Gobbled up
Thanksgiving came and went. I ate a lot of turkey and tried "corn stuff" for the first time. It was pretty good, basically a softer version of cornbread. Thanksgiving is always good, but as of last year, Thanksgiving weekend became even more special to me. It was the grand opening of the A Christmas Story House and Museum. Last year on the same weekend was the fundraiser for the house, and this past Saturday was the culminating event. It was awesome.
Ryan and I left Lorain around 8:00AM. Dropped off my car in Berea, then cruised on over to Tremont. Instead of obeying guidelines and parking downtown or in Clark Field, we drove right on up to the house and parked a couple of blocks down from it. There weren't many people there yet, but as soon as we got our tickets and took a spot in line, the first Lolly Trolly dumped a load of visitors.
Brian Jones and Steve crazy Polish last name explained that they're be letting people inside in groups of 30 or so. Fortunately, we were about the 20th people in line, if that. In the pic, you can see where we stood. We waited outside for over an hour before the ceremony actually began. FedEx Man delivered an official Red Ryder Leg Lamp up to the porch, Brian Jones ripped the straw stuffing out of the crate after prying it open with a crowbar, and he placed it inside of the front window of the house. After that, we waited in line to get in longer than we should have, thanks to bastard line jumpers. Instead of letting it ruin my day, I remained happy. How could I be truly upset on such a special occasion?
We were inside of the house by about 10:20 to enjoy all of its glory. The pics are all awesome. Immediately upon walking in, the living room sits to the left. We went there to take pictures with the Leg Lamp in the window. We had this wild guy behind us in line and he asked for Ryan to take a picture of him and email it, since he didn't have a camera of his own. Finally, we escaped him and were able to go upstairs. The bathroom was pretty funny to see, but the boys' bedroom still needed a little work. All that was in there was the bed frame, but it was still cool to look out the windows for the view of beautiful, industrial Cleveland.
We went back downstairs and paused to take pictures on the landing where Ralphie stood shamefully in his pink bunny pajamas from Aunt Clara. Then it was into the kitchen, where I realized that the cupboard under the sink had working doors. I asked the volunteer in there if I could curl up underneath the sink for a photo op and he allowed it. Apparently, we set a trend and afterwards there was a line of people waiting to do the same thing.
Before leaving the house, we took another picture in front of the lamp and as we stood trying to force ourselves out, a gentleman stopped us and asked if we would answer a few questions on camera. We agreed, he interviewed us, and then asked us to sign release forms. As Ryan was signing his he realized what we had just done--apparently, we may or may not appear on Turner Classic Movies on December 15th and 17th. I'd say we're both rather pumped about that.
We headed to the backyard where Ryan took lots of pictures of the shed and the view over the fence. Afterwards, we hit the museum, which was a giant gift shop with some things that Randy and Grover Dill donated: Randy's snowsuit, his Black Bart costume and zeppelin, as well as lots of behind-the-scenes photos. It was awesome.
We went and had "Chinese turkey" at a restaurant in Chinatown that had collaborated with the foundation, then headed to Tower City where we admired the thug life and waited for the meet and greet. It wasn't as cool as last year, since the actors were not able to be as chatty. But we got photos with everyone and I got another autograph. Can't wait until my collection is complete, and I'm really looking forward to next year!
And now...pics:
Ryan and I left Lorain around 8:00AM. Dropped off my car in Berea, then cruised on over to Tremont. Instead of obeying guidelines and parking downtown or in Clark Field, we drove right on up to the house and parked a couple of blocks down from it. There weren't many people there yet, but as soon as we got our tickets and took a spot in line, the first Lolly Trolly dumped a load of visitors.
Brian Jones and Steve crazy Polish last name explained that they're be letting people inside in groups of 30 or so. Fortunately, we were about the 20th people in line, if that. In the pic, you can see where we stood. We waited outside for over an hour before the ceremony actually began. FedEx Man delivered an official Red Ryder Leg Lamp up to the porch, Brian Jones ripped the straw stuffing out of the crate after prying it open with a crowbar, and he placed it inside of the front window of the house. After that, we waited in line to get in longer than we should have, thanks to bastard line jumpers. Instead of letting it ruin my day, I remained happy. How could I be truly upset on such a special occasion?We were inside of the house by about 10:20 to enjoy all of its glory. The pics are all awesome. Immediately upon walking in, the living room sits to the left. We went there to take pictures with the Leg Lamp in the window. We had this wild guy behind us in line and he asked for Ryan to take a picture of him and email it, since he didn't have a camera of his own. Finally, we escaped him and were able to go upstairs. The bathroom was pretty funny to see, but the boys' bedroom still needed a little work. All that was in there was the bed frame, but it was still cool to look out the windows for the view of beautiful, industrial Cleveland.
We went back downstairs and paused to take pictures on the landing where Ralphie stood shamefully in his pink bunny pajamas from Aunt Clara. Then it was into the kitchen, where I realized that the cupboard under the sink had working doors. I asked the volunteer in there if I could curl up underneath the sink for a photo op and he allowed it. Apparently, we set a trend and afterwards there was a line of people waiting to do the same thing.
Before leaving the house, we took another picture in front of the lamp and as we stood trying to force ourselves out, a gentleman stopped us and asked if we would answer a few questions on camera. We agreed, he interviewed us, and then asked us to sign release forms. As Ryan was signing his he realized what we had just done--apparently, we may or may not appear on Turner Classic Movies on December 15th and 17th. I'd say we're both rather pumped about that.
We headed to the backyard where Ryan took lots of pictures of the shed and the view over the fence. Afterwards, we hit the museum, which was a giant gift shop with some things that Randy and Grover Dill donated: Randy's snowsuit, his Black Bart costume and zeppelin, as well as lots of behind-the-scenes photos. It was awesome.
We went and had "Chinese turkey" at a restaurant in Chinatown that had collaborated with the foundation, then headed to Tower City where we admired the thug life and waited for the meet and greet. It wasn't as cool as last year, since the actors were not able to be as chatty. But we got photos with everyone and I got another autograph. Can't wait until my collection is complete, and I'm really looking forward to next year!
And now...pics:
Wild dude
"I'll be right out, ma! Gee whiz!"
"He looks like a deranged Easter bunny!"
"Daddy's gonne kill Ralphie!"
"Those icicles have been known to kill people."
"He had yellow eyes, so help me, God, yellow eyes!" Scut and his toadie, Grover Dill.
That's about as good as it gets for now. I'm worn out. Can't wait to go back to the house soon.
posted by Krista at 7:34 PM
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