Category: Grab Bag

Top Ten Children’s Christmas Shows (According to TiVo)

Published on by Andy Affleck

On a whim, I asked TiVo for a list of Children’s shows with sub-category “Holiday.” The results were… interesting…

10. Iron Chef: Holiday Strawberry Battle

9. Harambee! (According to the description: ‘A stray bullet interrupts the Barnes family’s Christmas dinner and Kwanzaa observances.’ You can’t make this stuff up.)

8. Davey and Goliath’s Snowboard Christmas (what’s amazing about this is that it is listed as being from 2004…)

7. Crippled Lamb (‘Joshua cannot play with the other lambs because he has a crippled leg.’ There are no words. They should have sent a poet.)

6. 12 Days of Cookies (Probably followed by the 12 Days of Jenny Craig)

5. Very Ermey Christmas (I have no idea who or what an Ermey is. It just sounds unsavory.)

4. ‘Tis the Season to be Smurfy

3. Spunky’s First Christmas (Speaking on unsavory…)

2. Powerpuff Girls: ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas

1. The Osbourne Family Christmas (I shit you not, this was listed under Children’s Holiday shows on my TiVo)

Heaven

Published on by Andy Affleck

There’s been a steady mist since we left Virginia. Wet weather in autumn does wonderful things to the already-gorgeous foliage: the tree trunks turn a dark color and the striking colors of the changing leaves are that much more vibrant and breath-taking. The further north we drove, the better it got. Route 15 up through Gettysburg, PA, I-78 across to NJ, I-287 up into New York, the Sall Mill Parkway in Westchester, the Merritt Parkway through CT and finally, I-95 into RI. The colors have been amazing. The cloudy skies, gentle rain, and faint fog have all amplified the effect.

Combine that with this regional elation. I had a Red Sox moment the day after the Sox won the World Series on the Metro in Washington where me in my Sox cap caught the eye of another guy in his Sox cap. We shared a smile and a nod. Multiply that by a billion and you don’t even scratch what it is like up here. Everyone has their Red Sox gear on and everyone is congratulating everyone else. People are practically beaming here. We’ve all died and gone to Red-Sox-Won-The-World-Series-Look-At-The-Foliage-Did-You-See-The-Parade-Have-Some-Pumpkin-Pie heaven.

Though, my favorite moment was the dirty looks I got wearing my Red Sox cap in the Starbucks in Ardsley, NY this morning. Now they know what it feels like to be a Red Sox fan. Rather, they know what it used to feel like to be a Red Sox fan. I’m going to ride this high for awhile and it feels great. My father-in-law is still walking around in a daze. I’ve never seen him so happy. We bought him a Red Sox World Champions hat today and I don’t think he’s taken if off yet.

Yes, right now, this place and time, this is heaven.