Blonde Reunion

I know there are those of you (with too much time on your hands) leaping to the obvious conclusion that the title refers to some sordid episode from my past where my fondness for ladies of the blonde persuasion was rumored. Nothing could be further than the truth and I apologize for the prurient interests that may have been aroused. The reunion in question was engineered by a silver haired lady I like to call my Favorite Panamanian. She was deep into Christmas cookie preparation (holy work to be sure) when she asked me about a favorite dish my mother used to make – blonde brownies (see totally innocent). My mother, who as a working nurse and single mother, had very little time to cook although she was very good at it (except for Welsh Stew – Yecch!).

The Master at Work

The Blonde Brownies

I retreated to the Man Cave where it is relatively safe from the awesome temptation of the cookie baking assault on the olfactory senses. When I emerged, she hesitantly asked me if she had got it right. I was looking at a plate of the brownies that were in some ways my mother’s signature dish which I hadn’t tasted since her demise nearly twenty years ago. They were perfect and came with so many memories, including fighting my sisters for the desired inside pieces. Most of all it brought mom back for just a bit, which was nice. My first Christmas gift received, totally cool.

Yesterday's Other Creations

As we move further and further away from World War 2, memories are started to fade for the newest generations. I grew up in an era where virtually everybody’s parents had fought in or lived through the War. It was an indelible part of everybody’s life. So today, December 7^th, was a big day to remember, certainly not to celebrate though. It was the day the Japanese Empire made the worst strategic mistake of its long history. It fully awoke the sleeping giant. It is a valuable history lesson for would be antagonists to this day. So, let’s celebrate the heroes, 900 of which still lay entombed in the USS Arizona at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

Remember this Day

To get away from the untenable temptations my Favorite Panamanian was concocting in the kitchen yesterday, I snuck out for a movie. Violent Night will never be a heartwarming Christmas movie but it is a lot of fun and a lot of heart is on display, some of it literally. David Harbour, of Stranger Things fame, is truly awesome as an alcoholic Santa bemoaning a drop in Christmas spirit and the rise of materialism. He stumbles, literally (damned massage chair), into an armed gang’s takeover of a super-rich family’s Christmas. Hijinks ensue as we learn of Santa’s origins as a Viking warrior which means the appearance of a sledge hammer is very bad news for the bad guys. Some very violent and very funny scenes follow as virtually every venerable Christmas item, from candy canes to ornaments, is put to deadly use. Mrs. Clark Griswold plays the dastardly family matriarch but her granddaughter, as the only one who believes (and activates) Santa, steals the movie in a very Home Alone way. All this is done to traditional Christmas music in the background. It’s bloody but It’s also so much fun, pure escapism.

Two movies fell in my A-Z effort, both keepers, Conan the Destroyer (Ahnuld learned to speak English between the movies, nowhere near as good as original) Conan the Barbarian (the new one with Jason Momoa, better than I thought when I first saw it)

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course