It’s Finally Here!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hug your family and enjoy the day.  It’s been a tough year for many of us. I hope the new year brings good things for us all!  

Until next time, Dad out!

Guess Who Comes Tonight!

It’s Christmas Eve! I hope you’ve been admirable all year and that you’re spending this holiday with your special ones. 

Dad’s Pick: Darlene Love - "All Alone on Christmas"

 "You can mess with a lot of things. But you can't mess with kids on Christmas." - Kevin McCallister

Christmas Movie Trivia Quiz!

Here it is! By popular demand, Dad’s Christmas Blog presents the first annual Christmas Movie Trivia Quiz!  This year’s quiz features quotes from some of the greatest Christmas movies & specials of all-time. Some are fairly-easy, but there are some tough ones for all you experts out there. No prizes will be awarded for getting them all right, however it’s just possible that you might find a little something extra in your stocking this year!

Some of these are hard, so if you get stuck the answers are down below, but no peeking!

What movies or specials are these quotes from:

1.    “Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas.”

2.    “Merry Christmas you filthy animal.”

3.  “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup."

4.    “I want my house to be seen from space!”

5.    “Everybody likes Denny’s, it’s an American institution.”

6.    “Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.”

7.    “What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more!”

8.    “You're skipping Christmas! Isn't that against the law?”

9.    “Christmas was on its way. Lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, upon which the entire kid year revolved.”

10. “Friends call me Snow Miser, whatever I touch turns to snow in my clutch. I'm too much.”

11. “God bless us, every one!”

12. “I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all really. Maybe it just needs a little love.”

13. “I gotta tell you, Santa, there’s something about this place that doesn’t seem quite…Kosher.”

14. “Hermie wants to be a dentist!”

15. “Woman! Do your job and swaddle this baby!”

 

You can peek now!

Answers:

1. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

2. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

3. Elf

4. Deck the Halls

5. The Santa Clause

6. It’s a Wonderful Life

7. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

8. Christmas with the Kranks

9. A Christmas Story

10. The Year Without A Santa Claus

11. A Christmas Carol

12. A Charlie Brown Christmas

13. Jingle All The Way

14. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

15. Four Christmases

How did you do?

Dad’s Pick: Chuck Berry - "Run Rudolph Run"

 

Christmas fact: There are only three more shopping days ‘til Christmas! Dads, only two more days before it’s time to start shopping! 😉

Christmas Playlist 2021!

Continuing a tradition begun way back in the year 2000, Dad's Christmas Blog presents the 2021 edition of the Underwood's Christmas Playlist!  For many years the Underwood's Playlist was only available on compact disc.  That all came to a halt last year. Now it seems most new cars and computers don't even have CD players any more and the Underwood Christmas CD has become virtually obsolete.

Here now is the new version of this time honored tradition, compiled by ol' Dad himself.  Twenty-four Christmas tunes that are perfect for rockin' around the Christmas tree or listening on the way to Grandma's house on Christmas Eve!  

Here's the thing though, you need to have either Spotify or Apple Music to enjoy the playlist and they cost a little bit.  If you don't have either, hey, there's no shortage of Christmas music on the radio this time of year, so don't despair, just enjoy! -DCB

Listen on Spotify!

Listen on Apple Music!

Favorite Christmas Presents from the Past!

I must've been about 4 when I got one of these Herman Munster puppets for Christmas. If you pulled his string he would say many “munsterous” things! “The Munsters” was a popular show from the black & white era of TV.  Kind of a creepy toy but I remember really liking it a lot. What did you get?

Not mine.

Dad’s Pick: The Beach Boys - "Little St. Nick"

 

Christmas fact: Back in the 1800’s, American’s first started bringing Christmas trees into their homes because they thought it would spruce things up a bit.

Tackling the “Die Hard” Christmas Conundrum!

Controversy.  That’s the main thing we try to avoid here at Dad’s Christmas Blog. But sometimes it’s necessary to step in, especially when the subject is as serious and important to society as this one. It has come to the attention of the staff here at DCB (Dad’s Christmas Blog) that over the last several years there’s been one question that keeps coming up: “Is “Die Hard” a Christmas movie?”

”Climb down the chimney, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…’” 

“Die Hard”, the summer blockbuster film starring Bruce Willis. Released on July 15th, 1988, it was one of the year’s top grossing films and made a huge star out of Mr. Willis.

It is regarded as one of the most influential films of the 1980’s and considered one of the greatest action films ever made!

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful.”

Despite being released in July with the full intention of the studio for it to be a “summer blockbuster”, the movie is set at Christmastime.  I won’t go into a lot of plot details here, but the story starts at a Christmas party and there are several holiday references sprinkled throughout the exciting action scenes of Bruce Willis single-handedly defusing a terrorist threat.

“Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with smaller feet than my sister.”

I’ve seen this movie many times and consider it a favorite, but… (here’s where I pick a side) I do NOT consider “Die Hard” to be a Christmas movie. It’s a great movie, yes, but just because it happens to take place during December and there are some Christmas trees in the background doesn’t cut it.

I got your Jingle Bells right here, punk!

If this were the only criteria, then “Lethal Weapon”, “Batman Returns”, “Iron Man 3” & “Gremlins” would all be considered holiday classics as well. I love those movies too; but come on!  If you removed the Christmas references in these movies, it really wouldn’t alter their basic storylines significantly.

I do not smell.

In my “exhaustive” research on this issue, I’ve read that those on the other side of this argument state that the same thing could be said of accepted holiday movies like “Home Alone” or even “It’s A Wonderful Life”.  Well, I’ve found some holes in that logic.  Yes, you could remove the Christmas elements from these movies and still have a story, but there is a difference. 

“You guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?”

First, films like “Home Alone” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” were released near Christmas specifically to appeal to an audience celebrating or getting ready to celebrate the holidays.  Whereas “Die Hard”, and the other “not-really” Christmas movies mentioned above, were all released in the summer when blockbuster action movies are most popular. They weren’t originally considered or promoted by their studios to be Christmas movies at all.

“Please don’t make me go back in that Wal-mart.”

Secondly, and most importantly, a Christmas movie should have some scenes of emotional warmth that reflects the beauty and hope of the season. It must do more than mention Christmas to be a Christmas movie.

So, by these standards, “Die Hard” fans are just stuck with one of the greatest action movies ever made, but definitely not a Christmas movie.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me.”

But wait! If you still want to celebrate the holidays with Bruce Willis taking down terrorists, I’m all for it!  Enjoy it with all your loved ones! That’s one of the best parts of this season, and if “Die Hard” is what brings you together, then that’s a beautiful thing.  In that way, it certainly IS a Christmas movie!

“Joy to the world!”

Who says a Christmas cookie must have sprinkles and frosting? If you like Chips Ahoy for Christmas, then those are your Christmas cookies.  If you want a cactus or palm tree instead of a pine, that’s fine too.  It’s not so important how you celebrate, it’s why you’re celebrating that really counts.

Bottom line here:  If you want a real Christmas movie that meets all the criteria, you might want to rent one of the classics like “Ernest Saves Christmas” or “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”.   

“Know what I mean, Vern?”

If you want to have a great holiday, do something fun with your family or friends and enjoy your time together. (And watch whatever you want!) - DCB

Yippee-ki-yay, Merry Christmas!

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