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Advent Calendar: December 20th & 21st!

Another update: Santa Claus has arrived to save the land of Playmobil! I'm outta here, have fun everyone!

UPDATE: I'm going to keep this blog entry up top and active, since there's so many great Christmas stories in the comments section. Feel free to read 'em and add your own. I particularly liked the one about using a car remote to fuck with the neighborhood's Christmas lights...hopefully will have time to read the rest before tonight. I'll make a new entry tomorrow so everyone can compare their holiday loot haul.

Meantime, the Calendar's just about up to date. I've gotta do today's entry before I get going, and we'll wrap it up on Christmas morning. December 22nd's entry includes "Holiday Rice Krispies," an old Christmastime Saturday morning commercial, and a magic wand for two very special animals. For December 23rd, we've got an assortment of holiday sweets from Hostess, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" promo spot, and the beginning of the end for Mare Winningham. I'll make another update when the 24th's entry is up, but if any of you are on your way to wherever you spend the holidays, have a good one!

We're alllmost there! I kept these last two entries pretty short, as the last few and especially the last two are going to be fairly long. December 20th's entry features more Christmas candy, plus that classic CBS "special presentation" bumper that I'm sure some of you will remember. For December 21st, we've got "Winter Lucky Charms" and an old Kodak holiday ad. Of course, both entries include the continuing adventures of our friends from Playmobil. Four more entries to go! I'm doing two more today so we'll be all caught up. Fortunately, I don't have to be at my sister's house for the Christmas Eve Celebrate Good Times Come On till 6 PM tomorrow, and that should give me enough time to complete the saga.

I also wanted to take this time to thank you guys for your continued support of the site -- especially those of you who continually participate in the comments section here on the blog. I don't think it's any secret to longtime readers that I've changed quite a bit in regard to the Internet -- I do what I do, and that's pretty much it. The combination of having done this for so many years mixed with a marked distaste a lot of the time towards "web culture" has made me kinda like a virtual hermit, so this little corner of the site means more to me than it would seem. Frankly, it's been a breath of fresh air to see people willing to participate without a zillion ulterior motives, just for the sake of or enjoyment of it. With the holidays out of the way, it's back to the usual crunch of writing articles again. You know, lots of 'em. That means less playtime, but I'd like to think this part of the site will only grow in the next year. I'm toying with the idea of making comments limited to registered users (or making it an option), if only because it'd let those with an account quickly access their past comments and whatnot. Anyway, that wasn't the point of this paragraph -- I just wanted to wish all you guys a MARY CARSTMARSH, or whatever it is y'all celebrate.

Speaking of articles, I'm very excited about January. Not because of any major projects planned, but because there aren't any projects planned. October was spent on the Halloween Countdown, November was mainly taken up with those massive parade reviews, and you know what I've been doing for December. I'm looking forward to getting back to what the site was built on -- a hodge podge of kiddie culture crap that I and many others share love for. I've got around five or six articles in my head waiting to be written with all the materials right here in front of me, so next month should be fun.

Hey, let's do something interesting with the comments section for this entry. If you've got a Christmas memory, share it with the masses! Whether it's a story about your past celebrations, best or worst presents, or whatever else, feel free to drop a comment. Gimme something to read in-between finishing the calendar, wrapping gifts, and doing the ten trillion other things I gotta do before the 45,000 members of my family congregate to eat calamari and drink themselves stupid tomorrow night.

Posted by Matt on 12/23/2003. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 141 comments
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Woo-Hoo! Happy whatever your having, folks. Just finding this site is a top memory for yours truly. Getting my shout outs early, so make some new tales to tell and I’ll do the same.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 12/23/2003 3:29 PM

Christmas memories? Most I have are excellent, but not that funny. This year I’m gonna spend all day in the pub on Christmas Eve, head home early and try and catch Santa ‘breaking in’, then get up early like a kid on Christmas Morning. I’ve got my Mum and Dad some DVDs and my wee brother some clothes but I’ve also got some daft gifts, too. I got my Dad a 2 foot tall ‘Ace Freely’ from Kiss doll and my wee bro (who is 18, by the way) some GI Joe figures and a ‘Ninja Warrior’ set with nunchakas and stuff – so he can relive his childhood :) Cheers for the Christmas countdown, I may miss the rest of it ‘cos it’s my last day of work – but it’s been all good so far. Merry Christmas, One And All! And A Happy Hogmany, Too!

Chestnuts roasted by Sparky @ 12/23/2003 3:36 PM

Happy Holidays to you too, Matt!! I also just wanted to let you know I read the recent interview with you on UGO.com which was a lot of fun….Christmas memories huh? Well most of them are very happy as well, I remember getting a lot of the toys you’ve reviewed on this site in the past but I think one of my favorite Christmas memories is when I was younger, we used to do the usual leave cookies out for Santa bit, but instead of my parents eating the cookies, they would take bites out of each one and tell us the next morning that Santa got full from all the other cookies he ate at other houses. :) Anyway, Happy New Year and best wishes!!
The loyal reader and resident Tim Curry fan

Chestnuts roasted by Melissa Y. @ 12/23/2003 3:52 PM

One of my buddies got the Cheech bobblehead where he is dressed up in a tu-tu…hahaha that still cracks me up.

Chestnuts roasted by eyeless @ 12/23/2003 3:53 PM

Merry Christmas to you Matt, and everyone that reads these blogs. For my fav x-mas memory, would have to be when i was 7 or so, I recieved one of those GIANT Ninja Turtles (it was Rapheal) (ok well, giant to my 7 yr old eyes) And i played with that hunk of plastic for years to come, even when Ninja Turtles were no longer "cool", or people just got sick of playing with them and watching the slowly declining-in-quality show.(Raphael was my friend:) )
In any case, Ninja Turtles rule all, and I can’t wait to see many an article on them in the New Year (hint hint)
Merry Happy Whatever to you all!

Chestnuts roasted by Xen @ 12/23/2003 3:59 PM

Awww, Matt — didn’t know this section meant so much to you; I’d have posted more often if I did. Well, now I do, so here goes. Happy holidays to you too, pal.

Christmas memories…let’s see. I barely remember what happened three years ago, let alone childhood events, but it’s hard not to remember something when you’ve got a reminder of it staring you in the face all the time. My sister and I were really into ET in the fall of ’88. (I’m not sure why, but it was our first Xmas back in the States after a couple of years in Germany, so maybe E.T. had just gotten big over there? That was the case with Madballs — we got back here and they were all in $1 stores…) Anyway, we really wanted a couple of giant-sized E.T. plushes, and on Xmas day, there, under the tree, we found two of the largest grey bootleg E.T.s you’ve ever seen — the things were almost as tall as we were, and probably would have been if they hadn’t been understuffed so that their necks were limp and their heads hung down to rest on their bellies. We loved them anyway. Then one of us got the bright idea of dressing them, and they were about our size (with much bigger asses, though), so we each got a t-shirt and a pair of underwear — Mickey Mouse for me, probably My Little Pony or Rainbow Brite panties for my sister (hers isn’t staring me in the face right now, which is probably a good thing, since E.T. in panties is a pretty scary thing) — and, with a bit of a struggle, dressed ‘em up good. Flipping through the family photo albums, there’s something kinda weird about seeing us posing together with E.T.s in matching underwear, but anything goes at Xmastime, eh? So that’s mah story. :)

Matt: I’ll send over a pic of mine — look for it. I guarantee that nobody else will send you a picture of a grey limp-necked E.T. who hasn’t changed his underwear in 15 years. Filthy bugger. I love him anyway.

And Merry Platypus, one and all.

Chestnuts roasted by Wes @ 12/23/2003 4:00 PM

Here’s one of my own — can’t recall the exact year, maybe it was ’86. What I wanted most was Coleco’s plush ALF doll. Now, I didn’t want this like I’ve wanted so many other toys…I HAD to have this thing. My mother warned me not to get excited, because it was sold out in all the stores. (and that was a fact — my friends at school wanted one too, but none of us actually had it) So Christmas Eve comes, midnight hits, my family opens up the gifts…no ALF doll. This was the year I got my Inhumanoids Tendril (and also the year my brother got the hugeass Photon set), so I was satisfied enough. The next morning, I wander into our living room and spot — what was it — Christmas presents! Keep in mind, my family always opened all of our gifts on Christmas Eve at midnight. I’d never received anything during the actual Christmas morning. The surprise loot included another Inhumanoids figure (Granok), a couple of other things, and yes…the ALF doll. I couldn’t have been happier, and it was even better than I’d imagined.

Course, later that week I noticed that my brother-in-law also received an ALF doll. (apparently, ALF transcended kiddy toys) Thing was, his could talk. It was a bittersweet victory for me and my non-talking ALF, but I loved him all the same.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 12/23/2003 4:24 PM

Happy Harmonica, Gorilla Grodd bless us one and all. My Holiday memories are all one big green and red blur, the pet rat we had in Hayward, CA climbing the tree, the first Christmas after my sis got out of the hospital after a horrible car wreck, Mazinga, the winter we had a half-centimeter of snow in Oakland, the time my newborn nephew was baby Jesus for the church program, Mazinga, all the Tonka trucks my uncle gave me and my brother, riding said trucks down the stairs, and of course, MAZINGA. Any one who gives me toilet paper will experience a retribution that will be swift, mighty, energon-powered, and clown based.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 12/23/2003 4:25 PM

Well, theres not a whole lot of Christmas memories I can thin of. The year I got the rancor from Star Wars I remember clearly, since that was the day I was introduced to those nylon tie things. I think that same year, my mom was bring out a box of orniments to put up somewhere (on Christmas Eve even), and I reached for one thinking it was an apple, CRASH, thing completely shattered. Oh well, at leeast my hand didn’t bleed.

Um, let see, on eyear I left Santa a beer and ziti instead of milk and cookies, and one year I asked for a hot dog and pizza (and somehow managed to get both (this was back before frozen pizza seemed to be a major food source). Then one year my grandmother almost burned down the house when she threw the wrapping paper into the fireplace. Eeeshh.

And I just wanted to thank you for having that CBS special clip there. I’ve had the audio as an mp3 for a few years now (and it’s set as my Windows start sound), but now it feels more complete. Wheee, yay :)

Chestnuts roasted by Lim @ 12/23/2003 4:33 PM

OK, if everyone is going to share I might as well too. Plus, I’m only too glad to furnish Matt with something to read during these hectic days…this site is a haven during the busy (read: ridiculously boring, monotonous, and SLOW) work week.

OK, back to the matter at hand. Christmas memory. I have no actual memory of this event, but word has it that whatever year the Cabbage Patch dolls were being hunted down like the Holy Grail, I was one little UNinterested little girl. I told my mother in no uncertain terms that I thought they were ugly, mean (how I knew that, I’ll never know), and I definitely did NOT ever want one gracing the house. Apparently, a few days before Christmas that year, I got really sick and had such a high fever that I was delirious. In this delirium, I decided that what I wanted more than anything in this world was a brown-haired Cabbage Patch doll. My mother tried reminding me that I hated them, but hey, I was delirious and for all I know seeing glittery woodland creatures tearing up the living room furniture. Mom, bless her heart, trucked out to Toys ‘R Us and similar stores, stood in the long lines with other crazy parental units, and got me the damned doll. Oh, the lengths she went to to please her daughter! Surely this would be the best Christmas ever??

Nope. My fever broke. I hated the doll. Apparently, I felt bad enough to hold onto it though, because I found it twelve years later when I was packing for college. Ah, memories!

Chestnuts roasted by purplegirl247 @ 12/23/2003 4:33 PM

Merry Christmas. I just found your site about a month ago and needless to say, I’ve spent the last month reading all of your past articles. I am a child of the 80′s as well, so it’s great to relive all of my past memories humorously. Keep up the great work!

Chestnuts roasted by Kris @ 12/23/2003 4:44 PM

Well now I feel loved for posting a few times before! Although I don’t have such extravagant X-Mas stories, but that’s okay…I forgive myself. I just remember getting a few items from various different Christmases. One was a gigantic stuffed Raphael doll. I mean that thing was HUGE. I don’t think there was supposed to be anything you could actually physically DO with the guy, he was just– a massive Raphael, bless his heart. Another year I recall I got a fish tank. Which was…amusing until I managed to kill off the entire tank. Of course it was probably all for the best since I named them all so horribly. See, I used to have this thing where I would name stuffed animals and just animals in general by taking an adjective describing them, and adding a ‘y’ at the end of it. For example, my first goldfish, Orangey. So the fact that my entire tankful of fish died was probably just a mercy killing. Poor Silvery, Gilly, and Mickey. (Umm…can’t explain the Mickey, gotta tell ya. We’ll let that one go.) Oh–and for the grand finale, a present I got from my grandparents last year. A FLASHLIGHT. I mean, they knew I was a night owl…but come ON. Anyway, hopefully that was a slightly entertaining article for at least ONE person. Happy Holidays to everyone! :)

Chestnuts roasted by alice1drland @ 12/23/2003 4:46 PM

Merry Christmas One and All…

My Favorite Christmas memory is of the year my Mom ordered me like a gazillion and three G.I. Joes with all the Flag Point I had collected. It came in the mail and I knew exactly what they were, but as mothers often do, she told me to pay it no mind, that I might see it again around Christmas, and soon there after hid it, where it should have stayed until Christmas morn. Being the young adventurer I was, one day while she was at work I went into her room and scavenged for said bundle of goodies. After many minutes of suffering work I was just about to give up, when I looked up and saw the golden prize sitting on top of a shelf in her closet. I lunged for it, took it down and rattled it just boggling at what heroic Joes and dasterdly Cobras would be contained within. After going through this same process for about three weeks(I believe it was the middle of September when the package first arrived), I decided that my Mom wasn’t that smart and she surely wouldn’t notice if I opened it to see who was inside, so I made a bold move and slowly peeled off the packing tape, trying with all the while not to rip the box and managed to get it open without too much hazard. There were TONS of toys in this little tiny box, all of them in self contained bags with a weapon. It was so cool! Within a few minutes I had all of them out of the bags and a massive battle broke out. I must have played with them for a good hour that day, but before she got home from work, I retaped the box with all the Joes within and put it back in the hiding spot. I got bolder and bolder as time when on. I continually pulled them out and had fights with them, some would come for "sleep overs" and play with my other Joes for the night. Soon I stopped retaping the box. About a month before Christmas I decided that I probably shouldn’t play with them anymore incase my mom decided to wrap them, so I put it back on the shelf and told my friends I would see them in a month. Before long Christmas morning rolled around and I was ready to get my "new" toys. I opened all my gifts but there was nary a Joe to be found. I thought she must have caught on and was tring to punish me, but I wasn’t going to say anything about it, for fear that if I did it, then I would get in trouble. So I said nothing and fretted about it. Minutes turned to days, days to weeks and weeks to about a month, until I got up the courage to go back into my Mom’s room to see if my pals were still there, and lo’ and behold, they were. Since so much time had passed I just took them, threw out the box and put them in with the rest of my Joes, where they remain to this very day. I told my Mom a few years ago this story, and she started laughing. Truth be told, she hadn’t caught on to me scheme and she wasn’t really punishing me, she just plain forgot about the toys. Since I told her the story and of my harrowing adventures, shes made sure to buy me some kind of G.I. Joe every Christmas since.

Chestnuts roasted by Ktotheizzo @ 12/23/2003 4:48 PM

Awesome, Matt. It’s nice to know that someone actually cares about these comments. :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Chestnuts roasted by Paul @ 12/23/2003 4:58 PM

Um ditto the Merrys and all to everyone. Christmas memories…hmmm. I can’t think of much right now except something from a Xmas photo of yore. My sister was opening a present of one of those giant Barbie heads that you fix up the hair and all and my brother is looking at it longingly. That’s one funny photo. Best Christmas gift is probably from the 80′s when each of us kids got a tabletop "arcade" machine…they looked like little arcade games sort of. We had Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and I think it was Galaxian. I remember being thrilled because everyone at school wanted one.
The reindeers are lit up again today. Yay.

Chestnuts roasted by Killer Duck @ 12/23/2003 5:08 PM

Hey Matt, Merry Christmas to you! Always have loved your site!

Being that this is X-E and all, I figure I’d post about my Christmas back in ’85, or maybe it was ’86, when I got the Grubby toy that linked up with Teddy Ruxpin. I was phanatical about that thing back then. Unfortunately, he would only work half the time, and this seemed to be a problem with many Grubbies.

And of course, the following year when I got my beautiful NES, which still sits by my TV for when I feel nostalgic. : )

Chestnuts roasted by Toad64 @ 12/23/2003 5:14 PM

Um, well, Christmas usually passes in a blur for me. I don’t really celebrate it myself, but my family does so I still do the buying present thing. And I end up causing a fuss because I am NOT a morning person and I do NOT want to get up early for presents on the 25th. But I have to because everyone else wants to open stuff, so I end up being pissy till I wake up.

The ones I remember most now are the bad ones ^^;; The one where my entire family had stomach flu and I just remember how we all laid around taking naps on the living room floor Christmas Day. Or the one where I had pinkeye. And Christmas Eve 2001 where my stupid attitudinal little sister threw a fit while I was doing laundry, thinking I was "stealing her socks", and launched beer and marzipan at me. I knocked her around, knives were pulled from the kitchen… and when it was all over we were so relieved that no one was dead we opened all our presents that evening. Yep, that’s Christmas for me. ^_^

But really, my favorite part is probably buying people presents and seeing how they like them.

Chestnuts roasted by Amanda Swiftgold @ 12/23/2003 5:20 PM

Happy Festivs!
I’ve gotten a lot of good gifts over the years. I’m an only child, what can I say they spoiled me. One Christmas probably 89 I got a My Little Pony playset that came with a wagon with 2 wheels missing. I was very upset. Then in March of 1990 I got a new set with a good wagon. Santa made a stop by my house in March. Another memorable Christmas was the Christmas of 1997 when I got a video of a concert I wanted to go to in May.
Matt did you get that e-mail I sent you with my special ornament?

Chestnuts roasted by pikachulover @ 12/23/2003 5:23 PM

mm…hullo! i’ve been reading this site for a couple months, but never posted a comment before..here goes..

anyway, i have a few xmas memories. i’d temporarily lost faith in santa claus one year, on account of him not being in the bible. ‘look! if god created some mighty human being that lasted forever and ever and was magic, it would have to be mentioned in the book!’, i screeched. then when i went around to ask my mother if santa was real, she told me some bullshit excuse about…him being real as long as i believed in him in my heart. well, super. now i had the ability to control the existence of certain humans. ‘i don’t believe in you mum. poosh, you’re gone.’ darn, didn’t work.

so, that year, all i wanted was the quintessential ‘big’ gift of any child’s xmas…the bicycle. well, we were poor. we lived in a nasty little apartment building crawling with ants, in a heavily-minority-filled section of town. the previous year, my xmas gifts had been handed off in a bag to me from a worker in my after-skool program’s "toys for tots" or something or other. in other words, there was a snowball’s chance in hell of me getting this bicycle, i realized. my mother told me that sorry, we’re just too poor this year to buy you one…i was discouraged, but still thought that maybe it was a prank. they HAVE to get me one, or santa has to..one or the other. xmas eve, i told myself that until i fell asleep.

xmas morning, i wake up. all my gifts from ‘santa’ are sitting unwrapped on the la-z-boy, and the two presents from my parents are wrapped right beside them. i look through them all, thank my parents, but can’t control my disappointment. my parents didn’t come through. santa didn’t come through. there is no infallible human being.

then my stepdad stretches out on the loveseat and says, ‘hey, amber, now that you’re done opening presents, go get me a glass of coke.’, and hands me his cup. i pout and reply, ‘isnt that usually mum’s job?’, thankful for all the gifts i did get, but still, needless to say, a bit bitter. so i take his glass, walk into the kitchen–and taking up the entire space on the floor is a brand new blue bicycle.

merry xmas.

Chestnuts roasted by amber @ 12/23/2003 5:27 PM

Mahhhhh MErrrreh xmas to mat and his cats and all xentertaiment readers uhmmmmm that amerbeh chiks storie creeped me out fo sho….

Chestnuts roasted by Colin @ 12/23/2003 5:34 PM

OK i just rembed man THE NINJA TURTLE PIZZA LAUNHCER i got it for xmas one year ok maybe not i know i got the old turtle layer for xmas one year but the pizza launhcer was wayyyyy cooler

it shot plastic pizza looking disks out at high vleocitys propleed by and 9v electric motor

NOW that was cool

dont shoot at animals or people my ass

hey sis look at this

whats that buzzing noise

WAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

blam

Chestnuts roasted by Colin again!!!!!! @ 12/23/2003 5:43 PM

One of my many grandmas (the way we were raised, grandparent’s siblings are also your grandmas and grandpas) always thought mom had three boys, so we spent many an hour trying to find out who the extra kid was. "There’s oldest sister, next oldest, then me, then you. Two girls, two boys, but…. but…. why the extra pair of socks? Ma! What haven’t you told us?" Many years later, we’re still looking, maybe under the sofa cushions…..

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 12/23/2003 6:00 PM

I used to have the pizza launcher! :O

Hmmm…
…
My family used to have this Christmas tape filled with once-in-a-lifetime X-Mas specials and illegally copied Blockbuster tapes. >_> Apparently, I used to watch the video every damn day of the year. My parents tried to hide it from me, but I would always find it. Not surprisingly, it broke after a few years.

On the tape was:
-A Disney video filled with a shitload of holiday themed shorts. We’ve never been able to recover the original tape.
-Disney’s rendition of "A Christmas Carol (thank God it was re-aired on Saturday!)
-Rudolph
-A claymation special that was on CBS. It featured the California Raisins (Raisens?). We never saw that again either…
-First episode of the Simpsons (Reviewed a couple days ago, actually)
-Garfield’s Christmas special
-A Hallmark special about a little girl and a pencil box.

…Dammit, I miss that tape.

Merry Christmas, Matt

Chestnuts roasted by marril159 @ 12/23/2003 6:00 PM

I’ve only got one story to share since, well, it’s the only one I can remember: I’m going to estimate I was about 10 at the time, although I could’ve been a little younger or older. For some reason or another, my dad had an insanely difficult time getting the Christmas tree into the tree stand that year. It was a Sunday evening when he finally got the tree up, telling us it was "good enough." We got it into the house and decorated it, and everything was fine and dandy… until the next day while he was at work, and the damn thing fell over. I’ll never forget coming downstairs and finding the Christmas tree lying on the family room floor. It became a running joke for the next few Christmases to ask my dad if the tree was "good enough."

Chestnuts roasted by Jessica @ 12/23/2003 6:18 PM

My Christmas memory only starts with Christmas… when I got a Teddy Ruxpin. Oh yes, it was sweet. Until one night when I was putting him to bed and somehow accidentally poked his eye into his head. It was the beginning of a lifetime of being unable to watch eye gore in horror movies without remembering Teddy. So when everyone thinks Christmas, think of eye gore.

And for those of us who have to buy our own toys because people insist that we’re "too old to buy toys for", solidarity.

Lastly–Matt, you rock. Thanks for the hilarious memories and the whip-smart, geeky glory that surrounds XE. It makes me so happy.

Merry X-Mas and plenty of candy.

Chestnuts roasted by Orin @ 12/23/2003 6:20 PM

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2003 at 3:25 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.