Fireside Chat
Well, the holidays are over. I’d say it’s time to get back to work, but there are plenty of people who work over the holidays, so that has always seemed to me a strange thing to say.
Can we talk about one last Christmas-related topic before we completely settle into January? Yule logs.
Not the kind you eat, but the kind you watch on TV. My cable system has an entire yule log section with about three dozen different yule log scenes you can watch, for people who want to get really specific about their yule log viewing. Some have a close-up of a crackling fireplace, while others have a wider view of an entire room, with the fireplace and stockings hanging and the tree and presents next to the fireplace, maybe even a dog or cat thrown in.
I don’t understand the yule log videos that show an entire room. Isn’t the purpose of the TV yule log to make it feel as if there’s a fireplace in your own home? A fireplace scene to make your living room seem all cozy, like there’s a real one burning?
The videos that show an entire room don’t make me feel that. They make me feel like I’m outside of someone else’s house, freezing, looking in their window.
Is It Cringe to Be Online All the Time Now?
This is the week that everyone makes their resolutions! Are you going to lose weight or finally straighten out that closet?
One resolution many people are making is to spend less time online. Some even think that it’s “cringe” to be online all the time. I don’t know if I would have thought of using that word to describe being “extremely online” but I like it. Everyone should spend less time online.
(Except for visiting the site you’re currently on, of course.)
How to Say “2026”
Coke vs. Pepsi. Android vs. iPhone. Shemp vs. Curly. KOO-pon vs. CUE-pon. These are the debates that define our times.
Here’s another one. How do you say the years?
Everyone seems to say the year the same way now. For example, “2026” is pronounced as “Twenty Twenty-Six.” I don’t do that. I pronounce it “Two Thousand Twenty-Six.” Am I an outlier? Am I wrong to pronounce it that way?
I don’t think so. After all, what’s the name of the Stanley Kubrick movie about a space odyssey?
Farewell
CBS and Turner Classic Movies have released their annual videos that celebrate the people that passed during the year. It’s almost stunning to see them all in one place. You forget some people that died earlier in the year.
“Hail and Farewell”: A tribute to those we lost in 2025 (Uploaded to YouTube by CBS Sunday Morning)
TCM Remembers 2025 (Uploaded to YouTube by Turner Classic Movies)
RIP Brigitte Bardot, Pat Finn, Annette Dionne, Perry Bamonte, Gary Graffman, and Phyllis Lee Levin
Brigitte Bardot was an iconic French actress who appeared in such films as And God Created Woman, Contempt, The Truth, and Dear Brigitte. She died Sunday at the age of 91.
Pat Finn was a recognizable face from such shows as Seinfeld, The Middle, Friends, Ed, Murphy Brown, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and many other shows. He died last week at the age of 60.
Annette Dionne was the last surviving member of the Dionne quintuplets. The girls became a sensation (and were exploited, really) when they were born in 1934 and even appeared in several ads. In the Post, those ads included one for Palmolive in the November 21, 1936 issue (page 71) and an ad for Baby Ruth candy bars, from the May 10, 1941 issue (page 107). She died last week at the age of 91.
Perry Bamonte was a guitarist and keyboardist for The Cure. He died last week at the age of 65.
Gary Graffman was a child piano prodigy who became a teacher after he could no longer use his right hand. He died Saturday at the age of 97.
Phyllis Lee Levin was a fashion reporter for The New York Times who also wrote biographies of John Quincy Adams, Abigail Adams, and Woodrow and Edith Wilson. She died in November at the age of 104.
This Week in History
Warnings Appear on Cigarette Packs (January 1, 1966)
The first warning said “Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous to Your Health.” Today there are various, more specific warnings.
Construction on Brooklyn Bridge Begins (January 2, 1870)
And the bridge opened on May 24, 1883.
This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Quaker Milk Spaghetti (January 1, 1921)
I’ve heard of spaghetti recipes made with milk but not spaghetti made from milk.
January Is National Spaghetti Month
Spaghetti (and pasta in general) is one of your more versatile foods. You can make anything with it. You can even make a tower!
But you can’t eat a tower. So here’s a recipe for Easy Weeknight Spaghetti from Inspired Taste and here’s one for Spaghetti with Pecan-Herb Pesto from Food Network. Delish has a recipe for Dirty Martini Pasta, Allrecipes has Spaghetti Pizza, and The Pioneer Woman has a recipe for Chicken Spaghetti.
By the way, even though it’s always better to make your own pasta, on those nights you just don’t even feel like boiling water, try a frozen spaghetti meal like Stouffer’s or Lean Cuisine. Frozen dinner pasta used to come out all rubbery and gross, but they’ve done something to the pasta in the past 15 years, some magical trick with technology and/or freezing, and now the pasta you find in frozen dinners is actually pretty good!
Next Week’s Holidays and Events
Fruitcake Toss Day (January 3)
This is the day to throw out the fruitcake you got for Christmas – there’s even an official contest every year in Colorado – or you can just save it to regift to someone next year.
Trivia Day (January 4)
We all know that 555 has been used for fake phone numbers on TV and in movies for decades. But did you know that the specific number 555-2368 has been used a lot? It’s the phone number to call the team in Ghostbusters, Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files, and Jaime Sommers on The Bionic Woman, and has been the number on The Mod Squad, The Twilight Zone, Mannix, and the movie Memento, and is the number in many other TV shows, movies, commercials, video games, and print ads.
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Comments
Now that National Trivia Day is here, here’s some trivia tidbits: With the recent passing of Brigitte Bardot at age 91, that leaves only 3 people still alive who are mentioned in Billy Joel’s 1989 #1 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Of the 59 people mentioned, the 3 remaining are Bernie Goetz (age 78), Bob Dylan & Chubby Checker (both 84). A couple of people mentioned by name in the song are each cited twice (John F. Kennedy, Richard M Nixon). Another fun fact: Everyone named in the song was alive at the same time between 26 May 1951 and 26 Sept 1952, while only 16 were alive when the song was released in Sept 1989. There’s a series of 119 significant political, scientific, sporting & cultural events/persons listed in the lyrics, generally chronologically, between 1949 (year of Billy Joel’s birth) and 1989.
Let’s talk about the yule logs. I love you included of the crackling fireplace. It’s perfect. Being online/on your phone all the time is a sad addiction that’s unhealthy and contributes to loneliness and depression more than ‘cringe’ per se.
On the years, 2000-2009 I pronounce as “Two Thousand”, “Two Thousand Nine.” Once the solid 2010 started, I switched to “Twenty Ten”, “Twenty Twenty” and now Twenty Twenty-Six.” 5 syllables, just like “Nineteen Twenty-Six.” You’re not wrong to pronounce it the longer way, but it’s more likely to be seen (and heard in your mind) that way on engraved wedding invitations.
Here’s an interesting realization. To this day, “The 20’s” unless otherwise specified, still mean the 1920’s. As far as the fake phone numbers go, I’d have to say my favorite’s still 867-5039. I have no idea what the area code is. Maybe 1 (981)?