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12/26/2005: The Christmas Fallout, 2005!

Another Christmas has come and gone, and from reading and hearing and spying on everyone else, I think it’s safe to say that the 2005 holiday season was a strange one for most, for all sorts of reasons. Much of my past few days has been spent trying to heal one of our cats who got clawed in the eye by another cat, which then led to the worst experience I’ve ever had at a veterinarian, which then led to feeling guilty all throughout the Christmas celebrations as I had four cats locked in a room at home so the injured cat could have as much room and as much safety as possible while we were out. For the cats in my life, it hasn’t been a particularly merry Christmas.

The big family shindigs were fun, full of liquor and seafood and red sweaters. Now I’m in that post-Christmas lull — I wouldn’t really classify it as the typical post-Christmas depression or anything; I just want to stop the clock for a few weeks so I don’t have to rush right back to reality. It’s too early to focus on real stuff. Just wanna look at all the pretty lights till people stop bothering to plug ‘em in at night. Speaking of which, a few nights back we stopped by a nearby house’s insane Christmas village…

And it was just what the doctor ordered. I’d spent the season too busy to enjoy it, but ten minutes at this place put me right back into the spirit proper. A couple of houses all owned by the same guy were dolled up in every which way, with some of the strangest decorations I’ve ever seen. I have no idea where one could actually purchase most of the stuff on display — some of it was obviously made at home, but other elements seem to have been bought from old traveling carnivals and whatnot. Consisting of three big front lawns and a few side nooks, the junk was just piled left and right without rhyme or reason. It was just so gloriously screwball. Example: They had this huge Disney train full of animatronic characters, and one of the cars had a gigantic, soaking wet stuffed shark on top of it. It wasn’t thematic. The shark was just “there.” Everything was just so random that I’m not even sure how to write anything cohesive about it (I’m trying now and failing), so just check out the gallery below if you want that last minute bit of Christmas cheer before you start making your New Year’s plans.

About to complete the Calendars — come back in a little bit. You won’t see Mare again for heelevahn months, sniff. As is customary in our yearly Christmas Fallout thread, it’s time to see the goods. It’s been a strange Christmas as mentioned, but on the gift side, Santa did not let me down. Check it out…

The Complete Calvin & Hobbes. Oh God yes. And unlike The Far Side’s version, this one is split across three books, meaning they’re a bit slimmer, meaning they can actually be read without the aid of heavy machinery.

Awesome coffee machine that whips up hot cups of you-know-what in thirty seconds flat.

NECA’s Gremlins 2 “Mohawk” figure, which I’ve been waiting to own for at least a year now.

Many sweaters. All are black, mostly black or very close to black. Not pictured: Jeans. They are not black.

Mario Kart DS. Those bus rides into work are going to go a whole lot quicker.

Roaring King Kong plush doll, giant rubber shark and a Star Wars book. I consider these three items my Emergency Fun Kit.

Kickass Diesel watch in uplifting colors.

Electric blanket, because I’m always freezing.

One of my faves — a boxed F13 action figure set including sackhead Jason, Pamela Voorhees and the shrine with Pamela’s rotted head. I love this thing to death.

A book about lobsters, the ol’ disappearing ink gag, and GUMMY BEARS. If this was a perfect world, I’d be starting to read that book right about now and not stopping until there was no more book to be read.

DVDs, though some of the ones shown above were from me to the woman.

A liquor carousel that shifts me into the upper class all by itself.

Cologne, so I can stop smelling like shit.

Dartboard with LCD scoring thing from my godson, Christmas book, cocktails book, Kroft DVD, Mr. Show S3 DVD and a 75.00 gift certificate to my fave local sushi joint.

ELECTRONIC KONG ARMS! OOH OOH AH AHHHHHHHHH

Dancing Slimer, which is the greatest thing anyone has ever made. Must be seen to be believed. I won’t write more about it here — this one deserves its own tribute.

Kids Is Kids VHS, including my favorite Disney cartoons ever.

More clothes, sunglasses, SOCKS.

From me to the woman — box of Gloworm-related things and Fob puppets from Teddy Ruxpin. She was excited. The dolls were dusty.

Set of glasses with alien color stripe powers.

Gift cards to all over the place.

Dunno what this is. The woman “won” it in our family’s big “White Elephant” game. Everyone buys a gift (must cost between 15-20 bucks), everyone draws numbers, everyone picks a gift, everyone has a chance to steal gifts…I don’t know. She “stole” whatever that thing above it from my brother, who ended up going home with some lame blueberry candle. Me? I got a bird.

I got that bird.

Previous Christmas Fallout Threads: 2003! 2004!

Your turn — what’d ya get?

uhuh…in Spain, most of us wait for the Three Wise Kings to bring the loot, so we’ll have to wait to see what this holidays brought…
cool stuff, though i prefer the sweet Thing fists

I got a Tower Records-exclusive Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Captain Sisko action figure dressed in-character from the "Trials and Tribble-ations" episode. And that’s it…

DVD’s: 40 Year Old Virgin Unrated, Sin City Recut, Fantastic 4, and Batman Animated Vol. 2.

Bookshelf
Wireless computer accessories
Gamestop Gift Card
Wal-Mart Gift Card
Money
misc food: Clementines, candy canes, and hot chocolate mix.

what’d ya get?
Resident Evil 4, Animal Crossing, Mk: Deception and Mario Golf for Gamecube, Queens of the Stone Age Live Cd and DVD, all three star wars prequels (early gift as some may remember) and both volumes of the clone wars, Batman Begins, Ghostbusters 1 & 2 like the one shown. No DS No Mario Kart.

I didn’t really get anything but a huge wad of cash. And about a Billion gift cards…..

I ended up with a lot of TV on DVD, a lot of gift cards to spend at Borders, and a bunch of other stuff. The most unexpected thing was this scarf I saw at Marshall Fields that cost about $50, but they had a sale so my Mom bought it for me. The most disappointing gift was another ugly pair of PJ’s from my Grandma. She really needs to stop. Everybody got PJ’s this year.

Thanks, Matt, for all the hard work you put into this Countdown. I was disappointed at first when the first major plotline was resolved so soon, but the rest of it made it awesome. Excellent job. I’m already starting to look forward to next year.

I got a pretty good haul despite the fact half of it I had to shop for myself or knew I was getting.

- Marmalade Boy Scrapbook Volume 1 DVD set (girly anime)
- Muppet Christmas Carol 20th Anniv. DVD
- Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas Special Edition DVD
- He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special DVD
- Garfield Holiday Celebrations DVD
- $20 Hot Topic Gift card (from my brother Chuck)
- Final Fantasy 1&2 for GBA (from Chuck)
- 512MB Flash Drive for to back-up my website (From brother Craig)
- Get-A-Grips (they’re these magical rubber thingies you put over your shoes that make you not slip on ice)
- Fuzzy Socks
- Underwear (my mom always buys me big granny panties. WTF?)
- Falling in Love perfume/lotion/shower gel set
- Falling in Love concentrated perfume solid (I will eternally smell AMAZING!)
- Some expensive $24 leather pill case o.O (from my Aunt)
- Big 100CD/DVD case wallet thing
- A coat. That looks like my trenchcoat only like, not as long.

The best part was seeing how totally surprised and amazed my brother Chuck was when he opened up the Strongbad e-mail DVDs I got him. We sat in the kitchen eating egg and sausage casserole and watching Strongbad Christmas morning. Then I went to my aunt’s house and got drunk. I haven’t really drank much since the freaking cops were waiting outside the club one night and said I couldn’t drive home. @_@

And that is a nice Christmas display but I never understood the relationship the Wizard of Oz has with Christmas. They’re also in the Christmas Story movie, buy why!?

Wow, I’m about to go buy a Lego advent calander just for that Lego Santa. He’s all sorts of kick ass.

I got shafted. I know Christmas isn’t supposed to be all about presents, but I wanted my ‘big gift’! Every year, my dad gets me and the sisters a variety of presents including one ‘big gift’ costing a bit more than the other stuff. This year I got a lot of underwear and socks. Seriously. I mean, I know I hate doing laundry and now I can go several months without running out of clean underwear and socks, but I really wanted an ipod. I got other stuff too, more other stuff than usual. My dad says that’s the reason I didn’t get a ‘big gift’ even though my other three sisters did, but I think it’s really because I quit my RA job causing him to be guilted into paying my rent for an oncampus, non-dormroom apartment.

Hey Matt… why per-chance is it called the "White Elephant" game? We play the same game but sans monicker. I’ve only gotten my presents from the woman’s family so far…

He-Man Season 1; Volume 1 DVD
Best of He-Man DVD
Mario Party 7
Wheel of Time: Book 11
Pariah for PC
Spider-Man Wallet
Retro Coca-Cola Coasters
Playing Cards
Wine Glasses (for both of us)
Wolfgang Puck Pots and Pans Set (for both of us)

The Woman’s family treated me real well, Can’t wait to see what Santa and my family got for me.

I just bought my first house, so I got sponges and scouring pads in my stocking! Most of my gifts were house-related, but I did get a few cool things:

1-Knight Rider Season Two DVD
2-Fantastic Four DVD
3-Red Sox Charlie Brown Giant Pez-Dispenser (plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"!)

Among other knick knacks and paddywacks, I’ll mention the Ducktales DVDs I got. Good stuff. But I think I have some sort of Pavlovian response to the show. I used to watch it when I was getting up for school, around 6am-ish, when I was a wee tot, and now Ducktales makes me sleepy. Howbouthat.

Or maybe the plots of the cartoon were more compelling when I was, you know, over a decade younger. Oh Gizmo duck, in what crevaces do you hide those propellers and satellites?.

Wow, nice haul
I had a star wars themed year, with 2 AMT model kits to go with my collection, they were the Slave One and a speeder bike
-also darth tater and spud trooper potatoe heads. and various other stuff along those lines.
those were the coolest though

Awesome gifts, as always, Matt.

I didn’t know there was such thing as Obsession Night. I will definitely have to smell this … because Ryane + Obsession = Meow.

I got:
1. Prince of Persia 2 and 3 for PS2.
2. Castlevania for DS
3. Animal Crossing for DS
4. Rescue Me Season 1 on DVD
5. Emmit Otter’s Jug Band Christmas on DVD
6. Sony CD/MP3 walkman (I’m all anti-IPod, still)
7. Citrus Obsession Barbie (Yeah I collect them!)
8. Nightmare Before Christmas Musicbox with a spinning Sally inside.
9. a Cloud bursting globe (or whatever it’s called) It’s really awesome looking, and from Bits and Pieces catalog.
10. various gift cards from Target and Suncoast, and some old fashioned money.
11. a booksafe
12. Boring stuff like socks and a new robe.

I got my iPod Nano 2 months ago for an early Christmas present. I got Mario Kart Double Dash (from my wonderful twin brother–thanks Brian!) and In Living Color Season 2 (thanks again, Brian!), Sonic Gems (3 rare Sonic games and 6 Game Gear games on one tiny Game Cube disk), Saturday Night Live the Best of Tom Hanks (watched it today), Christmas ornaments (a ballet dancer, an Angelcheeks Gingerbread man, and a Ty mini ornament bear holding a gingerbread man), the Hallmark Peanuts Snowglobe (I REALLY wanted this!!!!!), several iTunes cards, two sweaters (one from Brian’s girlfriend Amanda and one from the parents), and two button down shirts (from parents), a $25 Best Buy card, a couple of New York and Co. gift cards ($50, $60, and $50–one from boyfriend Steve, one from parents, and one from my aunt and uncle). A xoxo necklace, Name that Tune 80s Edition, a tiny plaque that says "I Love You Just the Way you Are", all from Steve, movie tickets from my brother’s girlfriend, a scrapbook from Steve’s nana, and assorted goodies from Steve’s parents–an Avon snowman soap decanter, Mikasa Christmas present keepsake box (w/$50–cha ching!), handmade Christmas ornaments, Harry and David Candies, and a Santa Bear Bearington Collection item from Steve’s uncle. Their cat "got" me a watch also–a really nice watch with a black leather band.

My mom said she was going to get me DDR Mario Mix but couldn’t find it, so I’m going to use the gift card from Best Buy toward that, plus some of my Christmas money. I’m also getting "SNL’s the Best of Christopher Walken," since my mom planned on getting it and it wasn’t available(Christopher Walken is a personal joke with us–we both love watching him when he hosts SNL).

We tried Jones soda holiday pack also!! I bought two, one for christmas eve (me, Steve, his cousins, and one of his aunts all braved it–we were revolted), and then my family tried it on Christmas day. My cousins, brother, his girlfriend, and my aunt and uncle were having a blast laughing at each other. My cousin Craig and my brother wre placing bets on the Turkey and Gravy one–I spit mine out–once was enough. We had a GREAT Christmas!

Not Matt… but I’ll answer. It’s based on an old story about some Indian Rajah (sp?) who bred rare white elephants. He began give the white elephants out as gifts to people. Now, they’d have to take it. It was a thing of honor, and they didn’t want to piss him off. But, think about it. It was worthless. You’d have to spend your whole life taking care of this huge elephant, building it a home, feeding it, keeping it well, so you wouldn’t let the rajah think you didn’t love his gift. Over time, the term "white elephant’ came to be the name for any gift which is nice, but not of any use. Like (for some) Precious Moments figurines would be a white elephant. You know they’re pricey, and they’re not BAD, like a dollar store pair of lime green socks is bad… but you have no use for it.

Tools yes tools and a tool box and some shocks and new rims and tires from the dad a big "pimpish" coat from teh grandma and a few assorted autozone giftcards and my big big gift from my entire family i wondered why i was being given tools and parts for cars and such a 1977 Datsub B-210 pickup with a mustnag tranny and engine inteh bed so im happy im gonna have a pretty kickin truck and i also liek a ton of cheapo bridgemix from walgreens i did pretty good

I got:
- a Dremel tool (way awesome)
- a Motorola V551 cell phone
- Star Wars III DVD
- the Bret "The Hitman" Hart DVD
- assorted clothes, including a classy housecoat
- gift cerfiticates for book stores

I also got Mario Kart DS, and ended up beating it minutes ago. Freakin’ awesome game.

Also got too many King Kong-related items, a couple Xbox 360 games, Infected for PSP, and (finally), a video-capture card. Now I too can put my old commercials on the PC!

-Jawa Sandcrawler
-Asajj Ventress and General Greivous Maquettes
-C-3PO bust
-Japanese remote control R2-D2 figure
-a guitar (so I can learn to play, it’s a Gibson)
-a graphics tablet for my PC
-a Return of the Jedi shirt
-a TAPS shirt
-pants, and long johns
-the book Wicked, and the book Life Expectancy
-best of Ghost Hunters DVD

Hooray! Someone else with Animal Crossing Wild World. I have had it since the beginning of the month, and am looking for someone to visit when I get my Wi-Fi connector from Nintendo…

I got:
He-Man & She-Ra Xmas special
Socks and underwear
A watch
Cologne
A nice tool kit
And giftcards galore(I AM shopping tommorow).

The best present was a M.A.S.K vol 3 tape that my brother had.(Needs to be on DVD urgently).

The Simpsons seventh season, in the normal, not-hard-to-open box (which as far as I can tell is outselling the Marge head by a wide margin. Every store is now sold out of regular boxes).
Garfield and Friends Volume 5, which completes my set of the series on DVD (see my site for an updated G&F Supapage now).
$25 check
A mug shaped like the Blue M&M (well, I think it’s cool….)

The first gift I’m getting with my plethora of Best Buy gift cards is the He-Man/She-Ra Christmas Special… without a doubt!

On to Halloween now, yes? P.S. cool stuff I got is Mario and Luigi Partners in Time and a second Guitar Hero guitar. I got a lot of candy too so I’m pumped!

Cool Yule as my boy has taken to saying
I got a black shirt, 2 sets of perfume and foo foo stuff from both ex mother in laws. Boondock Saints from the bf. A tin of yu gi oh cards from the kids ( which they promptly distributed after I went though them and stated there was nada in the tin for my deck, lol) A pig animal from my mom and dad, a handheld suduko game from them and a christmas with the chipmunks cd, my tape bit the dust this year. The boyfriends dad even gave me a gift card I was so amazed we hadnt been togethr long enough to warrent family gifts.

I gave the bf a cd he has been looking for Flogging Molly, and we arent even celebrating xmas until january hhis brother was broke so we are throuwing a january thing at thier house with presents more time to shop for the guys.

The best present however goes to My boy Zay who got a Star Wars foosball table from Santa Claus This table is sweet. If I can ever figure this digita;l camera thingy out, lol Ill attempt to post pics if anyone wishes to see.

My favorite gift this year? Six adorable glass Disney Christmas ornaments, all of which are now brightening my tree. My siblings and I usually get two ornaments each from Mom. None of us ever got six at once before. Cool.

Clothing (a red sweater from the parents and two long-sleeved Ts from Grandma)
A huge tin of tea bags from Mom and loose tea from my sister (between the two of them and what I already have, I won’t be needing tea again until sometime in 2012)
The 1951 British "Christmas Carol" on DVD from my brother
A new wall clock from Mom and Dad for my kitchen
A small backpack from Dad
Fiestaware doo-dads from my other sister and her son
A pretty silver heart necklace from Grandma (it’s too big for me to wear and I don’t look good in silver, but I might use it as room decoration)
Watch from Dad
An art-deco-style calender from Mom
A big retro-style Oreo cookie cannister as my win from the "pickle" game (Mom hides a pickle, and whoever finds it gets to pick a present - my brother got first pick, but I got second)
Hairclips and headbands (For some reason, it’s REALLY hard to find just plain old hairclips that aren’t covered with lace or flowers or something)
Blank CDs
Lip gloss
A Barnes and Noble gift card from my sister
Home-made CDs and DVDs from my best friend
A cute teddy bear that smells like cocoa and packages of real cocoa from my other friend
Money from various reletives, including my parents (which means yes, I’m going shopping tomorrow, too, though a lot of that money is going towards my moving in February)

used dreamcast and one of those pez/star wars things from walmart. forgot about those.

-Black and White 2 (BF)
-The Movies (BF)
-World of Warcraft (BF)
-wireless keyboard/mouse (BF)
-Karaoke Revolution Party XBX (BF)
-pink longsleeve shirt & matching hoodie (Mom)
-Fire Emblem (GC) (Dad)
-Robe, slippers, PJs with scotti dogs (Mom)
-More slippers (mom)
-Fruits Basket vol 1 manga (sis in law)
-Chobits shirt (sis in law)
-Def Leppard DVD (other sis in law)
-some kinda pink jacket
-dollar store socks (WTF!)
-a big picture frame thing to hang on the wall
-Super Gals! Ironclad Collection DVD (Mom)

That’s about it. Not bad…alot of stuff from a couple of people but I love the Fruits Basket manga. I read about half of it and its awesome so far.

Matt, I dont know if you go it or not but I sent you an email a little while back to your mattcara@aol.com account.

DVDS: DuckTales Vol. 1, Strong Bad Emails Discs 1-4, Madagascaer (Fullscreen, unforunately)

BOOKS: The Complete Peanuts 1955-1958, Cartoon Cool (a how-to-draw book) Pearls Before Swine:Nighthogs, Get Fuzzy: Say Cheesey, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

OTHER STUFF: Homestar Runner Winter Cap, Homestar Runner "Everybody" Poster, Homestar Runner "Star" Keychain, Homestar Runner Trogdor T-Shirt, Desk Lamp, Spongebob Lunchbox Keychain

Holy Cannoli, Matt!! You got more awesome stuff than I even thought possible. I’m a little jealous. Here’s some of my highlights (including what I bought myself with my Xmas money):
1) Star Wars III (unfortunately fullscreen, not widescreen, but I’ll live)
2) Sin City Recut-Extended-Unrated
3) Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun (CD)
4) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (CD)
5) Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs (CD)

1. Our cat Jedi’s eye was also scratched by one of the other cats.
2. I got the little lady that same Senseo coffee machine. It actually takes 90 seconds to make a cup (if you include heating the water, which you should). False advertising.
3. I got my dad that Lobster book. Ha!

By the way, great Advent/Advert countdown this year. To be honest, I’ve only gotten a quarter through the Advert and halfway through the Advent calandar, but I’ll catch up this week. Oh yeah, and lest we forget the true meaning of Xmas:

Meatwad: "Carl should remember the reason for the season."
Master Shake: "Yeah, the reason for the season… is pleasin’, and I ain’t gotten too much pleasin’!

WHAT I GOT FOR XMAS!
The list:
-Fraggle Rock Season 1 on DVD
-He-Man season 1, vol 1 on DVD
-Dawson’s Creek season 2 on DVD
-Stand By Me Deluxe Edition "
-The Big Chill "
-Harry Potter 4 calendar
-’Salem’s Lot’ by Stephen King (special edition hardcover)
-Simpsons steering wheel cover and floor mats for my car
-Simpsons trivia game
-Marge Simpson mug
-Care Bears snowglobe
-Winnie the Pooh cookie jar
- a Toaster Oven
-Homer Simpson wall clock
-Winnie the Pooh mugs
- much needed DVD tower
-Star Wars collectible popcorn tub
-Chocolates
-Big Shiny Tunes 10 CD
And……….
-SERENITY on DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!(haven’t seen it yet, but I loved "firefly" and saw every episode)
I feel like I was spoiled rotten this year since last Xmas I was in Korea and didn’t get very much in the mail. YAY! Good haul. One of my best years ever.

I got myself The 40-year-old Virgin, the first Mike Judge Beavis & Butthead set(thank God), a couple of cd’s and a huge wad of cash. All in all, a good haul… heh-heh, I rhymed.

i got 30gb ipod, 3 johnny cash boxed sets, final fantasy IV for GBA, a bunch o fmini horror movie action figures, al pacino movie collection, joes apartment dvd, jason x, hamburger hill, a new ps2, a mach 3 turbo razor, alot of candy, new work gloves, grilling utensils, ps2 memory card, alot of hot sauce, snowglobes up the ass since i collect them, madagascar dvd, and like 20 bucks, a beer from my friend, final fantasy anthology for ps1 and legend of dragoon for ps1

This year, my ace present was Shadow of the Colossus. That game is so freakin’ awesome. I also got Haunting Ground, which is far more fan-servicey than I expected. It really makes me feel dirty for playing it. I also got some candy, jerky, nifty headphones and about 300 bucks to buy my own damn presents with. So far, I bought a black Nintendo DS (import), a green decal skin for it (it’s gonna look so cool), a cheapo USB cable for my phone (Hello Magnetman’s theme ringtone), and that’s all for now. I might go out and get a DS game or two, and a case to put it all in, then put the rest of my cash in savings.

Mystie - Seeing as you got Get-A-Grips and Falling in Love, either you or someone who buys gifts for you must be a QVC junkie.

Allison - I asked for DDR Mario Mix for Christmas too, and someone pointed out to me in another thread that you can’t get it. They were right, unless you wanna pay $200 to a private seller on Amazon. Personally, I didn’t.

OK, with that out of the way, here’s my haul. I had a niiice Christmas this year, mostly from the boyfriend and the mom:

-A pretty "platinum tone" bracelet (BF)
-Silver Gamecube controller (BF)
-Gift set of assorted Estee Lauder perfumes (BF)
-The Beatles Greatest Hits 1967-1970 CD (BF)
-Monty Python: Live at City Center CD (BF)
-Small box of Godiva chocolates (BF)
-Travel coffee mug (mom)
-Jump rope - I had asked for fun stuff to exercise with (mom)
-Some underwear and some cute socks (mom)
-Warm cozy PJs (BF)
-Assorted clothes from various people
-Bag for holding makeup (mom)
-Nice RCA headphones (BF)
-A suction-cup dangly thing that looks like an NES controller - click my name to see (BF)
-Hair accessories
-A big suede and leather purse (from my great-aunt)
-Plastic storage containers (mom)
-Assorted costume jewelry (mom and great-aunt)
-Nail polish (mom)
-"Warm Caramel Vanilla" scented candle - I LOVE this scent (mom)
-Handheld Tetris game (mom)
-Calendar with pictures of kittens (mom)
-A nice robe and slippers (BF’s family)
-Chanel gift set (great-aunt)
-"Left Behind: The Movie", given to me by a very religious second-cousin

Since my mom doesn’t have a lot of money for nice presents, and I’m the only child, she often gives me some sort of special family heirloom for Christmas. This time, it was a little antique silver pillbox that belonged to my great-grandmother, who died before I was born.

This was probably the best Christmas I’ve had. Considering you could practically represent the very contents of my soul with the Beatles CD, the Nintendo dangler and the vanilla candle, I’d say my family knows me well.

This amount of presents for me is NOT typical, in case it sounds like I’m spoiled. The BF just got a good paying job about a month ago and was showing off (notice the more expensive gifts were all from him). I don’t know why I felt the need to say that, except that I remember being jealous of people with hauls like this last year when we were flat broke.

Despite being my least favorite Christmas of all time I came out with the best, well most gifts so I guess it balanced out.
- 7” Portable DVD Player
- Red Nintendo DS w/ Mario Kart DS
- Super Mario 64 DS
- Final Fantasy IV Advance
- Thundercats Season 1 Vol. 1
- Queen "Night at the Opera" Remastered
- Queen "News of the World"
- Ultimate Muscle Vol. 9
- Batman "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller
- "Don’t Try This At Home" a book of culinary disasters.
- "Battle" A big ass illustrated book about the history of warfare.
- Gun for the Gamecube
- Cuisinart Mini-Prep Processor

Looks like a great haul!
Pretty easy list for me this year since all of the focus was on da baby.
1. SIMPSONS season 6
2. SIMPSONS season 7
3. Stonecutters Number 1 figure
4. SIMPSONS ONE STEP BEYOND FOREVER book
5. KING KONG collector’s DVD
6. SEINFELD season 5 and 6
7. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE season 1
8. Really cool AMERICAN REVOLUTION DVD’s from the History Channel
9. Darth Vader gumball machine
10. Sasee Tiin and exploding Grievous.
11. Choclate M-Pire figures.
12. U.S. History document book
13. book about some unknown pro wrestler

A pretty sweet Christmas:
1) Several Family Guy DVDs
2) The Karate Kid DVD set
3) Satin and velvet sheets
4) PJ’s
5) Espresso maker
6) Sudoku book
7) A scarf

Adidas pants
9) Candles
10) Excessive amounts of bath and body stuff
11) A lava lamp that gets plugged into a laptop (totally random gift, especially since my laptop has been broken for almost a year)
12) Starbucks giftcard
13) Other stuff I can’t remember

This whole Christmas (or "holiday season" to be PC) went by way too fast. I owe it to not being in college anymore and missing out on the month off to shop and be bored. Aside from making money, full time jobs blow.

Matt - both calenders and the blog were awesome, as usual. Watching old commercials and reading about Lego guys and Playmobil peole hooking up is definitely better than what I’m supposed to be doing at work right now.

"I thought that was called Nasty Christmas?" "Yeah, we call it White Elephant." "Well I call it fun!"
I didn’t really make out with much this year but I had fun buying presents. I got some ca$h from Mom for a laptop and I got a duplicate set of the Lost DVDs from sis which I’m hoping to exchange for the new uncut Sin City. Oh, I also got the new Gabriel Garcia Marquez book from a coworker. I already finished it and it’s incredibly awesome.

Most of my findings are in the last blog, and I’ll post total findings tomorrow.

A new TV (not a great one, but it beat the 15 year old 13" I’ve been watching from when Mario looked like he was made out of legos)
A new DVD Player (really I traded mine for my brothers - he wanted a smaller one, I could use the larger one the bigger one, and I like the look better)
A DVR Box from our Cable Company from my parents (How they did that I don’t know)
iHome Speakers for my iPod
Phillips in-ear Headphones for my iPod
Mario Kart DS
A new vest
$50 for the Apple STore
$30 for the iTunes Store
$25 Generic gift card

The only "Duds" were a too-small sweater and a a wallet (I have a wallet with an imprinted Apple logo… I wouldn’t trade for the world)

Now, for After CHristmas, I’m going to buy myself a good quality Universal remote for all my new electronics and maybe the History of Britian DVD set (I’m been enjoying the Audiobooks throughly lately)

Okay. Deeep breath. Most of the stuff I got I bought myself, and simply hoarded up until the day to make it more interesting. I’m still amazed at the sheer volume of cool toys and neat things I received. We did the rounds of the relatives and got them all done in the one day. And thus:

- Box of chocolates #1; Roses
- Hair tie; black
- Comb; afro style, brown
- MAD magazine; With Batman Begins and ROTS parodies
- Can of chrome spraypaint; Now this should be fun
- Spiffy biohazard symbol necklace; Pewter
- Bag of raspberry drops; Woop, red food colouring
- Badass new sunglasses; Was eyeing ‘em the other day, mother felt generous
- Some exfoliating goop; Gotta have ’some’ body products
- Fossil; Half an ammonite
- Book; The Battle of Evernight. Third in a trilogy it’s taken me years to get through
- $25; Unexpected cheque from the Other Grandmother

- Large box of fruit jellies; Look rather expensive too
- Swanky aftershave; And it actually smells good
- Box of chocolates #2; Belgian ones. Mmm..
- $30

- New watch; All my others ran out of batteries
- Chocolate chess set; I’ll save this to play with my grandfather
- Box of chocolates #3; More Roses!
- Less badass new sunglasses; These ones are blue. I already had blue ones, oh well.
- Some body wash goop; And it doubles as shampoo!
- $60

- This thermos cup thing; For hot drinks on the go. Dunno if I’ll use it, guess you’ve gotta get something random each time.
- CD bag; Holds 24, and was just what I needed.
- Bag of lollies; Party mix. The jetplanes were good for interacting with another present..
- Box of assorted biscuits; Griffins. Yay the wafer things.
- $100

Alright, alright, time for the good stuff. This includes a few things I got a day or so before, as well as things I picked up in the boxing day sales. A warning: this is basically a large mass of Transformers-related jargon, so, y’know, it’s understandable if noone has the faintest clue what I’m going on about:

- Energon Offshoot; A good mold with a better colour scheme than Signal Flare’s. Repaints should improve, this one does.
- Energon Duststorm; A decent mold with a fairly good colour scheme. No better or worse than Wideload, really. Good for continuity with Mudflap, however.
- Energon Inferno; I alrady had Roadblock, and Roadblock’s better. Inferno’s got an ugly head, but some nice paint apps help. He’s alright, not great.

- Universe Triceradon; A mold I love with a great colour scheme. Let down by moldwear and a few absent paint apps, as well as the tampo’d ‘bot symbol.
- Universe Frostbite; Awesome mold, lovely colour scheme, sucky plastic and moldwear.
- Universe G1 Spychanger Optimus Prime; Yay, tracked one down. He’s neat enough, MiniScourge is better, but I needed him for the Convoy Shelf.

- Cybertron LoC Starscream; A much better downsizing than Master Megs, Galaxy Convoy, or Scourge. Very faithful to the original, and very cool.
- Cybertron Thundercracker; Courtesy of a good friend of mine, and a total surprise it was too. He led me to believe I was getting Runabout. Thundercracker’s rather cool, only he BROKE minutes after I’d opened him. I got annoyed and rammed a screw through the offending part, making him functional, if less aerodynamic in jet mode.
- Cybertron Runabout; Screw what the box says, he’s not Runamuck. He is, however, a very cool mold made better. The retooling is great, the head especially, and I love the colours. They stiffened the quick-draw/punching gimmick for no reason, though, which was just bizarre and stupid. Still, great toy.

- Machine Wars Megatron; Love the little flipchanger jets, and this one’s colours aren’t as bad as I’d imagined. Neat one, this

- Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron; I’d wanted him for ages, and he’s a very ambitious design. Not as cool as he could’ve been thanks to jointing problems, but good nontheless.

- Beast Wars 2 Lioconvoy: Korean version, and this particular one’s not so well off on the joints and plastic as other Sonokong offerings. Still, nice load of gimmicks, and a cool design. Just need to track down an original Takara version to properly enjoy him.

- Beast Machines/Robots In Disguise Air Attack Optimus Primal; HE RULES HE RULES HE RULES. He rules he rules he rules he rules. Oh wow, I never expected him to be ‘that’ good. Dragged him around with me on the day, entertaining family with his awesome soundbox. Transformation is way more complex than I expected, and his gimmicks are great. Truly, this is Masterpiece Optimus Primal, and he kicks 20th’s ass. Everyone should own this toy. Seriously. It’s a giant robotic gorilla with a jetpack. And he punches you.

- Complete G1 Shrapnel w/box; Scored it nice and cheap, winner. Love the box, Shrapnel himself is spiffy too. About time my G1 ‘cons had a new recruit. I seem to have been accumulating one boxed G1 figure per year, and I hadn’t this year, so it worked out.
- Reissue C-372 Star Convoy; Mmm, I knew it’d be worth getting a shiny new one. The stickers, the chromed chest star, Micromaster Hot Rodimus.. ‘Still’ an incredible piece of engineering after 15-odd years, and a lovely figure for play or display.

- Alternators Shockblast; Haven’t opened him yet. Yay yay the boxing day 30% off sales.

- Star Wars Transformers General Grievous; Ambitious, this guy is how I imagined SWTFs would be. Quite complex, loads of joints, a bit flimsy and unstable, but an excellent design despite it all. Vader’s the better Star Wars Transformer, Grievous is the more interesting toy. So for those who’ve been skeptical about the whole Star Wars/Transformers thing, they’re not half bad.

Mechanic’s rolling seat with tool tray, 10" dutch oven (to cook stuff in the fireplace), book about old motorcycles, flanel pants, ginger beer, cash, orbital sander (to build the mantle for said fireplace), organizers for tools and fasteners. Didn’t get to see my older brother, though. Maybe next year.

My wife’s family does the white elephant exchange, but it’s at a time when we can’t go. Nice bird, Matt. And your woman got a great hood ornament by the looks of things.

Mars, I picked up the Marge head to accompany my Homer head and thank God I didn’t open the Marge one. Once I saw how truly crappy the Homer box was I immediately ordered the replacement box and I am taking Marge back to the store to get the regular box. I think if the head boxes had an ounce of quality in them, then people wouldn’t mind but I guess we will never know.
Jazzy, what part of Florida are you from?

I think we’ll name the cat ‘Matt’… if not, then one of the murloc mini’s in the boardgame will be gifted with that name.

* $$$
* an awesome leather jacket
* two pairs of sweats
* two of those polo/t-shirt-type things with the buttons but no collar, whatever you call that
* NAMCO Pac-Man Plug & Play TV game
* headphones
* slippers
* a wallet that I desperately needed, as mine was falling apart
* Star Wars poster calendar
* various stocking stuff

the only gift card I got was a McDonald’s Arch Card. which is fine with me, as I prefer cash.

this is probably the leanest xmas I’ve ever had. all I wanted was the clothes and the wallet.

Dragon Quest VIII
X-men Legends II
Scene It
Star Wars Episode III dvd
A hoodie
A simpsons hat
$25
Red Dwarf and Black Adder dvds my friend burnt
A little case that opens up and you can play roulette, craps, or black jack with.

I still have my extended family present exchange tomorrow night, so I’m not done with the presents yet.

Your comment about worst vet experience made me wonder if it was worse than mine. We got a shelter kitten, and she had already been fixed when we got her (rules of the shelter). Maybe a month after that, I wanted to take her to get her shots. We went to the closest vet office, because she wasn’t a good traveler and I wanted to minimize her stress (wrong way to do that!). Should have turned around and walked back out when we walked in and saw a man in scrubs pushing a broom had former gang tattoos all over his hands. You get a lot of that out there in S. California and hadn’t had any problems with any of them before, tho.

I got a little edgy when we went into the office, and same former gang member was the one taking our cat’s rectal temp. Or, attempting to anyway. She got really upset when he did, but I would too if someone was sticking something up my butt, so I thought it was ok. That guy left, and the vet came in. Our little kitten was sitting on the table shivering. The vet pulled her closer to him, and her butt dragged along the table, leaving a trail of blood behind. I asked, quite hysterical at this point "what the hell is THAT?!". The vet got an alcohol swab (and I want to go back and rip a hole in his tender tissues, and wipe HIM with some alcohol, lemme tell you), and wiped her butt area with it, and said as though he was curious rather than concerned "it’s coming from her vagina." Meanwhile our poor little kitten actually SCREAMED when her poor torn personal areas were touched by the alcohol. He had her by the scruff of the neck and called her "bad cat" when she tried to bite and claw him. He got the bleeding stopped, and went to get the needle for her shots as though nothing had happened. Meanwhile my boyfriend and I were standing there in shock, horrified and shaking. I asked the vet why he has someone taking animals’ rectal temperature who clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he tried to say that wasn’t what caused it. I, once again quite hysterical, shouted "well she wasn’t bleeding when we came in here!!!" He continued to try to argue with me about it, I told him to put that needle away because we clearly were not having him touch our cat again, scooped her up, and went to get our paperwork from the front desk (I wasn’t leaving my boyfriend’s SSN and our address and phone # with those idiots). I would have just done that and left, and not said anything to the other people waiting, but that idiot vet actually came over behind the desk, and continued to argue with me, this time trying to tell me that even if his lovely assistant DID stick it in the wrong hole, look, the end of the thermometer is slightly rounded, so clearly it couldn’t cause harm! I shouted at him again, "well, she wasn’t bleeding when she came in here!", turned to the people sitting there, and told them, "I really wouldn’t let this man touch your pets if I were you," and stormed out.

That was our first real pet of our own, and I felt like such an awful kitty momma for letting her get hurt by a complete moron. She still needed to get her shots, tho, and a couple month later after my boyfriend and I were more or less recovered from the trauma (took us a lot longer than it took our kitten, she was over it almost immediately, thank god), we called the shelter we got her from, and asked them who they use. We ended up taking her to the same place she was fixed, and both of the vets there were wonderful. They didn’t take any offense if she tried to bite or claw, and were quite gentle. And, they knew enough to go buy a frikken ear thermometer to minimize stress on the animals.

So, moral of the (sorry so long) story, if you want to find a good vet, who is in it for the love of animals rather than the money (because they usually donate their services), ask your local shelter what vet they use.

jazzy - Yeah, my mom’s a QVC nut. She buys stuff from them all the time. Snow shovels, cookware, make-up… The majority of her Christmas shopping that couldn’t come from QVC got put on a list and handed over to me to get. I’m pretty sure I asked for the entire Philosophy line, but hey, I’ll take just my Falling in Love stuff. It’s the only perfume I’ve ever worn that a guy not only liked, but commented on! And to me everything else just smells like rubbing alcohol and 50-year-old potpourri, anyway.

-Toshiba Satellite Laptop
-iPod Shuffle (from one of my attorneys, as some sort of atonement for making my life hell on a quarterly basis)
-MI-5 Season 1 on DVD
-New set of Tarot cards
-Good socks
-iPod skins
-Various gift cards

It’s kinda hard to ask for too much when you get a new computer. Besides, my neice was born three months premature. She came home on the 19th. That was present enough.

70 bucks toward Guitar Hero. (They couldn’t find it.)
A butter cookie tin.
An official King Kong poster.
Crash: Tag Team racing
The Movies P.C. Game
Atari Flashback 2
A nice sweatshirt/Jacket
Fannnntastic Foouurrrr!! (DVD)
Family Guy mug
Some packs of HeroClix
Two pairs of Jeans
and Peter Jackson’s King Kong Diarieeeeeess!!

Here’s something ironic. Yesterday, I looked all over for Guitar Hero. I found it at a GameStop close by. Since they have a new "tougher box" edition, I had to pay $80, so I traded in a few games, and DVD’s toward the game. When I got home, I found some Christmas presents I didn’t know I had recieved from some freinds. One of them….a $20 gift card for GameStop. Gaahhhh!!

-Dragon Quest 8
-Mario & Luigi 2
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (Xbox)
-Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
-Cannon A520
-Cannon A520 Kit
-512MB SD Card
-Nintendo DS case
-Nintendo DS starter kit
-Nintendo GameCube Gameboy Player
-PS2/Xbox Component Cables
-PS2/GameCube/Xbox System selector
-$200
-A thick Animal book not unlike the one Matt got last year.

Still, Christmas this year seemed "off". My Aunt and Grandfather both couldn’t make it this year, the snow that had been on the ground for literally a full month melted on Christmas Eve (nothing like twenty-something straight days of below-freezing weather followed by a 40+ day with fog covering everything), and even the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book that my dad used to read every Christmas Eve couldn’t be found.

Uh, Matt…you got the electronic Pac Man game too. Don’t forget.
I got almost nothing this year. Poor me.

Nintendo Rehab Center shirt.
A book about SNL.
A really nice throw blanket.
A goofy little plug-n-play TV game with it’s own screen.
Apples.
Oranges.
And another Christmas with the X-E Advent/vert.

Long time reader, first time poster. I got three PS2 games–DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi, Capcom Classics Collection, and Constantine–early from my oldest brother. When I went to my mom’s for Christmas, she gave me a silver Nintendo DS, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Metroid Prime Pinball, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (no offense to mammy, but you can bet this sucker’s getting returned).

Well, I’m glad to hear everyone had such nice Christmases. I’ve completely forgotten about 90% of the things I got, because I’m damn exhausted today after the day off yesterday, so I’ll make an inventory tonight when I get home and post it tomorrow. Because I know you all are waiting with baited breath.

I went after-Christmas shopping yesterday with my mommy and I totally bought eighty gazillion things for next Christmas at the apartment. Meanwhile, I move a week from Friday and have packed 1 box. And that only because I had to in order to rearrange furniture. Guess what I’m doing every night from now on. Guess it’s a good thing I don’t have the Internet at home.

I had a nicer Christmas than I expected…my mother always asks my brother and me for a list, and she never did this year, so I was pretty well convinced we weren’t getting anything beyond, like, candy. I was really depressed on Christmas Eve, not just because of the material things, but because I really wanted to be with my boyfriend (I’ll probably be laughing at that in a month, after living with him for that long) and because it just didn’t feel much like Christmas. My dad was a horrible, miserable bastard for all of last week right until Christmas Day…I know he’s stressed out, but I swear, I’d say boo and he completely flipped out on me. One episode was on Christmas Eve, so I ended up spending the entire rest of the day and all night in my room. But, Christmas Day was nice…everyone liked the stuff that I got them, and I ended up with some pretty nice stuff too. I’m sad that it’s over, though.

MATT! Did you get your stuff from me? I didn’t see it up there in your haul pics, and I just want to make sure it did come, since Amazon doesn’t let you frickin’ track things to a gift registry address, apparently. Which annoys the hell out of me, because they tell you what city it is right on the wish list, and that’s all tracking would tell you. Rawr. I’m gonna email you so you can just reply with "yes" or "no" and I can scream at the appropriate people if necessary.

Again, glad everyone had a good Xmas, especially you Matt! Thanks for another great year, and keep on doin’ what you’re doin’. Thanks to all the bloggers, too, you guys are great. I’ll post my haul tomorrow.

Ok, let’s see…
-New Cell Phone (My first one ever, along with unlimited roaming and downloads…pretty sweet!)
-Hand-Me-Down Computer (Cuz the rest of the family is sick of all the X-E commercials and porn clogging up the laptop…just kidding about the porn…OR AM I???!!!)
-Gift Cards (Of course!)
—$50 at Best Buy
—$30 at FYE
—$10 at Gamestop (Only ten?! what the hell can you buy there for ten bucks? I hope the one I go to has a decent NES section!)
-Misc. clothes and a really nice pair of lether gloves with dead bunny lining (don’t hate me, I didn’t buy em! But they sure are a lot more cozy than my$5 Walmart pieces o’ shit!)
-A Jagermeister gift box (A gift that keeps on giving…me hangovers for the last 2 days.)

That’s about it. I think I’m gonna pick up the DVD box set for Sliders season 1&2 with my Best Buy card. If they don’t have it, then I’ll fill in some holes in my Adult Swim DVD collection (Sealab s.2, Space Ghost v.3, or Harvey Birdman…maybe even Home Movies!)

Anyway, buck up everyone who’s going through the post-Christmas drolls. Don’t worry…New Year’s Eve is less than a week away! Time to get f’ed up and do things you’ll regret for the rest of the year! WooHoo!

P.S. - All of those Christmas decorations pictured are supposed to be on one guy’s set of properties??!! Hmmm…now we all know where Michael Jackson moved to after the verdict!

Hey Matt…you’ve GOT TO tell us where we can all get our own dancing Slimers! OMG, that’s the greatest thing that has ever been and I must have one!!!

James - I see I’m not the only Queen fan around this blog. I think Queen was the only thing missing from my Christmas, but my family can’t keep track of what I have and don’t have so they just avoid that area. (Same reason I don’t buy CDs for the boyfriend, incidentally.)

And I got a surprise late present from my mom today - an Ernie doll! (you know, from Sesame Street). I had asked for one a couple years ago and she couldn’t find me one. Now apparently they’re selling them at Winn Dixie for some reason. Weird.

Jazzy - Yeah I know how big of a pain it is to ask for a CD when you have a bunch already, luckily family and friends ask for either a list or a "What do you want?" while were at some place to buy things from.
Also if you don’t have News of the World you should when you can, its awesome.

Let me try to remember everything we got this year…
From the wife:
*Thinkgeek.com t-shirts(Killer Coding Ninja Monkeys do exist, and Woot!)
*Samurai 7 t-shirt
*2 Freezepop cds(Freezepop Forever and Fancy Ultra Fresh)
*Super Furry Animals cd(Out Spaced: Rarities and B-Sides)
*Nightmare Before Christmas pencil holder(ironically, it’s full of pens now)

From my mom:
*An "evening" including money for dinner, soaps, oils, skin products, etc to pamper one another, new jammies, matching mugs with hot cocoa mix and snacks for movie-watching, all put into a fancy basket.

From the wife’s mom:
*Zoolander and Ghost in the Shell on DVD(GASOLINE FIGHT!)
*4-quart crock pot, stainless steel and shiny

*turtle wax, buffing cloth, and a t-shirt that says "Wax on, Wax off"
*Stocking filled with candy, soaps, toothbrushes, hot wheels, Bath and Body works gift card($20), and $20 cash
*a new wind chime for our patio

From the wife’s father:
*$80, which we spent on Avenger complete collection and Rune Soldier complete collection(both anime series) and lunch

From the wife’s step-grandmother:
*$50 generic giftcard for our local mall, spent mostly on a new pair of pants for each of us

And, just for good measure, what I got for the wife:
*Cinderella dvd
*Domo-kun t-shirt(brown, with silk-screened eyes and mouth)
*Domo-kun and Gorillaz mini-pins(set of 9 and 8, respectively)
*Pink by Victoria Secret
*Lain plush(wearing the bear PJs)
*1st series Super Mario Brothers 8-bit style dioramas(set of 6, from Japan)
*Domo-kun plus(dressed as a Samurai, I’ll be picking the package up from the PO on the way home this afternoon)

Also, we went to the Christmas party at the bowling alley where she works, and it was a pretty kick-ass time. There was a bowling tournament, pool tournament, and bingo, besides a giant pot-luck buffet and all the free bowling and pool you wanted. My team came in second in the bowling tourney(of 7) and first in the pool tourney(again, of 7), and the wife won 2 rounds of Bingo. Add in the employees’ gift exchange and a present from her boss and we left with:
*$10 On the Border giftcard
*$10 Don Pablo’s giftcard
*2 $10 Outback Steakhouse giftcards
*$10 Best Buy giftcard
*$5 in winning lotto scratch-offs

She said I’ll also have a surprise gift on my actual birthday, besides going out to dinner, which is 11 Jan, just a little over 2 weeks from now.

Antenna Villain - don’t look at a gift card as a set price purchase, but rather a springboard into a much larger purchase!

guitar lessons
2 zip-up sweaters
1 striped pullover sweater
sweet socks
express giftcard
best buy giftcard
cash
darth tater
a potato masher (not for mr. darth tater though)
restaurant gift certificates
UNC Tarheels PJ pants
assorted john lennon books
chris ware’s acme novelty collection book (very nice)
simpsons seasons 6 and 7 on dvd
the original king kong on dvd
oil paints
binoculars
mini label maker
boston red sox jersey (#8 for carl yastrzemski)

there was more, it’s just slipping my mind right now. another slow day at work for me obviously

all in all it was a very nice xmas. i was very excited and really enjoyed spending the holiday with the lady friend (seeing her family then mine), and i really liked the gifts i bought for everyone… even if some need a little tweaking now to make just right (i.e. i bought shoes and a little necklace for my gf that she really liked but they don’t quite fit right.) not a huge deal though.

Wow, I’ve sort of been absent for a while, but I guess that’s what happens when you have to work. Well, here goes:

Money (that went to buying a Pocket PC to replace a stolen one)
A Raucher Mann (smoking man, one of the coolest German Christmas traditions)
Pecans to make pecan pie!
Candy
A half day of Snowboarding in Austria
Small stuff (keychain, motor oil t-shirt, ect.)
A Scooby-Doo soccer ornament
Funny one- I told my wife I wanted a toy for Christmas (thinking exotic sports car or some random computer related thing), so she got me a GeoMag building set (basically a cross between K’nex and magnets). Apparently you can do cool things with them…if you buy 10 sets. Not exactly what I wanted or expected, and apparently rather pricey, so I think we’ll take them back and get some kites of a board game instead. (Note to self: Don’t be so undescriptive next Christmas.)

from dad and his wife: a dining room table/chairs, a wall hanging; his wife made me a very interesting necklace, complete with matching "ear chains."

from boyfriend: Office Space "with flair", a talking Kip doll from Napoleon Dynamite, and he is getting me a dresser when i pick one out. not bad considering all i got him was Age of Empires 3 (the plain version), a t-shirt, and some incense. so poor this year…

from boyfriend’s mom: a rug, a book on decorating, and a shop vac for us both.

from the green bay packers: a division championship for the bears. finally! thanks brett!!!! xoxoxo

nothing yet from:
sister 1 and her husband; should be in the mail today. they live in vegas where they have access to nice things. unlike bum-fuck southern wisconsin.

sister 2 and her boyfriend; we talk 3x a day on the phone and live 1/2 hr away from eachother, but havent gotten together yet out of laziness.

mom and her husband and his son: coming down to visit Jan. 8. too much church between now and then.

- Marvel HeroClix Phoenix Giant Figure
- Giant Pocky (Yes, it is giant)
- 2 bottle of melon flavored Ramune (For those who don’t know, Ramune is a Japanese soft drink.)
- Transformers Takara Reissue Blitzwing figure
- Transformers T-Shirt #1 (Three silhouettes of a jet, car and a cassette)
- Transformers T-Shirt #2 (The Church of Optimus Prime, the Matrix of Leadership on the chest.)
- Xavier Institute For Higher Learning T-Shirt
- Radica 20Q
- Ceramic Darth Vader M&M Jar
- America: The Desk Calendar
- $50 (Yay! Cash!)
- $10 Hulk Gift Card to Target
- $10 Snoopy Wal-Mart Gift Card
- Nanase Aikawa Unlimited Single
- Nanase Aikawa Radiance Moon Single
- Nanase Aikawa R.U.O.K.?! Mini-Album
- Office Space: Special Edition DVD
- Rush R30 Deluxe DVD Set
- Star Wars Episode I DVD
- Star Wars Episode II DVD
- 24 Season 4 DVD Box Set
- Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory DVD (Now I have both editions! Whee!)
- Desktop Zen Garden

I might be leaving a few things out, but that was everything off the top of my head. So I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy Festivus. (Been saying that all season. It’s very catchy.)

Son of a bitch, I did forget something. The Sin City Recut DVD Set which is just wonderful!

Didn’t do much for Xmas… had as strange a one as you referred to in your posting too!
But the Advent calendar and the postings really rocked

Brightened up the season quite a bit for me!
Thanks for keeping up what is probably one of the best kept secret guilty pleasures on the web! I’ve got a weekly habit of browsing your website every Friday afternoon for a laugh and some precious memories of the 80s!
Hope you have a great New years night too (and that the cat feels better as well)!
Merry Christmas, Happy New year, and all the best for 2006!

Jazzy, I was on etoys.com today, and they have an email advisory for "DDR Mario Mix," so when they get them in, they can email you to let you know. It’s $49.99 new, and I put my email address in.

I went to Target and Best Buy today, and I swear I don’t think anyone works there (or they’ll help everyone else BUT me–it seems everyone being helped was some buxom blonde girl–excuse me for being brunette with a Velma-like haircut and short), and the customers don’t speak English–I ran into the same family of non-English-speaking Mexicans at every turn. Kids clogged the aisles like artery-blocking plaque–they kept getting on their knees to play demo games. I was so digusted I left, and my dad took me to Target to find "DDR," but the guy told me that alot of people asked for it, they got a shipment in October, it sold on the first day..and no other shipment came.

I also was trying to locate "SNL The Best of Christopher Walken," and came up snake eyes on this purchase as well. Betbuy.com had it for 9.99, so I ordered it. At least one of my after-Christmas presents will be arriving in a few days.

I’m completely addicted to my new games as well. I think I played "Sonic Gems" for 2 hours yesterday. It’s still in my Gamecube so I can play it again when I go upstairs.

I’m finally in the 21st century and now have a photo flip cel phone
(How did I go through so many years without one? That’s the one trend that kind of missed me).

I got a Darth Vader shirt as a gift and bought a discounted Live 8 t-shirt at JC Penny because, I thought I should wear one after sitting through MTV’s 10 or so hours back in July.

I picked up a few Star Wars novels because I already had a few that were smack dab in the middle of a larger story arc.

I bought a copy of Stripes on DVD… just because John Larroquette kicks so much ass as Stillman and extended versions are cool.

I bought the billionth variation of The Emancipation of Mimi. Mariah, it’s a good album but for God’s sake, stop adding on to it!!! You’re becoming Usher 2005.

and the customers don’t speak English–I ran into the same family of non-English-speaking Mexicans at every turn.

I got a hat…and a subscription to the best magazine ever (http://www.makezine.com/). small family.

Sorry about that comment. I’m just not digging crowds. Lots of English speaking people crowding the aisles too. And I’m sure they were completely sick of me…though I was in and out of there quickly.

As you can see, the frustration of crowded stores gets to some. It just seems like the same people (English speaking and non-English speaking people alike) were at every turn I made. Top it off with the fact that I absolutely could not find an item or someone to help me (I’ve been ignored several times @ several stores–I remember asking a sales associate if a pair of sneakers were in stock, the guy said that he would check–I waited 5 minutes and the clerk came out of the back room and helped someone else, while I was standing near by–never even telling me he didn’t find the sneakers. I was angry, and when I tried to get his attention, he just walked away. Nice work).

Having worked in retail/video and game rental and knowing that people don’t appreciate your assistance (I used to ask people if they needed any help and they would shout angrily "WHAT DID YOU SAY?! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" at me, so I was almost tempted to say "I shot your dog…ok?!" I’m very cynical, and being ignored just doesn’t help.

* Seasons 1-3 of the Dukes of Hazzard so I can relive my youth.
* Fry’s Electronics Gift Certificates so I can buy some sweet loot of my choosing.
* Target Gift Card so I can finally get Season 6 of South Park.
* Some new pants so I can appease the woman by not looking like a scruffy individual.
* A can of WD-40 from my brother, since he never returned the can he borrowed from me.
* A gift card to Best Buy also from my brother, since he felt lame about just giving me a can of WD-40
* Cash to spend where I will, which is probably going towards the United Need a New Set of Tires Fund.
* A set of cheap screwdrivers won from the ‘Fruitless Gift Exchange’ that my family has every year.
* A $5 gift card to a coffee shop that will probably be regifted since I hate the place in question but didn’t want to be rude to the customer who gave it to me as a thank you for getting their order done early.
* Season 2 (first half) of Battlestar Galactica so I can feed my addiction.

I wanted the Calvin and Hobbes collection too even if I have all the calvin and hobbes book.. I still wanna have all of em in beautiful glory, ya know?

I got some video games (which, though cool, will never measure up to the new Zelda, which I SHOULD have gotten, thank you very much, Nintendo grinches), a coffee table, snow shoes, pretty house things, chocolate, and other miscellaneous goodies.

I just wanted to post to say "Merry Christmas" to everybody (albeit a little late) and say thanks, Matt, for making this holiday season (my first since discovering x-entertainment) a little more special.

Just a little deviation from the topic at hand–relive some of the best (and worst, and oh my god that’s awful) closing logos from movies and television. No pictures, just good old-fashioned descriptions. Lots of fun to read. There is another site with closing logo jingles, but I can’t recall the link. This website is a complete guilty pleasure of mine.

I think one of the main reasons I checked this out initially earlier this year was to find a logo, but alas, no luck. Maybe someone can help me:

This logo had a bunch of bouncing balloons that were bouncing toward the front of a black screen. The effect is cheesy and superimposed. It has a cheesy tune that plays under the logo, and then, when the balloons bounce to the screen, they stop, and text appears below, I believe in yellow font. Someone told me this was a "Sunbow" logo, but I only remember seeing this on the video of "My Little Pony The Movie." And this was 15-20 years ago!! Does anyone know what this is? It seems non-existant after 1985!

Thank you so much!!!! Wow, I forgot what company that was!!! I didnt favor that logo when I was really young, but I like it now. I remember it as being this creepy music. What the frig is with the music? You notice how this logo doesn’t really show up on many videos.

And in case you’re interested, I just captured it off my copy of Rainbow Brite and the Mighty Monstromurk Menace.

Awesome. do you have a link on your site yet? That would be cool to have on there.

Jazzy, (who is quite popular on this thread I might add)I am a Jacksonville native. Former Westside trash.

Cybertron Transformers:
-Supreme Starscream (freaking huge compared to Voyager Starscream, only avaiable in the 2pack with Vector Prime)
-Megatron
-Optimus Prime (one of the better ones i’ve seen in a long time, Primals included)
-Leobreaker (combines to Prime to Form Savage Claw Mode, it looks like it really fits well)
-Crumplezone

other stuff:
-$50 gift certificate to Target (2 $25 ones)
-BODman Bodyspray
-sample size of AXE body spray
-Poker gift pack of TAG body spray (wtf…?)
-tin box of Simpsons card game (regular card games)
-a framed certificate about where my name comes from
-a watch
-the 2005 Hess Truck
DVDs:
-Garfield Holiday Celebrations
-Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol 4
-Family Guy Vol 3
-Seinfeld Season 4
-Simpsons Season 7-Marge Head Box

The Namco Arcade Plug It In & Play TV Games thing
A Star Wars Chewie Mug
An Ernie Pez Dispenser (my favorite Sesame Street character)
TF Cybertron’s Dark Scorponok
TF Energon’s Alpha Quintesson
Spider-Man Digi-Draw
Spider-Man Mega Blocks thing
Money money money!

Tons of DVD season sets like… Garfield and Friends 1-4, South Park 3-6, Kung Fu 3, Ren and Stimpy 1-3, Ducktales, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, Alf 2, Home Movies 1-2, Futurama 1-4, Batman 3, and Spiderman 67 Collection… And Muppet movies. Santa rocked my ass this year. Plus a new accordion and a Chromonica… (Little Debbie Christmas Trees) Woo!

I was gonna use my now usual Zidek, but seeing as there is a ZiZak, I’ll just use my real name. Anyway, I’m late as hell, but here’s what I got.

Clothes:
-Orangeish shirt with "The amazing Mr. Couch-Potato Head" wrote on it with a picture of a Mr. Potato Head looking guy setting on a couch. From my uncle.
-Black Shirt with "Explore Uranus" on it with a monkey in a space suit, same uncle gave me this.

Other:
-DVD Player from my girlfriend, mine broke a few years ago, and I’ve been using my computer to watch DVD’s ever since.
-A really cheap AV selector from Mom
-A really crappy book "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: WORK", I think my mom’s boyfriend’s mom hates me.

I didn’t get that big of a haul this year, and it’s all because I had to have a new computer in early November. I also kept telling my girlfriend I wanted some Transformers, but she didn’t get me any.

Kids is Kids… is that the one that’s just all Donald and kids cartoons? I know I have something like that taped off Wonderful World of Disney from back in the day with Professor Von Drake all like, observing them and shit. I’m guessing Disney can’t get away with the cartoon of Donald forcing Huey, Duey, and Luey to smoke cigars anymore. You know what I always wondered? If Huey, Duey, and Luey call both Donald and Scrooge "uncle" …. does that mean Donald and Scrooge are brothers?

Got one more little gift today, my old net buddy Cristi sent me a $10 Hot Topic card. W00t w00t. I should get me some new bondage pants. I also didn’t mention that I sent a nice little bundle over to Toys for Tots this year. I hope they went to someone very grateful to have them. I’m a sucker for doing stuff for others. This summer I lost a foot of hair to Locks of Love. ^_^;;

Also, thaty "Air Attack Primal" is nothing more than a recoled Optimal Optimus from the Beast Wars line. Yes, It’s awesome and one of the biggest post-G1/2 figures to date. I have him too but I don’t know where he went

Speaking of which, the Cybertron Optimus has a removable Matrix of Leadership, so you can re-enact his death scene from the movie anytime you want (or if you’re like me and missed out on getting 20th Optimus)

-Evac (the helicopter who holds the Earth Cyber Planet Key. VERY Cool Robot mode to go with the helicopter mode)
-Scourge (the kickass ruler of Jungle Planet. again, missed out several times just to find him on sale)
-Sideways (another awesome looking one. Almost like his Armada counterpart, his Cyberkey changes the insignia on his right arm, as well as revealing spikes)
-Override (The transsexual champion of Speed Planet. Was gonna buy him/her then missed it, then found him/her for $5 at my local Waldbaums! Going back for it tomorrow)
-Mudflap (awesome looking giant Hood & Ladder truck. Also a traitor according to the cartoon, went from Autobot to Decepticon because he didn’t like humans)
-Oh just about every other Wave2/wave3 figure cause I was saving up

"-Sideways (another awesome looking one. Almost like his Armada counterpart, his Cyberkey changes the insignia on his right arm, as well as revealing spikes)"

I’d really laugh if he was just a big wine truck from Napa Valley and came with a certificate for a free Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church mini-figures. Ahhh, sophisticated comedy.

Good load this year matt.
as for me I got some goods
DVD: sin city director cut, Seinfeld 5 & 6, Miami vice 2, Charlie & the factory,
Cds: Blackcrows greatest, Iron & wine, Cutless, Switchfoot, 3rd day
I also got Johnny Cash’s autobiography, 90 bucks in gift cards and money, which puts me 10 dollars off of my target to get the hitchcock collection.
I got some nice clothes and slippers and what not.
the less good stuff… well I got one of those atari plug and play games (don’t get me wrong they are cool but…I all ready had this one. Infact my mom bought it for me last year and got it for me again this year) the just bad stuff was the dog in santa’s sac,(much like billy bass however this is a dogs ass sticking out of santa’s bag and when you pres the button his tail wags and what is suppose to be his head in the bag moves around as the dog whines about how there is no present for him. The other thing is a stocking stuffer in the form of a little book called wacky wild cartoon animals for kids. It’s a poor man’s Far Side. that’s fine and good and I wouldn’t have a problem with it if not for the FOR KIDS right on the cover. I’m 26 years old and my aunt sees a book with big bold letters spelling out FOR KIDS and thinks of me. I’m just not sure how to take it.

As for my woman, her b/day was the previous month and I got her one of those cd/record players so christmas was all about buying her records and she got alot of them. I also got her the King Kong collection (the one with the mini vintage movie posters and such), creature from the black lagoon poster, and an edgar allen poe action figure.

"A Christmas Story."
Perhaps the greatest 1940’s era Christmas movie ever made…

Airplane!: Don’t Call Me Shirley Edition
Edward Scissorhands Tin SE
X-Files Season 1
Danger Mouse seasons 1-4
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends seasons 1-3
(that’s a lot of moose and squirrel)
Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive
Doctor Who: The Pyramids of Mars
INXS - Live Baby Live (DVD)

Oh noes, the bold monster has struck again. Matt’ll have to fix it, because I don’t think it’ll work if we do. I tried, though, so we’ll see.

Jenny, you got some awesome stuff! I’d die for Weird Tales…the boyfriend was going to buy it for me, but I set a $50 limit for our Xmas spending so he didn’t. Someday, it will be mine. And I need to get Rock and Roll High School on DVD, too. Do you know where the person who got it for you found it?

All right, so I know you were all waiting impatiently to see my haul, so here goes:
- 2 pink sweaters (1 from my grandmother, 1 from my aunt)
- Set of silver earrings (from my brother)
- Red Ramones shirt (from my parents; I could never find one I liked and I love this one!)
- Pair of jeans (from my parents)
- Big fleece blanket with snowflakes on it (from my aunt as an apartment-warming gift)
- My Little Pony stickers (from an editor at work)