northern

Merry Christmas!


I really like Christmas.



I won't be around for a few days because I go to my mom's for Christmas.

She lives half a block from me, but she likes having me there for a couple days.

I'll rent some DVD's for us to watch.

We'll eat lots of chocolate and rich foods.

There's only two of us, so instead of a turkey, we get a stuffed turkey breast.

Still enough there for a meal of leftovers later.

We'll open our gifts.

From each other, as well as from my sister in North Carolina, and my aunt in Welland, Ontario.

My brother doesn't send gifts. I don't think it's out of any kind of animosity. And it's not because he can't afford them. He's just too lazy I think. Which is weird, because it's about the only thing in life he's lazy about.

But we'll talk to him on the phone for a few minutes on Christmas day.



Funny story....

A couple weeks ago, I was sending out my Christmas cards, and I had to go to my mom's to borrow the car (yes, I use her car). Normally I just take the car and leave, but I had to give something to my mom so I stopped in.

She had talked to my brother just an hour or so earlier.

Thank God I stopped in on my way to mail the Christmas cards.

Turns out my brother and his wife seperated.

Six months ago.

Yeah, he was only getting around to telling his own mother about it now.

And that was mostly because his girlfriend told him to.

So I had to go home and put white-out over his wife's name on the envelope.

Look, I bought a card for him and already had it in the envelope, addressed and stamped.

I wasn't going to throw it out and get a new one, or take it out of the envelope and try to find some other envelope for it to fit into.

It's his fault for not mentioning his divorce in a more timely fashion.




Speaking of Christmas cards, I LOVE sending them out.

To friends, business associates, and politicians and royalty.

Yes, honest.

Since I was in high school, I've sent Christmas cards to people like the Prime Minister of Canada, the Pope (and I'm not even Catholic), the King of Tonga, and various other dignitaries.

And I usually get a card from them in return.

Fidel Castro sends out a Happy New Year's card since they don't celebrate Christmas officially in Cuba.





Anyways, back to my story.

My mom and I will watch some DVD's and maybe some Christmas programming on tv.

This Christmas eve they're showing Miracle on 34th Street on tv, so that'll be one of the things we watch.

I love Christmas movies.

The original Miracle on 34th Street is a favourite. The remake from about a decade ago isn't too bad.

I watched the new 'classic' - Elf. It's cute.

There's also a movie from a couple years ago that I've watched each of the past three years - Too Cool for Christmas. It's cheesy - George Hamilton is Santa. The production values aren't great, but there is actually something kinda nice about it.

I think it's just that I get into the sentimental spirit of the holiday.

I've already watched my favourite version of A Christmas Carol, with Alistair Sim. There are seemingly a million versions of the story, but if you only watch one, that's the one. Make sure however, it's not the colourized version.

Remember a decade or two ago when Ted Turner thought that people today wouldn't watch a movie if it was in black and white, so he started colourizing them?

What an idiotic thing to do.

The colourized version of the movie is renamed to Scrooge.

Horrible.

Speaking of Scrooge, I haven't seen Scrooged yet this season. You know, the Bill Murray version of the story?

I've seen the Mickey Mouse version, the Muppets version, and even the Mr. Magoo version so far this season.

It's funny. I haven't seen the Magoo version since I was a kid. I had fond memories of it.

Then I watched it again. Pretty crappy.

I just bought the DVD of An American Christmas Carol to watch while I'm at my mom's.

I haven't seen it in years either, and I loved it. I remember it as being really very very good.

Now I worry that my youthful memories will be replaced with disappointment when I watch it and it turns out to be crap, like the Magoo version.

An American Christmas Carol is rarely shown on tv, and ironically was filmed in Canada.

It stars Henry Winkler.

Yes, the Fonz from Happy Days.

I think it gets a bad rep simply for that reason. The Fonz as Scrooge?

But it's quite touching, if memory serves me.

I've also seen Christmas Vacation for the millionth time.

Always makes me smile.

Three years ago, they aired Christmas Vacation 2.

Total piece of crap.

Steaming crap.




Of course, I always watch tv specials like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

I think my favourite of those type of specials though is The Year Without Santa Claus.

I love Heat Miser and Freeze Miser.

They showed a live action version of that this year, starring John Goodman as a very bitter Santa. It was pretty good.

You know which Christmas tv special I rarely watch?

The Charlie Brown one.

I enjoyed it as kid for the most part.

But it's sooooo slow and ponderous.

My God, it's like they take a two-minute story and stretch it out to an hour.

Is it just me or does it not only move very slowly, but the characters even seem to be speaking slowly, as though they've had strokes.

Haven't seen the Flintstones or Yogi Bear Christmas specials in years.

Like I said, I get into the mushy spirit of the season.

I soak up Christmas crap - as much as I can find on tv.




So, like I was saying, I'll be at my mom's for a couple of days.

I love giving gifts.

I get my mom a lot. Mostly books. And chocolate.

I'll send a gift to my brother too.

I don't get gifts for my sister anymore, because I send gifts to her three children.

I give some chocolate to my grandmother. She's 94 and in a nursing home. She doesn't really need anything.

My mom will give me a bunch of gifts.

I already know what half of them are, because I bought them for her to give to me. She never knows what to give me, and a lot of it gets ordered online anyway, and she's not online.

So, it's a very simple, uneventful Christmas for me.

But I love every minute of it.

I'll be back here in a couple days.

So to get all sappy on you, have a very

Merry Christmas!


**** If you didn't read my previous entry about my weight loss, read it. Yes, I'm bragging. I actually feel kind of proud.