HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY MIMS!! Christmas in July blog hop and giveaway**

 

Today is a very special day for my very special friend. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMSEY!!

So, to celebrate this very special day with my very special friend, I decided to let him take over the blog. Okay, I'll admit, there was a little blackmail and slight arm twisting involved (the photos are quite scandalous!) but he convinced me in the end.

 

The Mimsey guest post for today in conjunction with the gate keeper, Jay Mims, blog tour for Christmas in July is... Mimsey's five favorite Santas! Get it? Five Santas is his book, so what are his five favorite Santas. Oh nevermind! I'll hand the reigns over to Mr. Mims now. 

Jay: Hello Two-Cents Readers! Ho! Ho! Ho!
Tams: Ho, Ho, Ho indeed!

I’m doing a special Christmas in July tour, and I’m incredibly excited to be able to post on the
blog of my good friend Tam’s Book Blog! In celebration of The Five Santas here’s “Mimsey’s Five Favorite Movie Santas”!

Now, before we begin, I should say I’m sticking only to live action Santa’s and only in movie’s.
I love Rudolph, The Year Without Santa Claus, and Nightmare Before Christmas! And seriously,
The Grinch and that Dog are hilarious. But, I’m just including live-action peeps in this post.

1) David Huddleston from Santa Claus: The Movie.  Let’s go boys!
From the 1985 movie by the same name, this flick is actually one of my favorite holiday films.
The Big Lebowski plays Claus, a woodcutter who, along with his wife Anya, is selected to be
Santa Claus, and bring happiness to children everywhere.

Jay: Santa chooses a forward thinking elf named Patch, played by Dudley Moore. And his amazing hair! Tams: at least he's not drunk!

The villain of the piece is John Lithgow playing, well, John Lithgow. There’s fuschia lollipops,
good and evil toymakers, and a pair of really forgettable kids. But, it’s Huddleston who really
makes you believe in Santa Claus.

Jay: Seriously, John Lithgow turns the evil up to 11 in this flick. Tams: evil, schmevil. You should have seen him in Raising Cain!

 

2) Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street.
The guy just looks like he farts candy canes and poops gum drops.
Gwenn plays Kris Kringle, who through a series of events becomes the official Santa for Macy’s
Department store. He takes it on himself to convince one little girl, Susan, played by Natalie Wood, that Santa Claus is real.

Jay: Psssstt: Natalie Wood is the one on the left.

Now, I do enjoy the remake starring Matilda and the Old Guy from Jurassic Park, but there’s

just something truly special about Gwenn’s performance. The guy just makes me believe he’s

Santa. He’s 100% genuine, loving, and authentic.

I would give this man ALL THE COOKIES! Tams: I'll give you this one, but I'd pay good money to see him poop gum drops!

3) Ed Asner from Elf
He doesn’t like spunk.
The movie is about a lovable Elf named Buddy, played by the quiet and reserved Will Ferrell.
However, Ed Asner just kills it in this flick. He brings the gruff Santa of the claymation Rudolph
movie with the hidden depths of Santa Claus: The Movie.

Jay: That’s the happiest I’ve seen Ed Asner be since he was drunk that time on The Mary Tyler Moore show. Tams: I loved MTM drunk Asner!

Jay: The movie has a lot of heart, some great throwbacks to classic Christmas specials, and it’s probably one of Will Ferrell’s best movies. Tams: ick, I do not like Will Ferrell.

And Zooey Deschanel sings!

4) Tim Allen in The Santa Clause
Arrruuu?

I’ve reviewed this flick elsewhere as part of this blog hop, but one of the really fun things about this movie is how human and flawed Allen’s portrayal of Santa is. He’s a guy who falls into the job, by having the previous Santa fall off his roof, and it’s not something that comes natural for him. Part of the enjoyment of watching this film is seeing The Tool Man slowly grow into the role of Jolly Old St. Nick.

Jay: I can’t stop hearing him do the grunt. I’m sorry.

The movie itself has a lot of flaws, but I still love the ending, have a soft spot for #2, and can at

least appreciate what they were going for in the third film. Tams: I loved how he brought a little bit of Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor to this role.

 

 

Jay: I’m pretty sure I’m getting an Allen Wrench in my stocking this year.

And now my absolute favorite Santa Clause....
5) Douglas Seale from Ernest Saves Christmas
Little known fact, this guy also voiced The Sultan in Aladdin. He is adorable incarnate.

So, I have a confession to make. I genuinely and unironically love Jim Varney’s character Ernest
P. Worrell. I’ve seen all the movies, I love the commercials, I even enjoyed the TV show. And at least once a year, I really look forward to watching this flick. 


I would watch a movie with these two going on a road trip.
A big part of what makes this movie so great is the sincerity and genuine kindness of Seale’s
Santa Claus. The guy isn’t a big old Teddy Bear like Ed Asner or David Huddleston, but he does
have touch’s of Tim Allen’s flawed humanity and the overall adorableness of Edmund Gwenn’s Santa.



The whole movie is about Seale’s Santa getting older, and realizing it’s time to pass the torch.
There’s way more heavy emotion and subtext then a lot of people give this movie credit for.
Santa is starting to lose his memory, and has had to take to writing things down, and more
importantly has to make the hard decision to give up the happiness and joy of quitting the
greatest job ever. And it’s heartbreaking. But at the same time, Santa does go on. And Seale ends
up starting a new life. Because it is okay to let things go, even if you were the absolute best at
what you do.

Jay Mims is a jolly bearded elf in his spare time. He’s trying to convince the three Shetland ponies to pull his sleigh. He sometimes wraps presents with his passive-aggressive Dalek roommate named Steve. He writes books and is far funnier on facebook then in real life. He is terrible at Twitter. His next book "The Gray Ghost Inn" is due out October 15, 2013.  For a regular dose of Mimsey, check out his blog.

If you want to enter a chance to win your own copies of Jay’s books, make sure to enter the

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Stalker links: Goodreads + Facebook + Blogger + Twitter (@JayMimsey)

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