doesn't change his ways. 

I think you can guess this version of A Christmas Carol is not for everyone. My own family was divided on it when it came out in 1988. Dad thought it was funny as heck. Mom thought it was too mean-spirited. I agreed with Mom in the late 80's, but it's grown on me over the years. Honestly, I've seen holiday comedies come out since then where people acted five times worse than Frank in the beginning. Bill Murray is firing on all cylinders as the ultimate cynical executive, with Allen sweet and endearing as his social worker love interest and Carol Kane hilarious as a truly unique (and very violent) Ghost of Christmas Present. The makeup work on the ghosts and Jacob Marley characters are among the best in the 80's, equal to any high-budget sci-fi movie of the time.

If you're looking for something a lot darker than your average Hallmark Christmas movie or are a fan of Murray, director Richard Donner, or black comedy, head to New York to spend Christmas Eve learning about the true meaning of Christmas with Frank and three of the scariest and most unusual ghosts ever. 

Christmas Is Waiting

Began my Christmas Eve off with finishing A Christmas Carol and reading short stories from various children's anthologies. Paddington's Christmas adventures begin with "Paddington Does His Christmas Shopping." Mrs. Brown takes Paddington to a fancy store to finish their shopping. After driving the clerks crazy leading the clothesline he bought for Mrs. Bird around the store and getting it twisted around everything, he finally ends up finding a jeweled pin that a millionaire lost. He tries to help decorate for "Christmas," but does better giving surprise gifts instead.

Dug a few Disney holiday stories out of their Storybookland anthologies. They have two versions of "Babes In Toyland." I did the last one in the Fantasyland book that comes a lot closer to the actual movie. We had the Golden Book version of "Mickey Mouse Goes Christmas Shopping" in the 1980's. Mickey and Minnie take Mickey's nephews Morty and Ferdie to the department store. When each assumes that the other will watch Morty and Ferdie, the boys end up playing in the toy department. After they fall asleep on the moon simulator ride, they wake up in a closed store. It takes a familiar holiday helper to lead them back to Mickey and Minnie.

Watched Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales during breakfast. This series of shorts was made to fill out an hour slot with Charlie Brown Christmas, but it has some cute material in its own right. I love Sally writing to "Samantha Claus" and her method of getting a Christmas tree. Snoopy has some good moments as a sidewalk Santa and trying to make peace with the neighbor's cat, too. 

Headed out after breakfast to run a few errands. I was half-way down the White Horse Pike passing the sushi restaurant when my cell phone went off. It was Los Amigos Bakery, the Mexican bakery on the White Horse Pike. I put a ticket in for a raffle to win a free cake about three weeks ago. I didn't expect anything to come of it, but it would seem that I was one of the winners. I was shocked. I never win anything. I told the lady I'd swing by to pick it up on my way back from errands. 

My first stop was CVS. I was mainly there to get a better wrist wrap. The one I bought at Target wouldn't close anymore. I bought a hand-wrist combo. I'm hoping the velcro on this one will last longer. I also picked up Crest Gum Protection toothpaste on a good sale.

Headed two blocks down and across the street to Dollar General next. Wanted pet toys for Rose's dogs and cats here. Restocked my Tide, too. I never see Dr. Pepper Zero anywhere but here, and they had Cherry Coke Zero. A friend who was wrapping gifts was out of tape.

Los Amigos Bakery is two blocks from Dollar General, so I went there next. Turns out I was one of three winners, and we got to choose which cake in the display we wanted. I picked a lovely white chocolate yule log cake. I never had one before, and though it wasn't large, it was festive. The lady wrapped it up in a pretty black and gold box, and even took a photo of me holding it and grinning. I'll bring the cake to Rose's tomorrow for Christmas dinner.

Put the cake aside and had lunch while watching A Disney Channel Christmas when I got home. This blending of the earlier Disney specials Jiminy Cricket's Christmas and A Disney Christmas Gift was one of the first Disney Channel holiday programs in 1983. It's easy to tell the year from it referring to Mickey's Christmas Carol being "now in theaters." The Jiminy Cricket half is the "Once Upon a Wintertime" segment from Melody Time, the fall and winter fairies dancing to "The Nutcracker Suite" in Fantasia, and the classic shorts "Pluto's Christmas Tree," "The Art of Skiing," and the hilarious "Donald's Snow Fight." 

The second half leans more on the feature length cartoons. We get sequences from Bambi, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Pinocchio, and Snow White featuring either parties, gift-giving, winter, dancing, or even just references to faith. The special finishes with the two Santa Silly Symphony shorts, another classic Donald Duck short "The Clock Watcher," my favorite black and white Mickey short "Mickey's Good Deed," and the Past segment from Mickey's Christmas Carol. I always get a lump in my throat watching Jiminy sing "When You Wish Upon a Star" in the finale, surrounded by all the Disney characters at the time.

Did a few Disney winter and Christmas shorts while cleaning up from lunch. "Chip n' Dale" is the first short where the two mischievous chipmunks are named. After Donald cuts down their log home to use in his fireplace, they do everything they can to get it back intact. They're "Toy Tinkers" when they invade Donald's home to get his Christmas nut supply. "Mickey's Orphans" is another black-and-white Mickey short, and the first Mickey short to earn an Oscar nomination. Mickey and Minnie also deal with small holiday invaders, in this case a basket full of overly enthusiastic kittens who literally strip their Christmas bare.

Stayed with Disney, but went with the full Mickey's Christmas Carol. Despite his title status, the real star of this Oscar-nominated featurette is Scrooge McDuck as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Mickey is a wonderful Bob Cratchitt, Donald is Nephew Fred, and Goofy is a very funny Jacob Marley. Pete puts in one of his scariest performances as a frightening Ghost of Christmas Future who sees a very hot time for Scrooge if he doesn't change his ways!

The Disney gang are far from the only classic cartoon stars to appear in Christmas Carol. The first short in Bugs Bunny's Christmas Tales is a spoof of Christmas Carol. Here, Porky is Cratchitt, Yosemite Sam is Scrooge, and Bugs is Nephew Fred who decides to teach his uncle a lesson. Wile E. Coyote tries to get the Road Runner on ice when he chases him across snowy mountains in the second short. Bugs also stars in the third short, as he tries to keep the Tasmanian Devil in a Santa suit from literally eating him out of house and home. 

Moved to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation next. All Clark Grizwald (Chevy Chase) wants is a perfect old-fashioned Christmas with all the relatives gathered around the table, a big beautiful tree, and lots of gifts under it. As usual, what Clark imagines and what actually happens are two entirely different matters. The two sets of grandparents can't agree on anything. His house is covered in so many lights, it shorts out the neighborhood power grid. His miserly boss (Brian Doyle Murphy) is late sending a big bonus Clark needs. Even when Clark gets the lights working, his hillbilly cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his family show up in their rattletrap RV and cause even more chaos. In the end, when the SWAT team is coming through the windows and the tree is on fire, Clark finally realizes that we can't make Christmas perfect, but we can make it memorable.

One of the most popular holiday comedies of the last 30 years or so. Chase and Quaid are hilarious as the very different cousins, but the whole cast is funny as heck. Look for Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the female half of a snooty yuppie couple who wish Clark wouldn't inadvertently get them mixed up in his antics. Scatological humor makes this for pre-teens and teenagers who just started their own Christmas breaks and adults who have probably gone through everything Clark does here at one time or another.

Put on the Christmas episode of Remember WENN after I went online. The first two seasons of WENN are currently on Flex. The cast and crew of radio station WENN hope that Christmas 1940 is going to be a memorable on on "Christmas In the Airwaves." Writer Betty Roberts is hoping to go home to Indiana for the holidays, but she's more worried about the nasty financier Mr. Pruitt who wants to shut them down. He was ordered to by their owner Gloria Redmond, a former singer who lost her husband the Christmas before and doesn't want to be reminded of anything about the holiday. The cast have to figure out how to let the show go on under Pruitt's nose and prove to Gloria that Christmas is a wonderful time for a heart to start healing.

Moved to tonight's Match Game marathon at YouTube after eating dinner. In addition to the hilarious Christmas episode from 1978 with Charles and Brett as Santa and a little girl on his knee, the only Christmas episode of Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, and the Christmas week episodes of Match Game '90, we had episodes that mentioned Christmas or were filmed around Christmas. Patty Duke sported a luxurious fur coat in one syndicated episode. Betty Kennedy sat in for Brett in another. Everyone teased McLean Stevenson about his black western shirt with the red embroidered roses in another one. Another syndicated show had everyone get so excited over winning, Gene ended up dancing on the desks and grabbed the contestant for a dance.

Join the Match Game panelists for one heck of a Christmas party in these classic episodes!

Match Game Sunday Classics - Christmas Eve Party 2023

Finished the  night with two more featurettes set on Christmas Eve. I went further into the lovely The Small One, about a little boy who tries to sell his donkey in Bethlehem on a certain December night, last Christmas Eve on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Christmas Eve Short Subject Special - The Small One

I also discussed the Rankin-Bass special 'Twas the Night Before Christmas on my blog during Christmas Eve 2019. 

Christmas Eve Double Feature - Twas the Night Before Christmas & The Year Without a Santa Claus

And here's hoping all of you have a wonderful holiday season, no matter what you celebrate or with whom!

Sending Christmas Cheer

Started off the morning with breakfast and The Super Mario Bros Super Show. Bowser is "Koopa Claus" when he kidnaps Santa and freezes his toy factory in order to ruin Christmas. Toad is horrified Bowser ruins his new snowboard, leading Princess Toadstool to scold him for being greedy. In the live-action segment, Mario and Luigi recall to a runaway boy how "Little Marios" also ran away once.

Switched to Buzzr for Match Game '77 while taking my laundry downstairs and putting the boxes for Lauren and my family in the Villas and Virginia together. Buzzr's still doing their Bob Barker marathon, as his birthday would have been tomorrow. Bob appeared on the last week before the show moved to mornings, as Gene complains about early in the episode. The others are more interested in contemplating why a woman is carrying what she calls a rape whistle around her neck while Gene points out that producer Roger's been misspelling answers again. 

Bob and his wife Dorothy Jo also appeared on the Tattletales episode with William Shatner and his wife Marcy and comedian Pat Cooper and his wife Patti. I never heard of Cooper until today, but apparently, he was big on celebrity roasts. No wonder. He and Patti were funny as heck. Although Bob and Dorothy Jo did well, they ended up being the big winners.

Headed out to run errands after I put the laundry in the dryer. I really wanted to get my Christmas boxes in the mail. One's going to Lauren and her parents in Pittsfield, one's going down to Mom and Keefe and his family in Yorktown, Virginia, and the third will be going to Anny and Lilah in the Villas. Fortunately, the Oaklyn Post Office is three blocks from where I live. There was only a short line when I arrived at the blocky one-room building. Other than a slight bobble with the zip code on Lauren's package, I was in and out...and it's a good thing. By the time I left, the line was out the door.

Dollar General is a block from the post office, so I went there next. I mainly wanted to buy a birthday card for my friend Linda Young. I also bought a Dr. Pepper Zero (I've never seen them anywhere else) and an original metal Slinky to put in the toy donation box in the front of the store.

When I got home, I brought my laundry upstairs and put it away while watching the first Christmas episode of Paw Patrol. The "Pups Save Christmas" when Santa has an accident with the sleigh and loses his presents, his reindeer, and the magic Christmas star that allows the reindeer to fly. Rubble and Rocky fix the sleigh. Chase herds the reindeer and helps find the star. Skye, Marshall, and Zuma deliver the gifts all around Adventure Bay.

Put on the 1951 British A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim while I got Linda's birthday card and the Christmas cards going in the mail together. This is probably my favorite traditional, fully live-action Christmas Carol. Sim is a wonderful Scrooge, especially in the second half, when he's thawing out and beginning to to understand what his stinginess and bitterness has done to those around him. There's some nifty touches, too, including an expanded past sequence that fully shows how Scrooge went from idealistic clerk to nasty businessman and the hilarious reaction of his washer woman when she comes in on Christmas morning and sees her miserly boss suddenly dancing around and giving out money. This is in the public domain, so it's pretty easy to find. 

Let the other program  on the DVD run while cleaning up the cards. Max Fleischer released the first animated "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as a short in 1948. This one follows the original book pretty closely. Rudolph is an adorable little fellow, especially when he's hoping Santa will fill his stocking and in the very end, where he blushes bright as his nose. This was apparently created as an ad for the story's original publisher Montgomery Ward, which is likely why it's now in the public domain. 

Did job research next. When I didn't see anything, I moved on to writing. Actually, I re-wrote the entire scene in the tower. The fire that burns the tower and Harron is now choking, clinging vines that scar Harron's  handsome face and crush the tower. When he uses his power to make the vines attack Cora, she uses her knife to knock one back at him. She pushes so hard, the thorns end up blinding him.

Broke for dinner at 7 PM. Watched Match Game Syndicated while I ate. Stephanie Powers finally made her first appearance since 1973, while Gene announced that Charles would be going on hiatus after this week to do a (short-lived, as it turned out) Broadway show. Fannie Flagg is more worried about dealing with "__ Decker" in the Head-to-Head. In the second show, Gene jokes about Stephanie's hair getting mussed, but Bill would rather muss Stephanie. 

Finished the night on YouTube with episodes of Tic Tac Dough in honor of the 45th anniversary of the 1978 revival and host Wink Martindale's birthday last week. Tic Tac Dough actually goes back to 1956 as one of the many big-money quiz shows dreamed up by Barry and Enright. Originally a daytime show, a nighttime version debuted in 1957. The Barry-hosted daytime show was apparently clean, but the night show hosted by Jay Jackson was said to be rigged more than 75 percent of the time. Both shows changed hosts after the Quiz Show Scandals broke. The nighttime version ended late in 1958; the day show didn't make it out of 1959.

The episode I have here is a daytime show from 1958, one of the very few known to exist today. In the original version, people would guess answers from subjects on a tic-tac-toe board that was mechanically shuffled. The money they won would be added to a pot. Whomever got three Xs or Os in a row won the pot. I find the mechanical board to be charming and the questions to be interesting, which makes me wonder why someone thought they needed to cheat on this to begin with.

After Barry and Enright made a comeback in 1973 with their Joker's Wild, they decided it was time to bring one of their first hits back to the small screen. What most people probably don't remember is that there were actually two Tic Tac Dough revivals that debuted in 1978. The first turned up on CBS that summer. It apparently couldn't drum up ratings opposite Card Sharks and was gone by the fall. 

The version that everyone remembers is that the show moved to syndication two weeks after it left CBS...and was an instant sensation. Along with Family Feud, it was probably the most popular game show of the late 70's and early 80's. Now the questions are asked on monitors, and there's occasional "red squares" as money bonuses. They also added an actual bonus round. In the CBS show, people would try to get three Xs or Os in a row and avoid the noisy roaring dragon that would seemingly lunge at the screen. The syndicated version had them choosing numbers to find money under them. If they found $1,000 or over, or got the words "Tic" and "Tac," they'd win a big prize package. Contestants who won five games in a row got a car.

There were a lot of big winners on this show, but the biggest debuted in 1980. Naval pilot Thom McKee started off in September 1980 and would continue winning money for 46 episodes. He eventually amassed more than $312,000 and eight cars. It was a game show winnings record that would stand until Ken Jennings' big run on Jeopardy! 20 years later. (And apparently the guy who finally defeated him went on to do really well, too.) 

Martindale left to do his own Headline Chasers in 1985. Jim Caldwell replaced him, and while he apparently got better as the final season went on, he was really no Martindale. On the other hand, the set did get a rather attractive make over at this point, trading in the late 70's wood-and-gold look for softer pastels. Nothing helped. Dough couldn't stand out in a syndicated landscape now dominated by Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune and finally ended in 1986. 

Dough was one of the many games that saw a revival in 1990. Alas, this version is rather notorious among game show fans for not being terribly good. On the plus side was a nifty early CGI board and a simple but fairly elegant set. However, the bonus round was unnecessarily complicated by a new knight "dragon slayer" character and the contestant choosing to play Xs or Os, instead of just choosing money. Host Patrick Wayne was an actor who had little prior experience  hosting. He tended to be either totally bored or screaming at the top of his lungs. 

(It's too bad most people think this moves too slow and the tic-tac-toe board is too cumbersome to work nowadays. There apparently was a pilot for a third revival shot in 2021 with Tom Berganon, but they didn't go ahead with it. I wish they'd change their minds. I enjoy watching the older episodes, and I did as a kid when I'd see them on USA. I wonder if there might be life for this show yet in the right hands.)

At any rate, see if you can solve trivia and avoid that infamous dragon with some of the most winningest contestants ever on television! (Look for commercials from the show's run on Game Show Network and USA on most episodes and bad tapes on the CBS premiere and the show from 1986.)

Tic Tac Dough (1958)

The New Tic Tac Dough CBS Premiere (1978)

The New Tic Tac Dough Syndicated Premiere (1978)

Tic Tac Dough - Thom McKee Debuts (1980)

Tic Tac Dough - Thom McKee Wins $200,000 (1980)

Tic Tac Dough - Thom McKee Departs (1980)

Tic Tac Dough - 1,000th Episode (1983)

Tic Tac Dough Series Finale (1986)

Tic Tac Dough (1990)

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Started off the morning with breakfast and the second WKRP In Cincinnati Christmas episode from the third season. Station manager Arthur Carlson says "Bah Humbug" when he refuses to give out Christmas bonuses. Thanks to Johnny Fever's brownies, he dreams that the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jennifer), Present (Venus), and Future (Johnny) show him what will happen if he doesn't treat his employees better.

Worked on writing after that. The Mouse Queen (Jo Ann Worley) brags that she's already waylaid the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier. Gene can't take her on by himself, but the Nutcracker jumps in to help...

While it wasn't raining like it did yesterday, it still came down this morning. Between that and it getting colder tonight, I called for Uber. Considering all the trouble I had getting Uber for work a while back, I had no trouble today. Took 7 this morning and and 4 tonight; was to and from work in 5 minutes.

My first of two 8 and 1/2 hour shifts in a row largely went pretty well. We were insanely busy almost the entire afternoon, with long lines down the aisles. It got even worse in the afternoon, when we had less help. It didn't slow down until nearly 6, and even then, they had to send one of the college kids in for me so I could get out on time. 

And no wonder we did die down. It was literally freezing when I got out of work. Biting winds blasted me as I waited for the Uber driver. (No snow, though. Looks like we managed to evade the white Christmas many other parts of the US, including Lauren in Pittsfield, got, but not the frigid temperatures.)

Soon as I got home, I grabbed dinner and put on Ernest Saves Christmas. Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) is a cab driver in Orlando, Florida when he picks up a nice old man at the airport. Turns out the man is the real Santa Claus (Douglas Seale), who came to Orlando to seek a replacement. He's chosen former children's show host Joe Carruthers (Oliver Clark), but Joe's sleazy agent (Robert Lesser) wants him to do a B-grade Christmas horror film. Ernest also has to deal with Harmony Starr (Noelle Parker), a selfish runaway whose constant lies hide her pain over her parents' divorce. It'll take a pinch of teamwork and a wild ride on Santa's sleigh to finally convince Harmony and Joe that Santa...and the Christmas spirit...are the real deal.

Went straight into the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas next. The Grinch (Boris Karloff) is a green furry miser who hates all the noise his neighbors in the valley the Who make on Christmas Day. He dresses as Santa and purloins their goodies, but even his best-laid intentions can't stop the holiday magic. It takes the Whos continuing their traditions no matter what to convince him that "Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

Finished the night on Disney Plus with the original 1947 Miracle on 34th Street, another movie about a Santa whom no one believes is the real thing. Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) finds Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) scolding the Santa in the Macy's Parade for getting drunk. He's so successful as a substitute Santa in the parade, she gives him the job of being the store's Santa. Trouble is, Kris keeps insisting he actually is Santa. This troubles Doris, who has raised her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) to only believe in what she can see and hear after a nasty divorce. When Kris is put on trial for lunacy, he's defended by kindly lawyer Fred Gailey (John Payne), who turns the hearing into the talk of the town...and teaches, Doris, Susan, and all of New York a lesson in faith, hope, and the true meaning of the holidays.

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

 Awoke to a glowing morning, all clean, fresh, and white. The next-door neighbors own a snow blower and were just clearing off the path to my apartment when I pulled out Tales Told Under the Christmas Tree. This anthology features Hanukkah stories as well as ones for Christmas. My favorite by far is the story of the young boy from Austria coming to live with his aunt and uncle in the US during the Hanukkah season in the late 40's. He's used to Nazi persecution and not being able to openly celebrate his faith, and his relatives' huge party overwhelms him. It takes a special gift to make him feel more at home.

Colliers Harvest of Holidays also features Hanukkah stories. My favorite in this one comes from More All-In-the-Family. The girls are delighted to enjoy their mother's potato pancakes and play the dreidel game at a family party. Henny goes back for her mother's umbrella and ends up with all the nuts she can carry home.

Put on The Bernstein Bears' Christmas Tree while eating breakfast and getting ready for work. Papa Bear takes the cubs up into the mountains to find a real tree in the wilderness. They keep being chased off by animals who don't like them trying to chop down their homes. Papa figures out too late that the animals want to celebrate Christmas, too, but there's a surprise waiting for him and the cubs when they get back to the tree house.

Worked on writing for an hour after the cartoon ended. Tom orders another member of his crew, Robert Walden, to help Gene out and give him more details on the plan. Robert asks Gene about Charles - he was his teacher years ago on land.

Called Uber shortly after I got offline. This time, I had no problems getting there or back. The roads were clear enough for most Uber drivers to get through. Thankfully, the cell phone waited to die on me until I'd already gotten through to a driver. 

Work was...dead as a doornail for most of the afternoon. Even rush hour was mildly steady at most. I did a lot of standing around or cleaning. No major problems at all; was in and out.

Went straight into scrambled eggs with spinach, mushrooms, and cheese for dinner when I got home. Made Cherry-Coconut Bars, the last cookies I give away for Christmas, while watching The Stingiest Man In Town. I go further into the original live-action version of this vintage TV Christmas Carol with Basil Rathbone and Vic Damone at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

Musicals On TV - The Stingiest Man In Town (1956)

Did Sale of the Century as I went online. The champ just kept right on dominating. He bought two of the three Instant Bargains and won at least one Fame Game. The other man came on strong in the end, but he just pulled ahead in the Speed Round. Picked up 3,000 on the Match the Prizes board.

(Oh, and from a commercial I caught during Sale, it looks like Buzzr's going to do a Match Game New Year's Eve marathon. On one hand, I'm a bit surprised they're doing this so soon after the Betty White Christmas week. Match Game will likely be a big part of that - Betty made frequent appearances on that show. On the other hand, the Match Game New Year's episodes are hilarious, and I enjoyed watching them on New Year's Eve last year. The marathon will be a great way to end a difficult year on a high note.)

Finished out the night online, writing my review and watching another version of A Christmas Carol. My favorite film version is the 1951 British retelling with Alistair Sim. Sim wonderfully nails Scrooge, especially his redemption in the end. I love how the char woman completely and understandably freaks out in the end when he's giving her money after barely acknowledging her for 30 years. 

Did The Ghost and Mrs. Muir after that ended. "The Ghost and Christmas Past" from the second season is another riff on Christmas Carol. Stingy Claymore Cliegg (Charles Nelson Reilly) finds a baby in his car. He turns it over to Mrs. Muir (Hope Lange) and her family, but barely helps with the money for its care and won't bargain over a Christmas tree. It takes a strange and familiar dream on Christmas Eve to make Claymore realize the importance of charity and giving, especially to family...and the ghost Captain Cliegg realize his dream of being a part of the family. 

Oh, and hope all of you who celebrate it had a wonderful Hanukkah this week! 

Finding Christmas

Began the morning with breakfast and The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas. Ted E. Bear (voice of Tom Smothers) is a bright little fellow who is very curious about Christmas. Most bears hibernate before the holiday begins, but Ted is determined to stay awake and see it for himself. He eventually ends up in New York City, where Santa Claus (Robert Holt) directs him to a place where he'll discover that Christmas is more than a time of year. It's a special feeling...and one that's best shared with those we love.

Tried calling the Erlton Bike Shop in Cherry Hill twice after I got online. I never reached them. Worked on writing instead. Captain Allen Ludden and his wife Betty White are also seeking revenge on Goodson, who confiscated their ship the All Star. While a big score has allowed them to build another ship, they're banding together with Kennedy to get back at Goodson for taking their first one.

Rose called shortly after I got off the computer. Erlton's website does have an e-mail, so she suggested I e-mail them. Couldn't figure out how to do it on my phone, so I went back on the laptop and sent them a short note asking if they needed an appointment, or if we could just drop off the bike. 

(They responded later in the afternoon. No appointment needed. We can just drop off the bike for curbside pick-up. I texted Rose, but haven't heard from her. I'll call her tomorrow.)

Threw on Mickey's Christmas Carol while getting ready for work. This is the featurette version of Dickens' Christmas Carol, released in 1982. Uncle Scrooge is, of course, his namesake. Donald's Nephew Fred, with Mickey and Minnie as the Cratchits. Also ran the adorable short "Pluto's Christmas Tree" with Pluto chasing Chip and Dale out of the tree Mickey just brought home.

Took a quick Uber trip to work. I did spend a lot of another gorgeous, chilly day outside pushing carts...when they weren't calling me in to take a register because one of the cashiers called out. Had to deal with a very rude man who demanded I put the paper bags in the plastic bags first to make things faster. When I took a question from a woman who needed to know how to find the baby formula, he told me to get back to his order this second! I told him quite bluntly he was being rude and needed to let me do my job. I thought I lost my temper, but I guess the other women in the line approved. I got nothing but praise for how I dealt with him from the customers behind him and the woman running Instacart curbside pick-up orders.

I needed to go right into Match Game '75 and leftovers for dinner after I got home. Arrived just in time for jokes about Fannie Flagg's sweater with the hands on them. The second episode began with Gene laying on the floor, taking a nap, and ended with jokes about how Avery Schreiber combs his wild curls. Another comedian known for their wild hair, Phyllis Diller, joined the fun on Match Game PM. While Charles refused to answer a question because Gene acknowledged Fred Grandy's bow tie and not his, Phyllis helped a young lady who wanted to win $7,500.

The champ continues to dominate Sale of the Century. One of the other men did win the third Fame Game board, but otherwise, it was all him. Trouble is, he keeps jumping in too early...and being lucky that so is everyone else! Everyone kept jumping in too early on the Speed Round and giving weird answers, to the amusement of Jim Perry. In the end, the champ once again barely got through the Speed Round and picked up $3,000 on the Match the Prizes board. 

Worked on my Christmas cards after dinner. I hope I'm just able to give some of them out. All the ones being sent in the mail should be out tomorrow or Thursday, but I'm not sure I'll see some family members who would usually be around for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Jodie actually came to me at one point in the evening and claimed she wasn't going to put up a Christmas tree because she was too depressed. I think putting up the tree will make her feel a lot less depressed.

Finished the night after a shower with The Bohemian Girl on TCM. I go further into the first of two Laurel and Hardy operettas I'll cover this week at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog. 

The Bohemian Girl

It's the Holiday Season

Started off a quick morning with banana pancakes for breakfast while listening to the soundtrack from the 1970 Scrooge. Albert Finney plays the world's most infamous miser in this version with music by Leslie Bricusse. "Thank You Very Much" for the people celebrating in the future was the hit here; other favorites include the sweet "Christmas Children" for Bob Cratchit and his kids as they go shopping and "December the 25th" at the Fezziwigs' party.

Dashed off to work, making it just in time. We were pretty quiet when I got in, but it picked up around 11. We had lines down the aisles at one point, and that was with a lot of help. Thankfully, other than a few mishaps, there wasn't much trouble. It slowed down enough by 2 that I shut down with no relief and no need for one.

Called Rose when I got home. According to my phone, she called me earlier, but it was shortly after I got to work. Yes, she's having Thanksgiving. It'll likely just be her family and me, which is fine. I can come over whenever. Given I also wanted to watch the all-day marathon on YouTube Match Game Productions channel, I'll likely go over around 3 and give a few hours to the live chat first.

Went down for a nap after I got off with Rose. I hadn't heard from Jodie when I came in, so I assumed she wasn't doing anything for the Eagles-Browns game. I really wasn't in the mood for watching them anyway, given how badly they've been doing lately. Hit my bed at 2:30 and didn't get up until 4:30. (And I was right. Checked online later and found out that they did, indeed, lose to the Browns 23-17.)

Did some writing after I rolled out of bed. Gene and Brett are dragged on deck and find themselves facing Gene's former boss, General Mark Goodson. He's an intelligent but fastidious man who likes to show off his wealth, boasting about his fancy new cufflinks even as he gloats about capturing his former officer. Brett's not happy when he reveals she's a wealthy noblewoman who ran away from her husband, a doctor and compulsive gambler, and there's a reward for returning her to him.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had the leftover soup while listening to the soundtrack from Scrooged, the 1988 modern Christmas Carol with Bill Murray in the Scrooge role. The big one here is the version of "Put a Little Love In Your Heart" by Annie Lennox and Al Green that turns up frequently on the radio during the holiday season. Most of the other songs are generic pop and hip-hop that were common at the time, though the final number is a nice version of "The Christmas Song" by Natalie Cole.

Made apple crisp and switched to Merry Christmas With the Williams Brothers. "The Holiday Season" with Andy Williams and his brothers is the hit here, along with the Williams favorite "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." There's also the rollicking "Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells" and his version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," "A Song for a Christmas Tree."

(By the way, that apple crisp came out amazing. I tried the recipe from a Susan Branch cookbook I picked up a while back, and it's perfect. Maybe a little sweet - I might use slightly less sugar next time - but otherwise spicy and delicious.)

Moved online for game show episodes on YouTube. The only Thanksgiving episode I could find was Classic Concentration from 1990. The copy isn't great, but they do have a big turkey decoration in front of the contestants' desk and a "Happy Thanksgiving!" rebus in the beginning. 

Since I had such a hard time finding Thanksgiving-themed games, I went with shows played by couples or families. The original Family Feud runs from the 70's and 80's are on Buzzr, but they play in the early morning when few are awake. I did one episode from 1982 with Richard Dawson and a group of ladies from West Virginia with some very interesting answers, and one from 1988 with Ray Combs and a group of enthusiastic gentlemen. 

For some reason, Buzzr only runs Tattletales episodes from 1974 and 1975. There's lots of great shows from later in the run they haven't touched yet, like this one from 1976. This was the first time Price Is Right hosts Bill Cullen and Bob Barker actually met. Bob and his wife Dorothy Jo did pretty darn good, too. 

My sisters and I were huge fans of Double Dare on Nickelodeon and in syndication when we were kids. We religiously watched every version they tossed out, including Family Double Dare. It's the same as all of the other Double Dares, only here, it's parents and kids getting covered in gunk, plastic balls, and colored water. Interestingly, both Physical Challenges involved filling a vessel with that colored water. One had the dad filling a cup with lemonade squirting from a giant lemon; the other had the family wearing hats with bowls to pass each other enough blue water to fill a long-necked cup.

Celebrate Thanksgiving with your family, some very strange answers, a pinch of innuendo, and a lot of slime!

Tattletales (1976)

Family Feud (1982)

Family Feud (1988)

Family Double Dare (1988)

Classic Concentration (1990)

Finished the night on YouTube with the next Match Game '73 premiere and Arthur's Thanksgiving. Arthur's looking forward to his dad's big dinner with his family and Aunt Minnie, whom he hasn't seen in years. His dog Pal's been eating food off the table and is put outside when Mr. Read thinks he ate his Brussels sprouts. Pal manages to slip off his leash and chase a cat, but gets lost trying to get home. Arthur's search for his lost dog leads to half the town, from a hot dog seller to a little old lady to firefighters, joining in. Meanwhile, his buddies at school are excited about being in the town Thanksgiving parade, especially Muffy, who gets to ride with her dad in a fancy vintage car, Pal and another dog manage to bring food to the dogs at a shelter who only get kibble and treats for Thanksgiving, and DW tries to figure out what's going on with sarcastic Aunt Minnie.

Here's the link on YouTube, so you can enjoy Arthur's Thanksgiving adventures, too!

Arthur's Thanksgiving

Christmas Comes but Once a Year

Kicked off the day with breakfast and the first Christmas episode of Happy Days. "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas?" Fonzie, who claims he's going to a party for the holidays. Richie suspects otherwise and invites him to his Christmas Eve celebration, over the protests of Mr. Cunningham who wants it to be strictly for the family.

Headed to work shortly after it ended. My shift didn't start out badly. I spent most of the first half of the day gathering carts. The weather was perfect for it, too. Sunny, blue sky, breezy, temperatures in the lower 50's. Couldn't have been a nicer day for South Jersey in late December. The trouble happened later, after my break and a second bagger came in. While we weren't as busy as I figured we would be, given we're two days before Christmas, we were still off-and-on steady. I ended up in the register quite a bit. We simply didn't have enough help to handle everything. Otherwise, I did returns and bagged.

Had to make one last quick shopping trip. I needed pads rather badly. Several shelves of non-food dollar "Value" items are replacing some things on the Christmas shelves. I grabbed scouring pads, which I haven't had in ages.

Hurried straight home and online for a little writing. Isobel doesn't believe the soaking wet, sturdy, and practical Della is a princess. Princesses are sweet and dainty. She suggests a "Princess Test" to prove she's a real princess. Brett and Gene aren't too sure about this, but Della will agree to anything that'll convince Isobel that she's the real deal.

Broke around 5:30 to make pumpkin bread for Jodie's Christmas brunch. This is the same recipe I used at Thanksgiving. It's a simple one-bowl loaf that takes minutes to make and smells amazing while baking. This is the last thing I need to do for Christmas. Nothing else needs to be wrapped, baked, or sent out. I just have to bag the bread and give everything out on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Watched Christmas In Connecticut as I worked. Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is one of the most popular magazine columnists in post-World War II America. Her articles about her cozy farm and family and scrumptious recipes are wildly popular. There's only one problem. It's all fiction. In reality, she's a city girl who can't boil water. The fiction is exposed when her boss Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), a stickler for the truth, decides to visit her farm for the holidays. He's joined by Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), a handsome war hero who has never had a real Christmas. Snobbish architect John Sloan (Reginald Gardner) offers to let her use his farm for the guests if she'll marry him. They keep trying, but never get the chance, thanks to wandering cows and Elizabeth's Hungarian friend Felix (S.K Sakall). Meanwhile, Elizabeth finds herself falling hard for Jefferson, even as she has to keep up the charade of being a perfect wife. In the end, as babies are switched and carriages run away, Elizabeth finally learns that honesty is the best policy, especially where love is concerned.

Cute screwball comedy leans on the considerable charisma of Morgan and Stanwyck and an appropriately homey feel. Greenstreet and Sakall also come off well as the two very different bosses.

Made a quick dinner while watching the Oscar-winning short A Star In the East, which is included as an extra on the Christmas In Connecticut DVD. Master of accents J Carrol Naish stars as Tony, the cranky Italian owner of a hotel in the desert. He's not impressed when a stranger shows up in the hotel's coffee shop and starts talking to him about peace on Earth and goodwill towards men. None of his demanding and nasty customers ever show him any goodwill. It takes a young couple with a blessed event who end up sleeping in the stable to bring everyone together, and prove that Christmas can bring out kindness in even the hardest of hearts.

Switched to It's a Wonderful Life while doing the dishes and reading Christmas books. George Bailey (James Stewart) thinks life has passed him by. He's spent all of his years in tiny Bedford Falls, helping the community build houses and weather the Depression with his family's Savings and Loan. Even that looks like it may go under after his forgetful Uncle Billy (Thomas Marshall) loses the money needed to keep it going, and nasty Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) claims he's worth more dead than alive. George is ready to end it all, until he jumps off a bridge to save a strange little man named Clarence (Henry Travers). Clarence is an angel second-class (he doesn't have wings), and he's George's guardian angel. A chance remark in anger by George gives Clarence an idea. He shows George what Bedford Falls would be like if he were never born...and in the process, reveals what a wonderful life he really has.

Iconic holiday favorite isn't everyone's cup of Christmas tea nowadays, but if you love Stewart or agree with director Frank Capra's pro-small town message, you may find a great deal to enjoy here.

The Tiny Toons spoofed Wonderful Life in their final episode, "It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special." Buster is so frustrated with how badly the Toons' holiday extravaganza is going, especially after Montana Max takes it over, he almost throws himself out of the show! It takes a rabbit spirit named Harvey (who sounds awfully familiar) to show him what Tiny Toons would be like without him.

Moved on to one of my very favorite TV show Christmas episodes as I went online. It's "Christmas In the Airwaves" on the rare late-90's dramady Remember WENN. WENN in Pittsburgh is gearing up for a wonderful Christmas 1940 when the owner of their studio Gloria Redmond (Betty Buckley) and her miserly financier Rollie Pruitt (Johnathan Freeman) arrive. Gloria lost her husband the Christmas before and insists that WENN stops all its Christmas programming and takes down all their decorations. The staff bands together to thwart Pruitt trying to keep their holiday shows from going on and prove to Gloria that life goes on, and just because you're grieving doesn't mean you can't celebrate.

Finished the night with Match Game. The 70's version always did at least one Christmas show per year, usually with Charles Nelson Reilly dressed as Santa Claus. In 1978, Brett joined him as a little girl who sat on his knee, complete with Shirley Temple curls and a big pink bow...and it's hilarious, probably one of their best skits together.

Match Game '78: Santa Charles and Bretzy La Brat

Here's even more holiday specials to tide you over while you wait for Santa.

The Smurfs' Christmas
A Christmas Carol (1971)
The Night Before Christmas
Famous Studios: Hector's Hectic Life
Ziggy's Gift
The Bears Who Saved Christmas
The He-Man-She-Ra Christmas Special
The Teddy Bears' Christmas
Snow White Christmas
Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Great Santa Claus Caper
A Very Pink Christmas
Fleischer Brothers Classics: Christmas Comes but Once a Year

No Day Like Today for Cookie Baking

I really slept in this morning, and then I wanted to finish reading The Great Santa Search. I didn't get going until almost 11. As soon as I finished breakfast, I got started on the first of today's cookies. I clipped the recipe for Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies out of a copy of Prevention Magazine almost a decade ago. It uses egg whites, oil, and whole wheat flour, and it's so tasty, it's been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe ever since.

Ran Cricket on the Hearth while I worked. This bizarre melodrama was the first of two 2D-animated Rankin-Bass Dickens adaptations. Roddy McDowell played Cricket Crocket, the lucky "cricket on the hearth" who adopts kindly toymaker Caleb Plummer (Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (Marlo Thomas) as his family. Bertha goes into shock after her fiancee Edward (Ed Ames) is lost at sea, rendering her blind and forcing her father into debt. They end up working for ugly and miserly Tackleton (Hans Conried), who asks Bertha to marry him. Not if Cricket Crockett has anything to say about it! He does everything he can to make sure Bertha ends up with the right man.

Headed out for a walk around quarter of 1. It was gloomy, gray, and cold, but the rain had taken a temporary leave of absence. First stop of the day was the Oaklyn Library. The weather probably scared everyone off. It was just me, two librarians, a man reading on one of the couches, and CNN with the sound turned off. I looked over the DVDs and the kids' books and moved on after twenty minutes.

The showers started up again as I headed down Newton Avenue. I still strolled a few blocks down to WaWa. Figured that, with the bad weather and all I wanted to get done today, I'd be better off eating lunch at home. I bought a roast beef hoagie and a bottle of Cherry Pomegranate Canada Dry Sparkling Water. (The Cinnamon Coke seemed to be long gone.) Also grabbed a soft pretzel for a snack.

Went straight home after that. Had lunch, then went into baking the Chocolate Chip Cookies and making my next batch. The Merry Christmas Molasses Roll-Outs are likely the most complicated cookies I make for Christmas, which is why I wanted to get them done on my day off. They're basically a variant on gingerbread made with shortening, and are among my most-requested cookies. They have a wonderful, subtle nutty-sweet taste...but they do take long to make! I made a mess rolling them out - I added water to the dough because it wouldn't come together - but I do enjoy cutting the shapes and sprinkling on the sugar, and they did taste good when they came out.

Ran Rent while I ate and worked. It's "no day like today" for this film version of the Broadway rock opera, which I discuss further at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews.

Rent

Did writing at 5...but since it was so late, instead of working on my story, I wrote the review for Rent. It still took me longer than I planned. I wasn't finished until nearly 7:30!

When I did finally get around to dinner, I just opted for a quick can of chicken-wild rice soup while watching A Pink Christmas. In this adaptation of the O. Henry short story The Cop and the Anthem, the Pink Panther is desperate to get himself a meal in early 20th century New York. He tries to shovel snow for a lady, but eats the carrot off a snowman. He becomes a department store Santa, but eats a kid's donut. He goes into a restaurant with no money, only to be thrown out. He tries to get in jail and ends up stopping a thief. In the end, after he befriends an equally hungry dog, he finally gets a nice surprise from someone he least expected to.

Switched to The Stingiest Man In Town while making cranberry sauce. This is the other Rankin-Bass Dickens adaptation, though it's actually based after a live-action Stingiest Man In Town from the 1950's. Walter Matthau is Scrooge, while Dennis Day is Nephew Fred and Robert Morse plays the younger Scrooge. There's some nice music here, including the opener "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" for Day and the chorus and "Yes, There Is a Santa Claus" for Martha Cratchit.

Took a quick shower, then opened my presents. I'd dragged a box from Lauren (and the copy of Mrs. Santa Claus I ordered from Amazon for review on Thursday) earlier in the evening while the cut-out cookies were in the oven. Lauren and her parents were so generous to me this year! Her folks gave me 50 dollars and a pretty silver and white snowflake card that looks a lot like the wrapping paper I bought from Dollar General last week. Lauren gave me five Nature's Valley breakfast sandwich biscuits (recalling the one's I bought on vacation), a crossword book, an adorable "mod" 60's-themed Out Generation outfit that'll go to Whitney, a book on radio comedy, a humor book on spoof "memos" from pop culture characters, and blue yarn,

The big ones were a Roku TV box and Match Game 101: A Backstage History of Match Game. I'll mess around with the Roku tomorrow. I've wanted Match Game 101 since I noticed it coming out earlier in the summer. I even joined the author's Facebook page. While there's not as many pictures as I'd hoped, there is a lot of information about how the show worked and what really went on backstage. The reminiscence from cast and crew was especially interesting, as many of them have passed on since the author started researching the book.

Finished the night with Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas as I opened the gifts. In this late 70's Muppet special, Emmett and his ma are facing a bare Christmas in a destitute country town, until a talent contest is announced on Christmas Eve. They both join the show, Ma as a singer, Emmett with a couple of his buddies as the title jug band, and they have to sell the things that provide them with regular income to do it. Who ends up winning turns out to be a surprise...and what happens to Ma, Emmett, and his friends afterwards is even more so.

Wet Christmas

Cheered up a gloomy, gray morning with breakfast and Mickey's Christmas Carol. Despite the title, the real star of this Disney Dickens adaptation is Uncle Scrooge, playing his miserly namesake. Here, Jiminy Cricket is the Ghost of Christmas Past, Goofy's a better Marley than you might think, and Big Pete is a surprisingly effective and scary Ghost of Christmas Future.

Work was just as quiet as it has been since after Thanksgiving. Most people are likely still shopping right now and won't be thinking about their Christmas parties and dinners until next week. I spent the first half of the day gathering carts and shelving items, then swept the store and got the outside recycling after another bagger arrived. Helped the managers move gift cards from one Christmas display to another for for the last half-hour.

Got my schedule while I was there. I have a great one, probably the best I've had in months. All morning work, 9 or 10 AM, with Sunday, Tuesday, and next Friday off. I asked for next Friday and the Friday after that to burn off my remaining paid days off I keep forgetting I have. I'll have plenty of time to start the holiday baking.

Had a quick lunch as soon as I got home, then packed up Lauren's gifts and cookies to send out. Continued on to The Small One while I got organized. A little boy in ancient Jerusalem is upset that he has to sell his beloved old donkey in town. He tries to find someone to take him, but the merchants either make fun of them, or want to harm the animal. They finally find a kind gentleman who is interested in Small One...one who says he needs a donkey to carry his wife to Bethlehem...

Started to shower just as I left. It wasn't really bad yet when I pulled in at the Oaklyn Post Office. They had a short line, but the wait wasn't long. A very cheerful clerk (for a lady who claimed she'd barely had enough time to sit down, let alone go to the bathroom) rang up my package and sent it quickly on its way.

The rain remained light as I rode down to Newton Lake Park. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people out walking dogs, despite the precipitation. I guess a lot of people wanted to let their dogs run out their energy before the weather got worse. It's very much winter in the park now. The leaves are almost all gone from the trees, the grass is yellow, and the plants along the water are bare and brown.

The Haddon Township Library wasn't really busy when I arrived. I shelved DVDs, mainly adult titles and a few kids' ones. Didn't take out quite as much this week. They have the first My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic holiday episode on another disc. Having enjoyed the female-lead heist capers Ocean's 8 and Widows last year, I thought I'd give The Hustle a try. The Tim Burton Dumbo didn't get the best reviews earlier this year, but it looked cute enough to check out.

Had to make a few stops on the way home. I really wanted to finish my Christmas shopping. AC Moore is shutting down; I was able to pick up tins for Mom and Anny's cookies, a new copper snowman cookie cutter, purple sprinkes, and cupcake papers there. They weren't too bad, but Target was really busy. I still manged to find Legos for Collyn and something for Skylar there, along with my favorite Betty Crocker gingerbread cookie mix that only appears at this time of year and a hot cocoa mug and mix bag for the gift exchange.

Dodged the traffic on the White Horse Pike and Cuthbert Road and headed home. By this point, the rain was coming down much harder. It would really pick up after I got in and has been falling steadily and heavily ever since.

Managed to get a little writing in. I re-wrote the last sequence to quickly introduce our next Legendary Princess, Della (Reece). She's a stout, plain-spoken, extremely strong black woman who recognizes Brett on sight and nearly crushes her fingers shaking her hand. Nipsey's smitten, but Della has a small problem....

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftovers, then wrapped the last two gifts. (I need a bag for the mug. I'll get that tomorrow.) The only non-food item I have left to buy is my niece Lilah's birthday gift. It's next month, but I intend to send it along in her family's box with their Christmas presents.

Finished the night with Scrooge. I discussed this 1970 musical Christmas Carol with Albert Finney as the famous miser at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog last year.

Scrooge (1970)

Christmas Wrapping

Once again began the day with work...and once again, it was utterly dead the entire morning. Never even got mildly steady. Everyone's in the malls right now. I gathered carts and shelved loose items in the morning and swept and did carts in the afternoon. At least it was a nice day for it. While very cold, in the 30's, it was also sunny and still, with a wonderfully warm sun.

Went straight home after I got out. After I changed and had a snack, I pulled out the bag and two Tupperware containers that hold the wrapping paper, gift bags, and other gift-wrapping items. I want to get Lauren's package out by Saturday at the latest and figured that, while I'm not entirely done with my shopping, I figured I might as well do what I can now. Lauren and Khai's gifts were wrapped in the green, gold, and red pine tree print "Noel" paper I bought last year. My little nieces got the new silver and blue paper from Dollar General for their coloring books and puzzle. I like that the paper was thicker than what I got from Dollar Tree, but those silver snowflakes did drop tiny flakes all over the living room rug.

Watched Arthur's Perfect Christmas while I worked. Aardvark kid Arthur Reed is ready for the best Christmas ever, with tons of tinsel on the tree, a big dinner, lots of snow, and just the right gift for his mother. Things go wrong right from the get-go. His pesky little sister DW wants that one ultra-popular toy no one can find, and his classmates have their own problems. Buster's mom keeps waking him up early for gifts and breakfast, making her son wish they could just relax for the holiday. Muffy, the richest girl in school, is upset when her best friend Francine opts to go to her family's Hanukkah party rather than her big Christmas blow-out. On Christmas Eve, clumsy Uncle Fred and his dog Rory turn up on their way to Florida, creating more chaos. In the end, Arthur and his friends finally learn the importance of what Uncle Fred tells him - "Sometimes, you don't get what you want. You get something even better."

Went online and worked on writing after I finished. Brett and her men arrive at Kingdom of Columbia Eye, where Nipsey happily greets them. He tells them Gene is in with  his cousin, the queen of the land...and that he's encountered a woman he believes may be a legendary princess, even if his cousin doesn't.

Broke for dinner at 7. Had leftover hamburger casserole and sauteed onions and Brussels sprouts for dinner while watching the 1955 TV version of Babes In Toyland. I go further into this early TV "spectacular" at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Babes In Toyland (1955)

Finished the night with another 50's holiday favorite, the 1951 British A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. Other than an expanded past sequence that shows what happened to Scrooge's sister and how he went from a romantic young man to a miser, this is a pretty accurate retelling of the original novella. It even refers to details that many versions leave out, like the ragged Want and Ignorance children under the Ghost of Christmas Present's cloak and the ghouls Scrooge sees out the window when Marley's there. Sim's performance as the world's most famous miser is considered to be one of the best on record; he's especially good in the end, when Scrooge is enjoying his first really happy holidays in 20 years and is scaring the, well, Dickens out of his housemaid.

The Sun Came Back

I got incredibly lucky this morning. If it rained or snowed, it did it overnight. By the time I was heading to work, the very light rain was just ending. It was enough to scare off our customers. We were totally dead. Most people are probably in the malls right now and won't be thinking food until at least next week. I shelved candy, returned carts, and swept the store. The precipitation never returned. In fact, by the time I finished work, the sun had emerged.

As soon as I headed home, I changed, then spent the rest of the afternoon writing. After a week of Charles not getting any fatter, Malade insists she'll roast him anyway. Her trolls are getting impatient for their lunch. Brett tricks her into thinking she knows nothing about cooking and shoves her in the oven. She's able to free the men and her magic before Malade bursts out. The evil queen is raging angry that her beautiful face was half-burned. She attempts to strangle Brett with brightly colored ribbon, but Richard and Charles are able to get them off. They steal a carriage and head for the next kingdom over, where they'll meet the others.

Broke for dinner at 6. Had that, then made Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies while watching Scrooged. Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is the head of one of the top TV networks in the US. He's thrown himself into the network's big Christmas special, at the cost of the other people in his life. He derides his ex-girlfriend Clare's (Karen Allen) work at a homeless shelter as useless and won't let his overworked secretary (Afre Woodard) spend Christmas Eve with her family. He finally learns his lesson from a trio of unique ghosts, who teach him to "put a little love in his heart" and share what he has with his fellow man.

Dark comedy version of A Christmas Carol is enlivened by some really nifty makeup and special effects and Murray's performances as the egotistical executive. Fun for fans of his, people looking for a different type of Christmas Carol, or those who like their holiday comedies on the toasty side.

Finished the night with Men In Black: International. Molly (Tessa Thompson) has wanted to join Men In Black all her life, ever since she saw two agents talking to her parents as a child. She finally gets her chance when she discovers their headquarters in New York and convinces Agent O (Emma Thompson) to take her on. She gets probationary status and is assigned to London, where High T (Liam Neeson), the head of the English Men In Black, will teach her the ropes. She and party-hearty H (Chris Helmsworth) are supposed to be watching the member of an alien royal family, but he ends up getting killed by a pair of twins (Laurent and Larry Bourgeious) who can become pure energy. They convince High T to let them find out what the twins are after. They're joined by a little fellow M dubs "Pawny" (Kumail Nanjial) whose queen and group were killed by the twins. With the help of a strange crystal, the duo have to figure out what the twins want...and who the mole is at MIB.

This was...not bad, but not great, either. I suspect people wanted more out of this cast. Thompson and Helmsworth retain the charm and chemistry they showed in Thor: Ragnorok, and Thompson and Neeson aren't bad as the two heads of the agency. I also like the idea that this time, someone is actually seeking them out, rather than them bumping into a new agent. I just wish the story was stronger. The whole thing with the twins and the crystal is meandering and frankly, a bit dull. I'm also surprised there isn't more action - a lot of the emphasis is on talking and gags. It is a lot more interesting than Dark Phoenix, to give it some credit. It's still worth checking out at least once if you're a fan of the cast or the franchise.