Christmas Comes to Briar Chapel: The Moral Example of the South Bend Shovel Slayer

December 2, 2019

WHEN: 12/02/2019
QIC: Bump Draft
PAX: Ice, GTL, Duplo, Petri, Skynyrd, Rambler, Paper Jam, Splashback, Cricket, Grunge (Respect), Brotox, Zook, Chum

To inspire the PAX, I dressed up like Ole Man Marley–more popularly known as the South Bend Shovel Slayer from Home Alone. In honor of Roberts Blossom’s acting career, which included the original Home Alone, along with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Escape from Alcatraz, we performed 87 warm-up repetitions (he died at age 87). 
Warm-up: 40 SSH, 20 arm circles, 20 merkins, 7 sit ups
Main Event: 
Holiday rules were in effect: 10 merkins at all decorated home with lights on; 10 merkins for anyone that responds to Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc.; 15 burpees if the PAX failed to greet early morning walkers, joggers, etc. 
Holiday rules side event: 10 bicep curls at one well-decorated and lit house; I believe the PAX performed a total of 40-50 merkins, as we received at least four return greetings. At one point, three ladies responded to Happy Holidays and we did 30 merkins as we returned to the AO.
No PAX could match Cricket’s cheery Merry Christmas. 
The Main Course
The Pax retrieved bricks from the cherished brick pile. 
1. 10 Manmakers in honor of John Hughes (director Home Alone, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, etc) who has been deceased 10 years

2. We then ran to the park where we completed 77 merkins (on bricks) to commemorate the release of White Christmas in 1942 (77 years ago).

3. 49 seated overhead presses to remember the years between the original release of The Bishop’s Wife and its remake The Preacher’s Wife.

4. 66 Bicep curls to celebrate the life of Tim Allen, the star of three Santa Clause movies (age 66)

5. 42 tricep extensions (the distance between Chapel Hill and Butterball’s headquarters in Garner)

6. 106 chest presses (the first mail order fruitcake debuted in 1913)

6.   69 rear delt butterflies (the number of pages of the current edition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

7. 40 overhead claps (should have been more to the tune my favorite version of A Christmas Carol (1938), but time ran out)  in the pee shed
Mary: 30 Princess Kate’s (Crickett’s cadence)

End of the Main Event
Announcements: Cricket mentioned the F3 Briar Chapel Christmas Party on December 22. There is a current 12 Days of Christmas Rucking Event posted on Slack where a patch can be earned for completion. You may want to contact Rambler for further details.
The Message: Today is the second day of advent. This is a season of hope, expectation, and redemption. In this way, it reflects the change of Ole Man Marley from the beginning of Home Alone to the reunification with his son by the conclusion of the film.