Our Date with Fred Claus

Our "date night" was a little bit different than normal, I must say. "Date night" used to entail dinner and a movie...you know, basic date stuff. Last night, however, we (meaning I) decided to do something different. Poor Randey just sort of looked at me with glazed eyes when I said I really, really wanted to go to Barnes and Noble before we went to see our movie. While he doesn't mind going to B&N, he's not a huge fan of the place either. But hey - there were a couple of Star Wars books that I wanted to look for. Yeah, I said Star Wars books. You guys know I love that stuff...can't get enough of it. Uh-huh, that's what I'm saying. I'm a 44 year old, chunky-butted, formerly menopausal but currently depressed instead, housewife who loves reading Star Wars books. And I didn't have the last two to have been published! Oh the shame! How can I even call myself a Star Wars fan, right? Falling so far behind in my Star Wars reading is, in itself, reason enough to put me into a state of deep, dark despondency (Hey, wonder if Doctor Depression counted my incomplete book list as one of the reasons for my woebegone state of mind? Must have, I'm sure. He obviously knew so much about me by reading between the lines during our little "talk". But that's getting off the subject so we'll leave that be for now). Anywho...since we were headed over to Barnes and Noble, I thought "Gee whiz, why not go to Hobby Lobby, too, since they're right by each other". I shared that thought with Randey. He smiled that "sure, go ahead and eat half my dessert because you were too stupid to order your own" smile and I watched his eyes glaze over even further. I was afraid to ask about going to Michael's. I figured if his eyes got any glaze-ier, he wouldn't be able to see to drive and I sure as heck can't see to drive at night so I shut my mouth before I talked myself right into a taxi. So off we went. First to Hobby Lobby, where we (meaning I again) found a few cute Halloween decorations marked down by 80%. Can't beat that, now can you? I'll have to take pictures to show you. And, of course, we (still meaning I) found a few more Christmas ornaments. (You can never have too many. Duh. Everybody knows that, right?) After scouring HL for any and all bargains, we headed to B&N. I found 3, count 'em, 3 Star Wars books that I didn't have (yeah, so I read the little Scholastic ones, too. So what? They're well-written. Really. They are!). We decided to grab a sandwich and lattes from the B&N Starbucks for dinner (not the best choice, as it turns out). The lattes were good. The sandwich? Not so much. I'd even go so far as to say "ick". Because, well, it tasted.......ick. Randey didn't eat. There's a reason behind that but we won't go into it here. And then we went to the theater. (yippee!) As you all know, we were going to see Fred Claus, starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti. How was it, you ask? Let me tell you...it started out a tad bit slow. I'm not sure at what point it picked up, but by the end of the movie, Randey and I were grinning and laughing and having a great time. It wasn't the best Christmas movie I've ever seen, but I thought it was pretty darn good. I might even go see it again. (And if you knew just how tight-fisted I can be sometimes, you'd understand what a compliment that was. Although, come to think of it...I am pretty free with our cash when it comes to Christmas stuff so maybe that's not such a compliment after all. lol) I love Vince Vaughn so I fully expected to enjoy his performance. But Paul Giamatti...while I certainly don't dislike him, I didn't think I would care for him as Santa Claus. But man, he was good. I actually liked him as Santa. And the North Pole looked fan-tab-u-lous! So pretty and sparkly and festive. My idea of paradise. Ya'll can keep your sandy beaches and your Tuscan villas....if Santa Claus's North Pole was for real, that's where you'd find me hanging out every chance I got! But alas, it's not real, is it? So I'll just have to settle for plastering Christmas decorations all over every available surface in our living room and pretending I'm drinking my hot cocoa with Santa every evening. Wonder if I could get Randey to wear a red suit? And maybe a furry little hat. Hmmmm. Randey Claus/Santy Claus.... they sound pretty close, don't they? I could probably convince him to wear a Santa suit, if I got him drunk enough (good trick really, since he doesn't drink alcohol!). Oh but I digress....Christmas always makes me prone to fantasy. Back to what we were talking about...oh yeah, Fred Claus. I give it a thumbs up....and now that I've told you my opinion of the movie, go away....I'm trying to focus on that vision I have of Randey wrapped in red and white fur and wearing leather boots. Yeah, baby! Ho-ho-ho!

P.S. Vee over at A Haven for Vee asked me what was my favorite Christmas movie. That's a tough one. I love It's a Wonderful Life. And Christmas Vacation just cracks me up every single time I watch it. Then there's The Ref...horrible language, but so flippin' funny that I can't help but love it. Oh. and Scrooged with Bill Murray. Gotta love that one! The Home Alone movies (I and II) - come on! You know those are great ones, right? But then again, there's the Santa Clause Trilogy....those always make me feel good(and the 3rd one is coming out on DVD November 20th!). Miracle on 34th Street...I love, love, love the story of the original, but the beautiful sparkle of the scenery in the newer one is just too hard to resist. Oh heck. This is almost impossible to choose a favorite! But if I absolutely had to...I guess I'd go with White Christmas. For today anyway. I may feel differently tomorrow. So much visual Christmas cheer - so much love for all of it! You know what? I think I just realized what I'm "thankful for" today! I am oh so thankful for the joy of Christmas movies!