December . . . Cold But No Snow!

Good Morning Folks,

As you can see by the accompanying picture, I must be in the holiday spirit or . . . On my good friends, the Henrys, trip to Flagstaff after Thanksgiving we did some "larking about." At any rate, one of the major highlights of the last couple of weeks was my friends visit. I last saw Bob and Cindy for a couple of hours in Yellowstone Park last summer where they were camping.

Bob works as a Ranger in Alaska now and Cindy lives in Goodyear, AZ. Bob makes it down on a furlough or leave every few months. This was their first visit to Flagstaff since I bought my condo. The funny thing is, they came on "day trip" because Cindy, or MooseLee as we call her (from her love of Moose and days in Jackson Hole), was worried about the forecast we had for snow for the next day. I assured her that we would get next to nothing so they stayed the night. Alas, we all awoke to about 4 inches of the white stuff the next morn. She was not happy about that! But it allowed me to have more time with them and they did not leave until mid-day.

I put up a small Christmas tree this year to get myself into the spirit of the season. It is not quite as small as my Dad's pitiful little one. I seem to be following in his footsteps though. He too was a solitary man after the divorce from my mother until his death. But he seemed to love Christmas. He spent a lot of the year gathering presents for the kids. Granted, my sister Norma finally had to tell him that they were no longer little children to

ensure their presents were age appropriate. But, he always had that little tree. So, in keeping with that "tradition," I have my little tree.

The other thing I enjoy doing over these holidays is watching the "smultzy" Christmas movies that they show on the Hallmark Channel. It seems to be what some might call a "guilty pleasure." However, even though I love James Stewart as an actor, I am really sick of It's A Wonderful Life. I do like the early 1950s version of A Christmas Carol with Alaster Sim as Scrooge (best ever) and the Maureen O'Hara/Natalie Wood version of Miracle on 34th St.

The funny thing about all of this is that I do not consider myself a Christian, or in fact, a believer in any supernatural mythology. I do not believe in the innate "goodness" of human beings either. All one has to do is look around the world and see man's inhumanity to man, especially if they belong to a different culture or have differing religious views. These religious views are most often the cause of this violence. What is even worse is that children and woman around the world seem to beneficiaries of most of this violence. Be that as it may, I cling to these good feelings engendered by the spirit of this season. Probably it is why I love to watch these films that continue to give me the illusion of harmony and peace on earth.

Speaking of films . . . yesterday I viewed the much anticipated Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp newest international thriller, The Tourist. I have to say that although this is one of my favorite genres this film lacked something. I think it was an OK movie but not great. The best parts seem to be the scenery of Venice, Italy. Last weekend I went down to Prescott to see my friends the Hammonds (Marc and Carol). While there I caught Fair Game, featuring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the story about the female CIA agent who was "outed" by Vice President Cheney's people during the run=up to the Irag war. This was a much better film and very thought provoking. The day before Thanksgiving I went to see Love and Other Drugs. It is a bittersweet love story with Jake Gillyanhal (sp) and Anne Hathaway. I liked the film, especially Hathaway in her role.

I am eagerly anticipating more of the holiday fare for some good films. The new Cohen brother's version of True Grit and the British offering with Colin Firth, The Kings Speech are the highest on my priority for viewing list. Look for my top ten movies of the year (those I viewed in theaters) and best actor rankings in my next blog.

Happy Holidays everyone!