Last night we went to see The Queen at a nearby vintage 1920s theater. It�s one of our favorite places to go because of its quirkiness and also its cheapness -- $5 movie tickets. Instead of showing endless previews and movie facts that no one cares about, they play music before the film and last night, the playlist was all Queen related. It took a little while before we noticed, but after that we were totally entertained. Some of the featured tunes included:

Juice Newton --Queen of Hearts
Abba � Dancing Queen
Liz Phair: May Queen
Queen of Royal Badness � Queen Latifah
Little Queen � Heart
Venice Queen � Red Hot Chili Peppers

And God knows what else. It was pretty hilarious. We�re looking forward to our next movie there to see if they do this for every film.

The movie itself was better than I would of expected of a subject in which I�m not inherently interested. Helen Mirren is, as always, fabulous. I didn�t like the characterization of the Queen Mother, whom I actually met on several occasions when she would come to visit her favorite cousin who lived next door to us in London (she was very kind and funny but used to drive me to distraction by insisting on patting me on the head). And I had trouble with Prince Philip, simply because I�d just watched the actor in Babe (for the umpteenth time) with AJ just a couple of days earlier. The characterization of the Windsor family seemed to inspire great hilarity in the audience and sometimes interaction with the screen � a large group started cheering when the Queen got her car stuck in a river bed. This kind of movie-going behavior is almost unheard of in our staid suburban region, which made it all the more amusing.

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This has been a challenging week for Christmas, at least for me. This is the first year that AJ�s Christmas wishes have been very specific. Last year he asked Santa for �a car and something to drive it on.� This year he�s got a list that includes brand names. This year I also started shopping later than I ever have � two days ago, in fact.

The first challenge of the week involved AJ�s main present. My mom and dad got him a toy airport. But it didn�t come with an airplane. And what fun is an airport without a plane? But that was no problem, or so I thought. I figured we�d get him a plane. But for some reason, although the nice European toy company is still manufacturing the airport, the plane has been discontinued. I spent much of Friday running around to toy stores, checking internet sites and calling local businesses until I finally tracked down a plane, much to my relief. I�m not sure what I would have done otherwise. I don�t need this kind of anxiety. I�m already worried about how many gazillions of hours it�s going to take me to put together the airport.

While I was out doing all that, AJ apparently barged into his dad�s office where he saw one of his presents, the one, as it happens, that he wants the most � a bug vacuum. He�s been asking for it for weeks. It�s the only thing he asked Santa about when he sat in his lap this morning. A few days ago AJ was trying to recall which party it was we were going to today. �Is it the one where you ask Santa for something and then he gives you something else?� Yes, it is. But wouldn�t it be great for Santa to give him what he asked for? But then he saw the present. And so we decided to give him something else instead. We were afraid it might cause him to wonder where in fact his presents came from. And while sometimes I think he might suspect there�s some kind of hoax going on, I also think he really doesn�t want to know.

So far, Santa�s secret is still safe. But for how long?

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Thanks for all your proposals for a Rain mix. I greatly appreciate it. Blaze has also suggested that I consider a wintery version focused on snow. I�ve already been thinking about that. Actually, I�ve been pondering a trilogy: Rain, Snow, and Dark of Night � we�ll call it �Going Postal.� AJ has also requested one of just storms. Stay tuned for future installments!

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