So is everybody else gearing up for the annual viewing of The Dark Crystal tomorrow? Oh, wait. That's not a thing, is it? Well it is in MY house.
For some reason I have a strong memory of watching The Dark Crystal on TV over Thanksgiving vacation one year as a kid. Because the movie became so synonymous with Thanksgiving for me I began popping it into my DVD player to have playing while I make Thanksgiving dinner each year.
And about 5 years ago Holly and I began calling the day after Thanksgiving "Opening Ceremonies" (like the Olympics), which acts as a kick-off to the Christmas season. In a single day we put up all of our indoor and outdoor Christmas decorations. The tree, lights, window frosting (that might be just a thing for us folks who don't get snow), everything.
As I do the indoor decorating I put on dvd/blu-ray special features and commentaries to help pass the time. (LOTR Extended Editions alone served me well for two consecutive years.) I think I'll always have memories of trimming the tree while hearing from the writer of Superman 4 how it all went so very very wrong and how cool the movie COULD have been. (A GREAT commentary!)
One year I seem to remember having a retro-video game night with my family. Although that might have been a Christmas thing. Either way, that Atari 2600 and my NES game library may be calling to me again this weekend.
As for food, we do things a little different in the dessert department. We still have pumpkin pie for the normal folks in my family, but my traditional post-meal pie is a chocolate pudding pie. (Not the french silk crap, but jello-brand pudding) And in recent years I've also added "Easy Cheesecake" to the day:
2pkgs whipped cream cheese (tubs),
1pkg regular sized cool whip,
1/3rd cup sugar.
Mix thoroughly and put on graham cracker pie crust. Refrigerate. Makes 1 pie.
(My advice is to buy double the ingredients and make two. You'll be glad you did.)
Anyone else have unusual traditions for the weekend?
For some reason I have a strong memory of watching The Dark Crystal on TV over Thanksgiving vacation one year as a kid. Because the movie became so synonymous with Thanksgiving for me I began popping it into my DVD player to have playing while I make Thanksgiving dinner each year.
And about 5 years ago Holly and I began calling the day after Thanksgiving "Opening Ceremonies" (like the Olympics), which acts as a kick-off to the Christmas season. In a single day we put up all of our indoor and outdoor Christmas decorations. The tree, lights, window frosting (that might be just a thing for us folks who don't get snow), everything.
As I do the indoor decorating I put on dvd/blu-ray special features and commentaries to help pass the time. (LOTR Extended Editions alone served me well for two consecutive years.) I think I'll always have memories of trimming the tree while hearing from the writer of Superman 4 how it all went so very very wrong and how cool the movie COULD have been. (A GREAT commentary!)
One year I seem to remember having a retro-video game night with my family. Although that might have been a Christmas thing. Either way, that Atari 2600 and my NES game library may be calling to me again this weekend.
As for food, we do things a little different in the dessert department. We still have pumpkin pie for the normal folks in my family, but my traditional post-meal pie is a chocolate pudding pie. (Not the french silk crap, but jello-brand pudding) And in recent years I've also added "Easy Cheesecake" to the day:
2pkgs whipped cream cheese (tubs),
1pkg regular sized cool whip,
1/3rd cup sugar.
Mix thoroughly and put on graham cracker pie crust. Refrigerate. Makes 1 pie.
(My advice is to buy double the ingredients and make two. You'll be glad you did.)
Anyone else have unusual traditions for the weekend?