Well, I’m enjoying Christmas, but thought if you were at this site, you could check out the following videos!
U2 Baby Please Come Home (my wife’s favorite song):
Blue Christmas (Porky Pig version) Classic:
Last Christmas (Chipmunk’s version, Daughter’s pick)
Baby It’s Cold Outside (Elf the movie version, with Zooey Deschanel)
Santa Claus is Coming To Town (Zooey Dechanel again).
I especially like the part in the movie “Elf” when Zooey sings “Santa Claus is coming to Town”. The song is just okay, but the way that the writers have the character played by Zooey get up, face her fears and pretty much save Christmas by putting it all out there on the line was incredible. I especially like the scene where Will Ferrel look out of the sleigh, and Zooey is looking up smiling at him. What an awesome scene!
Every year in December, we (my wife, kids and I) take out annual Christmas Dinner Tradition trip to our favorite Christmastime restaurant: the 356th Fighter Group.
356th Fighter Group Restaurant
It’s a very original looking restaurant with a stucco exterior with chunks missing exposing the underlying bricks. This creates the illusion that the building has weathered some hardships during a war. Actually thinking clearly, this has to be one of the best theme-oriented restaurants that I’ve even been to.
Why this restaurant is our traditional Christmas Dinner Restaurant?
Much of it has to do with my childhood. My family didn’t go out to eat much when I was a kids, but when my Aunt and Uncle from Delaware came over to visit, they treated us all to dinner. My uncle had been to a restaurant similar to the 356th restaurant, and suggested that we go there. At first I didn’t want to go (I think I was 8 or 9 years old), not really feeling comfortable going out to eat, since we didn’t do that much in my childhood. But once my parents put their foot down, off I went.
The first unique feature of the restaurant I noticed as a kid was the parking lot had all of these old beat-up wartime vehicles, much like what they would have looked like if they were still active.
The things that really sold me on making this a Christmas Tradition was the fact that my kids got to watch the airplanes take off and land because the restaurant is beside an airport, and the cool headphones that you could listen to and hear the air traffic control center. It was always neat to hear the air traffic controllers instruct the planes. In the present though, the restaurant removed the headphones and stopped the listening to the air traffic controller communications though (perhaps because of security?).
The Restaurant Decor
The decor inside is as good as the exterior! The restaurants have pieces of planes mounted to the ceiling, and tons of pictures from the war with the various captains and other such things from the past. It’s like a different world!
daughter with sand bags above
Not a very Frugal Christmas Dinner Tradition
Unlike many of the articles that I have written in the past, this is not a frugal experience. The prices average over $20 per entrée, and while this isn’t horrible, it’s not cheap either.
When my wife and I were younger, we had a good time going to this restaurant, but I have to admit, I always would cringe once we got the bill. Now that we have kids and are older, the prices seem more affordable. I no longer cringe upon receiving the bill and overall enjoy the experience much better than I use to.
Our 2011 Christmas Tradition Dinner Experience
Snow would have been nice, but the drive on the way down to the restaurant, in the rain, while listening to Christmas music, was still enjoyable. Even though it’s much more enjoyable seeing the planes take off with snow floating down from the sky, it was still pretty awesome and the kids seemed to enjoy it.
This year the restaurant had a musician perform. He was a solo act, but was a good singer and played the piano very well! It was a nice surprise.
So while the weather didn’t really add to the enjoyment, it was still a great experiences (as usual).
My kids are lucky in that Trick-or-Treat is from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Halloween day in my neighborhood. Most of the surrounding neighborhoods have it during daylight hours, and on a day that isn’t Halloween. Is it safer? Yes, but for a seasoned Halloween-er like myself, it doesn’t have the same feel. In many ways, I feel that my kids are lucky considering that Halloween in my neighborhood that Norman Rockwell Halloween feel of yesteryear.
Girl Witches
Then why didn’t my kids go trick-or-treating this year?
My son didn’t get a costume, and only at the last minute with friends, did he decide to go, but he didn’t even take a bag?!? So he’s going to come home with any candy. My daughter (who is only 7 years old), didn’t want to go either! She stayed home and passed out candy in her Halloween costume.
Confused? You bet I am! The group I use to go trick-or-treating with would run to each house to get the goodies! But not my kids… There has been times that I have taken my kids to get ice cream after a soccer game for a surprise treat but when we would get there, they would say that they don’t want anything!
Perhaps candy and ice cream has lost it magic with my kids because it’s readily available at home?
This saddens me to a degree, because I had such great times trick-or-treating with my friends as a kid. Don’t tell my mom, but we would even do a bit of tricking too (heh heh). My son would never dream of doing any tricks on any of the neighbors. Where I grew up, the houses weren’t so close together, perhaps it was a bit easier to do tricks when the houses aren’t so close together as they are in my current neighborhood…
And now my attempt to tie this article into a financial one! Accounting is one area that scares the average small business, but Darwin’s Money wrote a great intro that takes the bite of out the the fear.
We have a small tradition in my family where around every Halloween, we watch the movie called “The Nightmare Before Christmas“.
It’s a great tradition where we start the fire (for the first time of the fall season), and then get some of the normal snacks (popcorn, pop, etc). Next we pop in our five year old DVD and sit back and enjoy the movie. It’s a fun time for the entire family and we look forwards to it each year.
The movie is full of great still motion effects and catchy tunes, but honestly, I’ve never really thought about any message from the movie other than the basic storyline.
This year I realized the similarities between business expansion , taking risk, failing, and the rewards of trying.
You see the main character “Jack the Pumpkin King” pretty much had a monopoly over the entire Halloween holiday. The storyline makes you believe that he’s the drive for the scaring part of Halloween. In the movie Jack allude to how successful they were at their efforts for Halloween during the current year, the beginning of the movie.
Where it get interesting is that even when the Pumpkin King is at the top of his game, he decided it’s not enough. That’s when he stumbles upon Christmas Town. He tried to take over the tradition, having Santa Claus abducted under the guise of giving Santa a holiday then he has a go at delivering Christmas presents.
Well, even after a log bout of research and development, when he goes to deliver the presents, he uses the techniques that worked with Halloween Town instead. The results are disastrous!
As he reviews his experiences, he was initially upset on the failure that happened. But eventually, he realizes that he tried is best and at least he gave the folks in Christmas town something to talk about for years to come. He basically licks his wounds and realized it was worth it to give it a try. He then goes back this Halloween and frees Santa Claus. Mr. Claus was upset at first, but at the end, give Jack and the characters in Halloween town a special present that they all seem to enjoy.
There is also a sub-theme where Sally (and stitched together doll?) supports him and tried to talk some sense into Jack. It ends in as a love story…
It’s a great movie, with some great messages if you look for them.
