Hobbit Up!

My family has always been big on escapism to a certain extent.  When I last visited my sister in Austin, it was on the weekend that Wreck-it Ralph opened, and she really wanted me to go see it with her.  I’d forgotten that in childhood my family saw every new Disney movie on the day it premiered.  I went with the babysis to see it and was surprised by how much I enjoyed doing something that I’d willfully separated myself from years before when I left for college. (Truth be told, I might have cried during certain portions of the movie.  Animated flicks about video game characters can do that to you.)

When Babysis visited on Thanksgiving, again she reminded me that our family ALWAYS went to see a movie on Thanksgiving weekend.  I let her pick, and we ended up catching Anna Karenina. My sister was so tickled to continue a family tradition even while being so far from my parents. Both of us drooled over the preview for Les Miserables. (Best musical I’ve ever seen (multiple times) AND one of my favorite books; it’s gonna be hard to mess that one up for me.)

Now I’m normally not a big movie person.  Usually I get bored about 45 minutes in and find myself looking at my watch.  Two exceptions were the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series.  Despite being longer than all get it, when each one ended I found myself thinking, “It’s over already?!?!”  Suffice to say, I am pretty excited that the new Hobbit movie is coming out and seeing three sets of previews at recent movies (why of course I saw the final Twilight, are you kidding me?!?!)  has only made it worse.  I think at each preview I hopped up in my chair and cheered. 

So I was a little sad when I texted my sister about coming to Houston this weekend to catch Hobbit with me, and she replied that she’d be in NYC.

Two days later, a package arrived at my door with a note that said, “I knew I’d be out of town on Hobbit opening weekend, so in advance I made you a Lord of the Rings fun pack to ease the blow. Go grab a few friends and have fun!”

The fun pack was a $30 gift card for candy and popcorn and a limited edition set of 8 Pez dispensers modeled after the LOTR characters.  In a word, it is AWESOME.

Yes, it took me half a second to realize that there was no Eowyn, Galadriel - or Pippin and Merry! – ie, my favorite characters, but how can one complain? I mean, the hobbit character pez dispensers are shorter than the others.  How cute is that?!

I really want to tear them out of the box and play with them, but I’m waiting for Sunday – when three friends are joining me for the fourth and final (even if it was the first book) installment of LOTR. I figure we’ll pass the box around, and each of us will pick our two favorites. (Personally, I’m crossing my fingers that I end up with Gimli the Dwarf.)

The same day the package arrived from my sister, my brother texted me to go to an address located in Houston, saying that there was something waiting for me there.  It turned out to be a wine shop (!) and my present was five bottles of fancy reds.

Now I’m sitting on my couch watching the Director’s cuts of the LOTR trilogy, drinking fancy-pants wine, and fondling the unopened box of Pez dispensers.

Sunday is going to be amazing.