Hey, wanna know what I got for Christmas?

The fucking flu.  Woke up on Christmas Eve feeling that something wasn't quite right, tried to sleep it off, but midway through the festivities, it finally hit.  By midnight I was clocking a 102 degree temperature.  Christmas Day was spent, pretty much in its entirety, on a couch with a heating pad cursing the holidays.  Though I have to admit, the irony involved with me getting sick on Christmas after spending over a month writing about it and adoring it is pretty hilarious.  Anyway, that's why the Advent Calendar didn't wrap up until yesterday, and the flu was probably a big factor in why it wrapped up the way it did.  Meow.  Don't think of it as depressing.  After filming, the whole gang went for cinnamon martinis and made New Year's plans.

X-E blogger Dude McGuy sent word in that Christmas Crunch indeed returned for a 2004 run, and was nice enough to send in a few pictures -- click here and here.  For whatever reason, the stuff hasn't been sold around here for years, hence why I parted ways with a small fortune to obtain a sealed box from '88 for use in this old article.  The 2004 edition looks nice, with holiday shapes, and in a major blessing, the Cap'n didn't get all nondenominational along with the rest of the planet: he still calls it Christmas Crunch.  Remind me next year to bug one of you west coasty people for a box.

Another holiday season has come and gone, and I hope you've enjoyed the measly bits of tribute and coverage I was able to scrap together with the five seconds of free time I have each day.  Granted, it wasn't as much as I would've liked to do, but I did my best, and according to Santa, that counts for something.  Now, as has been a blog tradition over the past few years, here's a rundown of all the wonderful things I got for Christmas this year.  The woman and I spoil each other, and spent the rest of the winter cursing ourselves for blowing our bank accounts.  The grim realizations won't strike till January, so for now, I'm free to enjoy all my new toys without guilt.  Click "more" to see 'em, and feel free to post about your own Christmas hauls in the comments...

A 20 gig iPod, with detachable tuner to play it through speakers/car stereos, and an FM tuner so I can still listen to Stern on the way to work. My commute being akin to four hours worth of medieval torture every weekday of my life, an iPod was direly needed. And it's so cute.

Finally! Got the boxed set of TMNT DVDs -- the new series, so I can stop mouthing off about all the good things I've read about it and forge my own opinion. The three-disc set includes the first twelve episodes, plus four amazingly awesome Ninja Turtle figures. They're about half the size of those Toddler Turtles I reviewed a while back. Totally didn't know about the figures -- great little bonus.

More DVD fun -- another TMNT title, Christmas related, plus the entire first season of The Golden Girls, including the episode where Rose dates a midget, plus the episode where Sophia bitchslaps Parker Lewis' future right hand. Be it a shame best left unconfessed, this is the greatest show in the history of shows.

Pokemon LeafGreen for the GBA. A good seventy hours of Bulba-hunting eye-squinting ball-throwing superfun.

12" Roto-cast "Brain" figure from Gremlins 2. YES. I can't believe I didn't know about this. Brain is just as detailed as his posable action figure counterpart, but three times larger and heavy enough to crack a skull. I guarantee you I will still have this thing bedside when I'm 85. Even if I'm dead.

Oh yeah, it's the Complete Far Side Collection, a massive two book set containing every Far Side toon Larson's ever drawn, including never published rarities. I've wanted this set since it came out over a year ago, and even at the pretty inflated price, it's well worth it. One warning: the books are HEAVY. VERY HEAVY. Unlike most other FS books, these aren't good to curl up in bed with next to a bag of Cheetos.

Clothes, yo.

A gorgeous Gremlins snowglobe, and what's that? Yes indeed, it's a Slimer Headknocker. Both are from NECA, because they rule. Most of the toys featured here come from 'em.

I've been waiting for the new Ghostbusters figures for a while now, and they most certainly did not disappoint. Shown above are my two most wanted, Slimer and Gozer. Slimer glows and comes with assorted food accessories (including a turkey with removable drumsticks -- yes!), while Gozer comes with an alternate head and pair of hands. Unbelievable.

I completely fell off the Star Wars wagon over the past few years, at least in terms of junk collecting. Still, as soon as I saw the Mare Winningham-sized collection of too cute "Galactic Heroes," I was sold. Picked up two sets on Christmas, featuring some of the holy trilogy's top bounty hunters.

Here's one of the bigger items -- a life-sized "Tiffany" doll from Bride of Chucky. Haven't opened her up yet, but according to the box, she talks! I haven't decided what to do with Tiffany yet, but come on...whatever it is, you know it'll be magnificent.

Pretty much the only thing I explicitly asked for this Christmas: the giant NECA Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. It's taken twenty years for us to get a decent Stay Puft figure, or at least one moderately to scale against all of our other toys. Heinz was right -- good things come to those who wait. Ketchup.

One of my brothers is some kind of fucked up scientist who works at a lab on Mars or something. He's worked there for years and years, and during my youth, he'd often bring me home piles of "magnetic marbles" from the lab's gift shop. (yes, the lab has a gift shop) Somehow remembering my eternal love for attracted marbles, he delivered a new batch this year. They're just as great as I remember.

The Encyclopedia of Animals is 67,000,000 pages long. I think I'll be done with it by tomorrow night. I love this book.

Oh, looks like I forgot to take a picture of it, but also in the pile of gifts was a motion activated 18" Michael Myers figure, really high end. Just thought I'd mention it.

Okay, let's wrap this up -- they've re-released several of the vintage 12" Star Wars figures. I of course wanted Boba Fett. It's not a 100% genuine replica of the version sold back in '78 or whatever year it was, but it's close and it'd purdy. Secondly, another Stay Puft appearance, this time in bobblehead form.

Lastly, wine, and cookbooks that often call for wine.

Time to go take more pills and dig my face into a heating pad. Later...