Rant #1,110: TV Christmas

So what did this Jewish boy and his family do on Christmas Day?

Pretty much nothing.

I did participate in the Christmas spirit, though, through the power of television.

I watched several Christmas episodes of classic TV shows, two movies, and some sports to liven up what, for us, is a pretty blah day.

I began the day watching the classic "March of the Wooden Soldiers," an 80-year-old film that still makes me laugh. And I saw it non-colorized, too, which made it even better.

Later, I watched a few Christmas episodes of "Ozzie and Harriet." After watching them, I still don't get the allure of that show, nor why it was on for so long on both radio and TV.

I guess the Ricky Nelson factor hadn't hit just yet in the episodes that I watched.

I watched "The Monkees" holiday episode, a classic Christmas show guest starring Butch Patrick--who was just off the "Eddie" character on "The Munsters" when this show was shot--playing a spoiled brat who learned the true meaning of Christmas from the boys.

And the show has maybe my favorite Christmas song in it, the beautiful, haunting "Riu Chiu."

Later, I watched back-to-back "Lassie" episodes, and all I have to say if you have to pick this household versus the dog, I will take the dog anytime.

And to think, most of these holiday episodes were probably shot during the summer of their particular year.

In between all of this holiday goodness, I managed to see a movie we got from the Redbox nearby, "The Lone Ranger."

All I can say is that the last 20 minutes of the movie were good. Avoid the first two hours.

I also managed to watch two train-wreck NBA games, with the Knicks and Nets showing why it's great that pitchers and catchers report in February.

As for food, we had traditional "non-traditional" food, but they were pretty much Christmas presents to myself: hot dogs for lunch and hamburgers for dinner. Those are my two favorite foods, and since we are probably going to have Chinese for New Year's, we decided to go this route with the eating this time around.

So it wasn't much of a holiday for my family, just a simple day off from the drudgery of work. Our son still has several more days of inactivity to go, so he can sleep all he wants.

For myself and my wife, it is back to work today.

Can't wait!

(And a very happy birthday to my sister today. I won't tell you her age, but she is younger than me, and thus, I am her big brother always. Have a great day!)