Happy Wednesday! Just today and tomorrow and then it is Christmas! And my parents will be here, and they can clean my bathroom, because I don’t want to! And also, put their own sheets on their bed. I’m so tired. Making the end of the fiscal year the same time as Christmas is a TERRIBLE idea.
I’ll start!
Watching: Well, I watched A Castle for Christmas last night. Dred Pirate Roberts is as charming and handsome as ever. Brooke Shields maybe can’t act? I’m not sure. At least she didn’t act much in this.
Reading: My grandmother’s travel diary from her 1944 trip to Mexico with her future in-laws! Such an odd trip, why go to Mexico in the middle of war? And why travel with your son’s fiancee?
Thinking: I am DONE. Grandpa, busiest month at work possibly ever, still haven’t finished unpacking, Christmas coming, and now I am having my Lady Times and I just want to spend all day in bed gently sobbing. I decided to spend New Years weekend at my parents, and I am increasingly thinking that was brilliant. Go stay with them, be spoiled a bit, and have no pressure to clean, unpack, etc.
Listening: All of life is a sort of gentle sorrow and misery, so obviously this:
Question for you: What is the SADDEST Christmas song you can think of? Judy and “Merry Little Christmas”? Bing and “I’ll Be Home”? Something else?
dontcallitbollywood 
Your parents are SAINTS!
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Nah, just normal parents, I think.
On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 9:05 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am so tired I expect my teeth to drop out any moment, unable to resist gravity a second longer. This evening l am watching Kings Avatar, which appears to be about teens playing computer games (esports?) interminably. Which is just right for my current state of mental trenchfoot.
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PS Gently sobbing in bed also sounds good.
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I’m almost out of Bake Show holiday specials, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I finish. I really REALLY wan tto watch Sewing Bee, because I’m a sewer not a cooker, but it isn’t anywhere in America?
On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 12:06 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I would say that almost every Christmas song is sad for me because 80% of all of them make me cry. But as a person who lives far from his home I vote this one:
Especially this year because my mom is in bed with Covid and I can’t go visit her.
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Oh Angie! We will keep a good thought for your Mom.
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Thank you.
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Sending your mom healing thoughts, Angie!
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Thanks.
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Yes, stay well. My thoughts are with you too.
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Thank you Eva
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I got tickets to “’83” for Erev Christmas and would like Shahid to know that if I *don’t* like it, there’s no chance of my also watching “Jersey.” Too many sports movies in quick succession!
Advance tickets are available now for “Shyam Singham Roy” through AMC. . . but not at my cinema. The other nearby one that shows Telugu films doesn’t usually have subtitles, which I can swing for Hindi and mayyybe Punjabi but nothing else : P I’m hoping that that’s just an omission because they’re advance and once it’s actually opened, it will show here. It definitely seems like a “big-screen” movie.
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Here is the whole Twitter thread about Kat and Vicky’s relationship publicly. Very interesting!!
https://twitter.com/ghadasrs/status/1450521790518861824?s=21
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There’s only one Christmas song that consistently makes me cry, but it’s not sad necessarily, just moving. I don’t even know the title, but it’s about the Christmas truce in WWI.
Though right now I fear that every Christmas song might become sad this year if anything else goes wrong and the rental car I’ve had to get breaks down too or something.
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Oh Eva! It’s all gonna work out. And your family is gonna be so excited to see the kiddos.
On Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 11:19 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you. And yay, we made it. Tired as anything, but we’re finally with my family.
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Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Hand those babies off to Grandparents and take a NAP.
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 1:32 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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This old fashioned Finnish Christmas Carol is named ‘Varpunen Jouluaamuna’ or ‘The house sparrow on Christmas morning’. The melody and lyrics are peak depressing.
Here’s a whole list of sad/depressing Finnish Christmas carols, it is a constant theme: https://www.hercampus.com/school/helsinki/most-depressing-finnish-christmas-songs/
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It’s hard to listen to Varpunen Jouluaamuna and don’t cry. You’re right, it’s so sad.
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I blame the near-constant darkness and bitter cold as to the reason why a big proportion of our Christmas carols are so depressing and sad. I mean, for us Christmas is a more solemn and quiet time with lighting candles on graves and such on Christmas Day. Simple, minimal, understated, cosy and heartwarming is more of the vibe around here this time of year.
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You need some huge blow up Santas and thousand watt christmas lights like we have in America! Consumption, brightness, adrenoline!
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 8:37 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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We have the lights in towns and malls, though they are baby lights compared to what you have in America. As for the Consumption, call it a mix of Nordic minimalism and Lutheranism. We still decorate, we just don’t go overboard with it. Subtle, not overbearing.
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So long as you still have coffee adn coffee cake, I think I could survive there.
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 8:57 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Coffee is here in abundance, we are a coffee nation through and through. There are plenty of nice cafe’s and coffee shops here, especially in Helsinki. From the usual Starbucks to local cafe’s.
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I saw a movie I can sincerely reccomend – Maanaadu.
It’s tamilian action film about a man who is trapped in a time loop. It’s fun, full of action, self aware (the characters itself mention all the time loop movies like Groundhog Day and make fun, in the nice way, of Simbu’s weight loss and his terrible character). The villain is terrific and the hero is Muslim. When was the last time a mainstream Indian film had Muslim hero? I don’t remember!
There is also a dialogue, right in the beginning when the hero and the girl meets and she is like: Are you a Muslim? And he answers: Don’t I look like one? Oh, if you knew you wouldn’t have spoken to me? It looks like something very small, but it was so refreshing! Reccomended.
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Oooo, it does look fun!
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 8:03 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes, it is.
I also saw Far from Heaven. You reccomended it some time ago. It was very good, but strangely, the most interested one in watching it was my son. He was so angry with Dennis Quaid when he was scoldiding Julianne for her friendship with the gardener. I’m so proud of him 🙂
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I love Far From Heaven. If you liked it, you will probably also like the Douglas Sirk movies it’s based on. Actually, you will probably love Douglas Sirk movies regardless.
Man I love Todd Haynes, though he did kind of mess up his Velvet Underground movie.
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I knew you would love Far From Heaven! Did you also watch Fassbinders? I had to watch a couple in my film classes and they weren’t for me, but MAN did he nail Sirk.
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 11:18 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I have not! I will try that, sounds interesting.
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I’m ashamed to admit it but I knew nothing about Douglas Sirk (but seems I’m not alone: He doesn’t even have wikipedia page in polish! I’m blaming polish tv, the only old american movies they shown were westerns and Gone With The Wind). I’m reading about his movies now, and you’re so right – they look like my kind of films.
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They are all so great, lots of melodrama and romance and they look great. The later films, that is. Earlier ones are a variety of genres,
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I haven’t read anything but my husband and I watched our favorite rom-com (which has nothing to do with the holidays but is still the movie that makes me the happiest during Christmas), The Proposal. It’s so good and holds up over 12 years later. Older woman (Sandra Bullok) coerces her younger assistant (Ryan Reynolds) into a sham wedding to prevent deportation to Canada. Also, it has Betty White (from Golden Girls) and she is incredible! It’s on Amazon for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
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Oh, you’ve mentioned this before! And I still haven’t seen it. If I make it a Sunday post-Christmas pick, will you watch with me? Never mind, Baby SRK controls your schedule, you can’t commit to anything.
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 9:12 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I would totally watch it with you but right now my schedule it just a bit insane. I can check with my husband to see if he can take care of the baby for a couple hours Sunday morning. I might be able to join you for at least part of it.
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Just explain to the baby that you have an important DCIB engagement and he will need to sleep for those 2 hours.
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 10:05 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I did a bunch of reviews, but nothing I think people here are particularly interested in. Going to watch Single All the Way tomorrow, also Christmas in Connecticut if I have the time. Then I have to slum it without Christopher Lee movies over Christmas, which I guess will fortify me for the next batch of them.
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Trotting over to your blog to read the new batch of Christopher Lee reflections/agonies : )
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lol that’s exactly what they are. Although considering how far in the dregs of his filmography I am now, a surprising amount of decent stuff.
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YES! Single All the Way! You can join us in HATING the hero and wishing the other two corners of the love triangle just got together their own selves. And also, loving Jennifer Coolidge.
On Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 1:31 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh wow, Jennifer Coolidge is in it? I unsurprisingly loooove her.
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Last night my family didn’t do their typical church service on Christmas Eve, and instead I directed the 5 kids in a living room pagent, and I felt JUST like Jennifer Coolidge in Single All the Way.
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Haha oh my god. Did you get to wear the Good Witch costume????
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HA!
Our family tradition is sitting around the table and passing out nativity scene characters, and then as my Mom reads from the King James’ bible, we all have to move our characters around as they come into the story. Bring out the baby once he is born, move the wise men from east to West, and so on.
On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 6:10 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I wore a dress and considering the rarity of that I think it should count as good witchy.
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My children were basically Margaret’s characters, except Joseph wore a plaid tie and the donkey was a shark/donkey – oh and Mary refused to be stuffed pregnant. Will, live actors have much more free will.
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New Prabhas movie trailer. Not sure what to make of this, but it looks pretty. Fingers crossed that this will be a success. Prabhras looks very good in turtlenecks!!
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OMG Looks like they focused so much on creating the most beautiful visually scenes and forgot to add a plot. It has very strong Saaho vibes. Why Prabhas can’t just make a simple movie? Wasn’t this one supposed to be a simple love story?
I’ll definitely watch it because it’s pretty but with my hopes very low.
The Einstain of Palmistry? Really? 2022 haven’t started yet, but this sentence will be hard to beat.
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I feel like it needs to be about 10% even wackier to be good, or WAY LESS wacky.
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I think Baahubali solidified the big budged for Prabhas’ next projects. Unless he REALLY goes for a small art-house film my guess that this overproduced look will stay.
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oh my god what is this. He DOES look good in turtlenecks, though.
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I got a soft spot for Merle.
Last year we couldn’t see anyone for the holidays, and this year we can! We had the best thanksgiving ever and I was looking forward to a Christmas repeat – but well, the sister’s family considered moving back to New York, decided not to, but are now kinda sad about their decision. I’m happy about their decision, but sad that they are sad, so that puts a damper on things. And sis isolated from us for a couple days when we first arrived until she got her PCR results back as she had just been to New York. I was also looking forward to seeing friends but the weather has been non-stop rain and I can’t invite people over because it isn’t my house and also I can’t invite people over because the 7 year old is sick AGAIN – wet cough cold, but of course we’re testing daily because um, grandparents. Everything is all good, but well, that perfect Thanksgiving will be in a class of it’s own.
I haven’t watched anything since Miracle on 34th st. and I haven’t read anything. Oh, except I did show THIS to my dad this morning:
Because I went to the store and it was worth all the hype. A cheese expert helped me buy cheese! We bought some nice mellow ones for sis, a fancy tasty, and a super gross one all covered in mold to you know, create memories. Also, they sold sage smudges! In a grocery store, a variety of them. I thought it might be time to smudge the demons out of the house corners, but then I didn’t want to set off the fire alarms. Most importantly though, it sold fruit cakes, unlike the four bakeries and two other grocery stores I’d been to, so it was well worth getting there two minutes before the doors opened.
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YEs! Whole Foods is amazing! Although personally I think Trader Joes is even better. Also, they used to give out free coffee in the morning pre-pandemic. Not all the time, but sometimes, just a little coffee corner in the store.
On Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 12:30 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I went to Trader Joe’s first, but they didn’t have fruit cake.
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Another new trailer: Meppadiyan, the movie I like to think Unni Mukundan made for me 😉 The trailer starts with cuddly Unni bathing shirtless, later he plays with children, romances a girl, ties his mundu and eats dosas. Unfortunately some other (not important for me) stuff happens but I guess a movie must have some plot apart from bathing and being cute.
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Merry Christmas Eve! Hoping you’re with your family and able to draw warmth and comfort from being together. We’re having an odd holiday too, a combination of the fact that my uncle and aunt decided that reinstating their big Christmas dinner was unwise when most of their friends are 70+, while on the other hand our peer group has at the last minute decided to keep their travel plans, even flying to Europe to see family they’ve been missing. Fingers crossed they can come back. We just got home from a nice Christmas Eve dinner with our neighbors, tomorrow we’ll be on our own. Anyway, I’m here to share my new favorite Christmas album for this year. I think I even have a contender for saddest Christmas song:
And now a happier song that seems just right for DCIB:
Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating! Peace.
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The sad link didn’t come through! Or else the happy link? but surely the sad link isn’t James Brown.
On Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 10:04 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Dang, meant to share this as the happy one.
James Brown can be sad! Bluesy sad.
“My baby’s gone, I have no friend
To wish me greeting once again”
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Christmas thoughts : We haven’t been able to do much baking and decorating and stuff this advent, so that got me thinking about what I consider really essential for the holiday. I haven’t been able to ask all of my family yet, but so far my sister agrees with me that the tree is important, with something to unwrap underneath. Her husband just likes staying with family and having them cook for him. And my wife couldn’t do without Christmas songs, but preferably the secular ones. So now I’m really curious to continue my survey. Will my other sister feel the same way we do? Which of our parents did that come from?
And what do international test subjects say?
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I agree about the tree, and family exchange of gifts. And Christmas lights. I miss going to at least one choral concert. The other most important thing for me is gathering with loved ones – for special adventures or events, or at least one communal meal.
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My husband and I both agree that the tree is essential. My husband also thinks stocking as essential. We hosted Christmas this year and he spent a long time customizing the stockings for everyone.
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What did Baby SRK get in his sock?
On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 6:29 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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My parents and I have had 3 years in a row of just the 3 of us, so we’ve gotten very small. Presents, as in, the ceremony of opening things together on Christmas morning and the excitement of picking things out to give people over the rest of the month. Doesn’t have to be big things, the fun is in the wrapping and opening. And reading the Bible, which sounds super religious, but my Mom always reads the King James’ Bible versus about the birth and it’s nice! It’s not actual religious, I mean, it’s just about a baby being born. I like thinking of Christmas as related to a new baby.
On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 7:15 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Vicky’s and Kat’s Christmas picture is so cute!!! Ah, I love them so much!
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I was just going to post about Kat’s post, her next movie is with Sriram Raghavan and Vijay Sethupati. Love that for her!
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She is so happy and I am so happy for her!!
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Me too! I am just so happy for them! I want all the happiness in the world for Katrina!
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Awwwwww! Kat looks so happy and secure!!! Finally!
On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 10:00 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Watched ‘Atrangi Re’ on Einthusan. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT!!! Very much a DCIB film. I watched it 3 times on the same day – which I usually NEVER do for any film – it was that good. I don’t want to spoil anything. Just prepare to cry at points.
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Happy Christmas to those who celebrate it. It’s obviously a very different event for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere – hot, light, no somber Christmas songs, just food, tinsel, presents and family.
Hubby and I finished the day semi comatose watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Holiday with Chevy Chase. I was a bit shocked that my roughly-20 year old children had never heard of him – such a big name in the 1980s/90s. It’s still as silly as it always was but good for a chuckle.
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The 13 year old was mad at me for not being willing to pay money so he could watch it three days ago!
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Ask the grandparents! They are suckers! At least, they were when I was 13.
On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 6:02 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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He had a little return to fame when he was in the cult hit Community, so actually, you are very cool and hip and in with the cult hit TV shows!
On Sat, Dec 25, 2021 at 4:05 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Of course! Always hip and cool. 😁
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I’m only here to remind everyone of that Christmas Shoes song or whatever it’s called. Don’t know who it’s by either. But if you know what I’m talking about, you know it’s the saddest song EVER.
Currently reading One of Us is Lying. Not very thrilling but it’s a cool mystery. Might start watching the show soon. This is my movie watching winter break, so apart from Atrangi Re for the watchalong, which was excellent, I watched A Christmas Dance Reunion, a cheesy Lifetime Christmas movie which was about as stereotypical as you can get. Those kinds of movies aren’t my thing, but I only watched it for Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman, who were in the HSM movies and they were SO CUTE!
And I literally just got back from Encanto, which was also fabulous and sweet and fun. And the music was great. And it was so PRETTY! Like, the colors and animation were so good, I was amazed.
And here I was thinking I should probably put all this in this week’s Wednesday post. Oops.
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Ugh, Christmas Shoes! After the 20th time I heard it on the Christmas Music Station, I started just giggling which is not the right response.
On Wed, Dec 29, 2021 at 6:55 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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