Tag: Elf

Posted in Christmas, Holidays, kindness, Music

You Gotta Make Your Own Kind of Christmas Music

Posted on by D. Parker

Nobody can tell you
There’s only one Christmas song worth singing
They may try to sell you cause it hangs them up
to see someone like you living your own kind of holiday life

But you gotta make your own kind of season
Live your own special song
Make your own kind of Christmas music
even if nobody else sings along!

You might be nowhere this season
The loneliest kind of lonely
It may be rough going
Just to do your thing is the hardest thing to do

So you gotta make your own kind of Christmas music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kinda season
even if nobody else follows along…

Thanks to the holidays, Cass Eliot and all of my readers for the inspiration to be here!!!

The holiday season can be the most wonderful time of the year, but for those without close family or friends (or if they’re far away), for those living in poverty, for people with chronic conditions, and other reasons Christmas can be: discouraging, dismaying, disheartening, and in some cases, dismal. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/11/22/how-to-get-away-with-christmas/. Life for too many has become an exercise in survival, with little in the way of comfort and joy. This season and every season I’m focusing on the simple things, the little things, I triple dog dare you to do the same.

So far my “simple” Christmas activities have been: Attending a relaxing and informative Zoom workshop about holiday card-making presented by: Paint It Out (http://paintitout.ca/) featuring artist, Salima Andany (salima@paintitout.ca) and Chronic Not Hopeless (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1875955569247115) – we gladly accept donations chronicnothopeless@gmail.com. When I began painting, thanks to an inspiring class taught by Salima, I only liked acrylics, they just seemed to speak to me, but during this program I heard the voice of watercolours and my art heart grew three sizes that day! For those wishing to spend some time with others with chronic conditions, our Chronic Not Hopeless workshops are accessible, positive, and everyone seems to have fun, what else could you ask for? Oh yeah, they’re free! For those who are interested there will be two more workshops this season, Wednesday December 6th, 2023 at 11am ET: Wreath Making and Wednesday December 13th at 11am ET: Ornament Making. Contact: chronicnothopeless@gmail.com for free and safe Zoom links, more info, supply list, etc. Hope to see you there and BYOB – Bring Your Own Beverages (no judgment) and most of all, your imagination!

To say the King Edward Choir Christmas concert, “Winter Lights” https://www.kingedwardchoir.ca/ at the Collier Street United Church in Barrie, Ontario (that’s in Canada eh) was a delight would be the maximization of minimizing. It was soaring, never boring! There was singing, our hearts were ringing! Who out there Believes Hot Chocolate Season is the literally most wonderful time of the year? The King Edward Choir must believe because when we boarded the “Polar Express” we heard: “Hot! Hot! Oh, we got it! Hot! Hot! Yo, we got it! Hot chocolate! Here, we’ve only got one rule: Never ever let it cool!”. People who understand my passion for chocolate, including but definitely not limited to hot chocolate understand why this song is near and dear to my heart and stomach…all the year through.

KEC invited us to sing along to wonderful Christmas carols then we listened to many lovely tunes by: Irving Berlin – We may have our love to keep us warm but heading into my first Barrie winter, I’ll also need warm clothes and hot chocolate after digging out of the “Snow, snow, snow, snow!” with my electric shovel as we head toward a hopefully white but not too White Christmas.

There was so more: Tchaikovsky; John Rutter; and they added a very contemporary tune, “I Want To Stare at my Phone Screen With You”, awww, how sweet, I really hope they can keep their 5G holiday romance charged all year long.

In 90 minutes (with intermission) we had ourselves an early Merry Little Christmas (https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/11/27/have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas/), with triumph voices rising. My toes were still tapping long after my hands had stopped clapping. Kudos to Leanne Edwards, Artistic Director/Conductor and Katie Pergau, Accompanist and of course the richly melodic women and men of the choir, including my amazing sister-in-law who added her honeyed tones, smiling face, and I saw some dancing/swaying too. If you get a chance to see the King Edward Choir, or other choirs where you live, please do, there’s really something about voices together, raised in song that brings peace and comfort in any season.

You can also join a choir because as we know, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” (Elf).

As luck would have it I entered their raffle (proceeds to the Barrie Food Bank) and I was one of the lucky winners of a very generous (and heavy) basket of goodies: wine; cheese; cookies; coffee; tea; a lovely and warm scarf; a wooden puzzle that’s driving me mad but I’ll get it, I will; many chocolates – I’ll have you know I still have some left, ok, I don’t have any left, but they were divine; etc.

I understand they raised over $1000 for the Food Bank! I certainly left believing in the Spirit of the Season. I’m looking forward to “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace“ by Welsh composer, Karl Jenkins, which the King Edward Choir will be performing May 4th, 2024 (mark the date and/or look around you, there are activities, in person or online which you can do together or by yourself – I attend all kinds of concerts, plays, travel the world, etc. all from the comfort of my bed!).

Chronic Not Hopeless hosted a virtual Christmas book club, Chronic Page Turners – can you guess what the book selection was for December? “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Still a classic. Who’s your favourite character from the book? What’s your favourite film/TV adaptation of this timeless tale of trauma and redemption? https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/12/11/the-christmas-carol-awakens/

I waited until November 12th (https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/11/02/christmas-comes-after-remembrance-day/) to start enjoying all the holiday season can hold. I’ve watched way too many Hallmark Christmas movies (https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/12/02/24-days-of-our-christmas-lives/);

I had to watch “White Christmas”, of course. I don’t wanna wash my hands, my face, or hair in snow and I definitely don’t wanna shovel it, hmm, but snow angels and snowmen are fun. With this much snow you gotta learn to make some snow lemonade from those snow lemons…

“Miracle on 34th Street” (black and white version, so no blue teeth); “Elf”;

I always watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” with my son on Christmas Day (traditions of any kind can be fun and comforting)…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I hope you can celebrate or don’t celebrate your way, not the way stores, corporations, and movies/TV shows tell you to celebrate or not celebrate. So do any, all, or none of these. Go see some lights! Read a Christmas book! Write a Christmas book! https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/06/21/how-to-get-your-book-published/ https://yadadarcyyada.com/2019/07/07/how-to-be-a-bestselling-author-in-3-days-or-less/ https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/05/21/how-i-met-your-author/

Bake some cookies, then eat said cookies, alright, alright, eat and share said cookies or swap those cookies (hey you at the cookie swap, don’t be that person)! Play some games: board, card, word, video, computer, whatever, just have fun! Make some candles or apple cider (not in the same pot)! Enjoy the crisp air with a moonlit walk (be safe, be aware of your surroundings, there are some naughty elves out there)!

Snap on those snowshoes (check your local library, you’d be shocked at what their Library of Things has, including snowshoes)! Swish, swish, go cross country skiing! Make some of your decorations and cards – homemade comes from the heart (also dollar, thrift, and craft stores and probably with some cursing involved)! Volunteer, give what you can, including your time! Watch holiday movies/TV shows, including but not limited to: “Die Hard”; “Happy Days”; “Gremlins”; “Gilmore Girls”; “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; “Bridget Jones’s Diary”; “Downton Abbey”; “Scrooged”; “Seinfeld”; “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”; “The Golden Girls”; “A Christmas Story”; “Community”; “Lethal Weapon”; “Call The Midwife”; “Batman Returns”; “Murdoch Mysteries”; “It’s a Wonderful Life”;

“ELF”; “M*A*S*H”; “The Holiday”; “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”; “The Santa Clause”; “Meet Me in St. Louis”; “South Park”; “Cast Away”; “Will and Grace”; “The Shop Around The Corner”; “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”; “The West Wing”; “Rocky IV”; “Black Mirror”; “The Twilight Zone”; “Going My Way”; “March of the Wooden Soldiers”; “Ted Lasso”; “Home Alone” (When are we going to admit Kevin just had bad parents? And thank goodness they were incompetent robbers.);

“Trading Places”; “The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special”; if you can find it, the 1978 “Star Wars Holiday Special“; “White Christmas”; “Friends”; any version of “The Nutcracker” (but the Elle Fanning version, well, it’s ‘unique’); “Glee”; “Holiday Inn”; “The Office”; “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”; “Eight Crazy Nights”; “While You Were Sleeping”; “30 Rock”; “Meet John Doe”; “Mad Men”; “Bell, Book and Candle”;

“We’re No Angels”; “Remember the Night”; “Holiday Affair”; “Lost”; “Krampus”; “Black Christmas”; “Pocketful of Miracles”; “The Lion in Winter”; “Anna and the Apocalypse“ (nothing says Christmas like a musical romantic comedy with zombies); “I’ll Be Seeing You”; “The X-Files”; “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”; “The Bells of St. Mary’s”; “New Girl”; “Edward Scissorhands”;

Doctor Who Christmas specials; “Reindeer Games”; “Family Guy”; “Mean Girls”; “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”; “Babes in Toyland”; “My So-Called Life”; “Little Women”; “The Simpsons”; “The Man Who Came to Dinner”; “How i Met Your Mother”; “A Christmas Carol”, so so so many Grinches, Santas, Rudolphs, Peanuts gang, and Scrooges; “Love Actually”; “The Ref”; “Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever”;

“The Family Man”; “Bad Santa”; “Christmas in Connecticut”; “Holiday in Handcuffs” (this happened and we let it happen); “Bundle of Joy”; “The Bishop’s Wife”; “Parks and Recreation”; “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”; “Prancer”; “Bright Eyes”; “Love Finds Andy Hardy “; of course, “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life” and soooo many more!

Visit someone who may be lonely at this time of year, or anytime! Go caroling! Make a gingerbread house (use royal icing not just icing, I speak from experience, the horror, the horror!)! Go ice skating or watch ice skating! Go out and have a Happy Festivus!

Make your own Advent calendar! Have a potluck dinner with family and/or friends! Have a Christmas pajama day or party! Remember to save money on gifts, food, etc. Knit or at least wear a ‘spirit sweater’ aka ugly sweater or a Ho Ho Ho hat!

Cause it can’t really still be all about the gifts after decades of watching “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, can it? Can it?

Please, please, please tell me it means a little bit more. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/12/18/these-arent-the-gifts-youre-looking-for/ https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/12/18/twice-upon-a-christmas-carol/

Don’t hurry, don’t scurry, don’t worry. Rest is best in a harried holiday season. What gets done gets done, everything else should be fun. So here, we’ve only got one rule: Never ever let it cool! Hot, hot, hot hot chocolate; find your inner marshmallow and melt into the season.

There’s a lot of division these days, mountains of snowy drama that seem to grow during holidays. Make your kindness like snow, let it float down and around, each little wonder covering hardships, drama, and woe. When you’re worried and you can’t sleep, count your blessings instead of being sheep, and you’ll fall asleep counting your drama-free blessings.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

See you in 2024, we’ll visit some more!

Posted in Blogs, Chocolate, Food, kindness, satire

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Blog

Posted on by D. Parker

The last few months have been chaotic and I think it’s made me into a Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins! I’ve been inattentive to my blogging family, that’s on me, not you; I’m sorry I ruined your blogging lives and crammed 11 cookies 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 into your blogging VCR.

Life has been having a tantrum: throwing snowballs, gum drops, lemons and even some chocolate covered curve balls at me – I’m working hard to catch them all without injuries.

Watched a lot of TV shows and Movies (more on that in next post), read and re-read some books, organized, played cards with friends (learned Quiddler which sounds vaguely dirty but is actually just a fun word game). I traveled through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest (London is called “The Forest City”, but I think a more apt title would be: “The Concrete, Cannabis, Callous and Construction City”, past the sea of twirly-swirly gum drops (eww, I don’t think those are gum drops), and then I walked through the London streets (and alive to tell the tale, more or less)…

A delightful friend treated me, as a birthday (yeah. had another one of those) treat to Elf: The Musical here at The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. It was a delight. The cast wasn’t just talented, they were effervescent. They sparkled. They shone. They danced and sang their way into our hearts. From young to old (er), they were brave and bold (er), giving us the gifts of their song, laughter, movement, and magic. It’s just nice to know another human who shares my affinity for elf culture.

My health has been most disagreeable. My body isn’t a winter wonderland. And on top of that I’ve made a life decision or maybe life made it for me, I’m moving away from the city where I’ve lived for over 35 years, to be closer to family.

Feeling like I’m in a perpetual state of sticker shock every time I go into a grocery store or any other store, including online. Inflation is fun. So like many, I’ve had to make some lifestyle adjustments though we vague meanderings of the broke and obscure bloggers try to stick to the four main food groups: chocolate bars/candy bars 🍫, chocolate chips (and even in pancakes https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/02/17/well-always-have-pancakes/ 🥞🥞🥞), chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, chocolate fudge, chocolate donuts/doughnuts 🍩, chocolate ice cream, hot chocolate (tip: if you have extra or leftover chocolate, wait, is that even a thing, use it to make yummy hot chocolate or add it to hot tea or coffee, it’s addictive).

And chocolate lovers, don’t be chocolate killers, don’t throw out your chocolate because it looks grey or white – that’s just bloom! Yes, fat and sugar bloom make chocolate look weird, but it still tastes great and has the same shelf life. Fat bloom is when there are changes in the fat crystals in the chocolate. Sugar bloom is when crystals form by adding some form moisture on the sugar (you’ve probably seen this when you try to store chocolate in your fridge or freezer, but a moist cupboard can do the trick too). 🍫 Also, there’s a trick to fixing it. If you melt down your bloomed chocolate, stir it, pour into a mold and let it cool, boom no more bloom! Honestly chocolate goes so fast for me it never has time to bloom! 🍫🍫🍫

I’m glad I’m finally back here with you. I’ve planned out our blogging days. First we make blog snow angels for two hours (I’d really last about a minute and someone would have to help me up), then we’ll go blog ice skating (which will consist of me falling down a lot), then we’ll eat a whole roll of blog cookie dough (doh!) as fast as we can (sounds like an average day), and then to finish, we’ll blog snuggle. Hmm, we’re gonna need a bigger blog…

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2017/02/02/theres-no-crying-in-blogging/ https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/08/27/message-in-a-bottle/ https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/04/10/im-hooked-on-a-feeling/

I made mistakes, including but not limited to going into stores (especially in December, it was just like Santa’s Workshop except it smelled like mushrooms and everyone looked like they wanted to hurt me, or spray me with smelly stuff or offer me samples of, um, food, sure let’s call it that)…the only thing scarier than stores is getting to them. People keep saying self-driving cars worry them, I say, bring them on, they really can’t be worse than many drivers out there. Talk to me, Goose.

I’ve tried to keep my spirits up, so I keep singing! I was in a store and I was singing! If they don’t want you to sing in stores why do they play music? Fair question.

The best way to spread cheer all year round is singing loud for all to hear. Again, if they don’t want you singing loud for all to hear, why do they play music in public places like: stores, malls, restaurants, etc.? Seriously.

Until next time, I hope you can find some peace in this turbulent, topsy-turvy world.

Posted in Chocolate, Christmas, Holidays, Political

Enhanced Christmas Infusion Techniques

Posted on by D. Parker

Evil wins when it destroys our belief in good. Santa knew that better than anyone, he specialized in good, he had a list for it. He also had a list for naughty and he was going to have to add to that list.

Santa grimly looked out the window, his white gloves absently touching the papers on his desk. He knew this report would forever change the way people viewed The North Pole and possibly Christmas.

The CIA (Christmas Intensity Agency) could be a little overzealous in their protection and advancement of Christmas, but he hadn’t known or let himself think about the lengths they might have gone to in the War on Christmas.

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In their zeal to make people believe in Christmas the CIA had done unspeakable things. People had been forced to: untangle tree lights for hours on end; eat fruitcake, gumdrops, candy, candy corn, candy canes, cookies; watch hours of Christmas movies, even the made-for-TV ones; had been sleep-deprived so no visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; were syrup-boarded; made to wear holiday cheer; stand on broken candy canes; endless Christmas songs, and even had their families threatened. Not to mention blowing a large portion of the Christmas budget and for what? The conclusion was clear, the Enhanced Christmas Infusion Techniques were not only sadistic and inhumane, but ineffective.

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Santa couldn’t understand what had caused the CIA to do such horrible things. He opened the book entitled, The Naughty List, picked up his pen and dipped it into the inkwell, shaking his head again in anger and disbelief, they’d never even asked if those people believed in Christmas.

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Evil only wins if it destroys our belief in good.

Posted in Christmas, Food, Holidays, Movies, Uncategorized

We are Santa’s elves

Posted on by D. Parker

1elves11Unseasonably warm, it seemed a beautiful day to go for a long walk. Little did I know chaos had broken out at The North Pole. As I wandered off to do errands and go to the library, behind the scenes, disgruntled elves had declared war on Christmas! Tired of deplorable working conditions, the Elves went on strike.

Santa seemed bemused, telling the media, “I’ve spent more money on elves, especially Veteran elves than any other Santa in the history of Santas.”

The elves shot back with a list of demands.

“We’re tired of being pushed around!” Chief SpokesElf Snowball exclaimed. “We don’t have glamorous jobs like fighting to save Middle-earth, making cookies in trees, being a warrior in Hyrule, or saving Harry Potter, we just make toys!”

Other elves murmured their agreement.

“We love making toys, but day in and day out, it’s torture!” Snowball climbed up on a festive stool to point at the growing crowd of elves. “No one talks about the harassment we endure when we go into town, we can’t even walk down the street without hearing, Hey Sugarplum, or Twinkletoes, Peppermint Buns, Angel Ears, Sprinklepants.” Snowball sat down heavily on the stool, head in hands, as if unable to carry on.

Another elf patted Snowball on the back and continued, “We want to work, but we have to sing the whole time and some elves, I won’t mention any names, cough cough, Buddy, sing loud for all to hear, off key. And why does Santa’s Workshop have to be at The North Pole, why not Aruba or Belize?” Holly sighed and raised her hands in a gesture of defeat. “We have a mandatory diet of cookies, candy canes, gingerbread, candy corn, do you know what all these gumdrops are doing to my diet?”

Cries of Here, Here! and One Two Three Four Eating Cookies is a Bore! rang through the workshop.

“We have to wear these outfits all the time,” Holly sighed, pointing down at her tacky elf outfit. “And now they’re loaning us out to sit on shelves, what’s with that?”1elves8

But while the elves were rallying, the reindeer escaped and went flying around the world, stuffing themselves on fast food and samples at Costco; getting liquored up before knocking down unsuspecting pedestrians. This is where I come in, one minute I was walking, the next I was on the ground, in the mud. The reindeer didn’t even stop, it kept talking on it’s cellphone, at least, I think it was a reindeer.

With only 19 sleeps before the Big Night, let’s hope Santa and the Elves can work this out.

Posted in Chocolate, Christmas, Movies

Elf

Posted on by D. Parker

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/

Happy Birthday Buddy! Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Elf  first charmed us on the big screen and has been in our homes and hearts since.

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Buddy (Will Ferrell) is everything good about Christmas and people.
He believes.
He loves unconditionally.
He makes a rocking horse out of a TV unit.
He adds maple syrup to spaghetti.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/
He puts the star on the Christmas tree in a very special, Chevy Chase-like way.
He goes up an escalator like no one else.
He uses Etch-A-Sketch in miraculous ways.
He sees magic and joy everywhere.
He doesn’t judge.
He loves life and he enjoys every minute.
And the best part?
He gives his gift of joy and love for all to share.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/

Fun notes about Elf:

Remember Peter Billingsley who played Ralphie in A Christmas Story?  He makes a delightful cameo in Elf as Ming Ming (the Elf who tries to help Buddy be a productive toy maker at The North Pole).

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/Yup, that really is Zooey Deschanel singing in Elf. Baby, It’s Cold Outside (not my fav Christmas song, it’s actually kind of creepy) is sung by Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/Elf uses a method of filming called forced perspective to make Buddy the Elf (a human raised by Elves) look so much larger than the other elves, including Papa Elf played by the awesome Bob Newhart.Peter Dinklage, who plays arrogant and cranky children’s book author Miles Finch now appears as Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Check him out in The Station Agent, he’s fantastic, as always.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/Elf was filmed in New York City and British Columbia, Canada.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/

Ray Harryhausen was the voice of the Polar Bear Cub. Harryhausen was a genius visual effects creator, and a writer and producer best known for his stop-motion model animation (Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts, First Men in the Moon, One Million Years B.C., Clash of the Titans, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, It Came from Beneath the Sea, etc.). Sadly, Mr. Harryhausen passed in May 2013. Remember the restaurant in Monsters Inc.? Harryhausen’s, a nod to a legend.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/Will Ferrell doesn’t do his own 12 second belch (yes, and it turns out when we’re talking about belching, 12 seconds is a looooong time) in the pop burp scene. But it’s a real belch, done by the brilliant and talented Canadian voice actor, Maurice LaMarche. Maurice LaMarche is the man of a million voices, my fav, the voice of the Brain from Pinky and Brain and Animaniacs (Are you pondering what I’m pondering?). Also, he played Wakko Warner which completely explains the belching. He was the voice of Sylar on Heroes, later played by Zachary Quinto. Other works include: The Little Mermaid, The Simpsons, Futurama, Batman: The Animated Series, Ed Wood, Disney’s House of Mouse, and so much more.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/

 If you haven’t seen this movie because you think it’s silly, or childish, or you can’t stand Will Ferrell…well, sure it might be all those things and more, but give it a chance – it’s also funny, like, laugh out loud hurt your sides funny, charming, poignant, addictive, with a ton of great messages. And it’s really a case of, you’ve got to see it to believe it.https://yadadarcyyada.com/2013/12/02/elf/