Corrie does quite enjoy the traditional pagan activity of taking some nature and bringing it into your home, and decorating it with lights and whatever shiny baubles you may have (which in our case is very few---baubles, that is).
So we bought a tree.
A huge Douglas fir. This sucker is eight feet up of bushy pine smell, and probably fatter at the base than it is tall. It's quite spectacular.
We were getting it all set up last night and she put on a time-appropriate video:
My mother could see right away that it is "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol."
Magoo's Christmas was a household tradition in my family, and I've seen it many times, and have varied memories of it.
Those memories all came rushing back as we listened and worked--I realized I haven't watched it multiple decades.
What follows are the impressions I had as a child and less my impressions now as a film
1. Magoo is a blind idiot:
This scene of him driving against traffic used to piss me off an unreasonable amount. Not only can he not see, he's oblivious to everything. I remember immediately disliking this Magoo person.
2. The sound effects stuck with me. Remember the "knot untying whistle" noise or the "mistaking the fat guy for the turkey poke" noise?
3. The sound of Jacob Marley wailing was the scariest sound I'd ever heard when I first encountered it:
4. Young Magoo/Ebeneezer's song, "A Hand for Each Hand", was the saddest thing I'd ever encountered anytime I heard it---up until "Lilo and Stitch."
5. I remember both my mom and my Auntie Peg singing along with the criminals after they cashed in the dead Magoo/Ebeneezer's gear in the future:
6. I remember not having a sense of humor about the ending, after the scenery comes crashing down on the director, thinking, "Shit. That guy has to be dead. How is that funny?"
Decemberween is upon us in Long Beezy...
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