Christmastime Shows We Love For All the Wrong Reasons

Today I'm participating again in the 2020 Virtual Advent Tour over at sprite's blog, and I thought I'd share some Christmastime viewing that are favorites of ours, even if for all the wrong reasons.

Now keep in mind that we LOVE holiday and Christmas shows at our house, and of course watch the "standard" ones such as "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "It's a Wonderful Life," and so on and on.  But there are also those we have come across over the years that are just too good to not watch pretty regularly, not necessarily because they are well-done, but for other reasons.

First up:  "The Spirit of Christmas," with the Mabel Beaton Marionettes - a must-see every single year:

This one is a killer classic - each of us suspects we saw it as a child.  Besides the non-stellar quality of the production (which I'm guessing was not even that stellar when it had been originally broadcast), the marionettes are ... worrisome.  And hilarious.  And ... well, you decide.

Any/all of the big entertainers Christmas specials.  Recently, we watched this particular one from the old Dean Martin show:

Of course, we both watched these with our parents back when they were originally broadcast, but even if not every year, we do go back fairly often to watch them.  When we were kids, there were a lot of variety shows on, and all of them had Christmas specials, with extra guest stars, and they were ... OK?  This is a good example - A-listers (Bob Hope) and others - Dennis Weaver (WTF is he doing there, and WHY is he [attempting] to sing??).  Then of course at the end, the cavalcade of stars helping Dino announce childrens' hospitals that would be receiving toys from charitable organizations.  One of my nieces e-mailed us and said, "WHO in the heck *are* these people?" which makes it even funnier to us!  Plus, let's just say that there's a lot of things that would never ever pass muster today.

And one of our all-time favorites, "Beyond Tomorrow," which we came across one late night on television and just could not stop watching because, well, it's just plain awful in all the best ways and old cornball movie can be.

Oh my.  We even used to have a VHS of this one!

Now, I'm not promising that you will appreciate however much time of your life will be used up should you decide to check out any/all of these, but surely you have some of your own that are your favorites?  

I do have to say, they just don't make 'em like they used to ... 😊

Christmas Movies

First of all, thanks to everyone for the well wishes earlier this week.  My test was completed, and if nothing wonky turns up, I don't have to have another one for two years!  That would be a lovely gift.

Do you like Christmas movies?  It will probably not surprise you to know that I LOVE them!  I have several favorites, different times, and different genres, but one that speaks to me very closely is "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

It is quite easily one of the most stupid movies ever made, which is part of the reason I enjoy it so much, but really it is mostly because it is so evocative of my family.  Truly.

I love my family, and we enjoy each other's company, but it's a pretty loony bunch.  In a good way, but still ... the interesting thing is that we all managed to marry people who have no trouble fitting right in, albeit in their own special ways.

I think every single niece and nephew of mine - and now some of the great-nieces and great-nephews - can recite all/part of the movie.  We go around saying things to each other and responding in lines from the movie.  We have cousins like Cousin Eddie, Cousin Catherine, and their family, who we would sometimes see only at Christmastime growing up.  They may have lived in the same town as we did on occasion, but everyone always ended up at our house.

One of everyone's favorite things though, is more recent.  Years ago, The Tim decided that he needed to recreate Cousin Eddie's Christmas Eve look for Christmas Eve at my sister's house.

(Note black dickey under white sweater)

Well, he found a white sweater and belt for $3.00 total at a local vintage shop, but had real trouble finding a black dickey.  The best part for me was watching him go into stores and asking clerks if they sold dickeys.  This was before online shopping was prevalent, so you pretty much had to find most things by going into different stores.  This was also long after dickeys were a common piece of attire (if they ever really were).

Finally, he found the perfect one at Woolworth's.  I think it cost $8.00, but it was exactly what he was looking for, and he was thrilled.

What we did not know is that my nieces had invited a bunch of their friends for Christmas Eve, as had my sister and brother-in-law.  Since The Tim had been building everyone up for a "Big Surprise on Christmas Eve" since we'd arrived, he had no choice but to go through with it.

Soooo many people looked puzzled and/or scared.   Several knew exactly what he was going for, and it ended up being one of the best Christmas Eves ever.  My nieces still remember every year when "Uncle Tim dressed like Cousin Eddie," and last year, my great-nephew (then 8 years old),  Zach said he thought it was unfair that we can't make it home for Christmas Eve anymore, because now he would "never see Uncle Tim dressed up like a guy."

*That's* funny in and of itself, if you ask me!

So this year on Christmas Eve, I hope you have a fun time with your family, and maybe even watch a movie or two.  If nothing else, remember the year that "Uncle Tim dressed up like a guy," and have a chuckle.

Does your family do anything ridiculous at holiday time?  I'd love to hear about it!

(edited to correct "Uncle Eddie" to "Cousin Eddie")


TWO WEEKS TO GO UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY!