A Couple Good Movies

Caught up on some of the holiday releases the past couple days.

Valkyrie

I enjoyed this one a lot. Tom Cruise, despite all the negative publicity he's been getting, did just fine as Colonel Stauffenberg, the main instigator of the plot to assassinate Hitler. The movie manages to generate some suspense even though you know in the end that (spoiler alert) Hitler wasn't assassinated. Okay, if you didn't know that, then I can't help you. The movie made what was probably a wise decision in allowing the actors to keep their American accents so you didn't have them trying to speak in a fake German accent, which sometimes can border on parody. The movie didn't seem to play loose with the facts but kept everything historically accurate.

A nice companion movie to this one is the excellent "Downfall" from a few years ago. This one is subtitled but is far and away the best portrayal of Hitler's final days I've ever seen. The fact that it is in German gives it an extra layer of realism. If you ever see this, you'll recognize one of the co-conspirators from "Valkyrie" as one of the lead characters (don't know the actor's name, but it's the bald guy).

There was a preview to a movie called "Defiance," a fact-based story about Jewish resistance in WW II starring Daniel Craig. It looks like it will be really good.

Bedtime Stories

Took the whole family to see this one. Allie slept through the entire movie, much to the happiness of some movie-going folks like Steve and Pam who would have cringed at the sight of a baby carrier being brought into the theatre (as would I, but we timed it so she would have just eaten and it was nap time).

This one starred Adam Sandler who's going more the family-friendly route now. Basically, he has to watch his nephew and niece as his sister is out of town and the bedtime stories he tells them start coming true. It is all very well done and the kind of family movie I truly enjoy and not just tolerate. Nothing objectionable at all and we all enjoyed this one very much.

Allie Gets a Playmate

That is, in about 9 months Allie will be getting a playmate. Paula informed us on Saturday that her and Tom are expecting their first child. She will now be subject to 9 months of ruthless ribbing by her brothers about her weight gain (it already started that night).

Way to go Paula, we're all very excited for you!

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

Last March, we went to Pokagon State Park for the surprise announcement that Baby Allie was on the way. This was such a surprise for Anna that she screamed at us how we had "ruined her ENTIRE life."

Well, flash forward to this past weekend and we returned to Pokagon for an overnight stay. As you can see, it looks like Anna has come to terms with little sis. We do have her entire outburst on tape, although at this point, Anna still refuses to watch it.

We really enjoy Pokagon and plan on returning there every year December. The Potawatomi Inn is a great place to stay and has lots of activities for the kids. There's a refrigerated tobaggon run but the kids weren't into that this year. Give it time, they'll be wanting to go on it.

They instead spent most of their time in the pool, where Cameron was pretty much off by himself jumping into the pool about 5o times in the first 30 minutes (I was counting). As for Anna, given the same amount of time, she had basically met every kid in the pool and was organizing a game. I asked her later kind of sarcastically if she knew everyone in the pool and who all did she meet. She said, "I met two Olivias, a Cassidy, a Denae, a Megan, and lots of others." I imagine they are already planning their one-year marco-polo reunion.

A Family's Loss

Yesterday we received news that Brian Waterman, a very close friend of Stu & Joyce's family, was killed in a car accident Tuesday evening along with a co-worker. I didn't know Brian all that well, but I know he was around Stu & Joyce's house a lot, and he and Benjamin were particularly close (he accompanied Benjamin up to South Bend a couple times). He was certainly the kind of kid you'd want to have around and I was always very much impressed with him. He had recently completed college and was in many ways just starting out in life.

I can't imagine what his family is going through (I know how hard it is with Stu & Joyce). There will not be much holiday cheer around Brian's house this year, as his was a life cut way short.

It's easy to forget, but the holidays aren't always the happiest time for many. My sister-in-law lost her father a year ago, so this time of year brings back some sorrowful memories (of his passing, not of her father himself, whom she was very close with). I'm sure many are experiencing many raw emotions during this "festive" season.

Gymnastics

We have Cameron enrolled in gymnastics. Why you ask? For one, he really enjoys it (says he wants to be in the Olympics some day). Secondly, it keeps him from climbing the walls, literally, at home.

Where's Joe?

You know, as in Biden? Mr. Vice President Elect? When was the last confirmed sighting of him? He was chosen for his foreign policy expertise and has immediately gotten overshadowed by Hillary Clinton as the new Secretary of State. He has been invisible for quite a while. Wondering if he's thinking, "Hey, what about me?"

Not Considered a Holiday Classic, But Still a Good One

There's a pretty good chance you haven't heard of this movie, called "Joyeux Noel," but you may be familiar with the event that it is based on. In the early stages of World War I, French, Scottish and German troops laid down their weapons for a Christmas Eve truce. They came out of their trenches and shared food and drinks, played soccer, sang songs, exchanged pictures . . .then returned the next day and resumed the war.

The movie dramatizes these events and I'm sure probably fictionalizes them a bit, although from the actual accounts I've read, it's fairly accurate. It's mostly a subtitled movie (it's made in France) although many passages are in English in dealing with the Scottish troops.

You won't find this one playing non-stop during the holiday season like "A Christmas Story" or any of the others, but it's worth seeking out (if you don't mind subtitles). The scene where the troops tentatively come out of their trenches when they hear Christmas carols coming from the other side is particularly well done.

Fatherhood, Part 3

Yep, I'm cut out for this fatherhood thing at age 44!

Anyone Still Watching?

NBC announced that the final episode of E.R. will air in March. I don't know of anyone that actually still watches this show. We used to. It was one of our favorite shows and was very well done. The last season we watched was when Anthony Edwards' character died. After that, we just lost interest (Julianne Marguiles and Eriq LaSalle had also left). Besides, there was just getting to be too many "Tonight, on a very special E.R....." episodes. The only major character left was Carter, and he started to get a little annoying with his angst. So, when the series finale airs, I have absolutely no interest in tuning in, because I've completely lost track of who's who.

Cuttin' Down the Christmas Tree

This past weekend we went to Hensler's Tree Farm in Hamlet, Indiana to cut down our Christmas tree. We used to do this but then stopped for a couple years and used an artificial tree. But we missed going out and getting our own so we decided to return to this.

This isn't just a lot with a bunch of trees on it. It's quite the production. There's a large gift shop, real reindeer, snack shop that sold a lot of hot chocolate on this very cold day, a huge selection of handmade wreaths, petting zoo, and a little hut where Santa and Mrs. Claus hang out at. Cameron sat on Santa's lap and asked for some toy called "Spike the Dinosaur" (he's easily influenced by what he sees on TV).

At Hensler's, you can pick out a pre-cut Christmas tree, but that's no fun. What we like doing is getting on board the horse-drawn wagon and riding out to where the trees are still growing. From there, you grab a saw and have your choice of hundreds of trees. You pick it, you cut it, you haul it back to where you got the saw and some guys run it through a machine to shake out any dead brances and also to wrap it up with twine.

Below is a picture of Cameron dragging the tree with a little help from his sister, who has hold of a small branch and is being careful not to over-exert herself. This was a great family outing and we plan on continuing this tradition for many years and leaving our artificial tree in the garage.