HAPPY 86th BIRFDAY!!!

To British National Treasure David Jason!!!! 🤗🕺🇬🇧❤️

XMASTIME WOODEN FLOOR ART, Vol. I

WHY SO SAD?

I Am Jealous DAMN YOU SHIMACKED!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Movie Ideas. I Have Them.

The Story of Elisabeth Vincken:

On December 24, 1944, during the height of the Battle of the Bulge, Elisabeth and her 12-year-old son, Fritz Vincken, were seeking safety in a small hunting cabin in the Hürtgen Forest near the German-Belgian border.
The Encounter: Three lost and hungry American soldiers, one with a serious gunshot wound, knocked on their door. Despite the danger of harboring enemies—a crime then punishable by death—Elisabeth invited them in.
The Truce: Soon after, four German soldiers arrived looking for shelter. Elisabeth met them at the door and firmly declared that there would be "no shooting" on the Holy Night. She forced both groups to leave their weapons outside before entering.
The Meal: The enemies shared a meager meal of chicken soup and potatoes. A German soldier with medical training even tended to the wounded American.
The Departure: On Christmas morning, the German soldiers gave the Americans a compass and directions to return to their lines before both groups parted ways peacefully.

It seems to me this could be an incredibly easy & cheap comedy to make - just the one set, a handful of actors, no CGI/stunts etc, just a coupla dudes from opposite sides of the greatest conflict in human history sitting around a dinner table while a complete stranger fusses over them??!?

LOOKING FOR INVESTORS, PEOPLE!! 💰💰💰💰

The Problem with MAGA

There's a lot that's 100% right in this Ezra Klein article, but this line to me - not even from Klein himself - sums up a large part of the problem with MAGA, who always see themselves as some sort of Noble Moral Warrior Force of Goodness crusading for righteousness against forces that either don't exist:

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone.

or that turn out to be everything they dream/claim of being but aren't:

In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive — because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

Miskel Spillman

Why has there never been a documentary made about Miskel Spillman? - XMASTIME 2022

CNN tells a little bit about the story of Spillman, the 80-year-old grandmother who once hosted Saturday Night Live after winning a contest:

On November 19, 1977, the five finalists of the show’s first — and, ultimately, only — Anyone Can Host contest took the stage in Studio 8H alongside the evening’s host, actor and screenwriter Buck Henry, and introduced themselves to America. They were vying for a chance to guest host the Christmas episode two weeks later.

Spillman’s contest entry was a punchy pitch that abided by the 25-word count limit in the rules: “I’m 80 years old. I need one more cheap thrill since my doctor told me I only have another 25 years left.”

Spillman, one of only two hosts in the show’s history who was born in the 1800s, presided over the eighth episode of “SNL’s” third season. Her episode took place amid a true golden moment as far as casts go — John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris.

I guess this means that FINALLY someone is trying to catch up with the ol' schooner Xmastime, congrats to them I guess?

Fascinating du Jour: the episode Skillman hosted also happened to include one of the show's most famous musical moments, when Elvis Costello stopped his band from playing whatever zzzzzzzzz song they were gonna play and they played the "eff you radio!" song Radio Radio instead, which I guess got him banned from the show for 10 years (little-known- fun fact: Costello was only there in the first place because the Sex Pistols had canceled at the last minute.)

 

Reminder of Greateness

Let's celebrate the living by giving SHOULD-BE 😡 sitcom living legend Eric Monte some love: this guy created What's Happening!! AND Good Times AND wrote Cooley High which was not only the direct inspiration for What's Happening!!, but The White Shadow as well. OH AND DID I MENTION he also created the characters who would go on to become The Jeffersons?!?!?!?

I first asked back in 2009 and must ask again - how is Eric Monte not treated like royalty??!?!!?! 

❤️ MPLS ❤️ PBS

I've blathered on & on for years about how great the Minneapolis PBS station is, here's a clip from the Husker Du/The Replacements section ENJOY!!!!!

OFAH du Jour

IT NEVER RAINS
Series 2 Episode 6

Rodney: You were gun-running in the middle of a civil war?
Grandad: Well, that's the best time to do it!
Rodney: Why you dirty little mercenary.
Grandad: Oh we didn't do it purely for financial gain. Oh no, we both felt a deep commitment to a political cause.
Del Boy: Which side were you selling to?
Grandad: Well whichever side had the most money, really.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Parking Lot

Hey Ho Rock & Roll Deliver Us From Nowhere ❤️ MPLS

For Bruce in MPLS Right Now ❤️

57 Years Ago Today

After all the hours we’ve now spent with them, trying the new songs and fretting about the very existence of the band itself, the moment Paul McCartney walks through the door and onto the roof is a moment of triumph that literally made me whoop with joy. - XMASTIME

 

Current Events

Pretty crazy how all those pocket-sized US Constitutions Republicans loved waving around for years have suddenly disappeared.  🤔 🤷‍♂️

Fab Four FriYay

Here's the first official photos of the main actors from The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, directed by Sam Mendes coming out in April 2028:

Paul Mescal is Paul McCartney
Barry Keoghan is Ringo Starr
Joseph Quinn is George Harrison
Harris Dickinson is John Lennon

XMASTIME'S GRADES RE: HOW SOLD HE IS ON THEM BASED PURELY ON THESE PHOTOS AND NOTHING ELSE:

John B-
Paul A
George D
Ringo C-

Now Do The 10 Commandments Next.

The Vicar of Canterbury

So this happened yesterday:

Sarah Mullally walked into St. Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday morning as the bishop of London. When she walked out in the afternoon as bells rang out, she was the spiritual leader of millions of Anglicans around the world. Mullally, 63, became the archbishop of Canterbury, making her the first woman to lead the Church of England.

YES I KNOW YOU'RE THINKING IT TOO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN DAWN FRENCH COME BACK AS THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY NOW????!!!!! 🤗🤣❤️🇬🇧

Hey Ho Rock & Roll Deliver Us From Nowhere

Xmastime Wannabe Puzzle

On Rt. 360 between Richmond & Tappahannock.

 

USA! USA! USA!

Oh look I found some footage of 2nd Amendment super-warriors who've spent decades fantasizing about using their guns to rise up & defend all of us from government tyranny when some of that government tyranny comes rolling into American cities and killing citizens: 

Baby Turns Around GIFfrom Baby GIFs

Life as a Republican

"Musicians should STFU and sing!"
"What about reality tv stars?
"We should worship them like jesus & insist they be made king of America."

👍

Oh Yeah the Super Bowl

I haven't paid a lick of attention about the game at all but I just noticed the Patriots & Seahawks were playing in it; the last time these teams met in the Super Bowl I was on such fire at the party I was at that the following group email was sent out the next morning:

“Greg had a Klay Thompson type-night for the Super Bowl; A+material, much of it new, observationally on the mark all night; rollicking in the aisles. Hat tipped."

CHALLENGE FOR 2026 ACCEPTED!

15 Years Ago Today on Xmastime

I dropped this truth bomb about corporations & billionaires that's unfortunately even more relevant today:

My problem is their bitching and moaning. For instance, why the fuck does someone like me even know what the corporate tax rate is? The answer is they feel the need to win some sort of public relations game that doesn't actually exist.

They're not happy merely being rich as shit, they want you to feel sorry for them too. Why can't they just take their money, light big cigars on their boats and say "fuck you, we did nothing wrong, it's our money"?

It's as if it's no longer just enough to be right, it's much more important to be wronged.

Current Events

Just putting this right here for right now:

The only delicious irony will be after years & years of these motherfuckers crying & squealing with rage about Obama coming to take their guns, watching them bow down on their knees begging for approval as they hand their beloved guns over to Trump. - Xmastime, September 2025

Housekeeping

You superfans may have a noticed a marked slowdown in my posting output over the last few weeks. I’ve long realized that anytime a melancholy threatens to take hold of me it’s usually because I’m not working on anything creative, which fortunately or unfortunately seems to be the main key to my own happiness, and my not posting as much is usually an early indicator of this for me. But I seem to be at my normal happiness baseline right now, so my relative lack of posting may be because I’ve spent like 75% of the last month visiting people, which is probably not good for pumping out Xmastime blog posts but probably good for my overall health & well-being, whatever that is. Or maybe it’s because I didn’t make it to 40,000 posts before Xmastime hit 20 years, back in November? 🤷‍♂️ I don’t know, but don’t worry I’m sure I’ll be back to my normal unasked-for pace of posting soon enough. 😜🕺