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Thursday, December 17, 2015

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Normally, I would hardly ever consider the colour black as a Christmas colour, but given today, I think I can make an exception when it comes to choosing a special highlight font colour.



At any rate, welcome to Day #17 of A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR, where we are going to look at another holiday classic that was filmed a long time ago in a galaxy far away.

Or, maybe it's a special that was filmed some thirty-seven years ago on a network that was easily accessible to everybody...and it can't really be considered a classic because most people hated it.

But given the day that today is, I'm reviewing it anyway.  Believe me, this particular special was very tough to find!

So, before I go ahead with today's entry, I thought I'd share with you an old photo.  After all, it is Throwback Thursday on top of everything else.  Have a look.



Ah, yes.  June 14, 2009.  I remember it well.  This photo was taken at a charity event that I went to in Ottawa, and one of the things that you could do was get your picture taken with a bunch of Star Wars characters for a small fee, of course.  I immediately recognize a few of the characters in this photo.  We have a whole bunch of intergalactic soldiers, and I see Princess Leia, and look, Darth Vader made an appearance too!  A shame Han Solo couldn't make it, but maybe he was busy.



Anyway, you probably know why I decided to post this picture.  It's in honour of the seventh Star Wars movie that is coming out in some places today and in the rest of the world tomorrow.  And certainly "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens" is set to be a huge hit.  With stars like Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher returning to reprise their roles as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia, I'm sure that the movie will answer a lot of unanswered questions - and potentially create some new ones.

Certainly many people are anxiously awaiting the new movie's release.  I can only imagine how long some people camped outside some movie theatres waiting to be the first ones to see it.  I remember the buzz back in 1999 when "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" first came out.  People waited in line for several DAYS to see it. 

Not me, though.  I like "Star Wars" and all, but I only like the original trilogy ("A New Hope"/"The Empire Strikes Back"/"Return of the Jedi").  I tried watching Phantom Menace and couldn't get past the annoying Jar Jar Binks.  Of course, part of the fun of the original trilogy was that I missed it the first time around.  I was born in between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", so you can probably understand why it took me years to see the first one.

Anyway, you're probably wondering why I seem to be babbling on about "Star Wars" during the time where I'm supposed to be talking about Christmas related things. 

Well, remember how I mentioned that I was going to talk about a holiday special that was really tough to find because most people who watched it hated it?  Well, it happens to be Star Wars related.



Would you believe that there was a Star Wars Holiday Special?  Believe me, I had absolutely no idea that there was such a thing either until I looked it up online. 

There's a very good reason why I don't remember seeing this special before.  It only aired once.  The date was November 17, 1978, and the network that aired it was CBS.  Other countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand aired the special as well.  It was almost the length of a full movie - almost ninety minutes.

And according to die-hard Star Wars fans, as well as some of the actors and crew who worked on the special - it stank. 

Here are just some of the comments that were made back in the day, as well as years later about it.

Anthony Daniels, who voiced C-3PO in the Star Wars franchise said it was "the holiday special nobody talks about".  Nathan Rabin, of the AV Club believed that the special was written and directed by a sentient bag of cocaine".  And Star Wars creator George Lucas even said himself that if he had the time and a sledgehammer, he would destroy every single copy of the special that ever existed!

Ouch.

But was the holiday special really that bad?  Well, after watching it online, I have to say...yeah, it was pretty awful.

But here's the thing.  The Star Wars special did start off with a good storyline.  The main plot was that Chewbacca and Han Solo traveled to the planet Kashyyyk, the planet that Chewie called home.  You see, during this time, the planet Kashyyyk was celebrating a very special day.

No, Wookies don't celebrate Christmas, of course.  Instead, they celebrate some Wookie holiday known as "Life Day".  And, well...Life Day is celebrated a lot like we Earthlings celebrate Christmas, with a big feast, singalongs, and gift exchanges. 

But while Han and Chewie are preparing to observe Life Day, the Imperials are hot on their trail, trying to do everything in their power to put a stop to the celebrations, including implementing a curfew.

If this plot line sounds as dumb as I think it does when I was describing it, it's probably because it is.



But, you know, trying to find some good points about the holiday special, I have to say that I really liked the animated cartoon portion of the show.  It was created by Toronto based company Nelvana (they're the same people who brought you the cartoon series "Droids" and "Ewoks"), and it introduced the character of Boba Fett!  And unlike the live-action counterpart, the cartoon actually seemed to make sense.

Still, there was a whole lot of wrong in this particular holiday special, which very much explains why this special aired once and only once on television.



For one, how lame was the end song?  It was basically just the Star Wars theme with lyrics.  And on top of that, Carrie Fisher completely missed the high note!  Though, whether she did it legitimately or whether she did it on purpose because she found the special lame is a question that I don't know the answer to.



The celebrity cameos were a good idea in theory.  Certainly Art Carney, Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, and Jefferson Starship were big names back in those days.  But somehow, putting them all together as "Star Wars" one-off characters made the whole thing seem like one of those "Pigs In Space" sketches from "The Muppet Show".

Oh, and the random scenes from the original "Star Wars" movie that was edited into the special...were they really necessary?  Honestly.  Were they?

I honestly don't know how much money Fisher, Ford, and Hamill were paid to star in this show, but obviously we all know the answer to that one.  Not NEARLY enough!

But hey, why should I deprive all of you from all the fun?  If you click HERE, you can watch the special as it aired on that night.  Believe me, it very well could be your only chance to see it!

Merry Christmas, fellow Wookies!



Oh, and if you're still looking for gift ideas for your little Skywalkers and Princesses, might I recommend the Star Wars box set now available on DVD and Blu-Ray?  You won't get the seventh film, but you can catch up with these so you know how the story progresses!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Ugly Christmas Sweaters!



Hello, everyone!  Welcome to Day #16 of A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR, where the temperatures here in my neck of the woods are...above freezing.

And, that makes me very depressed.

Oh, don't get me wrong.  Normally, when the temperature reaches ten degrees Celsius, I'm thrilled.  As far as I'm concerned it could be that temperature 364 days of the year, and I would be perfectly happy with that.  Not too hot. not too cold...just right.

But with the temperatures being this way on Christmas, it just doesn't put me in the holiday spirit.  I grew up with white Christmases and how Christmas snow made Frosty the Snowman come to life, and how we can all wear our ugliest Christmas sweaters ever.

Now it seems as though we're to get spring like temperatures on Christmas Eve, Frosty won't be here this year, and instead of ugly Christmas sweaters, we'll be forced to wear ugly shorts and T-shirts...which isn't the same. 

It'd be fine if I were celebrating Christmas in Australia where it's summer right now, but I'm just not used to it being so warm.  It makes me sad.

I mean, don't get me wrong.  I'm still going to do a post on ugly Christmas sweaters today, but I'm still sad about there likely not being any snow on Christmas this year.

But hey, how about ugly Christmas sweaters?  You know, the ones that are often handmade that have big bright colours and garish designs that you only have the guts to wear once a year?  Did you ever own one?  What did it look like?  And do you still have it?

I'll be the first to admit that I never really owned a Christmas sweater that could be considered ugly.  Summer shirts, yes, I wore some doozies.  But winter sweaters, not really.  I almost feel as though I have been left out of the ugly sweater fun all these years because I've never had one.

So, I decided to scourge the Internet and see if I could find some examples of some of the ugliest Christmas sweaters ever made.  And, let's just say that I think I succeeded.

Some are designs that I would actually consider wearing.  Some are ugly as sin and I would probably not touch them.  And one is so inappropriate, I feel that I have to issue a warning within this blog when I get to that one!

We'll start with a sweater that garnered a bit of controversy in some Target stores.



1.  Obsessive Christmas Disorder.  Obviously this was meant as a jab at Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which is a very real ailment that a lot of people suffer from.  I can understand why some people wouldn't like this...but on the flipside, I can probably think of a couple of people who would absolutely get this shirt!



2.  For those of you who may not really remember the significance of this shirt, that leg lamp was a key plot device in the 1983 classic film "A Christmas Story".  You'll have to watch the movie to get the reference, but I'll say this.  Even though I love the movie, I'd never wear this sweater.



3.  This sweater on the other hand?  I want it.  Like right now.  Heck, I would have wanted it back in 1989 if they had existed.



4.  Happy Elfin' Holiday?  I'm guessing that this is meant to sound naughty, even though I think they ever so slightly missed the mark here.



5.  I'm fairly sure that if I wore this sweater to work, I would either A) get sent home for wearing inappropriate clothing, B) get laughed at and made fun of by co-workers, or C) accidentally get baby Jesus stuck in the cardboard compactor when making a bale of cardboard.



6.  This one is not too bad...though I could have sworn that I had a roll of wrapping paper that had that same design...and let's face it - if you look like a present waiting to be unwrapped, bad things happen.



7.  Wow, look at how stylish Matt Damon looks in his Santa vest!  I can't tell whether he was inspired by an Andy Warhol pop art painting or whether he is colour-blind...but man, that certainly gets your attention!



8.  I'm guessing that this is supposed to be a Spider-Man sweater...it's just a shame that it happens to physically frighten me.



9.  Yeah, let's just give Jesus Christ a red balloon and a party hat since both those things existed during his lifetime.



10.  No lie.  I'd wear this one.  In fact, we sold a similar one at my workplace this Christmas - which we're sold out of. 



11.  This must be the ugly Christmas sweater - Florida edition.



12.  Who needs a Bedazzler when you can just glue on random office supplies from Staples on the sweater?  This sweater could actually come in handy if you need a pen, glue stick, or drinking straw.  Consider it the Swiss Army Sweater!



13.  Why would anyone advertise the single most disgusting holiday treat in the world on their chest?  Some of you may love Fruitcake, but I think they were all baked in 1937 and re-gifted all these years!



14.  A Merry Christmas Yoda Wishes You.  And, yes, I could very well consider wearing this one!



15.  WARNING!  WARNING!  THIS SWEATER IS NOT FOR THE VERY YOUNG OR THOSE WITH PACEMAKERS!



16.  Classy.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

December 15, 1969



Welcome to Day #15 in A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR!  And this time around, the fifteenth day happens to also fall on a Tuesday Timeline day!  This means that I have to find an event that happened in the past that has a little bit of holiday flavour to it.

Do you think that I have succeeded?  Well, we'll get to that in a moment.

For now, let's take a look at some of the things that took place on December 15th.

37 - Roman Emperor Nero (d. 68) is born

1778 - During the American Revolutionary War, French and British troops clash in the Battle of St. Lucia

1791 - The United States Bill of Rights becomes law

1890 - Sitting Bull is killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which ultimately brings about the Wounded Knee Massacre

1892 - Industrialist J. Paul Getty (d. 1976) is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota

1914 - The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army

1928 - Singer Jerry Wallace (d. 2005) is born in Missouri

1933 - The Twenty-First Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, putting an end to the prohibition era

1939 - The film "Gone With The Wind" premieres in Atlanta, Georgia

1941 - German troops murder over 15,000 Jewish people at Drobytsky Yar during World War II

1960 - Richard Pavlick is arrested for planning an assassination attempt on then President-elect John F. Kennedy

1961 - Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty of fifteen charges, including criminal acts against humanity and criminal acts against the Jewish people

1965 - Gemini 6A is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida

1966 - Walt Disney passes away just ten days after his 65th birthday

1973 - The grandson of J. Paul Getty - John Paul Getty III is found alive in Italy after being kidnapped by an Italian gang in July

1976 - Oil tanker MV Argo Merchant runs aground near Nantucket, Massachusetts, causing one of the worst marine oil spills in history

1981 - One of the first recorded modern suicide bombings in history takes place when a car bomb explodes outside of the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing sixty-one people

2000 - The third reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down - fourteen years and eight months after the 1986 meltdown

2009 - Boeing's first flight of its 787 Dreamliner takes off from Seattle, Washington

2010 - Director Blake Edwards dies at the age of 88

2013 - Japanese-American actress Joan Fontaine dies at the age of 96

2014 - Eighteen people are taken hostage inside of a Lindt chocolate cafe in Sydney, Australia by a man - two hostages and the hostage taker would lose their lives following a police raid the following morning

And celebrating a birthday today are the following people; Tim Conway, Cindy Birdsong, Dave Clark, Thaao Penghlis, Carmine Appice, Rodney Bingenheimer, Don Johnson, Melanie Chartoff, Rudi Protrudi, Robert Charles Wilson, Paul Simonon, William Orbit, Laura Molina, Tim Reynolds, Tim Gaines, Ellie Cornell, Helen Slater, Michael Le Vell, Paul Kaye, Michael Shanks, Stuart Townsend, Geoff Stults, Ned Brower, Adam Brody, Alex Solowitz, Brendan Fletcher, Charlie Cox, George O. Gore II, Kirsty Lee Allan, Emily Head, and Chandler Canterbury.

Now comes the moment of truth.  We take a look to see what date we'll be going back in time to.  I hope it's a good one!



Ah, we're going back in time to December 15, 1969

So, it was right around this time that the turbulent 1960s were about to end, and the 1970s were just around the corner.  It was a time in which the Vietnam War was in full swing with many American men being drafted into the war (and many others trying to avoid being drafted by fleeing to Canada).  And, 1969 would be the last year that the Beatles would ever be a full band, with their 1970 breakup not too far off from this date.

Now, why did I mention the Vietnam War and the Beatles in the same sentence?  Well, it's because both of these things are somewhat connected to each other, and both of these things are connected to the date of December 15, 1969.  Just not in the way you might think.

And Christmas...how does Christmas factor into this piece?



Well, we know that John Lennon released this Christmas single in 1971...but this song also symbolizes the same ideals that Lennon had going into planning one of the biggest anti-war concerts ever put together.



It was on this date forty-six years ago today that John Lennon and Yoko Ono put on their "Peace for Christmas Concert", which was held in Lyceum Ballroom in London.

And for what it was worth, the concert proved to be a star-studded affair.  Eric Clapton sang and played his guitar.  Rita Coolidge sang.  And the event even had a couple of surprise guests in the name of Keith Moon and George Harrison.

And why did John, Yoko, and the Plastic Ono Band agree to put on this special show?  Well, it was very simple.  Peace loving John Lennon and his wife were vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War, and honestly, I can't say I blame them.  I have my own thoughts on the Vietnam War, and my personal opinion was that it was a war that the Americans needed to stay out of.  The number of soldiers who were negatively effected by the war - effects that include post traumatic stress, nervousness, depression, physical and mental injuries, and even suicide - doesn't nearly justify going into war in the first place.

(I should clarify that I'm not completely against the idea of going to war - provided that the reasons for entering into combat are valid.  I just don't see the Vietnam War as being one of those conflicts.  But that war ended forty years ago...there's no sense trying to make sense of it any more.)

Anyway, John and Yoko believed that by using the power of music, they would convince others that war was not the answer and that they should give peace a chance.  And, on December 15, 1969, John and Yoko put together the WAR IS OVER (if you want it) campaign.

They collaborated with UNICEF to put the concert together, and while the event was set in London, a total of twelve cities around the world agreed to put up banners and signs in prominent tourist locations to get the message out.  Cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, and Hong Kong were part of those twelve cities.



Consider it global advertising in its infancy, if you will.

That's not to say that the concert event went off without a hitch.  Would you believe that when UNICEF announced the December 15, 1969 concert date, they neglected to tell the performers?  Not that it mattered too much because John and Yoko were huge supporters of UNICEF and were more than happy to team up with them.

Oh, and one last thing I should mention.  George Harrison was actually a late addition to the set.  You see, when the concert was being held, and the Plastic Ono Band was booked for the venue, Eric Clapton showed up with most of the members of the Delaney and Bonnie band - and at that time, George Harrison was playing with them.  But again, John didn't mind too much.  It was the first time that John and George had played together in years.  And besides that, John Lennon was very happy with the final result.

That final result included a massive supergroup jam where all of the people who performed that day did a rendition of "Cold Turkey" and "Don't Worry Kyoto".

A rendition that lasted close to twenty-five minutes! 

All in all, it was a very interesting and creative way to kick off the WAR IS OVER campaign, and as of 2015, Yoko Ono is still putting the word out through social media.

After all, the holidays shouldn't be about declaring war.  They should be about peace, love, joy, and compassion.  After all, at this point in time, refugees from Syria are coming to countries all over the world to rebuild their lives which were rudely interrupted by war.  I think that we should show compassion and try our best to help them adjust to life in a new place.  I can't imagine it's very easy for them.

And, I'm just going to say this as one final note.  I understand that a lot of people are wondering what is going on in the world.  2015 has definitely been one of the most tumultuous years that I can remember for sure.  But it's also important to know that not everybody in the world is a bad person, and it's really unfair to generalize and stereotype against an entire group of people based on their religious background or their gender or the colour of their skin or what have you.  Yes, there are terrible people in the world, and yes, they should be held accountable for their actions, but you can't judge a whole group of people based on the actions of a few rotten apples.

I won't stand for it.  I don't think anybody should stand for it, no matter what any politician with open mouth insert foot syndrome says.  Particularly those with hair issues...if you get my drift.

Monday, December 14, 2015

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Hi, there!  I hope you're ready for another fantastic day within A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR!



This is Day #14 of the nearly month-long event that I have done every year since the year 2012, and I think that for today's entry, I'll be focusing my attention on a Christmas movie.

And, appropriately enough, the movie stars a group of stars that have recently made a comeback of sorts on television.  They have been in show business since the mid-1970s when they did a variety show that garnered millions of viewers.  During the 1980s, they also had a cartoon series, and at least one member of the troupe went solo to become the official news reporter of a little place known as "Sesame Street". 

The period between 1990 and 1992 was a rough one for these guys, as personal tragedy meant a lot of changes for how they interacted with other people, as well as their performance style.  In 1994, they tried to revive the variety show format once again, but it wasn't as well received as their 1970s version and was pulled from the airwaves after only one season.

But over the last few years, these guys have really made a comeback of sorts.  They released two feature length movies that did very well at the box office.  And just this past September, a new version of their show was broadcast on ABC, and it was a different kind of show as we - the viewer - got to see what was happening behind the scenes, and we learned just how well the cast and crew really got along with each other.



By now, if you haven't already guessed that the subject of this blog is The Muppets, I don't know what else I have to do!

And today's feature presentation is the one and only Christmas themed movie that the Muppets ever did.



I'm talking about the movie "The Muppet Christmas Carol", released in theatres on December 11, 1992.

Now, this was a movie that featured a lot of firsts.  It was the first movie that featured a different person doing the voice of Kermit.  And initially, Steve Whitmire was very nervous about doing a full-length feature film as Kermit.  After all, Jim Henson - the original voice of Kermit - had passed away in May of 1990.  The only thing that eased his nervousness was a dream he had the night before he was set to record his part in the film's soundtrack.  In that dream, he had met Jim Henson in a hallway, and Henson had given him his blessing to continue on in his footsteps.

(Hey, it's what the Internet Movie Database said.  They're usually never wrong about these things!)

Anyway, it was also the first production without Richard Hunt, who played Scooter.  Hunt had died in January 1992.

But there were still a lot of the cast from the original Muppet Show still around.  Frank Oz reprised his roles of Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy.  Dave Goelz played the role of Gonzo.  And Jerry Nelson played the role of Rizzo the Rat.



Now, here's where things get complicated.  The only character to really play themselves in the movie was Rizzo (aside from a couple of minor characters like Bean Bunny and Bunsen and Beaker).  Everyone else played a character from the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol".

For instance, Kermit was Bob Cratchit.  Miss Piggy was Emily Cratchit.  Robin - naturally - played Tiny Tim.  Fozzie was Fozzwig, Sam the Eagle played a school headmaster, and Gonzo himself played Charles Dickens.

TRIVIA:  The decision was made to have Gonzo play Charles because they wanted to have a narrator through the whole film.

Of course, you can't have a Muppet movie without human celebrities in it, and when it came down to casting the role of Scrooge, Michael Caine was really the only appropriate choice (though it was rumoured that Peter O'Toole, George Carlin, and Ron Moody were also considered for the part).  And, certainly Caine made a fantastic Scrooge.  He was so...what's the word...Scroogey at the beginning of the film that he made me wish nothing but bad things would happen to him!

(Of course, I was only eleven, and my ability to see the grey areas in people hadn't developed yet.)

Anyway, I won't really bore you with the whole plot of the movie.  I'm sure that everybody has read "A Christmas Carol" at least once, so you know how the story goes.  Scrooge is cheap, forces Bob Cratchit to work on Christmas Eve for pennies, gets visited by three ghosts who show him the errors of his ways, and he gets an epiphany that Christmas is awesome and that he should give more than take.  That's your basic plot summary right there.

What I find more interesting anyway is the stories from the set of the movie that you may not really know.  I have lots of facts and trivia pieces from the movie such as hidden Easter eggs, where some of the actors are now, and what song was cut from the film that made Jim Henson's son Brian very upset!

For instance...

...Did you know that the little girl who played the voice of The Ghost of Christmas Past has been a soap opera actress for the past ten years?  Jessica Fox currently plays the role of Nancy Osbourne on the British drama "Hollyoaks".

...Did you notice that one of the stores in the village is named Micklewhite's?  That's a nod to Michael Caine, whose birth name in real life is Maurice Micklewhite.

...Did you know that a Muppet trademark exists in this movie?  Watch for a scene in which a shooting star shoots across the sky when Kermit is featured.  There's reportedly an instance of this happening in every Muppet movie ever made!

...Did you know that there's a tavern in the town that is named "Statler and Waldorf's"?  Obviously named after the two elderly hecklers that appeared on every episode of "The Muppet Show".

...Did you know that the character of Robert Marley was added to the screenplay so that Statler and Waldorf could play the roles of Robert and Jacob Marley?

...Did you know that in the beginning of the film, you can see a store sign that says "Duncan and Kenworthy"?  That's a nod to "Fraggle Rock" producer Duncan Kenworthy.

...Did you know that the film's trailer sampled music that was originally recorded for the 1988 film "Beetlejuice"?

...Did you know that this is the first Muppet film made to not feature any characters from Sesame Street on it whatsoever?

...Did you know that actor Raymond Coulthard who played Young Scrooge in the film is a very successful actor across the pond?  He's appeared in "Hotel Babylon", "Casualty", and "Mr Selfridge".

And, finally...did you know that a song was actually cut from the theatrical version of the film which made Brian Henson cry foul and made audiences confused?

Here's the song in question.



The song is called "When Love Is Gone", and it was performed by actress Meredith Braun, who played Scrooge's fiance, Belle.  The song was meant to serve as a narrative for Belle to explain her frustration over the fact that Scrooge seems to love money more than her.  It was definitely a very moving song, and it certainly made an impact...but Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered the scene removed from the final theatrical cut because he believed the song wasn't very appealing to young children.



The song being cut meant that the film was edited rather abruptly, and observations made by characters simply did not make any sense.  And when Brian Henson found out that the song was cut from the final movie, he was livid, saying that another song "When Love Is Found" counteracted the depressing tone of the song that was cut. 

For the record, I agree with Henson.

Now, that's not to say that the movie with that song doesn't exist.  It's just really hard to find.  Apparently when the movie was released on video in 1993, the VHS and laserdisc versions contain the song.  But when the 20th anniversary edition of the film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray, the song was omitted.  Stranger still, versions of the film that were shown on online video sites such as Netflix also removed the song.

So, I hope you still have a VCR, and have dusted off the laserdisc player, because that seems to be the only way you can watch the movie as it was intended to be shown.  Such a shame too.  

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Getting Schooled In Christmas!

The number thirteen might be a number of bad luck for a lot of people, but in this case, Day #13 of A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR marks the halfway point of the nearly month long event.



And for Day #13, I thought that I would share another memory that was previously locked in my brain until now.

This goes back to when I was a little bit younger than I am now.

Okay, fine...I was a little kid. 

I've probably mentioned this before in the blog, but when I was a kid, I loved going to school in the days leading up to Christmas.  In fact, I think December was the only month that I truly enjoyed going to school.  It certainly wasn't the fact that I loved doing schoolwork.  Let's get real.  Nobody liked doing homework.

And it wasn't the fact that I enjoyed winter recesses over summer recesses.  Sure, climbing on the snow forts was always a lot of fun, but there was always the risk of some stupid sixth grader attacking you in the school playground and washing your face out with snow.  Believe me, been there, done that, got the T-shirt.  Not surprisingly, when I reached sixth grade myself, I never harassed any of the first graders.  Do unto others and yada yada yada, right?

No, I think what made school so special around the holidays was the fact that for a little while, the school would throw the rule book out the window and do really unconventional but educational things that would not only help us understand the meaning of the holidays, but really learn about different holiday traditions.

I guess you can call this blog entry "Getting Schooled In Christmas".  Yeah, that sounds like a good title.  I'm using it.

In fact, I've already provided you with a couple of examples in the advent calendar already.  I already talked about how we did holiday fundraising to raise money for the school and showed you some of the stuff I sold back in the day.  And I already introduced you to the elf on a shelf that I made twenty-eight Christmases ago complete with a butterscotch candy that has seen its way through five American presidencies (That's Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama).

But that's not all we did.



For starters, when I was in elementary school, every year between grades one through eight, the whole school gathered in our gymnasium and had a marathon session of Christmas carols during the first period of each school day.  I think my favourite song to sing was the Twelve Days of Christmas because each grade got to sing their own part.  For instance, the kindergarten and grade one students sang the partridge in a pear tree line, and the second graders sang the two turtle doves, etc, etc.

When we got to nine, the female teachers sang nine ladies dancing, the male teachers sang ten lords a leaping, the vice-principal sang eleven, and the principal would sing twelve. 

(I particularly liked singing the part of five gold rings - because it was the best part of the song to sing, and because fifth grade totally rocked!)

Oh, and I should probably mention that the person who played the music was our school custodian, Mr. McMillan.  He was extremely talented at tickling the ivories, and in those performances, I saw him as more than a janitor...he was a guy with a lot of talent and a lot of heart.  He actually passed away the same year I graduated from elementary school and I was very sad to hear the news.

Of course, school assemblies weren't the only part of holiday fun.  When I was in sixth through eighth grades, I was part of the school assemblies where we had to play in the school concert band.  Some of the kids in the band were annoyed to play Christmas carols on their instruments, but I loved it.  Because I played the baritone, the notes I had to play were really easy.  Besides, it was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

We also did lots of Christmas themed crafts in school too.  I seem to remember that I opted not to go ice skating with the rest of my class (the reason being that I did not own any ice skates), and I ended up spending the day with the class in the grade below me.  But they were for the most part very accommodating and nice, and as part of a special treat, I got to take part in their art class.  We made a bunch of different ornaments out of clay and decorated them the best way we knew how.  Later that week, the kids from the class delivered my ornaments to the classroom door, and I seem to recall all of the kids in my class being very jealous that I got to make such great ornaments.

My only regret is that I no longer have these ornaments.  After years of being on our tree, they both broke within a year of each other right around the new millennium.  For what it's worth though, I made a yellow star ornament and a blue and green stocking ornament.  And they were beautiful - well, as beautiful as a third grader could make an ornament anyway.



Beginning in fifth grade, we took part in classroom Secret Santa gift exchanges, where we all drew names of a classmate, and we had to buy a gift for them that cost no more than five dollars - which back in 1991 was a lot easier to do than it is in 2015!  And for what it was worth, I put a lot of thought into my gifts.  One year, I gave someone a miniature hockey stick.  Another, I bought a stuffed penguin.  And one year when the limit was ten bucks, I even bought someone a disposable camera (the kind that still used film, of course.)



As for gifts that I received?  Well, I still have the Archie comics that I got from two girls in two different years.  I also remember that when I was in seventh grade, I was sick with the flu when they did the gift exchange, and the teacher ended up getting my name!  But it worked out well because the teacher gave me a Mad Libs book and some notebooks for writing!  I guess she really knew me, huh!

Of course, the Secret Santa exchange was just one of the things that we did for the classroom parties that we had.  I hear that not a lot of schools do them anymore which really saddens me as we used to have so much fun at them.  But, for what it was worth, our Christmas parties were fantastic!  The teacher would play Christmas music over their ghetto blasters (which were normally used for testing purposes and lectures), and some kids would bring in treats that their parents made for the occasion.

(My mom always made cupcakes or cookies or brownies.  Heck, if you asked her to make you something, she'd probably do it in a heartbeat today!)



We also played holiday themed games, where we would make paper chains and see which group could make the longest one.  Or we'd play variations of games like Heads Up Seven Up (it was called Heads Up Santa Up or something similar).  Sometimes we would watch Christmas movies on the VCR (I seem to recall watching both Prancer and The Santa Clause).  And sometimes, we would all be divided into groups where we'd have people from each grade in the same group and go around different classrooms to do a Christmas themed event.  In Mrs. Tripp's room, for example, we'd learn how to walk like penguins and sing a penguin song.  In Mrs. Shannon's classroom, we'd learn how to build a gingerbread village using graham crackers, icing sugar, and Smarties.  And, I want to say that it was Mrs. Barclay that introduced us to chocolate fondue, but I don't remember for sure. 

And one final note...in Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Bow's classroom, we learned about holidays around the world, and I seem to recall that there was a lesson on Hanukkah and what it was all about.  I think we learned about the menorah, and I think maybe we learned how to make a dreidel, but my memory's a bit fuzzy.

For some reason, I think we also learned how to make potato pancakes to celebrate a Swedish holiday festival as well.  Come to think of it though, it could have been an event to celebrate the 1992 Winter Olympics, where I could have been on Team Sweden...who can say, though?

At any rate, those are some of my most treasured memories of Christmas...being in school doing all sorts of fun Christmas crafts and activities.  Sure, being at home for the holidays and unwrapping gifts from Santa was the absolute best...but schools - at least back in my day - did a great job in keeping our minds off of the long wait until Christmas Day.

I only wish that they continued to do so.