Just a normal Sunday morning at the Young household: we went to Kroger. At least it is interesting going to the grocery store before Christmas: everything is so colorful. Big "dumps" appear in the middle of aisles with things you never see any other time of year: brilliant rainbows of boxes of dried fruit in stained glass colors; figs and nuts; chips in flavors other than chocolate (we found cinnamon chips today); frosted gingerbread cookies in red, green, and white; stacks and stacks of sugar and flour each marked by their manufacturers' colors; peppermint in various forms and all in red and white; candy canes, multicolor Christmas candy tins, and Christmas chocolates. For a while it's actually fun to go there, even if you can't buy most of it.

This afternoon we used the first of our three free movie tickets and went to see Wreck-It Ralph. This is the story of the bad guy in an old 1980s arcade game that has survived till today who gets sick of his role. When he isn't invited to the 30th anniversary celebration by the other game denizens, he is determined to win a medal in another arcade game to show his "friends" he isn't so bad after all. But his accidental invasion of yet a third arcade game sets off possible danger for all the games.

This is just a neat movie on all levels. It works best if you remember those old arcade games, since there are lots of inside jokes and referrals to characters like Pac-Man and Frogger. Qbert even has a substantial role! It also features the typical Disney "plucky child," who as always talks tough but has a soft heart. And, frankly, had I been Ralph, I would have been pissed off with the rest of the Fix-It Felix game denizens myself—he's the integral part of the game, and he's treated like a pariah!

Incidentally, King Candy is brilliant—a cross between Ed Wynn and Frank Morgan as the Wizard of Oz, and in the transforming scene I got vibes of the scary Dr. Smith transformation scene in the otherwise pretty awful Lost in Space film. Very creepy.

Anyway, we were boggled when we arrived at the theatre and there was a big long line of women, about half of them in pink shirts. I thought it might be something about breast cancer, although I didn't recall any type of movie about breast cancer being shown. But it turned out not to be for a movie at all; a group of salespeople from "Thirty One Gifts" (they sell purses and junk like that) were having a motivational meeting in one of the auditoriums. We left just as they were departing with their stacks of catalogs.

Stopped at Barnes & Noble before heading home to use our other coupon. I did get Mr. Monk is a Mess and James got Ken Jennings' new book, Because I Said So. Picked up a couple of lovely British magazines about the countryside that I'd never seen before, "Land Love" and "Landscapes." Also the January "Country Sampler," which has winter themes. This is the last one I'll buy until fall.

Had steak and rice for supper and three small dark chocolate-covered ginger cookies from Trader Joe's for dessert while watching White House Christmas 2012. Lovely as always; marvelous stained glass wreaths that were made for the gallery were my favorites. The "gingerbread" house was a bit boring this year because there was no drama getting it upstairs, but they had a neat feature: they printed views of "inside the White House" on edible paper with edible ink on the windows, so it's as if you are looking inside. Next watched the two Prep and Landing specials, and now have John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together on.

Labels: books, Christmas, movies, shopping, television

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