untold blisses

Last night was the 9th Prince Charles Cinema Pyjama Party, and the theme this time was Christmas films.  I haven’t been to a PJ party for ages, and unfortunately, I appear to be out of practice as I slept through about half of it.  TERRIBLE!  I clearly had not re-read the tips for how to survive.

Tim and I met for dinner beforehand, and we still haven’t managed to figure out what food is good for keeping awake as I dragged him to a carb heavy italian place.  We had food that was either too mushroomy or too peppery, and then rushed over to Cafe Nero for my injection of caffeine.

We made our way to the Prince Charles, fought our way through the crowds when the doors opened and into our favourite seats – score!  The cinema was surprising empty – I thought it would be more popular – but it did mean there was more space to get comfy despite the feet that appeared through the seats next to me.  The temperature was just a little bit too cold, which was perfect for me as it meant I could wrap myself up in my matryoshka doll PJs and Ikea Gurli blanket without getting too overheated.  There’s nothing worse than a warm slumber party.

Quick sidenote – the member of staff playing Father Christmas was hilarious.  He was clearly uncomfortable and a tad embarrassed about being stood on the stage in a costume and kept giggling to himself whilst trying to talk in a Father Christmas deep voice.  He ended his ‘skit’ by saying “I’ve been Santa” which made me laugh a lot.  Oscar for this man!

First up, Scrooged and I had forgotten how funny this film was.  The hysteria normally reserved for 4am had already started for us, particularly when one character yelled “OOO, Claire gurl!” completely out of nowhere.  Bill Murray was acting the crap out of it, and I got giggly thinking about him playing his Bob Harris in Lost in Translation in the same tone as Frank Cross.

Then a brilliant double bill – Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.  I cannot count how many times my brother and I watched these films, and we used to drive our parents mad by constantly quoting it.  Watching it as an adult gave me a different perspective and it made it an incredibly disturbing film to watch.  Joe Pesci has the skin melted off his head.  Twice!  I worried about the risk of infection.  Still hilarious though.  One woman behind us could barely control herself.

And this is when I then fell asleep.  I had agreed to myself that I could have a little nap during National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which by the way is a horrible film.  I thought I’d try watching a bit of it, but the recent troubles on the set of Community have made me rethink Chevy Chase, and scenes like the one with the lingerie sales assistant are just creepy.  So I napped until Elf.

And then I napped during most of Elf.

And then I napped during most of  The Muppet Christmas Carol.

This was not my intention (although Tim rightly pointed out that I was turned sideways to the screen with my head resting on the chair) but I did at least want to enjoy Zooey Deschanel.  Instead, I gave myself a crick in my neck and odd dreams about Muppets.  I did find Michael Caine’s very straight performance in A Christmas Carol very funny (the 20 minutes I actually saw).

And then before I knew it (mainly because of the sleeping), we were turfed out onto the early morning London streets and we both wandered our different ways home.  Husband treated me to a cooked breakfast at our local Harvester (which seemed insanely cheap) and then more sleeping.  Hopefully I’ll be in a decent state to actually make it through work tomorrow.