March of the Bumbles.

Tonight we honored the age old tradition of watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as a family. Like many, I have watched this show religiously for the last thirty-five years or so. That was way back in the day when it was almost new. Back then, we had to make sure we read the TV guide each week so we wouldn't miss it. Because it was only on once a year and it was just too much of a bother to get out of a chair to surf the other three channels we had.

But here we are now, forty years in the future. We haven't gotten our hover cars yet. And we don't eat our seven course meals in a capsule. But we can enjoy the luxury of watching a DVD of Rudolph whenever we want.

So tonight we popped in our DVD and sipped hot cocoa with marshmallows courtesy of Lady Di.

Our kids of eleven and seven years old, have also viewed this Christmas classic multiple times. Enough times, in fact, to start quoting lines and predicting favorite parts. One of the kids' favorite funny lines is from Yukon Cornelius himself. When the gang is floating through the fog on their homemade iceberg, Yukon comments, "This fog is as think as peanut butter."

Hermie then corrects, "Don't you mean pea soup?"

YC then counters with, "You eat what you want. I'll eat what I want!"

Both kids giggle out loud every time. The kids also like when Rudolph jabs the snow monster in the butt with his antlers.

One of my favorite parts is when Yukon's dogs won't mush. He shouts at them but they won't move. So Yukon decides to demonstrate by pulling the sled himself. Once he does, the dogs all immediately hop on for the ride. It just reminds me of what our own dog would probably do.

Along with the trip down memory lane, I noticed a couple of puzzling moments from the show which, for some reason, I was unable to let go. Now I know that Rudolph isn't a documentary and it was made over forty years ago, but I just couldn't shake my need for answers.

What started my curiosity was in the first 'Island of Misfit Toys' scene. I understand why the toys were there. Those toys were messed up! Come on! No one could ever want a spotted elephant, right? But I couldn't figure out the Dolly on the island. Aside from wearing a short plaid skirt in the middle of winter, what qualified her as a misfit? The show may have explained it when my attention was occupied with the jelly squirting water gun, so maybe I missed it for the last four decades.

Another inconsistency involved the bird who couldn't fly but could swim. At the very end of the special, Santa's head elf in charge of umbrellas cold heartedly denied the flightless swimming bird his umbrella and rudely shoved him out of the sleigh high above the clouds. It's true! See for yourself.

And what about the king of the misfit island. A flying lion named Moonracer? I have no problem with an avian-feline but isn't the name 'Moonracer' just a bit too 1960's hippie?

Hopefully, I haven't ruined the 'Island' for you now but I just have a couple more observations.

Firstly, when Rudolph sets out on his own because he is worried that he is putting his friends in danger, he leaves the door to their cottage WIDE OPEN! Guess he isn't worried about his 'friends' catching pneumonia.

And lastly, when Mrs. Santa is trying to get Santa to eat multiple times during the show, has anyone looked at the cooking she does for him? Each time she says he's too skinny, Santa has a plate of some grayish purple blob on his plate. And it matches the grayish purple apple and some other mystery consumable. If I didn't know better, I'd think Mrs. Claus was cooking clay in the kitchen.

But other than all of those things, we still enjoyed our evening together. We still sang Silver and Gold together. We still flicked our tongues in and out when Cornelius licked his pick ax for precious metals. Which also begs the question, who licks metal objects in freezing cold weather?

Next week, we're going to watch 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' and I'm going to point out, to the kids, how all of those Who instruments couldn't possibly work. And there is no such thing as roast beast.