WEBSTER COUNTY, Ky. (12/26/12) – I can’t believe that Christmas has come and gone! Normally it seems like it takes forever, but this year it seems like it was over before I was even ready.

Of course that might be because I was really excited about Christmas this year. Just the thought of seeing the light in my little girl’s eyes and the sound of her voice as we drove around and looked at Christmas lights got me excited. I’ve always enjoyed Christmas, but nowhere near as much as I enjoy her enjoying Christmas.

I would really like for us to have our own Christmas tradition. I’ve heard lots of people talk about what they did on Christmas growing up, and I want Aleigha to have memories like that too! But we’re not about to bust out in song or go caroling. So what can we do?

My suggestion is that in the future we be sure to watch A Christmas Story at least twice every year! I can hear my wife groaning now.

My ring tone from Thanksgiving to Christmas every year is the guys from the Chinese Restaurant badly singing “Deck the Halls.”

“Fa ra ra ra ra...!”

Seriously, who didn’t watch that movie and then try to get one of your friends to stick their tongue to a flag pole? Or maybe you were the friend who stuck your tongue to the flag pole!

One year I watched most of the 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TNT.

I don’t know why I love that movie so much. I think part of me as a child identified with the innocents of Ralphie’s quest for his Red Rider BB gun and have carried that over into adulthood.

I’m really excited now because my mom gave me “A Christmas Story 2” for Christmas!

And I found out that there were two sequels. Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss, a 1988 made for TV movie starring Jerry O’Connell as Ralphie and a 1994 direct to video sequel named It Runs in the Family starring Charles Grodin and Kieran Culkin.

For those of you not versed on the background of the series, the gentleman who does the adult “Ralphie’ voice in the original movie is Jean Shepherd. Few people know that Shepherd is actually the writer of the story!

Early in his career he was a radio personality that often told stories of his youth on the air, and then later went on to publish a series of short stories featuring semi-autobiographical Ralphie Parker.

For the record, Peter Billingsley who played Ralphie, has gone on to have great success since appearing in the movie. His has directed several movies, including Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn.

At this point my wife is rolling her eyes and, if I am near, giving me a look that questions my sanity. The question she is asking herself is “Who really cares this much about that movie?”

Hopefully someone besides myself.

“A Christmas Story” might be a little corny, but I think we need more of that in our lives today. There is too much violence and cussing on television and in movies today. In a roundabout way this movie teaches us about growing up and about family.

Those two things should go together!

What I’m Reading

Spinward Fringe: ORIGINS (Broadcast 0) by Randolph Lalonde.

Spinward Fringe is a series of sci-fi stories set in a world somewhere between Star Wars and Star Trek. There are eight books in the series, but I’ve only read the first one.

Lalonde created the series to read a lot like a television series. Instead of a book that tells one story, the sections of this book breakdown to read like several episodes of a TV show.

Freeground station houses an entire civilization of humans and it’s under siege. Low on manpower and allies, they discover a group of friends with original thinking who have been hacking into military simulators only to defeat cadets and trainers alike in detailed virtual combat simulations. Fleet Command has no choice but to send them on a very real, very dangerous mission: to go into the galaxy and acquire allies and technology on their behalf. Along the way they also acquire new enemies.

If you’re a sci-fi fan, check the series out. It might not appeal to the masses, but it will appeal to anyone with an interest in science fiction.

Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor

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