31 October 2014

Hallowe'en Viewing

Mellow viewing;
For Better or For Worse: "The Good for Nothing"

Cheesy, but fun, with Melissa Sue Anderson 180 degrees from Mary Ingalls:
Midnight Offerings

Not Hallowe'en necessarily, but spooky:
A Cold Night's Death

Suitable for small ones, but psychedelic:
The Worst Witch television film

More conventional school story:
The Worst Witch television series, starting with Episode 1

And then there's completely off the wall:
Paul Lynde Halloween Special

13 October 2014

A Pioneer Christmas

CHRISTMAS BOOK REVIEW
A Little House Christmas Treasury
This is a darling little book comprised of Christmas chapters from "the Little House" books, with the now-classic illustrations by Garth Williams in color, and decorative snowflakes scattered throughout. The Ingalls celebrate Christmas in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and finally in DeSmet, Dakota Territory, and the Wilder family has a feast in upstate New York. It will strike you all over again how little these children had, but who made their own fun in inventive ways, playing tea parties with leaves and acorns, cutting paper dolls from scraps of paper, just running and making "snow people" and having snowball fights, and how little it took for them to be happy: red mittens, a drinking cup of one's own, a stick of candy, a rag doll, a "boughten" hat. It also brings home the chill of living in a cabin where the only heat comes from a fireplace...in other chapters not included in this book Laura describes waking in rooms so cold that the nails in the wall are furred with frost, and the visiting relatives in these stories wrap in layers and layers of clothing and blankets in order not to be frostbitten on the sleigh ride home.

A super acquisition for your Christmas library, especially if you have young children—but it will make you count your blessings!

02 October 2014

Whetting Your Appetite for Hallowe'en

Some videos just for fun:

Bunnicula the Vampire Rabbit

Halloween is Grinch Night

"Trick or Treat"

Winnie the Pooh's Halloween Stories (complete with CBS Special Presentation logo!)