THE BEST OF THE WORST CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Today a significant one in Christmas folklore. Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol this date in 1843. The story of the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, Timothy Cratchit, and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come. Their visits transform Scrooge into a kinder, gentler man.

The first Christmas Carol movie came out in 1938. My mother took me to see it. I was all of 3-4 years old. Scared me big time! Ever since, I have had a distaste for the film and change the channel when it shows up on TV.

Some believe the movie to be the granddaddy of all holiday shows. One critic described it as the best of the worst Christmas movies. I agree with the critic.

My writing mood continued into yesterday. Rewrote passages to Growing Up Italian all day. Into the night. Never left the house.

I have now been home two full days. Definitely must get out today. I will be at Kate Miano’s Gardens late this afternoon. Terri White singing. I can use a dose of Terri and conversation with friends.

The Christmas Boat Parade last night. Had I been out, I would have watched a bit of it from the ocean deck at the Pier House. The weather was good. The Boat Parade would therefore have been pleasant to watch.

The Key West Citizen publishes on Saturday for Saturday and Sunday. I have to wait till tomorrow’s edition to see the parade’s pics and review the comments concerning the parade.

Don’t forget Larry Smith’s Holiday Jazz Concert friday at 8 at The Studios of Key West. Larry has been performing the show for years. Changes it each year. Always good. A must to see!

Today big in the history of flying. On this date in 1903, the Wright brothers flew a plane they had created. The first plane ever to fly. All of 12 seconds for a distance of 120 feet. History rarely reminds us that the plane flew a total of four times that day. The fourth time, 852 feet in 59 seconds.

In the 1960s when I was flying around the country on behalf of clients, I would occasionally think how far man had come with air travel since that day in 1903. Man stepping on the moon was the ultimate!

All achieved in the short time of 60 odd years.

Trump is taking things away from us a step at a time each and every day. The man a destroyer at heart.

The most recent tragedy involves the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The Center is tasked with saving and protecting the lives of the most vulnerable.

I am personally familiar with the Center. My environmental law work took me there many times. I was concerned with toxins. Hazardous substances that affected many. Nasty bugs that could kill many in an instance if released.

Trump’s interest is corporate America. He has stripped EPA regulations. His attitude is things are not as bad as some make them seem. If corporate America thinks something is safe, it must be. Keep the people in the dark. What they do not know will not hurt them.

The Trump Administration announced , no ordered, the Center to stop using certain words in 2018 budget documents. Seven specifically. Transgender, vulnerable, entitlement, science-based, and evidence-based.

Words have been suggested in their place. Modifying terms. Such that lower a danger involved and in certain instances by silence deny the existence of certain groups such as transgenders.

The recommendation is that descriptive words should be based on community standards and wishes.

Trump is weakening the truth. The order barring certain words reckless and dangerous. A major epidemic could overtake the country because the Center was not able to effectively warn against it and research the problem before it hit full force.

Trump will be signing the tax bill into law this week.  He will continue to tell us it is a big break for the middle class. Bullshit we all know. It is a tax break for the rich to the detriment of the middle class.

Trump has become an economic authority. Lyndon Johnson said, “Making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg. It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.”

Congress is screwing up probably more than any other time in history. The Republicans follow Pied Piper Trump and the Democrats fail to provide effective opposition.

John Kennedy stated re Congress, “What can you expect from that zoo?”

Want some pleasant reading? Buy a copy of Irma and Me. Good reading! Easy. Enjoyable. Available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and KoboBooks.

Enjoy your Sunday!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve at Lisa’s last night. A magnificent meal. Good company. Robert and Ally all excited.

Santa could not make his usual pre-dinner visit this year. He was busy up the keys visiting children he had not been able to in previous years. Robert and Ally were disappointed. They still believe.

Yesterday, I mentioned three writings that changed Christmas in the United States. Three writings that gave a new complexion to the holiday. A Visit from St. Nicholas, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Cooper, and A Christmas Carol.

The three writings got Americans on a new road. Christmas as celebrated today broke ground. Took many years to arrive at the point it is today, however.

Christmas divided the North and South. Not just slavery. Christmas was a Southern thing. The North paid little attention to it.

Lincoln wanted to demoralize Southern troops during the Civil War. The South believed Santa Claus was on their side.

Lincoln authorized a famous artist in 1862 to do a drawing of Santa Claus watching over Union troops. The drawing appeared on the front cover of a prominent national magazine on January 3, 1863.

Sort of a God is on our side thing.

Some historians believe the cover drawing achieved Lincoln’s desired effect.

Enjoy your Christmas Day!

‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS…..

Tonight! Christmas Eve! Santa Claus comes to town!

Love it!

Robert and Ally excited. Especially Ally. Just talked to them on the phone.

Dinner will be great! Seven fishes. Italian tradition. Last year, Lisa made it to five. Perhaps this year seven. In any event, what ever the number, Lisa’s cooking this special evening spectacular!

I started telling the story of Christmas in America yesterday. Not popular in the 1600s and 1700s. Banned in certain localities. Had to do with the pagan birth of the holiday.

This morning, three writings that had a decided impact on how we celebrate Christmas in America today. All three writings done in the first half of the 1800s.

Washington Irving one of our first great American writers. Most famous for the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

Many of Irving’s writings were in the form of short stories and essays. Written over a period of years and compiled over that period of time into the Sketchbook of Geoffrey Cooper. Three short stories written in 1809:  Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Christmas Dinner.

Wrote not as the holiday was, but as how he conceptualized it to be. A peaceful loving holiday. The work set the mood for present day Christmas. Not a pagan festival. Rather the beginning of Christmas as we know it.

In 1823 came ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse….. The opening stanzas to A Visit From St. Nicholas. Written by Clement Clarke Moore.

‘A Visit From St. Nicholas was a poem. Really spelled out what our Christmas is today.

The third writing was an 1843 novel by Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol. Scrooge, Marley’s ghost, and crippled Tim Cratchet who as Tiny Tim touched everyone’s heart.

America was on its way to today’s Christmas! Not the entire country, however. Tomorrow, Christmas in the North and South, its Civil War impact, etc.

Made a Christmas visit to Donna and Terri yesterday. Sat outside and chatted.

Terri looked good and was on a high. She had chemo in the morning. Does not affect her the first day and leaves her feeling terrific. The second day, today, will be hell. All the adverse chemo effects will hit her.

Terri has thinned down. Thirty five pounds worth. Thin is good. Not the way she is achieving it, however.

Donna is hanging in there. Doing her loving spousal thing. Her tiredness obvious. She complains not, however.

Someday, I must meet Key West’s Roger Kostmayer. He writes letters to the editor. Expresses himself via that medium and any other he can. He shares his opinion. Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes not.

Kostmayer had an interesting right on Letter to the Editor in this morning’s Key West Citizen. He asked where is the outrage over Russia’s hacking?

His final paragraph crystallized his position: “When did it become acceptable to view your neighbor as the enemy because he or she belongs to a different political party, while admiring a brutal foreign dictator who is attacking our core American institutions?”

I close on this special day with the final line of A Visit From St. Nicholas: “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”