CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN!
Good morning folks! Sorry once again about the delayed entry, but I'm on vacation and had to take advantage of sleeping in while the opportunity was there. Not to mention the San Diego-Georgia jetlag. But everything's alright now. I hope this entry doesn't seem like a cop-out, but it's gonna be the easiest way to talk about Christmas TV Specials without offering you a million video clips. It doesn't have everything that I like to see on TV at this time of the year...noticeably absent are Garfield's Christmas and Die Hard...but it's a pretty good mish-mash that somebody put together and the scenes really capture what makes a Christmas TV episode or a Christmas movie great. Somebody told me that I've been "freebasing holiday spirit" over here, so it's my duty to share that cheer with you, my faithful readers, and get you hooked. If you're the weepy type, grab a box of Kleenex and let's take a look!
Click to viewThere are a few clips in there that I don't recognize, but they're all pretty mainstream for the most part. One question: doesn't the Pickles family from Rugrats celebrate Chanukah? I don't know how they managed to sneak in there, but hey, everybody's welcome here in the Countdown! Full House, Christmas Vacation, the old Disney cartoon with the chipmunks in the tree, plenty of good stuff in there. Including my personal favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Most, if not all of your favorite Christmas episodes are available on cheap DVDs these days, so maybe this will inspire you to make a trip to the Best Buy and load up on holiday hijinks. Otherwise, they run on TV about a hundred times a week, so just set up the DVR to hunt and capture all the Christmas craziness that it can hold. Grab a cup of egg nog or a ham-flavored soda and join your loved ones to overdose on bells and lights and, my favorite part of any Christmas episode, "Happy Holidays from all of us at ____________*"!
* insert name of TV show here
Alright kids, I told you I've been saving the best commercials for the end of the Countdown, so let's pull a real winner out of the old hat. This is a 60-second spot, so buckle up!
Ah, McDonald's. Herald of peace and good tidings around the world. Once again, we're presented with a spot that makes no mention of hamburgers or bacon or any other product that McDonald's wants you to buy. They're just letting you know how much they care by bringing you this touching spot about the poor kid who can't ice skate. Maybe I identify with this commercial because I, myself, cannot ice skate. Yes, that's right, I've fallen on ice many a time. There were never any friendly deer around to help me back to my feet, though. All the cool kids are cracking the whip and doing flips and whatever else kids do on ice skates, but poor little Jimmy has to stand idly by and hope that somebody will take pity on him. Sure enough, Ronald McDonald does! With a little holiday magic and some help from a clown, little Jimmy gets to experience the magic of skating without actually doing anything himself. Ronald promptly skates back to McDonaldland, presumable leaving little Jimmy stranded on the other side of the skating pond. Whoops! Maybe he'll send Grimace out later on to help him back.
Did this commercial make you cry? I bet it did! Let me know how this commercial affected you emotionally. Have a great Wednesday everybody!
Paul