Saturday, December 24, 2011
MORE CHRISTMAS MOVIES FOR YOU TO ENJOY
THE CHOCOLATE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
'Twas the night before Christmas and all round my hips
Were Fannie May candies that sneaked past my lips.
Fudge brownies were stored in the freezer with care
In hopes that my thighs would forget they were there.
While Mama in her girdle and I in chinstraps
Had just settled down to sugar-borne naps.
When out in the pantry there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the kitchen I flew like a flash,
Tore open the icebox then threw up the sash.
The marshmallow look of the new-fallen snow
Sent thoughts of a binge to my body below.
When what to my wandering eyes should appear:
A marzipan Santa with eight chocolate reindeer!
That huge chunk of candy so luscious and slick
I knew in a second that I'd wind up sick.
The sweet-coated Santa, those sugared reindeer
I closed my eyes tightly but still I could hear;
On Pritzker, on Stillman, on weak one, on TOPS
A Weight Watcher dropout from sugar detox.
From the top of the scales to the top of the hall
Now dash away pounds now dash away all.
Dressed up in Lane Bryant from my head to nightdress
My clothes were all bulging from too much excess.
My droll little mouth and my round little belly,
They shook when I laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
I spoke not a word but went straight to my work
Ate all of the candy then turned with a jerk.
And laying a finger beside my heartburn
Gave a quick nod toward the bedroom I turned.
I eased into bed, to the heavens I cry--
If temptation's removed I'll get thin by and by.
And I mumbled again as I turned for the night
In the morning I'll starve... 'til I take that first bite!
CELEBRITIES CHRISTMAS
Joan Crawford
Piper Laurie
Lucille Ball and Bob Hope 1960
Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer
Cyd Charisse
CHRISTMAS TRIVIA
- In "The Night Before Christmas" Santa landed his sleigh on the roof
- Santa's Reindeers are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.
- Saturday Evening Post artist, Norman Rockwell, was known for his whimsical pictures of Santa Claus
- Scrooge improves Cratchit's life the day after Christmas by giving him a raise
- Scrooge's deceased business partner in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was Jacob Marley
- Sharing their names with two Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie, are two friends in It's A Wonderful Life
- Silent Night was written in 1818, by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be prepared in time for Christmas Eve. He was saddened by this and could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol that could be sung by choir to guitar music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later that night the people in the little Austrian Church sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time.
- Since the 1840s, the residents of Pietarsaari, a town on Finland's coast, have decorated a Christmas street, Storgatan, since the 1840s. Suspended over the street are three large illuminated decorations: a cross symbolizing faith, an anchor representing h
- St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early fourth century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.
- St. Nick's nose like a cherry!
- Suzy Snowflake tells you she's in town by tap, tap, tappin' at your windowpane
- Telesphorus, the second Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared that public Church services should be held to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord and Saviour." In 320 AD, Pope Julius I and other religious leaders specified 25 December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
- Thanksgiving has traditionally been the start of the Christmas season in the U.S was moved Thanksgiving back a week to extend the holiday shopping season. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a move to help out Depression-strained retailers. Since 1859 Thanksgiving had been celebrated on Nov. 30, but in 1939 FDR declared the holiday to be the fourth Thursday in November. Two years later, FDR signed a bill making the move permanent and official.
- The '12 Days of Christmas' are the 12 days after Christmas: December 26 to January 6
- The 1990 movie “Home Alone” told of a boy's experience when two men break into his house during Christmas
- The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is not irreligious. The first letter of the word Christ in Greek is chi, which is identical to our X. Xmas was originally an ecclesiastical abbreviation that was used in tables and charts.
- The actual gift givers are different in various countries:
England: Father Christmas
France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas)
Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus) She is a beautiful fair haired girl with a shining crown of candles.
Holland: St Nicholas.
Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch)
Spain and South America: The Three Kings
Russia: In some parts - Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure) in other parts it is Grandfather Frost.
Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes. One is called Julenisse.
Friday, December 23, 2011
ORSON WELLE’S OSCAR FOR “CITIZEN KANE” SELLS
CELEBRITY CHRISTMAS
Loretta Young
Debbie Reynolds
Ann Miller
Natalie Wood on the set of Miracle on 34th Street
Susan Hayward
I WANT TO GO BACK TO A TIME WHEN....
I WANT TO GO BACK TO A TIME WHEN....
It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
Nobody was prettier than Mom.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.
No shopping trip was complete unless a new toy was brought home.
BETTY WHITE TO TURN 90
Betty White's 90th birthday party is going to be a star-studded one. NBC has unveiled a list of celebrities who will help the comedienne celebrate her milestone, naming Hugh Jackman, Amy Poehler, Jay Leno, Joel McHale, Carol Burnett and William Shatner among others.
White's former co-stars from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" with Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Valerie Harper and Gavin MacLeod confirming to show up.
Beside her old co-workers, TV Guide reports that the Emmy Award-winning actress will be joined by her "Hot in Cleveland" co-stars, Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick and Jane Leeves, at the special event.
"Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl" will air in the US Monday, January 16 at 8/9c on NBC. The special will feature musical performances and surprise appearances, while White will take the stage to share some memories and express her gratitude to those who've come to honour her. Let’s hope that it also reaches the land down under!
CHRISTMAS TRIVIA
- On every street corner you hear the song :Silver Bells”
- One Norwegian Christmas custom begins in late autumn at harvest time. The finest wheat is gathered and saved until Christmas. This wheat is then attached to poles made from tree branches, making perches for the birds. A large circle of snow is cleared away beneath each perch. According to the Norwegians, this provides a place for the birds to dance, which allows them to work up their appetites between meals. Just before sunset on Christmas Eve, the head of the household checks on the wheat in the yard. If a lot of sparrows are seen dining, it is suppose to indicate a good year for growing crops.
- One notable medieval English Christmas celebration featured a giant 165-pound pie. The giant pie was nine feet in diameter. Its ingredients included 2 bushels of flour, 20 pounds of butter, 4 geese, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, 6 snipes, 4 partridges, 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 6 pigeons, and 7 blackbirds.
- Originally, Christmas decorations were home-made paper flowers, or apples, biscuits, and sweets. The earliest decorations to be bought came from Nuremburg in Germany, a city famous for the manufacture of toys. Lauscha in Germany is famous for its glass ornaments. In 1880, America discovered Lauscha and F.W. Woolworth went there and bought a few glass Christmas tree ornaments. Within a day he had sold out so next year he bought more and within a week they, too, had sold. The year after that be bought 200,000 Lauscha ornaments. During the First World War supplies of ornaments from Lauscha ceased, so American manufacturers began to make their own ornaments, developing new techniques that allowed them to turn out as many ornaments in a minute as could be made in a whole day at Lauscha.
- Per a November 2000 Gallup poll, 60 percent of Americans thought they would spend at least $500 that year on Christmas gifts. This was a slight drop from 1999 gift-spending.
- Poinsettia is the most popular holiday plant decoration in the United States
- Poinsettias originally come from Mexico
- Postmen in Victorian England were popularly called "robins." This was because their uniforms were red. The British Post Office grew out of the carrying of royal dispatches. Red was considered a royal colour, so uniforms and letter-boxes were red. Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering Christmas mail.
- Queen Elizabeth's Christmas message to the nation was televised for the first time on December 25, 1957. For the next 40 years, the BBC aired the event.
- Reindeer Rudolph is never mentioned in "The Night Before Christmas"
- Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the National Football League.
- Rudolph never got to join in Reindeer Games
- “Rudolph" was actually created by Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's for a holiday promotion. The rest is history.
- Rudolph's punishment for his red nose was that he could not play in reindeer games
- Santa has a whole herd of reindeer-- we only know about his favourite ones.