10 Best Minor Characters in Christmas Themed Movies...

10. Santa Claus - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I hesitated to put him on this list. But I kept coming back to him. Why? He had to be the biggest jerk in any of the Christmas movies sans Mr. Potter. Telling a father he should be ashamed of himself because his son has a glowing red nose? Dissing the elves song. I mean, what's up with that? He is skinny and grumpy. Everything we came not to expect form Santa. I got to hand it to Rudolph's writers, they knew how to throw a wrinkle into a claymation show. By the way, I found this clip after I wrote this description. Classic.

9./8. Heat and Snow Meiser - The Year Without a Santa Claus

The Year Without a Santa Claus was not that great of a special but these tow guys stole the show. I sing these songs to this day. (along with the rest of my siblings)

7. BurgerMeister MeisterBurger - Santa Claus is Coming to Town

How many of you can recite the exact inflection in the Burgermeisters voice when you see the line, "A yoyo?". That's why he is on this list. A classic villain. He doesn't turn good in the end. He remains true to his nasty ways to the end. One of my favorite lines of his is "...and I am certainly not going." Great comedic timing by a claymation figure.

6. Randy - The Christmas Story

Randy played the full emotional gammet. Disgust: "Meatloaf, beatloaf, double meatloaf. I hate meatloaf." Despair: "I can't put my arms down!" Empathy: "Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie!" He had it all. Randy and Ralphie had the textbook brother relationship. They fought, like when Randy tried to sneak in front of Ralph when they were getting dressed and all Randy got for his troubles was a swift kick in the tukus. But Randy was there for Ralph when he needed him. He was the one who picked up Ralphs glasses after the Scott Farkus affair. In this original movie trailer, check out Randy's face when he throws the socks. That innate comedic timing cannot be taught, my friends.

5. Winter Warlock - Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Here is one villain who changed his stripes. "I am not such a loser after all!" This guy was a big blowhard meanie on the surface, but underneath he was an insecure little child just wanting to be accepted. Besides when he says,"...a chance to be reborn" it still cracks me up.

4. Snoopy - A Charlie Brown Christmas

He can play all the barnyard animals. Even a penguin. What more do you want? When he kisses Lucy and she says she needs some disifectant and iodine and he goes, "Bleah"; Katy and I love that. Madison does now too. I love how he laughs at Charlie Brown or when he boos him when he is announced as the director, "Man's best friend!". Or when he's embarrased after dancing on Schroeders piano and he stops playing. He's got it all.

3. Yukon Cornelius - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

"Nothin'." Need I say more. He was the ultimate friend and protector, "...douse your nose and run like crazy." He was wise in the ways of the wild and it served Hermie and Rudolph well. If they had not run into him, well let's just say the special would have been about 20 minutes long and the Abominable Snowman would have had one good meal. We know he liked Peanut Butter hamhocks and played the guitar. He knew the bumbles weaknesses. And his ultimate quest was for gold...then silver.

2. Clarence - It's a Wonderful Life.

I admit I have a special place in my heart for Clarence. He elped the greatest character in Christmas movie history realize what he had. He did it with class, grace and comedy. Clarence was a man among angels. He has the IQ of a rabbit but the faith of a child. Clarence did God's work right here on earth. Clarence even earned his wings.

1. Linus - A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It's Official...

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

It's time for cold weather, scarves, mittens, tobogans, snow, bells of both jingle and sleigh, christmas trees, snowmen, ornaments, hot chocolate, egg nog, christmas lights, Andy WIlliams, presents, special christmas donuts, cookies, gingerbread houses, caroling, Christmas cards, shopping, store displays, Santa pictures, presents, giving, mistletoe, garland, that pine tree scent, tinsel, the star for the top of the tree, Nat King Cole, stockings, decorating said tree, Santa Claus, elves, the North Pole, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, the Winter Warlock, Topper, the Burger Meister MeisterBurger, Ingle, Dingle, Jingle, Bingle, Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy, candy canes, Rudolph, Hermie, Charlie in the Box, Yukon Cornelius, begrudgingly even Fireball, Frosty, Professor Hinkle, meisers of both Heat and Snow, the Grinch, Max, Little Cindy Lou Who, Bing Crosby, Ralph, Randy, the Bumpus hounds, George and Mary Bailey, Zuzu's petals, Harry, midnight Mass, incense, the Nativity, shepherds, wise men, gold, frankincense, myrrh, the ox and lamb, the North Star, the manger, Joseph, Mary and the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving to all...

As I stated in an earlier post, I feel sorry for Thanksgiving. Sandwiched between two holidays. I guess you could call it the middle child holiday. Little brother Halloween all playful and dress uppy with lots of candy. A little spook or a scare now and then to keep the excitement from waning. And of course Big Brother Christmas. The first born. The queen mother of all holidays.

Living in the shadow of these two can be rough. Trust me. I feel your pain Thanksgiving.

You've got your own wonderful qualtities don't you? It is a time when any creed can get together and thank their God for the blessings he has bestowed upon them. It is a time for family and friends. It is a time for copious amounts of food. It is a time for reflection and prayer and togetherness. It is a time for football.

More people celebrate you than Christmas. People of all religions celebrate the goodness of God and his love for us manifested through a bountiful harvest. I believe that in the heart...

...I almost got through that. Funny stuff. We all know that Christmas is king.

A Thanksgiving story/lesson quite pertinent still today...

It was Thanksgiving, and for the first time our whole family was together. Mom and Dad had to drive all night just to get here, but boy was it worth it! The Grandsters really know how to do it up right. The Grandsters being Grandpa and Grandma. We were all seated at the table, and I couldn't wait to dive into those mashed potatoes and gravy. And the smell of the turkey -- I thought I was going to faint with happiness.

"What's that, Mindy?" demanded my little cousin Sam. He can be such a pain. He is 8 years old, two years younger than I am.

"What's what?" I asked.

He pointed to a little paper cup containing just three kernels of corn beside Grandpa's plate. I opened my mouth to answer and then realized I didn't know. Ugh! How I hate admitting that I don't know something!

Grandma answered, "It is to pay tribute to the Pilgrims."

"But why three kernels?" asked the always curious Sam. Give it a rest, I thought.

Grandpa answered, "It reminds me of what a tough time the Pilgrims had. In the beginning, three kernels of corn was each person's daily food ration." The table got real quiet after he said that.

Grandpa continued, "Against all odds, they made a life for themselves in the wilderness. Let's talk more about it after dinner."

Sure enough, dinner was over and Sam wanted to know more.

" Squanto taught the Pilgrims to grow corn!" Sam exclaimed. He's never going to forget that -- he played Squanto in the Thanksgiving Day play at school.

"That's right," Grandpa said. "But at first the Pilgrims were terrified of the Indians, as they called them. Then one day a tribesman named Samoset ventured into their encampment. He was tall and dark and by many accounts quite handsome. Loudly and plainly he proclaimed, 'Welcome!' in perfect English."

"The Pilgrims must have freaked!" shouted Sam.

Grandpa laughed and agreed. "I'm sure you're right. He had learned the language from English fishermen. For the Pilgrims, life was a constant battle for survival. Later, Governor William Bradford made a decision. Instead of the colonists sharing their crops equally, he assigned a parcel of land to each family and told them they could keep whatever they produced for themselves."

"Then what happened?" asked Sam.

"At last the Pilgrims began to prosper. Governor William Bradford wrote in his book 'Of Plimoth Plantation,' 'This had very good success, for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.' "

"Shoot! If you can keep everything you make, of course you're going to work harder. Everybody knows that."

Grandpa answered, "The first seed had been planted for the American Revolution. People were free to practice their religions as they saw fit and were free to keep the fruits of their labor. This had never happened before in the history of mankind. In the words of William Bradford, 'As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation.' "

"That William Bradford sounds like a pretty cool guy," said Sam.

"He was a pretty cool guy," Grandpa said with a chuckle.

Don't know if you heard...

but a school recently cancelled it's sickle cell anemia fund raiser because it mostly affected African Americans and they are looking for a more diverse disease.

I'm just kidding. Of course that didn't happen.

But this did.

OK...

so I fibbed a little. I got started a little early. But just the blog change for now. I will wait to wax poetic on all things Christmas until midnight Thursday.

In my defense, we got gyped (pronounced jipped) this year. The time between Christmas and Thanksgiving this year is abnormally short. I needed the extra time.

And for your listening pleasure, one of the great jazz Christmas tunes of all time, Linus and Lucy...check that, it's one of the great jazz tunes of all time. You will probably hear this more than once on the site this season.

Two pretty funny videos...

The first one looks like it means to be. The second one does not so that makes it absolutely hilarious.

It was a 3 party weekend...

Friday night we had Chompy's first birthday party. We had a full house. Both sides of the family were there along with some friends. Chompy received much booty. A lot of clothes which is exactly what she needed. She doesn't need many toys. I just leave my cereal bowls out and she loves turning those over.

Saturday Kelly and her mom and sister threw a surprise birthday party for her father. 70 years young. He was completely surprised. It was a great success. He had some students there from Irving High School when he was the choir director in the 1960's. Kelly made a slide show showing his progression through the years. Big turnout and everyone had a good time.

After the party, I went home and lit a fire in the fire pit outside. Smoked a cigar and watched the Sooners beat the ever-loving crap out of the Red Raiders. The only thing that would have made it perfect is if it was UCLA doing that to SC. Other than that, it was perfect. Madison, Ian, Chompy and Kelly came home from eating and came out and sat with me by the fire. Yep. It was a very good night.

Sunday was the potluck lunch on which I have already expounded. No need to embarrass myself further.

I just described three days out of my life that on the surface seem rather mundane. But the devil is in the details; or in this case the angels. I didn't mention on Sunday night how Madison, Ian and I played a game with the big purple ball where I would hold it in my hands and they would hit it out of my hands where it would sometimes go straight up in the air and land on my head: thereby causing me to make funny faces and pretend to be dizzy. I am comedy. They were laughing so hard they got the hiccups.

I also didn't describe holding Chompy at the surprise party and having everyone tell me how beautiful she was. A few even asked if she was doing any modeling. Needless to say, I would love her even if she looked like me but as it is I just give it the big Barney Fife, "Yep that's my girl."

I also didn't describe how Kelly looked on Saturday. Because I can't. Words fail me. She was absolutely stunning. She is the epitome of class, style and grace. I am a lucky lucky man.

And yes, I did tell her that on Saturday night.

I have got to be a better...

Christian.

Every year our church has a turkey lunch/potluck lunch on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We do it for the obvious reasons: to thank God for what we have and to fellowship and the like.

Well, nothing sends people running like free food. They were coming out of the wood work today. Coming in at least 15 minutes late and obviously not familiar with church etiquette. They are all children of God so they are all welcome.

It still bugs me.

I am there every Sunday putting in my time paying my dues. These fly-by-nighters show up one Sunday a week for free food. And because we are in the choir and dilly dally, we are always at the end of line. Needless to say, it was slim pickins by the time we got there. I need to say no one has expressed this concern except for good ole shallow Johnny boy. I don't think anyone would expect anything less.

And ay there's the rub. I should not let them bother me. I should be happy that they are in the house of the Lord, even if it's just for one Sunday. Perhaps they will hear some words that will turn their life around. But somehow I suspect all they are looking for are some brownies...stop it...there I go again.

It's a good thing WWJD stands for What Would Jesus Do and not What Would John Do. We'd have a lot less people at the potluck.

Be prepared...

this site is about to become all things Christmas.

I will give Thanksgiving its due but Thursday at midnight this site goes...

All Christmas All the Time!

I can't wait. My eyes are watering.

Early Sunday morning...

I had the same thing Steve had on the plane. I started to sweat profusely and I felt like I was going to pass out. Luckily I didn't and it eventually passed. During the episode you feel like you just want to die. Yuck!

We cleaned up the place and headed back to the airport by 8:00 am. No traffic jams this time so we made it back in plenty of time. We said good bye to Paul at the Southwest gate and headed to check in. Found out Tod was not on our flight. He was scheduled to fly out at 5:15. It was 9:30. That's a long wait at an airport. Alone. It all worked out. Tod was able to get on our flight on standby and we all made it home together.

The flight out was delayed first because the plane coming in was late. Then there were apparently too many planes going to DFW so we had to space them out. And for some reason we got the short end of the stick and had to wait. Finally it was our turn on the runway...OK...any time now...start those engines...ready to go. Engines begin to pick up, WOOHOO, and we pull off the runway. What the? "Uh, ladies and, uh, gentlemen. There is a report of a, uh, coyote on the, uh, runway. They will hurry to get the little, uh, guy out of the way and then we'll be on our way." I'm thinking if the "little, uh, guy" doesn't have an acme rocket tied to his back then let's chance it and take off.

Eventually we were cleard for departure and we did just that. After an uneventful 3 1/2 flight back to DFW we landed where we were greeted by loved ones and resumed our lives once again.

I would have to say Pfaff Pfest XIII was a complete success.

Tennessee next year, right fellas?