Black Friday: The Siblings and a Popcorn

This year, my family and I didn't go to Pittsburgh, as we usually do, but stayed at our house, which led to GLorious Honey Baked Turkey and other wonderful foodie things. Bryan ran Columbus' Turkey Trot on Thursday morning (came in 4th; his trophy adorned the Thanksgiving table!), and we watched My Cousin Vinny while we waited for the meal, since Mel had never seen it (which none of us could believe). 

We ate around 5:00 (our normal dinner time) and after that we played several games, including my Trivial Pursuit Book Lover's Edition (which, of course, I won), followed by a viewing of Home  Alone (Yeah, it was like Joe Pesci day at our house). We hadn't seen that movie in awhile and I forgot how much I liked it (and the McAllister house. Wow.).

Friday found us watching the first half of the "backyard brawl" between Pitt and WSU (which Pitt won. Thank God.). At halftime, Bryan, Mel and I piled into Lilo and headed up to Easton, where we did some shopping: Peppermint Hot Chocolate and Williams-Sonoma (just like Sarah P. had on her counter during a FOX interview!), a gift certificate and cashmere at Ann Taylor; Mel bought jeans at Forever 21, and both Bryan and Mel browsed American Eagle.  Easton is a great place to celebrate Christmas; Santa was in full swing, the massive tree was on the town green, carriage rides were being given, and some people were selling kettle corn! 

Dinner was at California Pizza Kitchen, where Mel and I shared a Margharita pizza and Bryan had the jambalaya (yes, good stuff). It was a lot of fun being out with the two of them, because we almost never get to do that anymore. 

I would have to say the highlight of the day was seeing The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. OK, yes, for most people a Holocaust movie would not scream "Happy Holidays!", but we all wanted to see it and it was showing at Easton, and not our local theater, so we went. Me being me, I knew how it ended, but my brother and sister didn't. Hence, they cried at the ending (well at least Mel did, I didn't know about Bryan). 

I won't talk plot except to say that Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is an 8 year old boy whose father (David Thewlis, probably best know for the Harry Potter movies, where he plays Lupin) is a officer in the Nazi army. The family is transfered from their Berlin home to the commandant's home that oversees a "work camp" (in reality, Auschwitz, but no one, except Father, knows that). Bruno hates the house--his sister has become involved in Nazi Youth to impress a young offier on their father's staff; there are no children his age, and his parents are always busy. One day, he makes he way through the forest behind the house to the "farm" where he meets "The boy in the striped pajamas"--a boy his age who works on the "farm". He soon becomes Bruno's only friend.  The performances are remarkable, as is James Horner's music (finally a score without any Titanic themes in it!).  If you've got kids older than say, 12, they should be OK, especially if they have any sort of Holocaust exposure. I found out after the movie that neither of my siblings have seen Schindler's List, which made me wonder how that had happened. We may need to watch it at some point. 

So that was the beginning of my Thanksgiving weekend. How did you spend yours?