Saturday, May 10, 2008

Family Movie Night

I'm a sucker for traditions. I love them! I love making a big deal out of nothing and having something fun to look forward to, and that is why in our house, Friday night is Family Movie Night! There has to be a great film, and there has to be a great snack. Friends are always invited, but family must attend unless something very important supercedes. (this particular week, Adam did not participate because he was upstairs hard at work on the script, and his kids are with their mom.)

Of course, I have a theme song for Family Movie Night, and I talk about the upcoming event in song the entire week (which drives the kids crazy).

"It's Family Movie Night! It's Family Movie Night!
The week is done, time to have some fun at
Family Movie Night!
We're gonna do it right!
It's Family Movie Night!
You fight, you're out. I'll say "Good night"
And you'll miss out,
cause it's Family Movie Night!"


Our special treat this week was ice cream floats, made with IBC root beer and creme soda (my fave, if I ever drink soda). So yummy! We clean up the house first (so Mom can relax mentally), put the baby to bed (so Mom can actually sit and watch the movie), get our jammies on (for comfiness, and to faciliate speedier bedtime after Family Movie Night), turn out the lights and cozy up.

Last night was such a treat for me because I chose to play The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. I love this movie. It was the first scary movie I remember my dad letting us watch at a fairly young age, and I loved the tension. I hadn't seen the movie in probably twenty years, so I hoped it would still pack a punch for my children of the 21st century, but I guess it's a classic for a reason! The kids were appropriately engaged in the drama and suspense of the movie, and didn't even mind the relatively slow storytelling, compared with today's movies. They hated the ending. I think they were hoping for some sort of revenge. Not just fleeing, but wiping out the birds.

I guess the ending does leave a lot of unanswered questions, doesn't it? That Hitchcock. . .

Can't wait till next week! We're showing Back to the Future and you're all invited!

6 comments:

Heather Moore said...

Sounds like fun :) Congrats on getting another article accepted!!

YogaNana said...

Sounds fun, all right! Sounds like some of the things we used to do. :o)

You might want to show the kids this link:
http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/TheBirds/

And make sure you read about the alternate ending that had to be scrapped due to costs. It wasn't what they wanted to see, either, but it was stronger and made the point of the film better.

Bodega Bay isn't far from our other little house, the one we may either sell or rent out and keep for retirement (I'm in favor of that, but it's kind of remote from a lot of things). On this map the house is between 9 (Monte Rio) and 7 (Duncan's Mills). Bodega Bay is 11.

http://tinyurl.com/5yaytq

Don said...

The Birds, huh? We do family movie night on Fridays, too. But I'm afraid if I even suggested Hitchcock, it would be a "dad all by himself movie night."

Still, it's great to see how the kids respond to the great films of yesterday.

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

What a lovely idea! We need something like that 'round here!

Lesley said...

Oh my gosh those floats look soooo yummy! What a fun tradition! And I saw The Birds once when I was MUCH younger and that was enough, thankyouverymuch. I really don't like the scary ones, but if I could be there for Back to The Future I would. I love all of those!

Stop and smell the Daisies said...

What a great tradition! I might just start that here...it's kind of hard to find movies that my 10yr old and my 4 yr old, as well as hubby and myself would all like (and would be age appropriate), but I think it's a great tradition! Keep it up!