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12/03/2006: Christmas Crunch is mine all mine.

The Advent Calendar has been updated for December 3rd, 2006, complete with tiny box of Hostess snack cakes.

Speaking of goat meat, after a near decade-long drought in this area, I've finally, finally, finally found a new box of Christmas Crunch cereal. I spent many years falsely believing that the stuff had been discontinued, when in fact, it was always more of a case of my local grocers being unapologetically unChristmassy and not asking Quaker to send them any. That's still the case around these parts, actually. I had to drive all the way to a pharmacy in Jersey, one that lives under the pretense that its two aisles worth of edibles make it double as a supermarket, to find it. Worth it? YES.

Internet hunting has clued me in on what Christmas Crunch boxes have looked like from year to year. I'll always remember the nigh-original box as the most iconic, but really, not much has changed — it's just gotten gaudier, and that's always welcome around the holidays. The bright green box again features Cap'n Crunch in his Santa garb, along with a slew of green graphics, Christmas lights and funny ornaments. You barely need to decorate the house with a box of this stuff around.

The Christmas Crunch of old consisted of regular Cap'n Crunch cereal mixed with red and green Crunchberries, and the formula hasn't changed too much — just that the usually roundish Crunchberry shapes have been replaced with hot holiday shapes; namely, Santa caps, Christmas trees, stars and snowmen. They're easier to decipher on the box than in the bowl, something attributed not so much to breakage than to the fact that…well, they just don't really look like those things. Close enough.

I eat cereal dry, like a hamster, because I hate milk, like a straightedge Alien Nation dude. I'm pretty indifferent to the normal Cap'n Crunch cereal bits, and find myself cherry-picking anything that's red and green, treating them like sugary power-ups that fill my soul with more and more holiday spirit upon every swallow. Good stuff.

By the way, if you doubt the power of Christmas Crunch, know this: I opened the box in the presence of my sister's two girls, who absolutely could not believe that "Christmas had a cereal." They also cherry-picked the red and green bits.

The back of the box features a cutout ornament — at least, I'm pretty sure it's an ornament. You're supposed to cut it out, insert your picture and loop a string through the top. That sounds like an ornament to me. There's also the usual gamut of on-package puzzle games, so you have something to do while eating breakfast besides chew.

Belive it or not we don't have ANY kind of Cap'n'crunch here in Denmark, much less a Christmas kind…

my freaking brother finished off my box that i bought. i'm going to freaking kill him.

Do you think that's the Cap'n's real beard? I mean, we all know he can grow a 'stache. Not sure if those whiskers are glued on, though.

I was eating cocoa puffs just now as I opened X-E. They now seem nearly bland by comparison. I guess ill be grocery store hunting tonight after I get out of work. Its december and I should only be consuming christmas themed foods. Which narrows me down to christmas crunch, little debbie christmas tree cakes, and candy. Which is a okay with me!

Now that I think about it…I wonder if target has Sna-King christmas shaped tortilla chips.

IM GONNA CRY!!
ive searched high and low for christmas crunch, no dice, dammit dammmit DAMMIT!!
and for those of you who dig psychobilly and xmas tunes you should check out the reverand horton heat's "we three kings" greeeeat album, all the classics are on it.

Well, I'm off to pick up my batch (that is, if I can find it). Glad your girls liked it.

Oh fuck yes. Hey, how many of y'all like eggnog? Either alcoholic or non. From experience, it seems like people either love or hate the stuff. I fall under the former category, but would be interested to see how other XE'ers feel.

JoshC -
Rev. Horton Heat is ridiculous. I saw him back in september. Its on my blog somewhere. Ill permalink it later when I'm not on my sidekick. Have you listened to Brian Setzers christmas albums?

And while working at the record store the other day I found the Twisted Sister christmas album. I'm afraid to open it.

It's nice to know that there's Christmas Crunch this year. I might look for it at the local Food-4-Less.

eddie LF: I LOOOOVE IT! seriously, i can drink 2-3 cartons of eggnog a day, actually, i think i have.
Brian: Ive heard a few of setzers xmas songs but not any full albums, i believe i shall pick one up this week, and as for the twisted sister album, i love their original 80's stuff, but a T.S. xmas album>?! you're right to be afraid!!!!

I am not a huge fan of eggnog, but I might warm up to it this year, because my sister says it tastes better cold and I only remember having it lukewarm. Just this morning I had an eggnog milkshake from Jack in the Box , which I kinda liked. At one point, though, it didn't taste that much different from their pumpkin pie shakes, although I kinda like those too. That's a good idea for a survey topic: name your favorite Christmas novelty food/beverage. For me, food would probably be Christmas Crunch; beverage, a Jack-In-the-Box pumpkin pie milkshake.

o yea! i just went out and got my christmas tree today, its freakin awesome.and matt…come on matt…milk is the drink of the gods wat is wrong with u?

Eddie Lightning Frog-
Egg Nog? Definately. But I think they offer it too early now. Like, Halloween's barely here and the stores are already pushing the stuff. Its good, but you tend to get sick of it after a while. I'll probably lay off it until later in the month, since I drank it all November.

Brian-
I read about that album. I wouldn't think it would be too bad. I own Chicago's christmas album. Its decent, but you'd have to be a fan. Though their rendition of Christmas Time is Here is great, but I think it'd be almost impossible to ruin that song.

and, Hoverbored-
"Eggnog milkshake?" Sounds pretty delicious, but we don't have Jack-In-The-Box in Canada. Pffh.

Matt, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only guy in the world that likes their cereal dry and crunchy.

You needs your milk and stuff. Makes bones strong or something. I mix mines with Orange soda. Creamsicle delight, baby.

Now I want Cocoa Pebbles again. Thanks alot. Eggnog: Thumbs Up, especially the less dense "Party Nog."

*sig* I know I bring this up every year, but but articles like this never fial to remind me of the one year that CHristmas Crunch cam with an additional little box shrinkwrapped to the original. It was a gift from the Cap'n. It was nothing more than a small package of red and green Rain-Blo gumballs, and a set of stickers/advent calendar (and a coupon for Rain-Blo and Cap'n Crunch), but it was still something to semi-satisfy me just 2 days before Christmas.

The story is that my Grandma was watching my brother and I that day, and as soon as we got there, the two boxes were sitting there. Basically, enjoying the gift from Cap'n, eating his cereal, watching the Christmas episodes of Disney Afternoon, and nagging my Grandma to let me open at least one gift (a request that she did not oblige). Yep, good times.

also i've noticed a lot of stores don't keep the christmas crunch with the regualr cereal, it's off in some bumblefuck area that i usually never venture to (same for the holiday oreos)!

Congratulations on a job well done.
It has never been a problem down here. I am on my 2nd box this season.
ENJOY!

Do you think that's the Cap'n's real beard? I mean, we all know he can grow a 'stache. Not sure if those whiskers are glued on, though.

I'm pretty sure it's a holiday beard grown entirely for his almost 2 month stint as the Christmas Crunch Cap'n. After all…we know the cap'n really can make it happen. Er, well..I suppose it's hap'n.

I love eggnog..it is like my egg and nutmeg flavoured crack..and that ain't not bad!

anywho, all the Christmas Crunch talk made me think, why not check ebay for the heck of it, low and behold, theres actually 2 unopened boxes of the stuff on there….from the mid-90's. lol

its so very tempting, but at the same time, its christmas-shopping time and ive already spent enough money on crap for myself. guess i'll have to miss out on the 10 year old cereal goodness

Sorry guys, but I have to say it: Hate the 'nog. Cannot even stomach the smell, to be honest. I haven't tried it since I was a kid, and I have no intention of altering that state of being.

I did once get into a food fight at the Dairy Queen I worked at. I managed to hose a co-worker with egg nog goo that we used to put in the egg nog shakes/blizzards. It was indeed glorious, I got her right in the face.

Eddie Lightning Frog: I LOVE egg nog! I'm making egg nog pancakes for Christmas breakfast this year. (I also love Goblin Nog at Halloween, but I didn't see any this year.)

Marc Summers just reviewed the Jones Holiday Pack on Unwrapped. My question is… do you actually *drink* the fruitcake soda? or do you just pass it around year after year? or use it as a doorstop?

/eggnog pancakes sure would be a nice break away from the usual "christmas beatings"
//I kid, I kid…they aren't so much beatings are they are birthday beatings…on Jesus' behalf
///:D

Only thing I can't figure out… what kind of syrup to serve? I don't like syrup on pancakes but my friends/family do.

I find the alcohol in egg nogg helps the millions of cuts in the Christmas Crunch left in my soft pallet heal that much faster.

Yet another Congo reference in the latest installment of the advent calendar….bravo, Matt!

I went Christmas Crunch hunting yesterday but came up empty handed here in CNY. I will find you Christmas Crunch!

I'll drink a half-glass of eggnog if its really cold. I can't stand it otherwise.

I like eating sugary cereals dry, but the occassional times I buy Crunchberries I do like to have at least one bowl with milk, if I have the time to eat it before everything is half-mush. Then I eat the rest dry.

Right now, I am loving the StarBucks Peppermint Mochas- holy shit, they are sinfully delicious.

Matt made me want to eat some cereal, so I am off to the cupboard for some apple cinnamon Cheerios. Oh oh oh Cheerios!

Eggnog and Christmas Crunch: 2 of my favorite things about Christmas. Unfortunately, it's 3 days into December already and I have yet to buy any. I have been searching Louisiana ruthlessly for Christmas Crunch and I can't find any. I usually eat at least 6 boxes of the stuff during the month of December.

Love the 'nog. Cannot afford the 'nog at the moment. Even the generic grocery store brand is just too much.

I was wondering when Matt was going to get to Christmas Crunch. I've seen Christmas Crunch sold in a couple of different stores here in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area since Halloween, including the one where I work. While I'm glad to see it for nostalgia's (and X-E's) sake, I doubt I'll be picking it up any time soon. I'm not a big fan of Captain Crunch in any color.

Oh, and I usualy prefer milk with my cereal, but I will snack on dry cereal when there's nothing else around.

As for the Advent Calender, who is Tigerboy? Could poor Knacks finally have a friend? Oh, and I agree with Mare. I don't care if Kuse is jealous or not, that owl IS cute!

I know I've seen Christmas Crunch at my local KMart, and I must admit- I'm curious to know what it would taste like with egg nog… It's either going to be Christmas concentrate or at least a festive ipecac.
I regret missing out on Count Chocula before Halloween, so I'm looking forward to this.

Also of trivial interest- I too exclusively once ate my cereal dry, but my tastes have since matured, and I once had a roommate who could do a killer impression of Capin' Crunch, but it only sounded convincing when using the word "Crunchberries!"

Just bought some fresh egg nog last night. It definitely tastes better when it's ice cold. I've also found that a pinch of Nestle Quick powder makes it taste phenomenal.

We Three Kings by The Reverend Horton Heat is what I beleive to be the best Christmas album EVER made. Check out the Rev's website, We Three Kings is only $10 bucks, its worth at least twice as much!!!! OR check out the Rev on all those music downloading sites out there, that everyone else seems to use besides me…lol.

Sorry for the double post, but for any surf guitar fans, check out The Los Straight Jackets Christmas album, its so cool and suave and retro sounding!

I don't know what it is but the sound of crunching and chewing cereal drives me crazy. I can only imagine what racket no milked Captain Crunch makes. I think this spawned from when I was a kid listening to my Dad eat soggy Wheaties and hearing his teeth clack together. It was so annoying I swear I almost punched my own face. I am seeking help for this so no worries.

Hi, quick question. My sister wants to know the name of the Christmas special that featured an ainmated Fred Astaire and was the story of Santa Claus'life. I figured someone on here must know. Thanks a lot.

You know I didn't notice that the box of Ding Dongs wasn't normal size until someone pointed it out. So, take my assertion that Mother Winningham looks like she's the same size as MegaMare with a grain of salt.

Never mind, I just saw an ad for the Christmas special we were thinking of. "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town". Thanks anyway.

Thomas, I think its "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town." Yes, yes it is. I think it's on this week on ABC Family, in fact.

I'll say it again: "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town" is my favorite R-B "Big 4" toon.

If you still want a Playmobil Advent calendar, I found a ton of em in Target! Oh, holy Target, so much better and less evil-looking than Wal-Mart. I saw an open one and…Wow, those figures are small! The pics make these guys look gigantic! But I did get a little spoiler alert, and the last gift is a doozy…

Rev Horton Heat & Brian Setzer are awesome. I'd add a few of their Xmas songs to the new jukebox in a second!

Sorry to double post, but clicking my name will smother any thought that the new "Year Withour A Santa Claus" will be decent…They've made it terrible WITH the Miser Bros! I didn't think it was possible!

A little bit of egg nog is good for cooling off your hot chocolate… I call it Hot Nogolate. Or sometimes Hot Choconog.

I just now read the Advent Calendar… I literally held my breath thinking Mare was going to tell Kuse she was pregnant! HAHAHA!

To those who might think that the new "Year Without A Santa Claus" might be any good…click my name.

Dear G-D…I said before that the Misers saved "Year without A Santa Claus," but they managed to make it bad just with them!

You know, I've only ever seen Year Without A Santa Claus once in my life and I still remember exactly how Heat Miser's song goes.

At any rate, it's great to see Christmas Crunch back. I was a big Cap'n Crunch fiend growing up and it's kinda heartwarming in a way to see it's still around.

I was really glad to see the Dec. 4th entry up this morning, so I could read it before work. How did Mare know about her Ma?? Hmmmm. Exciting stuff! Also, is Tigerboy some kind of Xmas angel?

I suspect Tigerboy is someone from a past Advent Calendar, although, if I'm right, I don't want to spoil anything Matt might have planned.

I hope Mother Winningham starts f*cking some sh*t up. I need me some evil. My black, heartless existence is screaming for it.

I bought a 4-foot tall inflatable snowman for my front lawn and named him Mista Snowman. My sister wanted to know why and I just laughed coyly.

I love the Cap'n and his crunch. I just a little food shopping yesterday, but I didn't venture down the cereal isle. I always venture down the cereal isle.

Now that a furry has entered the mix, I feel that this year's Advent calendar is going to be the best one.

F'n big brother here at my office has blocked myspace! Bad enough they got Youtube but now mysace too??? What the F am I supposed to do? WORK? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I got a Wii!! Yay. My mom did the unthinkable and gave me a credit card and told me if I wanted to go stand in line for one I could, because she sure wasn't. We stood outside in the cold for an hour before Target opened, and we got the fourth of six Wii's there. Yay.

I never have been a huge Captain Crunch fan. But anything dressed up as Santa deserves attention. Today (which is my bd) we finally got enough snow to cover the ground. I am so stoked. It has been the best present so far.

The 1988 Christmas orniment that came with the original Christmas Crunch is hanging on my parents tree. I can't believe they've kept it for 18 years.

If they have a Marc's I will definately buy it…Do any other cereals have Christmas themes?

I can't believe Chritmas is upon us once again. As usual, the Advent Calendar kicks ass! Keep up the good work!

Where did that mini box of Ding Dongs come from? Plus, what was glued to the plate. Looked like a Whopper. That's cool.

I LOVE EGGNOG! I've already drank two cartons of it this season. Emeril has also making some on his show, but really, who makes their own eggnog? Can't wait to get more.

Haven't spotted Christmas Crunch yet (of course, I haven't actively looked for it), but my Wal-Mart still sells boxes of Franken and Booberry, along with Count Chocula.

Anyone seen the trailer for the remake of Black Christmas? That would make a good Christmas article on Christmas horror films (Silent Night Deadly Nights, Jack Frosts, Santa Slays, Black Christmas, that Tales from the Crypt episode killer Santa episode, etc.)

Muppet Baby, now you've given me a craving for a grande Gingerbread Latte. I swear to God that there is liquid crack in that drink.

Boston's got tonnes of eggnog in the supermarkets. Seems like each of the local milk vendors has their own, plus national dairies, and even Southern Comfort n/a eggnog (exercise in futility?). Eggnog on Christmas Crunch may just be the greatest in-theory idea I've ever heard.

Speaking of sweet stuff, I found the Jones soda dessert 5-pack while searching the local Tar-Jay. Can't wait to try them. Mmm. Pie sodas.

Jeff, my sister and I always fight over who gets to hang up that Captain Crunch ornament. I wonder how many others have survived over the years.

I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one who only eats cereal dry. Milk is gross.

I don't really like tigers, and therefore I'm really not liking this Tigerboy. I hope he gets shot in the woods.

Have you milk-haters tried Skim Milk? Whole, 2%, and 1% aren't exactly palatable to me either. But skim milk is the ambrosia of the gods. Less nasty "glops" when you pour it. And it's pretty thin overall. Good times.

The nuts are still burning, the New Miser Bros. are bizzzarrre enough to warrant the extra letters, and TigerBoy reminds me of a Golden Age Comic character. New Miser Bros sounds like a DS game I'd find at a flea market. December is off to a great start.

I'm really not a fan of the Nog at all. I have, however, discovered that it makes an excellent substitute for milk or cream in coffee. I ran out last week and all we had was Egg Nog. It didn't really flavor my coffee much, and I only had to use a tiny bit. Christmas Crunch on the other hand….yum! I haven't seen it here yet. I'll have to look harder.

i said i didn't eat my cereal with milk, but i didn't say i didn't like milk. i'm actually a dairy product fiend, but for some reason i cannot stand soggy cereal. 1% is where it's at.

Happy birthday kb!
I still have a bottle of nog flavored Coffee-mate sitting in the fridge that I'm scared to try…I've been looking for Christmas Crunch but haven't found it. Did find Peeps Trees, which are also still unafraid of rocking the "Christmas" label.

Damn this site! I saw Christmas Crunch yesterday, and was so close to buying it. Even though years of cereal experience tell me that eating it will have the exact same effect on my mouth and Christmas spirit as eating a bowl full of pulverized tree ornaments. Luckily, i was able to escape sans Crunch.

You got me with the product endorsement. I read this artical yesterday and bought a box of christmas crunch last night. I am now enjoying my first delicious bowl, ah it takes me back.

i have not seen the new cereal, that which i desire, around, and therefore, feel "deprived". at a loss, etc.
but anyways. ummm…. what happened thats cool…. i bought (at least) a few hot wheels cars be4 my wife wrecked her nissan altima, (she was ok, the car was absolutely not), which caused me to lose the xmas present money-units to get the car towed to her apartment, from the place of the incident. great fun, although, i thank goodness that she's okay, and that she ain't in jail and didn't lose her licesnse, and all that stuff, …. and… and …. i guess the care is a big fat base of the Christmas spirit unit, after all. peace and love units.-

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