The X-Entertainment Blog

11/10/2007: Egg Nog from a Moose Mug. YES.

In case you missed it, X-E Advent Calendar alum “Waiterbot” has taken his act to YouTube in a new series of video blogs. Volume 1 includes his thoughts on the secularization of Christmas, while Volume 2 is in response to the pitiful amount of feedback he received on Volume 1.

Couldn’t stop myself from picking up a carton of Southern Comfort’s eggnog, partly because it included a recipe to use the titular liquor instead of the more traditional brandy. I tried alcoholic eggnog for the first time last Christmas, with brandy, and was surprised to find that I’d wasted so many years of being of legal drinking age under the false assumption that eggnog is disgusting. It’s not! It’s good! I’m weird when it comes to any variety of dairy liquid, but eggnog is proof that enough sugar can kill any bad feelings.

The brandy, on the other hand, was a tougher sell. I’m more experienced with SoCo, as it’s one of the typical liquors for people who can’t drink like real men. Though the thought of Southern Comfort in eggnog didn’t sound too copasetic at first, I’m happy to report that the end result is perfectly edible.

I’ve spent the past fifteen years really, really wanting to like eggnog, for a reason detailed in this ancient X-E article. Beyond the super fast snow sleds and sassy squirrels that helped make National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation one of my favorite holiday movies ever, there was something else: Moose mugs.

At various points in the film, the characters ladle into a gigantic bowl full of eggnog, carefully pouring the pancake mix into the most beautiful, absurd and wonderful glass moose mugs I’ve ever laid eyes on. These mugs were positively mesmerizing, and I spent years trying to find them, refusing the accept that they were mere movie props unavailable to the unwashed masses.

The movie review I wrote back in 2000 got a surprising amount of traction, and weeks after it was published, I got an e-mail from the guy who runs Canadian Moose — a site that sells laboriously well-produced replicas of the holy mugs seen in Christmas Vacation. After several years of e-mail tag, he sent me a pair and helped me complete the most important mission of my entire life.

Beautiful, ain’t she? The mugs are really expensive, but totally worth the money in every way possible. Though several other companies have since debuted their own version of the moose mug, these are so much nicer and definitely more true to the film. With large antler handles and cute moosey facial features, I’m not ashamed to admit that they’re on constant display atop the little glass shelf beside my television, only being used as actual glassware when eggnog is in season. Which, fortunately, is right now.

Adding SoCo instead of brandy didn’t make much of a difference, because eggnog is such an enveloping force that I’m pretty sure you could add petroleum without altering the flavor much. Sprinkle on a little cinnamon or nutmeg, and you’ve got yourself the only drink in the entire world deserving of being sipped out of a priceless Christmas Vacation moose mug.

If you feel like giving the Southern Comfort version a whirl, it’s pretty simple: Four parts eggnog for every one part SoCo.

It’s pretty incredible that we can now purchase the moose mugs from Christmas Vacation, the leg lamp from A Christmas Story, AND the sad little tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Now if only Waldbaum’s would start stocking the Grinch’s six-legged racks of lamb in the meat section, we’d be totally and forever set.

Happy SNT!

Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Christmas Vacation Is probably my all time favorite holiday movie!Cat food jello, “It’s best to let him finish”, The whole lights on the house contest …spectacular I laugh everytime I see it. I covet your Moose mugs.

Those are pretty rad. I mean, I own a collection of the Target $1 the Office mugs…but a moose mug that I could drink while watching Chevy Chase staple christmas lights to his room and plug it in with the holiest of prowess….that..is a world I want to live in.

You picture of the mug needs some Santa Snow…you know…On the trees and wood railing. Just cover your whole yard in it.

I always wrote off the Moose Mug as a tip of the hat to the original National Lampoons Vacation, the Marty Moose theme park.

Wait wait wait. Let me get this straight. Theyâ€™ve been selling replica moose mugs for seven years and Iâ€™m only just now learning of them!?

If you’ve never had it, I’m going to go with “thick vanilla milkshake” as the closest approximate flavor. Keep in mind, I don’t like milkshakes, and if I did, vanilla certainly wouldn’t be the first flavor on my list. Still, I am comfortable with this comparison.

Also: While garnish may be optional with most cocktails, I cannot possibly imagine skipping the cinnamon/nutmeg dust in a glass of nog. So, if you’re going to try it, make sure you have one of those two things.

Today I picked up Sam Adams’ holiday variety pack. I loves me Sam Adams’ holiday variety pack.

Good god thats a nice moose mug!
Whats up with TBS not playing the grinch where I live?? same story with the wizard of oz last night.
Anywhoooo.. Happy EssENnnTeee All.
Seein as how I have to miss The Grinch, Im gonna pop in my copy of charlie browns christmas and cry just a little because I dont have a moose mug..

My dad still mixes his eggnog with, no joke, illegally made moonshine he gets from a friend in the Tennessee mountains. It’s one Christmas tradition our family has kept intact over the years

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had eggnog…and now, I absolutely cannot touch anything containing dairy. I guess I’ll have to find other means of getting wasted this holiday season. =/

That sounds pretty amazing, actually. I may show up at your house come Christmas.

Jeff Mack, how is the Cranberry Lambic in that pack? Seeing it always puts me off buying the pack because I know it’s the only beer my dad couldn’t finish a bottle of and he’s a pretty hard-core beer fan. I’ve not heard anyone elses opinion on it, though.

Karen: Tbe Cranberry Lambic is better than the Cherry Wheat, but still obviously the worst of the bunch. Knocks the grade down to a respectable A-.

Haven’t been here since last year this time, but re-discovered the site again (I always get nostalgia for childhood stuff around this time of year, reacquaint myself with X-E, and then life sidetracks me again).

I love eggnog, but not if I can taste the liquor. I grew up with the nonalcoholic store-bought stuff, and that’s still my favorite. And the version that I got out of a Little House on the Prairie cookbook when I was 8, that was pretty good. Except when my mom freaked out because of the raw eggs.

I’m having problems with YouTube - for some reason, it just does not record my feedback, even though I’m logged in…

Anytime Matt, anytime…plus when company comes over he likes to “entertain’ by singing Christmas songs, none of which he actually knows the lyrics to.

Anyone have any good advice to shake a cold quickly? I had this “ick” sneak up on me last night and I don’t want it to ruin my long weekend. I think I’m gonna go curl up with some green tea and a movie then check back later….

Oh man! Tell Waiterbot his VLOGs are awesome! (Maybe I should sign up at the YouTube?)

Those moose mugs are pretty amazing- way out of my price range, but boy do they look pretty.
I spent all my cash on Jones Soda this week, so…

Shuanfu: I find that the quickest way to eradicate a cold is to embrace it. Grab the blanket, a portable heater, a great DVD and some soup, and sprawl across the nearest couch. By the time you start to actually enjoy being sick, it will go away. You’ll wish it didn’t, but at least you’ll be well again.

I usually make eggnog without liquor for the kiddies, but I don’t know if that’s safe (with raw eggs). I’ve heard that the liquor counters that somehow… is there any truth to this?

Hmmm… It appears that in the film they use frosted glass for that slightly more elegant look on their mugs. Your’s are pretty, but not quite Griswoldian. Also, Christmas boozing is the best time of year for inventive, fun drinks, nog and whiskey, hot cider and whiskey, hot red wine with brown sugar and cinnamon, all spectacular.

Not really helpful to you, but my vote for the most annoying cold remedy commercial has to be the one where the guy gets his face coughed into on a subway, and yells “NOOO!!” Don’t remember what the product is, but it was supposed to brace your immune system.

Hmm…maybe…though probably not in any foolproof way. I’ve heard of people downing hard liquor when they think they may have eaten semi-sketchy meat/fish.

This is bad and I will probably get in trouble for this but my girlfriend thinks Elf is better than Christmas Vacation. We were in public when she said it too. I had to march her out of the grocery store by her elbow like a teacher escorting a kid to the Principal’s office. Ok that didn’t happen, but I was thinking it.
She also thinks Sammy Hagar was better than David Lee Roth in Van Halen. We don’t talk about that anymore.

Speaking of National Lampoon movies, anyone else ever seen “Dorm Daze”? I belong to Netflix, and as a perk of my membership, in addition to my DVDs by mail, I get 17 hours a month of instant online streaming video - anyway, I was surfing the online titles, and I thought I’d check it out, being it was a National Lampoon production… It truly was a waste of 80+ minutes.

Yeah, that’s kind of what I figured. And for the record, I wasn’t planning on putting liquor in it for the kids… also for the record they’re not my kids, I don’t gots ‘em.

I usually don’t buy store eggnog because I don’t like the “bubble gum” flavor it always seems to have. I usually just make mine with a lot of cream and pumpkin spice so it’s more like an egg shake.

Jim
I haven’t seen the original but I did have the misfortune of watching Dorm Daze 2 (also on Netflix). My brain is still tring to recover from the sheer horror of how bad that movie was.

Matt thank you for this. I’ve had a pretty crappy day and this has brightened my mood somewhat. I was going to watch some crappy cable, but I think I might watch a Christmas movie instead. I look forward to many more Christmas themed blogs/articles over the next month. Who knows, I might even try some egg nog.

Cotter: If you buy your eggnog from the store, it’s already been pasteurized, and there’s no risk of salmonella. If you’re planning to make your own, make sure you heat the eggs to 160 degrees during the mixing process to destroy any salmonella. Some of the more traditional eggnog recipes don’t include this step, and these are definitely not safe for children.

You’re correct in assuming that strong liquor will kill off salmonella, which is why many people don’t bother heating the eggs if they’re going to booze it up anyway.

iAMYou: Nah. Wouldn’t call them practical, but they’re functional. What’s cool is that you can’t fit a ton of liquid in the cup, meaning that I don’t have to fool myself into believing that I like eggnog more than I really do.

Eggnog=Liquid Gold. While I like and respect peppermint’s role in this holiday, I would gladly trade all the mint in the world for more eggnog-flavored items. Especially ice cream.

To me, you are simply spoiling the flavor of eggnog by adding things like liquor to eggnog. Cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and nutmeg are my only acceptable add-ons.

Make sure you add the milk to the eggs before heating them, or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs… not necessarily a bad thing, but that’s probably not what you’re going for; if you don’t already know how to coddle eggs, google it first.

Sammy Hagar better than David Lee Roth? I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Reminds me of the time I had to stop being friends with someone because they told me they liked scrappy-doo.

So the Moose Mug holds very little egg nog… I think I could handle that. Especially now that I know the antlers aren’t likely to get stuck in my nose nostril.

Turkey Hill makes a great Pumpkin Pie ice cream, so I am sure they make a good Egg Nog ice cream too. Don’t know if Turkey Hill is available nationwide, or only in the Mid-Atlantic, as it’s a Pennsylvania company.

Sammy better than David Lee Roth. Is this where I reassert my preference for the Prequels?

I JUST MISSED THE KATANA IN SILENT HILL 3

It is the universe telling me to play 1 and 2. Seriously.

I’m ready for Christmas now, and I haven’t even listened to All I Want for Christmas is You.

Not that this has much relevance, but I just saw on “the news” Jones Soda just announced that they will have a Ham flavored soda in their new Holiday packs.

We’re drinking eggnog now? FUCK, I just got Sierra Mist cranberry. Did I miss the memo?

I am FLOORED that there are people out there that have not tried eggnog. How is this possible in the english speaking world? When I was a kid it was such a big part of the holidays. But then so was lefse and pickled herring.
Just last night I tried Eggnog with Baily’s, which was great, but it needed ice. We didn’t have ice. Maybe I am just weird, but I couldn’t drink it without the ice. But now I have a near full bottle of Baily’s hanging out on my counter top and I am wondering if the stuff needs to be refrigerated…any help?
Happy SNT people.

Have I already asserted that It’s Christmas All Over Again is the GREATEST CHRISTMAS SONG EVER?

It’s one of those songs that doesn’t hit you over the head with a club. It sneaks up on you. You hear it playing in the mall when you’re shopping, and on the radio. It’s just so comfortable and known, and it’s rockin’ to boot.

Never had Alcoholic nog before, love the regular though.
Stumbled across this whilst youtubing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSmbr66SzNo
1982 Disney christmas special.
kb: ive never refrigerated bailys and ive never had any problems with it.

I actually need to ease into the post-We’en season little by little. I shall go home, recieve limited exposure to a holiday special, then listen to a Frank Zappa track or two, another Thanksgiving/Xmas treatment, eat a pizza, and so forth. When Black Friday comes, I’m gonna stand right by the door, and watch the harried shoppers as they rush into the store.

Speaking of liqueurs you only see at the holiday season, has anyone ever tried Harvey’s Bristol Cream? I remember always hearing its commercial jingle around the holidays - “I’ll have a shot of Harvey’s, Harvey’s Bristol Creeaaam!”

I’ve already blew my christmas this year. The only gift I have a chance of getting is from one low dollar gift exchange, which of course means something I wouldn’t have actually bought on my own but technically just did.

Matt
I was scrolling thru the songs on the X-mas juke box and can’t believe you have “Christmas at Ground Zero” by Weird Al and not “The Night Santa Went Crazy”

Oh yeah man I have off this Black Friday and I think there’s still a good $500 open on my Best Buy credit card. My cat is on my lap trying to gnaw my hands as I type this.

Mystie, I also have the cranberry mist and no eggnog so dont feel to left out. hopefully everyone is enjoying the grinch by now. i know in this area the wizard of oz is being played after that. i wish i had some roast beast though.

I’m always surprised by the fact that the grinch is only a half hour long. It seems so epic.

The last time i watched the grinch i got wasted to help keep me happy and not crying about childhood being gone, but it made things WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY worse and i cried like a baby. also, since i was drunk the movie seemed like it was 3 hours long.

geeeez. 95 USD be steep for dem mugs. they look cool though. ive tried alcoholic eggnog only with jack daniels, and it was pretty good. i think i like it normal better, though.

I don’t know what it is but just watching The Grinch on TV puts me in the spirit. If only the commercials were more like this.

The Grinch always pute me in the spirit too. I’m craving a glass of egg nog and some warm Christmas sugar cookies now.

I just watched the Grinch today too, and in the morning I finished my first carton of Eggnog, and I need more PRONTO.

kb: I can honestly say that I’ve never been able to keep Baileys around the house long enough for refrigeration to become an issue. I’m usually a one-drink sort of fellow, but I’m a fiend for Baileys coffee. It is so delicious.

My eggnog consumption will be limited this year - I’m trying to cut down on junk food, and that stuff has enough fat for a month. I’ll be heavy on the apple cider this year.

JoshC and Bill Thanks guys. I should venture away from my usual drinks so I can learn these things. The Baily’s was a gift I have never actually bought it on my own
PS Trading Places is on Comedy Central

I’ve never had eggnog in my entire twenty years of life, with or without alcohol. Last year over Christmas break my mom informed me that eggnog is basically liquid cake, and since then I’ve wanted to try it. Thing is, my family is pretty serious about keeping traditions, and eggnog isn’t one of them. (My sister almost killed somebody when my aunt suggested having Christmas at her house instead of my grandmothers - blasphemy!!)

Anywho, maybe if I’m not out of money or too lazy I’ll pick up a carton. Is SoCo the Ferrari, Mercedes, Cadillac, Toyota, Ford, or Geo of eggnog?
(My philosophy on trying new foods is to shoot for the middle in quality. If it’s bad, then I’ll never want it again (e.g. my roommate’s A1 steak sushi) and if it’s the best, nothing will seem to come close and I’ll be dissatisfied with it for the rest of my life.)

(My sister almost killed somebody when my aunt suggested having Christmas at her house instead of my grandmothers - blasphemy!!)

I understand that sentiment. Once my Grandmother dies, Christmas dies. I seriously will opt out of it.

I don’t believe you have to refrig it. I never have ALTHOUGH it’s better cold for things like eggnog.

I always stayed away from it because of the ‘egg’ factor of it (use to hate eggs) but I tried it in university with Baileys… Loved it.

You know whats better than Bailey’s in Eggnog? Khaluha! It’s like a thick brown cow lol. If you chill the Khaluha prior it’s even better and of course over ice with the eggnog.

We have TBS here (now Peachtree tv?) from Atlanta but it wasn’t playing Grinch.. I had the wife and kids all excited and then couldn’t find it :(.. oh well it will be on here eventually.

ugh sorry or the DP
I don’t believe you have to refrig it. .. i meant the Baileys

Happy SNT! It snowed in my neck of the woods today (Halifax, NS). Iâ€™m ready to start feeling the Xmas Spirit now :) Will have to make it a point to hit the grocery store tomorrow for some sacred Baxters Eggnog. Iâ€™m sure it would taste much better in one of those moose mugs.

I couldn’t quite bring myself to watch the Grinch yet. I have it on an old tape of several Christmas specials, including among other things two Charlie Browns, Rudolph, and Garfield, complete with commercials from about 1992. I adore that tape, but it just felt too early to bring it out.

I did, however, watch Eight Crazy Nights and have a nice cup of cocoa. I had no marshmallows so I added a cinnamon stick instead, and it turned out so much more delicious than I ever expected.

Uhh, I’m off to bad start:
1. I have never had ALCOHOLIC egg nog.
2. I have never seen CHRISTMAS VACATION. I put it on the NETFLIX right now.

I have had quite the X-E day. We went to TARGET and they have some new STAR WARS Christmas stuff this year. A Darth Vader snow globe with a nice and naughty list, Madball stickers, and then we went to MICHAEL’S. So, the official store of X-E and the nemesis store of X-E (or something like that).

I hereby award you the ability to say the same to me at any point you feel that I have missed out on something horribly essential to the examined (and ergo worthwhile) life.

Wow. Better hope “Christmas Vacation” shows up in your mail soon, ’cause that one’s sort of a necessity.

I mean, I even saw it with my Dad, and my Dad tried to shield me me from all Christmas-related entertainment until I was 12.

As for using RAW eggs, NOT recommended to drink unpasturized egg products. Now, a lot of eggs these days are not bacteria ridden, handling and food quality standards have improved some over the years, but there are still a lot of dirty people who dont really care about you getting your eggs from the farm to the store. do you REALLY want to take the chance? I’ve worked in the food industry for some 20 years now and have seen things that would make your brains explode going on in restaurants, food delivery companies, warehouses and the such. You only have to heat it to 165 for a minimum of 15 seconds to remove the chance of bacteria, dont think the liquor will kill everything. Your egg nog wont taste any worse if its been pasturized, and you wont risk 3-7 days of projectile vomiting and 105 degree fevers. I am VERY leery of holiday get togethers as far as food goes, most people dont realize how careful you have to be with the food you eat, letting stuff sit on countertops for 4-6 hours at room temperature… ecch… the whole family (well the inlaws) got food poisoning last thanksgiving, was quite funny actually, we showed up late and missed dinner… whew……

I was browsing Youtube and found a music video someone made of Christmas Vacation + “Christmas All Over Again”. I figured you’d all appreciate it, especially Knegative.

I guess the Christmas spirit is spreading early this year. The other day I heard a guy singing the “Ho ho ho I’m huh-huh-hungry, yabba-dabba- fruitylicious-doo” song over and over.

I’m too empathetic/sympathetic/whatever to like Christmas Vacation; large doses of slapstick and humiliation make me cringe. Plus I’m a pathetic cat lover.

I never liked eggnog either, but hearing about it makes me feel all Christmassy so it’s all good

That video is full of win. I’m sorry, Bill. Jazzy wins the YouTube prize, tonight.

Thanks for the advice everyone; it seems I’ve taken Matt’s advice the most: I took a few meds, wrapped up and watched “Pursuit of Happyness” (good but long; made longer by the time slowing powers of head sickness) and “RV”. I actually laughed outloud at “RV”; I think that was the meds messing with me…

It’s weird, from my head down, minus a really achy back, I feel fine but my head feels like it’s full of yuck. I can’t ever remember being sick like this and so fast; I always can feel a cold coming on. My friend said I had bird-flu. Damn, I always had a feeling I’d be the harbinger of the end of western civilization…

I think you are right, Kneg. I know when to I have been beaten. But it’s cool, I had my X-E time yesterday when my gripe about Waiterbot was on the vlog.
By the way, if Waiterbot is reading, I’m sorry man. You sound fine the way you are. It fits just right when I go back and read last years calender.

Jeez- does your eggnog taste any better coming out of a $90 moose mug? ‘Cause I can get the same results by pouring my liquor directly into an empty pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

i love christmas vacation! i also spent years laboring under the idea that i hated eggnog. my family raised me to drink “boiled custard” which is less spicy and basically tastes like melted ice cream. its good, but i learned a few years ago that i really liked the nog too. especially since the name is just so christmassy.

and omg i just have to say i am so excited when i see that others love christmas vacation. i get so tired of hearing people dis it. it is one of the all time best christmas films. makes me sound really old, but they don’t make them that good anymore.

yes….there is such a thing as chocolate eggnog. Also OldJim the product you were reffereing too is Air Borne Barry williams from the Brady bunch is the guy screaming NOOOOOOOOOO..at least in the elevator version.

I think Im gonna divorce my husband, I was pissing my pants laughing at waiterbot last night…and he just stood there looking like WTF…I said “its X-E !!!” he rolls his eyes.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s my dad used French Vanilla ice cream in the eggnog so there would be enough of it to go around a family of 8. Now I have passed that along to the grandkids as they love coming to grampa’s house during the holidays for eggnog milkshakes. The icecream also thins out the nog so it is not so thick.

jazzy, i swear i have a tape very similar to yours. very much the rudolph and the charlie brown and the garfield, i think that frosty the snowman is on mine as well. and the best part of the tape is not the specials but the commercials. i also taped willy wonka and the chocolate factory off of cable when i was about 9 during the easter season and the easter commercials are disturbing. even though i own the dvd now i still have to hold on to my bootlegged copy.

1. Whoever hasn’t seen Xmas vacation â€“ watch it like 3 times a day for the next week. Quote parts of it. Watch it till your eyes bleed, leave it on in the background. Maybe by Christmas you’ll catch up.
2. All the Black Friday ads SUCK. I’m gonna buya giant TV off eBay and sit at home watching DVD’s in surround sound that day. BF sucks this year.
3. Went to a frou-frou candle shop with the woman and now the house smells all cinnamony Christmas in side. Ohhhh yeah. Also went Xmas gift shopping which helped get her in the spirit. Now to try holding off on decorating till at least the 20th

I *thought* it was him, but wasn’t sure, and I don’t know if there’s an equivalent of IMDB for TV commercials.

I know what you mean, the old bootleg taped-off-TV versions are the absolute best, and they’re the reason I will always have a VCR. I have most of the classic Christmas commercials buried somewhere on that tape. Plus I have a similar tape of the Wizard of Oz which was taped on Easter, so I also have the old Cadbury bunny commercials. Classic.

Seriously, if you think about it, the stores are MUCH more crowded as Christmas approaches, than they ever are on the day after Thanksgiving. This is a promotion by the stores so we’ll buy more junk at so-called sale prices.

Old Jim is correct, Black Friday is far from the busiest shopping day of the year. But it is a lot of fun if you can stomach it.

My Black Friday experiences haven’t been that bad actually. Just watch out for cart theives.

Darn it! How do you get a fake HTML tag to show up? I tried to put a “/grumpy” tag at the end of my previous post, but the blog treated it as a valid HTML tag.

I hardly ever buy based on the sales. If something I want is on sale, well that’s just icing.

Hmm… I just made some homemade eggnog. It’s from an inferior recipe that uses only 2 eggs and milk instead of cream. Still, I think I love it.

I’m starting to get out of the Christmas Mood and into the Thanksgiving mood. Backwards be damned, I want some mashed potatoes and turkey.

Eggnog - I’ll pass, the wife loves it though. I’m more an apple cider or hot chocolate guy myself.

I’m starting to get excited for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. It’s become a tradition for the wife and I to get up way to early on Friday and search out some of the better deals of the season and it’s the one day I actually kind of enjoy the madness of the run up to Christmas.

I’ve seen parts of it but never cover to cover. Not sure if it’s really my kind of comedy but I am willing to try it out.
I am watching a taped MICK FOLEY A&E BIOGRAPHY right now. Good stuff.

Hello all my fellow X-Entertainment friends! Just wanted to share some good news with you all. I am engaged as of around 2pm today. Hope all is well.

Having worked 4 Black Fridays in a row, and approaching my 5th, I will say that you’re absolutely right. It’s so hyped up about thr big crowds that everyone decides to not go until later if those stores have sales that are all-day andn ot just Early Bird ones. Those stores, however, do infact have huge crowds, but only for those sales, and when they’re over, they’re gone.

And I also agree that the first 2 weeks of December are the most crowded of all, followed by the 3 days after Xmas.

I have always wanted to do Black Friday, but I have worked every one so far in my adult life. This year will be no different. But this year I am working about half a block away from the downtown Target, so I will definitely see the crowds. The idea of getting all shopping done in one day is awesome though. I love shopping during the holidays, but shopping for your dad or whoever is always stressful. I prefer aimlessly roaming around a mall at Christmastime and smelling. The mall smells the best then.

Congrats Steven! I will now dedicate a playing of “Highway to Hell” to your honor. Just kidding, I hope you and your significant other will be blessed with happiness and the foresight to always cheerish one another.

Alcohol and vinegar have their own preservative qualities, so they don’t need refrigeration - plus, they’re often used to preserve herbs and veggies/fruits. I have a problem with drinking eggnog myself - tends to get to me after one cupful for some reason…my family tends to drink limoncello more anyway.

I got the Grinch on DVD and The Santa Clause on laserdisc almost two weeks ago, but I’ m holding off for a while longer on watching them…but its getting harder and harder!

I always make a point to go to Toys “Backwards R” Us on Black Friday, just for the heck of it. Other than that, I’ll probably have to work on Black Friday. However, the work I do depends on schools and manufacturers, which will be closed. So it will be a slowwwww day…

And I believe the Saturday before Christmas is now the busiest shopping day of the year…

My girlfriend wants to play “Highway To Hell” whenever she has her Bachelorette party. If you’ve ever met her or her friends…this fits in perfectly.

I totally hate everyone in a happy relationship. There just isn’t anyone around here awesome enough to be with Mystie, there just isn’t. It’s very sad to be at such a high concentrated level of awesome that no man can handle.

djspaceace: If you like Eggnog but are nervous about the dread salmonella, you can get Pasteurized eggs, which produce a damn fine egg nog but have much much much reduced risk of baddies. Also note, adding alcohol to the egg nog denatures proteins - including the buggies that you do not want. So either way - pay a few bucks for it virgin with pasteurized eggs, or drop some fun stuff in it.

Ok, so I’ve been drinking and have, for some reason, had an odd toy from my childhood stuck in my head: little fighter planes stuck to rings by way of clear plastic posts. anyone know who I’m talking about, or do i just stfu?

Happy SNT everyone! Congrats Steven! And happy birthday Muppet Baby!
Don’t worry Manimal, you’re not the only one that hasn’t seen it all the way through. I did catch a bit of it last season. I haven’t tried boozy nog either, but this is the year.
Old Jim, I’ve had that problem before. I just quit trying to do fancy fake tags.
I’m conflicted about Airborne. I can testify to it’s effects, but I hate drinking it so when I read that it’s useless I want to believe it just so I never have to taste it again. Still keep a stock of it in the house though. I “like” to take it every few hours when I’m sick to try and speed up the process.
So I missed out on winning a really cool raffle today by a matter of minutes (they called my name but I was running late). Came home to find that the fam had drunk nearly all of the Cranberry Splash, leaving the bottle of pineapple rum in the freezer nobody to hang out with. Waiting to hear how much little bro’s new retail job is going to effect our planned Thanksgiving trip to Mexico. But I can’t complain much: it’s Saturday and the thread’s been bumping, the Christmas spirit has officially hit, and I can always go shopping on Black Friday like I’d originally planned if Mexico gets cut short. Plus I’ve got just about everything I need for my Christmas card photoshoot ready, so that’ll be a fun diversion. Does anybody have any good recommendations for where to get cards printed? I did Costco one year and the price was great but the cards were on the cheapo side. So far I’m leaning toward Walmart, since they’ve got a lot of backgrounds and they’re a little nicer than the Costco ones but I’d really like to find somewhere to get proper folding cards, but without breaking the bank. Suggestions?
LOL Mystie…I’m right there with you.

Manimal: Man, what a seriously X-E day you had there! I was hoping my post-Halloween shopping extravaganza would be similar, but it ended up just being one little four pack of Jones soda and a glass paperweight kind of thing with a spider inside of it. Consider me in the camp of verbally hitting you upside the head for not seeing “Christmas Vacation” yet. Seriously, you gotta get on that!

Speaking of X-Mas movies, you know what I like? I like any X-Mas movie that shows Santa’s workshop and how it works. I just really like the concept of trying to explain it, especially when they get really involved and you see the technology behind the sleigh and society that the elves live in and all that. I love that crap. Looking forward to “Fred Clause”, obviously.

My day today was interesting. I got a free lunch at work (from Cracker Barrell of all places), and my cousin came into town and we went to the movies. The plan was to see “Saw IV” but it was sold out so we saw “30 Days of Night” instead. I had already seen it once, but it was the first time for him. Friggin’ brutal, man! Good stuff and highy recommended.

I’ve never been too much of a fan of eggnog, but then again I’ve never had it liquored up, or in a groovy moose mug. Something tells me those are the two things that could sway me to the other side. One of them is easily obtained. The other may just be another X-E dream. Good thing we can all live vicariously through Matt on some things.

Speaking of Waiterbot, I started reading my first ever Advent calendar today and am very jazzed about what’s to come. Since I’m kinda anal about these things, I’m holding off on all things waiterbotish till I get to that point in the reading. The little OCD guy that sits on my shoulder won’t let me do otherwise.

Speaking of anal, someone at work today decided to tell the whole office about his prostate exam. No lie. Was that necessary? I’ll answer that for you. No. No, it was not. And I’m still trying to find a way to scrub the memory from my brain. Spiked eggnog just might do the trick.

Oh I feel for you Mystie you should just become a nun or a lesbian

Come to the Dark side we have cookies…

I have already had a carton of egg nog it was pumpkin spice flavored and it was pretty good. Like having egg nog and pumpkin pie at the same time. But from what I remember last holiday season we had a carton of Southern Comfort Vanilla spice egg nog and that was SO GOOD!! I also made some egg nog rice pudding for thanksgiving and it got compliments. You can google it yourself, but it’s basically replacing the milk with egg nog and I didn’t put any raisins in it. Love me some rice pudding one of my favorite homemade desserts.

I googled that Moose Mug company about 5 years ago but was in no position to actually buy one. I’ve regretted and coveted it every Christmas since. Maybe this year will be my year.

I can’t extol the greatness of Egg Nog quite enough, especially after we busted out our bottle of the ol’ Pennsylvania Dutch brand this morning as a concert ticket sale was going disastriously wrong in my house. (Long story short, my sister wants Bon Jovi tickets — really good ones and ComcastTix wasn’t complying. Her solution to this situation? Break out the booze. She chose Egg Nog as it was cold in our house.) Anyway, back to the extolling. Pennsylvania Dutch brand is the KING of egg nogs. You think one kind of liquor is good? Hell no. PA Dutch has got three, count ‘em THREE kinds of booze in it — Brandy, Whiskey, and Rum. I’m naming my children these if I should ever procreate. We call it “The Holiday Saver” in my family.

As for the moose mugs, love ‘em. Maybe it’s me, and my stupid nuttiness, but I always assumed the Grizzwalds got those mugs on their ill-fated trip to Wally World. Which would make them Marty Moose Mugs. Or maybe I just read w-a-y too much into things.

Totally, Kneg! I love my 14 year old LD player, and found a store in the nearest city that still sells LDs (used, of course). I had no idea that Clause was even old enough to be on LD, and I needed to replace my VHS tape badly anyway, so I immediately snatched it up. Got Top Gun, Places in the Heart, and They Live at the same time. There’s just something I like about LDs, something akin to how some people like records over CDs I guess. Besides, there are some movies that came out on LD that haven’t come out on DVD yet, like Erik the Viking…and some that were altered in ways I don’t like when they were put on DVD.

I’m reminded of Kevin Smith having to ‘retract’ his comments on the Laserdisc commentary of Chasing Amy, when it was released on DVD.

One movie I’m looking for on LD is Love at First Bite…they replaced ‘I Love the Nightlife’ with some awful slow song for the DVD! UGH! Totally ruins the disco scene!

Pssshhhh it’s not like I haven’t been trying, Goob. I kissed a girl for the first time this week. Plus this girl I was hanging with last weekend was trying to hook me up with a female friend of hers. And I hit on some chicks at a Halloween party a few weeks back, but mainly cuz I can’t stand people that go to parties and just sit there staring off like idiots. And they did it all night long, while I was gettin’ my groove on at the dance floor.

Really, it’s just that I’m too awesome. It’s the only reasonable solution. *nod**nod*

I gotta do black Friday this year I think…if there are good sales…i need to get a Wii again since i had to sell my original one for the electric bill screw up that was mine and their fault as well. anyhoo…yay…im putting up lights this year on my apartment windows…its on ground level and in view of the street..so it should look good…(its atached to a dog grooming salon.) and there is another holiday movie i enjoyed…Santa Claus Conquers the martians.

Well Mystie I know it’s frustrating but I guess you just need to stick with your B.O.B. and wait for someone that is worthy to worship you.

I meant to put this video in with the Christmas one but I instantly remembered the split second after I hit post. It’s Van Halen by the band Nerf Herder (the same band from the other video) I thought it would be appropriate.

Great post as always Matt thanks!…a little Nation Lampoons Christmas vacation knowledge for any one who cares!
the gramdmother with her cat was played by Mae Questel…who was the original voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyle!
Seeing Charlie Browns tree avalible at urban out fitters nearly blew my mind…so i hopped on to the sight they now carry Linus’s blue blanket”a little security for the holidays” I think i could actually give up smoking with one of those!
congrats to waiterbot! sinse my comp is dial up it would take a thousand years to view ill keep my fingers crossed for Waiterbot THE E true hollywood story.
as far as eggnog goes! OHHHHHHGODDDDits sooooooo good with or with out alcohol but will have to try the Jack version!
to end this i was doing a little past reading and caught the artical about the Hillshire Farms gift package….Matt you can forget those! i work for Swiss Colony our stuff is great tasting and plentiful!
It would fill my heart with holiday cheer if i could send you and the little lady one of our git boxes!? whaddya say? it would be my pleasure

oops! i said “ill have to try the jack version” eggnog i meant the soco version geeez

Jay B you reminded me of something I stopped into a local Hickory Farms store at a shopping center here in town. It was obviously a family run store because when I was browsing in their tiny store they were talking about how mom was doing and it was the brother and sister working there. The sister gave me 5 free samples, 2 of sausage, 1 chunk of cheese, 1 tiny free sample spoon of some garlic spread, and a sample of a cookies and cream cheese dessert ball. Btw the cookies and cream sample was very good it was probably way too much money and who knows what you would spread that on but it was really good! But man a tiny box with a tiny jar of mustard, a medium sausage and some crackers were like 15.95. That’s ridiculousness.

I’ve been reading all the storyline Advent Calendars (2004-2006 I think). I read them 2006>2004>2005. What fun that was, those were hilarious! Can’t wait til this years.

Ugh…too much movie popcorn last night plus only getting 5 hours of sleep makes DJ D a very grumpy boy this morning. The popcorn’s just kind of sitting there in my stomach like a buttery, greasy lump. I’m at work now, eating oranges for breakfast, which are cheering me up a bit, as I love them, but kinda bummed that the free lunch we’re getting today is most likely Little Ceaser’s Pizza. Not to be ungrateful for a free lunch, but I really don’t care for Little Ceasar’s. I might slip out for a second and get something else.

I’m going to have to hit up Netflix soon and add some of these movies you guys have been talking about.

Mystie: Obviously, what’s needed is some sort of awesomeness filter. I’m envisioning a Harrison Bergeron sort of device, like a speaker you wear around your neck. It could occasionally say things like “Uwe Boll is really just misunderstood as a film maker” and “Harry Knowles is my hero” and “Head-On: Apply directly to the forehead.”

If the problem is too far advanced, we may have to add a pair of Groucho Marx glasses. It’s for the protection of the general public, you understand.

God, I hate Nickleback. And Uwe Boll movies. Although I do read Ain’t It Cool on a daily basis.

Although, if not for Uwe Boll, we wouldn’t eventually have had House of the Dead 2, and thus a topless Erica Durance. So, thank you Uwe Boll, for laying the groundwork for what would eventually give us Lois Lane’s “daily planets.”

Mystie, try to keep things under control. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.

Moony: If you’re interested in Santa Clause vs. the Martians, check Best Buy for a DVD pack of 50 movies called “Sci Fi Classics”; it’s red with a blurry alien on the cover. Not only does it have SCvtM, it also has many other movies used for MST3K, like many a Gamera film and quite a few other classics. And I think the whole box -when I bought it- was only like $12 to $15….

Greg: we got a nice layer of snow here now too.. posted in the peeps thread before i realized this was here, that it was snowing lol… the wife and i just watched it out the window.

I hate to say I’ve never heard of Black Friday before today but sounds interesting.. yesterday the malls were packed here since the decorations went up and the santa claus parade is next weekend.

We spent too much time in the malls yesterday and didn’t get our decorations up outside. Gonna have to play catch up now.

Went to the Moose Mug site following Matt’s linky goodness and was really tempted to order them. Once I stopped trying to gouge my eyes out over the site and found the price we decided to hold off. Tempted to get the plastic ones they were talking about though. Tried to find a “contact us” link though and see if he wanted someone to redo his site for him….

Possible good news….looks like today’s free lunch may be coming from Papa Johns instead of Little Ceasar’s. That would be a big improvement. We shall see…

Shuanfu: Those 50 movie packs are a pretty good deal. There’s one of a bunch of horror movies that I wouldn’t mind having. I used to work at Best Buy, just for a few months. Word of advice for anyone planning on working there. Don’t work in the home theater department. The pressure is IMMENSE to sell packages of flat screen TV’s with the appropriate cables and power cords and such, and then it gets into selling the sound systems. You’re really pressured to sell all the components of a full home theater package which can easily get into thousands of dollars, but there’s no extra compensation or commission out of the whole deal. I sold packages that were worth as much as a used car, and didn’t get paid a dime more than the guy across the store selling video games. The only difference was if I didn’t sell a $3,000 TV with all the bells and whistles, I got chewed out. If he didn’t sell that $40 Guitar Hero that somebody was eyeing but changed their mind on, no big woop. It’s a fine place to work for the discounts and all, just stay away from HT.

Speaking of advice, can anyone recommend a brand of eggnog for the inexperienced eggnog drinker? I think I’ve only had it twice in my life and both times it was at a family function and neither time was alcohol involved. If you knew my family you would understand. I’ve never thought I would actually spend my own money on eggnog, but then again I never thought I would have a huge desire to drink cranberry splashed sodas either, but I plan on picking some up the next time I’m at the store. X-E has ways of making something I used to overlook in the grocery store kind of exciting. I’m sure you can all relate. Keep in mind, since I don’t care for eggnog all that much (and hate the taste of milk), that I probably will be spiking this bitch to make it more appealing.

Oop, someone just said the pizza’s here. Time to go find out if it’s Papa John’s or that other crap. Wish me luck.

DJ: I’ve tried several of the “carton” eggnogs, and they all taste pretty much the same. I prefer things like the SoCo edition featured above, as they don’t bring to mind thoughts of milk and eggs quite as much as the others — some of which having giant cow heads on the packaging.

Maybe I’m just now noticing. but there seems to be a trend towards flavored milks this holiday season. I’ve seen ads for chocolate mint milk, cherry chocolate milk, pumpkin-spiced milk, etc.

I saw some recipes in the paper that use eggnog as an ingrediant. I’m so gonna make them.

Matt: Thanks loads. Until this article, I had no idea that SoCo made the stuff, but after reading it that sounds like a good place to start. Thanks for the recommendation, article, and kickass site that I can’t seem to tear myself away from these days.

On the topic of snow. Yes, I’ve heard of this snow. I believe I’ve seen it in several movie films. I myself, having lived in the deep south (i.e. the hot, sweaty armpit of the country) most of my life have very little actual experience with this mythical snow. The last time I saw it was about 7 years ago, in Jan. of ‘01, when we got about 2 feet here. The city went nuts. We’re not prepared for the stuff here and if we get even the slightest dusting, the place goes crazy. Schools shut down, people call in late for work. Grocery stores sell out of all their bread and milk (as if people are actually going to get snowed in for days). No kidding. People from up north just think it’s hilarious. I’d do anything to actually see a white Christmas sometime in my life. Or hell, I would even settle for a good solid snow anytime in December. For us, when it does come (an average of once every 5 or 6 years for an actual real snow and not something that’s melted away before the day’s over), it’s always in Jan or Feb. I think I remember spending last Christmas at my aunt’s house in jeans and a t-shirt with sunny skies and a slight breeze in the air. Now that’s a fucking winter wonderland right there.

My favorite eggnog is from a local store called Quality Dairy, more commonly known as QD.

Forgive me if someone else has pointed this out already, but does anybody else notice that the times of our posts (bastes?) are all an hour ahead? Not that I mind, just something I noticed. I say we just leave it be and let it ride till springtime and it’ll sort itself out then anyway…kind of like Milton’s payroll glitch. These things have a way of sorting themselves out.

Now is one of those times at work that often happens on Sundays around here when I have absolutely nothing to do, so I’m going to excuse myself for a few minutes and go catch up on Advent calendars past, like a good little X-E’er.

Two or three hours ahead for me. I’m on CST, so that might have something to do with it.

DJ D: on the first realllly big snowfall here I’ll post some pics for ya ;). If we hit Christmas without snow on the ground (lately it’s been happening that way) I always feel gyped. That it just isn’t Christmas without snow. I think I’d go nuts down south.

Yup, two hours for me. =P I had to check and this was the only way I knew how. DJ D, you gave me an idea. How about a commenter survey!?

I’m going to possibly read for my ethics and/or biology class and probably play The Orange Box.

I am so so so jealous of those mugs. I have always wanted them- that is my favorite Xmas film, and I need those mugs to complete my holiday season.

DJ D, I think the time thing has to do with day light savings, but I’m not sure.

Ben, I’m spending my Sunday afternoon baking a pretty loaf of bread. I’m also waiting for my mom to call me back at which point I’ll hopefully work up the courage to let her know I want to be a nun and won’t ever give her grandchildren. She’s stuck on me being a “mommy”…her word, not mine. She’s mentioned it to one of my sister’s a couple of times and has also told me that if one of her daughters were to get pregnant right now, she’d rather it be me. She has four daughters, three of whom are older than me, and two of whom are married. I’m twenty-two, unmarried, and work eighteen hours a week for seven bucks an hour. I’m also the healthy and responsible daughter.

Basically, I’m spending my afternoon baking bread and waiting to break my mother’s heart. Wish me luck?

God bless you in your decision Karen. More than one X-E’r has had to tel their parents some difficult decisions motivated by the Big Guy ™. My Terrorizing Claws pray for you. (Yeah, I know, I’m weird.

)

Lux23
You seek Ring Raiders. And yes, it was awesome. Air Carrier Justice was the big playset, and the video wasn’t half bad â€“ made by an anime studio.

DJ D: That sounds like my one experience with snow, here in North Florida. It snowed when I was 3 or 4 and the entire town was basically snowbound for several days by a half inch of snow. Also, once when I was in high school they canceled school because it was cold. Not snowing, just cold. I think it got down to about 12F, and people in Florida don’t own winter coats or gloves or anything, so they just canceled school that day. Of course, when a hurricane is about to plow through they wait until the very last second to even think of canceling school for a day. I don’t get this place.

Ben: I’ll be spending my Sunday hanging out online and playing Super Mario Lost Levels. A friend recently downloaded that for the Wii virtual console and it made me want to dig out my SNES version.

I have that annoying little touch of sickness where you’re well enough to want to go out and do stuff, but just sick enough that you know you better rest or you’ll be flat on your back all next week. I hate that. And I don’t even have Netflix to make it fun. Boo.

Ugggh…Dohopoki,I had heard they were doing a new one, but why the hell they feel the need to make every cherished childhood memory I have “hip” i’ll never know.

In response to all the 80s remakes in the theaters now…I have a friend who suggested they all be banned until Charles in Charge The Movie has been produced. I don’t know why but I think I would enjoy that one.
But yeah, Alvin and the Chipmunks…meh.

2 things, “hip” with “” is right because even when I was a kid that get up was pretty lame. Second, just like with garfield, they’re using CGI to make them look more like what they’re supposed to be by making them all furry disgusting. The chipmunks never even really looked like chipmunks to begin with. Considering with their clothing, with the exception of their noses they were pretty much just human kids.

As far as Fred Clause being awesome, that is a given. Rachel Weisz, Keven Spacey, Paul Giamatti, and Vince Vaughn. NO LOSE SITUATION.

Ok here are two random 80s Christmas movies that I LOVE in addtion to Christmas Vacation- The Night They Saved Christmas and Ernest Saves Christmas. Anyone else out there enjoy these? Everyone always looks at me like I am nuts when I mention those two movies.

Jay B OMG I cant beleive you work for Swiss Colony!!! Do you have any cool insider facts for us??!

Good luck Karen! Follow your heart and I’m sure your sure your family will understand that. I envy your commitment.

Doho: I just died laughing at your question about the ice cube tray in the Grinch. I always wondered that too but never voiced my concern.

Happy Veterans Day/ Remembrance Day - I think I may have posted this earlier, on the wrong day’s blog.

We always got pretty good snow. I mean, we were in the desert, but we were also nearly a mile above sea level, and only about two hours from the Rockies. So at least one or two massive blizzards come down out of the mountains every year.

I was back on the farm last January and we got somewhere between three and six feet of snow with 60 mph wind. We were basically socked in for a month, had to get around in tractors, and the national guard had to come in and airdrop loads of hay to the ranchers north of town. It was awesome.

If I had to spend the rest of my life in the South, I’d have to purchase a snow machine and keep it running from the first day of Advent to New Years Eve.

Primus: Yeah, I AM going nuts here. Really, the only thing keeping me down here is I’m saving up to eventually go back to school for my last semester. Once I’ve got the degree in hand, I’ll look around and see what my employment options are. If that takes me somewhere up north where it’s colder, then that would just be the shit. I’ve had it with this crap. The summers here are brutal.

Karen: Congrats, man! I don’t have any kind of big news to break to my parents but I sort of have the opposite problem you have where I come from an incredibly devout holy-roller Pentacostal family and that type of thing just never took with me. I think it was so forced on me so much at such a young age and for my whole life that I kind of overdosed on it. Spiritually, I just kind of go for something a little more academic and subtle, not so much the laying on hands, casting out demons thing that I grew up with-twice on Sunday, and every Wed. night. But good luck with that though. One of the hardest things to do is to step out from your parents’ expectations of you and just be yourself. I wish you all the best in that.

crazy_mainer: OMG, I can’t believe that you mentioned Ernest Saves Christmas. We were just talking about that at work yesterday right before I left. What does Santa do when you don’t have a chimney? He ooooooooozzzes in! I don’t think I’m familiar with The Night They Saved Christmas though. What’s that all about?

I’ve been seeing this poster for the Alvin and the Chipmunks thing for a while now when I go to the movies. I think my soul dies a little every time.

My Sunday this morning, since 7:30 this morning has been spent at work watching the videos we’ve made for the last 2 days and checking for errors. I’ve got about an hour left. I think after this I’m going home, checking out the newspaper for job opportunities (I needs me a second job. You know, cause of gas…and video games and comics). Somewhere in the afternoon I think I’ll work in a nap and get up in time to watch Desperate Housewives tonight. Yeah, that’s right….Oh, who am I kidding. I say I’ll do this but I know I’ll just prolly go home and mess around on the computer for hours while refreshing the blog every 4 seconds to see if there’s anything new. So, it’s up to you folks to make it worth it for me. Get to typin’!

I have a NORML meeting in a couple of hours and afterwards I’m going to Target, Wal Mart, Walgreens, and CVS to do some Christmas food shopping.

I really wish all of you would understand this, but unfortunately, this is only going to mean something for other Oklahomans.

(most)Oklahomans love this jingle. There are multiple singing contests held here every year on tv, radio, and at local events. A lot of people here treat this commercial as if Christmas isn’t Christmas until it’s aired. My old middle school would have a Christmas orientation the day before we got out for Christmas vacation and we would end the day with this song.

I only know this jingle from last year’s X-E blog - of course, I live on the East Coast, more than 1000 miles from the target market…

Bill, I’m going to research this ice tray nonsense the only way I know how, reading poorly written wikipedia pages that have no citations.

The last time it snowed here in Waco, TX was in April. It was a freak snowstorm. My Dad told me that he remembers his Dad telling him about it snowing one time on the fourth of July.

Ernest P. Worell (Snake Rancher): “Pisin” snakes! One minute, you be a strappin’ young man like yerself, an’ the next…
[imitates a snake's fangs with his fingers]
Ernest P. Worell: SNAP!
[swipes his "fangs" at the guard, who again gasps and winces]
Ernest P. Worell: Yer dead meat!

I met Jim Varney once at a baseball game in Maine, he was the spokes person for Oakhurst Diary for a couple of years in the 80s, which I think is just a Maine company.

Ah, The Night They Saved Christmas. 1984. Art Carney plays Santa. Jacyln Smith of Charlies Angels plays a mom that lives close to the North Pole with her oil drilling husband, and 3 kids. Oil drilling is going to destroy Santa’s secret town in the North Pole, and Santa enlists Jaclyn Smith and her kids to try to help stop the drilling, by convincing her husband, and the evil boss of her husband, that Santa and THE North Pole exists. Sounds corny. But they did a really good job, trying to keep the plot serious. Lots of explaining by Santa and head elf, Ed, to the kids and mom of how things work- the flying reindeer, special sled, time zones and doing everything in one night. At the time this movie seemed high tech with its special effects..lol. I highly recommend it for a trip back to the early 80s wholesomeness that we all know and loved.

I still rely on Jingle All The Way for all my feel-good Christmas movie needs. I own it now. It’s even in a red DVD case.

Great. I’ve been watching too much History Channel and now I am positive the world will end within the next couple of years. What is it, Armageddon Sunday?

Jason Lee’s what’s putting me off the Chipmunks movie. He can be okay with the right material (Kevin Smith) but without the right material he’s just a guy with a bad moustache that named his kid Pilot Inspektor…I can’t believe I’ve known about the Chipmunks movie for months but just learned that the Love in the Time of Cholera movie is finally coming out.
My plans for this afternoon? All the stuff I was planning to do this morning but didn’t because I didn’t get up until noon (went to a midnight showing of Big Trouble in Little China last night. Spotted James Hong in the lobby, which was neat). I’ll just be doing the boring things one needs to do in preparation for the school and work week

I might give myself permission to run to Borders for a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera, maybe pick up a carton of nog while I’m at it.
I just remembered, I saw a great trailer for the Legend of Billy Jean at the movies last night, made me want to go back and read the old Supergirl review. So I’ll be doing that now.

Jason Lee is one of my favorite actors. He’s not Keanu, Cusack, Christensen or Braff, BUT WHO IS?

Though, I have only really loved him in Kevin’s stuff. So, maybe you have a point, Squee.

Primus: I’ll be thinking of you buddy when I crack my first carton of Baxters

I have to agree with you on the whole no snow @ Xmas thing….its been somewhat of an epidemic here as of late.

Man, I skip one SNT because the future in-laws are in town and I’m, like, 10,000 posts behind. Bummer. Looks like I missed out on a fun party.

On the subject of meeting other X-Eers, I haven’t, of course, but I’m still up for planning X(e)Con2008!

I love Egg Nog, but I almost love Choconog better. It’s my own concoction of hot chocolate cooled off a little with egg nog. Second to that is my addition of pumpkin ice cream to hot chocolate. I’m such the hot chocolate connoseur.

And lastly, I have a huge dilemma that perhaps my fellow X-Eers can help out with… my family’s Thanksgiving Day gettogether vs. the fiance’s family’s Thanksgiving Day gettogether. What do I do?! I kind of don’t want to go to either of them because I’m so torn.

Special K, is it possible to do both in one day? Could it be that they are within driving distance, and at completely different times???

If this is not possible, then maybe you can do Thanksgiving with one set of parents, and Christmas with the other?

I’ve worked in retail and the service industry and usually the busiest shopping days are a) X-mas eve, b) labour day and c) boxing day. I’ve never found black friday to be very black, but maybe that’s because we don’t have thanksgiving in November.

I work at Mountain Equipment Co-op which is a large outdoor equipment store, and you wouldn’t think too many people would be shopping for tents and hiking boots in the dead of winter, but my GOD it’s busy around christmas. Even now, we have to stay an extra hour on weekends to pick up clothing that customers have thrown on the floor and stuff. Oy.

As far as the favorite Christmas movie goes, this isn’t my favorite but it is close. Santa Clause the Movie is my nostalgic crack for the season. I remember seeing this in the theater in 1985. I think I may watch it tonight since who knows when an asteroid will strike the Earth.

crazy_mainer , my advice to you is compromise, pick which family gets which Holidays and switch every year. I have to do that with my family, It’s even harder when one or both sets of parents is divorced. otherwise you will just end up stretching yourself way too thin trying to do it all in one day.

Any body else here do the Candy cane straw in Hot Chocolate?
I have never tried Eggnog it just seems like a yucky idea. I might this year though (I am so easily swayed.. I think it was the “It’s just basically liquid cake” comment)
Chipmunks Movie? With CGI? God I am glad I don’t have cable. If I remember correctly werent the Chipmunks always a little lame?(please don’t stone me)

Jinsky: Unfortunately, no. They’re in different states. That’s what’s breaking my heart. I want to do both or neither. And the problem with doing Thanksgiving at one and Christmas with the other is that his family wants us to come up there for Thanksgiving and I guess they’re coming down here for Christmas?! When do I get time with MY family?! Gah! lol I love his family to pieces, but this situation is tearing me up.

I think things got lost in translation, Special K is the one with the hard choice of who’s house for what holiday. Not me. But thanks anyway Jenica.

Next Christmas will be my first real Christmas in 5 years. 5 freaking years. I left for Colorado 4 years ago, and I have not been home to Maine for a holiday once. Next Christmas my husband said he thought it would be nice to take me home, since it seems to mean so much to me. The negative part of marrying an agnostic, he doesnt give a shit about anything, holiday wise. Its been tougher on me than I ever thought it would.

crazy_mainer: Meeting Ernest must have been really fun and kind of surreal all at the same time. My aunt met him at some autograph signing he was doing when I was a kid and got me a signed autographed that has my name on it. I’ll have to dig that out sometime. I have an autgraphed picture of James “Scotty” Doohan from when I was a kid and met him at a food expo. I wouldn’t call myself a Trekkie but I like it about as much as any other X-E’er or slighty nerdy guy. While I was shaking his hand I noticed that he was missing most of one of his fingers. I don’t know how he lost it, but I found out years later through watching some documentary about the show that when they were shooting it that he would always hold his hand in such a way that you couldn’t see it. Speaking of which, I was reading the other day that Winona “I swear I was gonna pay for that” Ryder is playing Spock’s mom in the new Star Trek movie. No lie. Oh, and at the same food expo, Ian “Steve from 90210″ Ziering was there. I didn’t meet him. For that would have been kind of gay.

Special K: Hope you can find some way to sort it out. They just have to realize that you’re just one person and can only spread yourself so thin. My parents divorced when I was 3 and since then the holidays have luckily been laid out pretty clear cut. My mom’s side has a huge get together/reunion every Thanksgiving so I always go to that one. My dad’s side luckily doesn’t. Christmas, it’s the opposite. On Christmas Eve I go to the big thing on my dad’s side and on Christmas Day I go round to a couple different aunts houses and do smaller get togethers on my mom’s side. Luckily it’s all planned well. I still have a lot of conflict with my family when I go home to visit though. I’m usually only in town for 3 days and trying to visit both parents when they live in on opposite sides of town isn’t easy. One of them always gets annoyed and thinks I’m spending too much time with the other one. There’s only one of me, folks! I think every child of divorced parents can sympathize (especially when you’re an only child). You reach a point pretty early in life when you feel like you’re the adult and you’re trying to keep these two jealous kids happy and stop them from fighting with each other. But, yeah. I don’t think spending time with your own family is too much to ask. Families can get so funny about that stuff and easily offended and I’ve never really understood it.

I used to have these 3 Alvin and the Chipmunks glasses that I got with some happy meal thing at one of the fast food restaurants. Help me out if you know which fast food chain I might be talking about because I don’t remember. They were really nice and each one had a different chipmunk on it (Simon was always my favorite). Anyway, over the years my mom somehow managed to drop and break all three of them and I think a small part of me never really forgave her for it. I’ve gotta hit up E-Bay sometime and see if I can get them back. She also packed up almost all of my He-Man toys and gave them to my cousins without asking me.

Oops I’m sorry,crazy_mainer&Special K I got mixed up.
crazy_mainer I hope you have a great time in Maine. I understand about how hard it is to be with an Atheist/Agnotic for Holidays , Both my husband I are Atheists but he is a lot more extreme than me. I do all the Holidays for the kids and family he doesn’t want to even have Santa be something the kids can do. I can’t help but get excited around the Holidays , He dreads them and gets all crappy and grumpy.

Special K: If you know for sure you’ll see his family at some point in the season regardless, I’d say spend Thanksgiving with yours. It isn’t fair if you see his family twice and don’t see yours at all.

DJ D
Just a random bit of trivia for you, James Doohan lost his most of his middle finger on the beach at Normandy. I had a friend who was a hardcore Trekkie who used to regal me with random trivia daily.

Dan H: Cool. Thanks for that. I’ve always wondered what would have caused it. My grandfather was at Normandy and came through uninjured, but while he was in Italy he was captured by the Germans and spent the last 18 months of the war in a POW camp. He told some pretty wild stories.

Speaking of missing fingers, Pat Hingle, who played Commissioner Gordon in the Batman movies is missing one too. He lost the little finger off his left hand when he fell 54 feet down an elevator shaft and it nearly killed him. Speaking of Batman, William Hootkins, who played Lt. Eckhardt in the first movie was the same guy that played Porkins, the fat X-Wing pilot in Star Wars. He died a couple of years ago of cancer.

Yeah, I know, isn’t that great? I wonder if the name was picked ahead of time and Lucas just magically found his Porkins, or if it was the other way around and he cast him first, then took one look at him and said, “Porkins. Gotta be Porkins.”

DJ D: My neighbors had a gravity enhanced golden retriever named Porkins. I found out they were huge Star Wars fanatics when I was going to work and saw him in his garage dressed in a Imperial TIE Fighter outfit. So I guess that is why his dog was named Porkins. I hope they didn’t keep him fat for the name.

I’m drinking Hot Chocolate for the first time in 15 years. I’m getting old. I wish this was Sleepy Time tea.

DJD, definitely when i was in high school i did one of my required speeches for speech class about the snow storms in the south. weird, but i remember cutting out a newspaper article about how the southeners were freaking the fuck out. being from ohio myself and my classmates kept asking why snow was such a problem.

apparently my fiancee has decided to fuel my x-e commenting addiction by telling me you can vote for a new mountain dew flavor online. i guess the web address is http://www.dewmocracy.com we will see if he is right

Bill: How did you and hot chocolate get astranged all this time? These days I try to arrange a meeting with hot chocolate at least once a week. I think it’s time you guys patched things up, you geezer.

fuck that dewmocracy noise….i will never waste my hopes again. but on a lighter note, a few of the comments on the message board had to do with pitch black and other people missing it.

So, I’m wondering something… I dunno, maybe someone already commented on it earlier and I just didn’t see it, but, why is this specific egg nog by Southern Comfort if there is no alcohol in it? It’s not making sense. Couldn’t you just use normal egg nog? Wouldn’t it be exactly the same?

Leigha: I guess people just don’t know how to handle it down here. I think it’s funny too and I’ve lived here almost my whole life. A touch of ice and an inch or two of snow and it’s snow day! The kids are glued to the tv waiting for the announcement that there’s no school, and usually there isn’t. We pretty much treat any appearance of snow like it’s Christmas morning. The only difference is I’ve seen a lot more mornings with presents under the tree than mornings with snow on the ground.

Ryane: I’m pretty sure the answer is just that SoCo figured they could make money off it, so they did it.

on the other side of the spectrum I’m going to agree with the lameness. Sure, I hate Christmas season but that’s because of weather and loud children.

I came home drunk from the (pathetic) Giants game tonight and had to put up the Christmas tree to drown my sorrows. It’s looking pretty spectacular right now. Is it too early?

Shuanfu, re: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, I was just going to sift through the $1 bin at Target, since someone mentioned in an earlier blog that its going to be available there.

Karen That’s a really cool decision for you to make, and I hope your family comes around quickly. If not, well there are people here who support you!

Special K If one of the families is coming down for Christmas, spend Thanksgiving with the other. They have to learn to deal with it sooner or later anyway.

I had a roommate a few years ago who was supposedly spiritual and Christian but who hated her birthday SO MUCH (New Year’s Day), that she refused to do anything for Christmas. No music, no decorating, no NOTHING…all decorating for her little granddaughter’s first Christmas was done by *me*, as was much of the cleaning. Glad I’m out of there…I don’t really understand hating the day you were born.

I usually spend christmas eve with my father and christmas day with my mother. The first post-divorce year they decided to do a joint christmas chez papa but it was really tense and awkward with the parent seething at each other across the table. They’re both lawyers and they’re both stubborn!

When I was young we had a standard custody arrangement where I spent three days at dads, four days at mom’s. But when I reached 15 yrs or so I suddenly became really independent and started making up my own schedule. My dad was spending half HIS time at his girlfriend’s house so my friends and I often had an empty house in which to conduct our shenanigans :p It was also easy to stay out late because both were pretty lenient and usually parent A would assume I was over at B’s and vice-versa.

That being said, it was weird not always being with my brother, and it a nuisance having all my stuff diivded between two locations. I think it messed up my organizational skills or something.

PS two people directed comments at me that were supposed to be for someone else

but I’m enjoying the discussion anyways!!

My favourite christmas movies would be the Nightmare Before X-mas (does that count?), The Grinch, and Batman Returns. Yeeaahhh Michael Keaton!!

Holy fucking shit. I finally got to a computer to watch Waiterbot’s vlogs. Hysterical. If there was some physical way of sticking WB’s reaction to Robert Goulet’s death into a notebook to draw little hearts around it, I’d be all over it.
“To those [who would criticize], I would say fuck you. Let me have my moment.”
That’s so getting incorporated into my daily vocabulary.

We actually had a “non-Christmas movie Chrismas movie” party last year, made of movies that took place during Christmas time but the holiday has no real bearing on the story; like only a few elements may be related to the yule season, but the movie could take place at another time with only a few changes…you get what I mean?

Batman Returns appeared, as did tow of my favorite “non-holiday holiday” movies: Ghostbusters 2 and Gremlins.

Scrooged - favorite Christmas movie, though Christmas Vacation is high on that list as well

Gremlins, Home Alone and (believe it or not) Die Hard all have pretty good holiday themes as well

on a more negative note, if I ever have to see A Christmas Story one more time I think I’ll shoot MYSELF in the eye with a bb gun ;). something about that narrator’s voice makes me want to punch the tv

Karen - I’m just curious… what do nuns do exactly? Will you have to live in a convent? Do you wear the black habit all the time or only when you’re in the church? Do you listen to confessions or is that only the priest? Do you stay a nun your whole life or is there some kind of “retirement” when you’re older?

I’m not being facetious, I genuinely don’t know… my religious education was limited to “Sister Act II” and I’m interested in what the modern role of nuns would be :)

I’m in awe of your ability to commit to thie lifestyle… I’m your age and I have trouble planning my life beyond two weeks. I’m currently in the fifth year of an undergrad B.sc degree because I changed my major like six times!!

I am very proud to say that the fiance and I spent three-count ‘em-three hours last night reading past advent calendars. We’re up to 2004 and, on several occasions, I had him laughing his rear nether regions off. It was awesome. I think I just fell in love with him all over again. Anyway, he wants the sushi bar set. I want the fireplace and Christmas tree.

And we still haven’t discussed the families problem. To add to that problem, his parents are divorced and his dad lives near us, alone, so I’m going to feel really bad about leaving him all by himself for Thanksgiving. I’m almost more saddened by that than I am by the idea of not seeing my family for Turkey Day.

Matt: How do I know which advent calendar to buy? It looks like Amazon only has the one we did last year, plus the Lego calendar and the girly and knight calendars (I’m still buying the knight one).

Karen: My Aunt Katie is a nun in Brazil. She lives way out in the jungle and helps the farmers and locals reject the corrupt government through civil disobedience and bringing literacy to the villagers in the Amazon. She is like a Green Beret for God. Her senior sister was assassinated and Katey herself was attacked and beaten so severely she had to be hospitalized for almost two months. I must say it is a constant worry to the family but her drive and commitment is something we are so proud of and we wouldn’t want that any other way. You should be proud of that and I’m sure your family will be too. My Aunt Katie is the strongest person I have ever met in my life.

Thanks for all of the supportive comments. Telling my mom sucked, but by the end of the conversation she didn’t sound quite as disappointed in me as she initially did. My dad’s Catholic and I told him and my step-mom (also Catholic) last Thursday, which was scary, but not as bad because they’re okay with the Church. My mom converted when she married my dad, but has had really bitter feelings, understandably, since the annulment went through.

Jinsky, I want to be a Benedictine (there are lots of different flavors of nuns). The average American Benedictine nun isn’t cloistered, or locked up in the monastery. They do lots of different things. The particular Benedictine monastery that I want to join has an K-8 school that they run, a girls’ high school, a transitional home for women and children, and adult literacy program, and counseling programs. I would probably be involved in one of those, but the Prioress, or head nun, might feel I’m called to use my talents elsewhere. They also don’t wear the traditional habits, but rather plain clothes that suit their personality and ministry. Theoretically, I could wear jeans and a t-shirt for the rest of my life. Once nuns get old, they retire from the job aspect, like teaching or working in the transitional home, but they remain in the monastery. For Benedictines, a huge focus is on community, so leaving the monastery is like leaving your family. Here’s a good article on what being a Benedictine nun is like.

Again, thanks for the support everyone! So I can pretend that I’m on topic, let me throw in that I’ve never been a fan of eggnog. I did pick up my first gallon of apple cider from the grocery store the other day, though. Mmmm…so good. That’s what winter tastes like for me.

Karen, using Ctrl+F to find my name, I can safely say that your last post was quite misleading for me. lol

Holy crap! The moose mugs are $90 EACH?! I mean, they’re awesome and all but that’s just absurd. I was all ready to purchase a pair for myself and for select family members but it looks like the family will be drinking its eggnog out of non-moose-shaped mugs again this year……………..By the way, has anyone ever been to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular? I just bought tickets for the woman and I and am wondering if it’s as good as it’s supposed to be.

I remember the first few Christmases after I got married. Those were rough. My husband felt very strongly that Christmases should be spent at home. Being a young bride, I didn’t fight too much because I felt like being married meant making sacrifices and I knew what I was getting into. After a couple of years I told him that it made me really angry that his desire to do nothing on Christmas (besides stay at home and play with his new stuff) was somehow more important than my desire to spend the holidays with my side of the family on the only day of the year that the whole family gets together. He finally relented and I’ve been able to see my family on Christmas for the past two years. We’ve been very lucky that we’ve been able to come to a comfortable arrangement - Thanksgiving with his dad, Christmas with my parents, New Year’s Eve with his mom (she always has a big New Year’s Eve party, so that works out. We just do our Christmas with her then.) Figuring out the holiday arrangements can sometimes be one of the most stressful things in a marriage/long-term relationship. I agree with the other posters that said if you already know that you’re spending Christmas with one family, it’s only fair that the other gets Thanksgiving.

SPECIAL K- sorry about the caps, but i have no clue as to how to make your name bold- i know that when my parents first got married, they ended up asking both families to combine their celebrations. i guess it may have been easier though since we had a huge house when they first got married and enough spare room to house a few other families. with my last boyfriend we would split time between the two families. usually not everything is going on at the same time so if you have the ability to drive from one place to another in order to spend christmas with both families it is great, plus its like double whammy christmas. my fiancee’s family lives in iowa and we live in ohio so we dont really have that problem, unfortunately though, he does spend an hour or so christmas morning on the phone after we go to my parents house and open gifts. its not a perfect situation but it works for us, and im sure you will figure something out that will work for you as well.
DOHOPOKI- once again, sorry about caps, but i definitely agree with you on the hating loud children thing….i guess that is how i have been jaded by years of working as a server and in retail.

“The Christmas pack will feature such flavors as Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham. The Hanukkah pack will have Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas.

‘As always, both packs are kosher and contain zero caffeine,’ Jones said in a statement.”

They go on sale Sunday… for those of you with cast iron stomachs… Really, it doesn’t look too bad, except for the Christmas Tree flavor. If you drink that one, have someone take pictures so we can all enjoy it.

Leigha
Am I the only one that when I read your name, I hear General Jan Dodonna from Star Wars when he said it “Princess Lee-ah”? Anyway, I think of an old dude in Star Wars saying your name when I read your posts. Likewise, I feel like I should shout “Dohopoki, I choose you!” when I see his posts.

TOTALLY off topic, but Cool as Ice is on HBO. Come to think of it, when is Vanilla Ice ever off topic. Silly me.

Man I miss Chevy Chase. And Randy Quaid… You’ve made me feel sad, Matt. But it doesn’t matter if you feel happy or sad - what matters is that you feel. So thank you, Matt.

I’m commenting from the Star Wars Star Tours ride in DisneyWorld! And when we first walked up, all I could think about was Matt’s review of it last year!

that moose head looks like Gorbachev with the cinnamon birthmark. Merry Christmas Russia!

Oh maaaaan.
I have BOTH SOCO eggnogs in my fridge.
Mm. And punkin Pie.
We love Thanksgiving around here. I actually like Thanksgiving more than Christmas. There’s just too much drama in my BF’s damily around Christmas, and my family officially gave up Christmas traditions sometime when I was in highschool.
At least I get to make up my own!

its funny, my entire life people have associated my name with star wars…and i know what i am about to say is pretty much sacreligious but i have only seen star wars once, the first movie…and even then i didn’t see it up until about 3 years ago(it was my fiancee who finally talked me into it, so i guess it must be love)….but one of my favorite movies is spaceballs….

But.. But… You can’t get all of the satirical references of Spaceballs unless you see Star Wars: A New Hope!!! [Head Asplodes]

The Night They Saved Christmas OMG!!! Here I thought my husband was the only one who knew about that! I bought it for him on ebay christmas 05. Friggin 40 dollars! He loves it though…and I think its cute. soooo cheesy but fun. “your going to the Noth POle on a reindeer? and your talking from a candy cane? I think that Gaylord must be behind this!”

Leigha: Say what now?? You have got to get edumacated on Star Wars, lady! And I agree with Old Jim, your enjoyment of Spaceballs with greatly improve. Oh, and here’s a crash course on simple HTML to make stuff in bold and italics:

To make something in bold, type it like this: {b}Whatever you want in bold{/b}
Just make sure you don’t have any spaces between the parentheses and whatever you’re typing in the middle.

I’ve used parentheses here for the tags just for the demonstration, but you actually don’t use those. Replace ( ) with the two bracket keys that are directly to the right of the “M” key on your keyboard instead (I forgot what they’re called). If you want to make something in italics instead of bold, just replace the b’s with i’s. I hope this helps and makes sense. Otherwise, you can just do a Google search for basic HTML code and it should lay it all out for you. There’s all kinds of crap you can do easily, from bold and italics and underlining, to changing the color and size of the text and eveything.

Special K: Thanks for all the help with Advent calendars. I’m going to spend tonight reading catching up too so I can join in on all the X-E reindeer games.

I know a lot of movies have been knoccked about lately, but can you guys help me remember one? I think I saw something a long time ago that had Dudley Moore playing an elf. Something about people not believing in Santa. I think it was made in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I might have all that wrong though. Anyone know what I’m talking about? I’m alwys up for finding a good X-Mas movie that I havne’t seen yet. Yeah, I love Jingle All the Way too. I forgot about that one till someone mentioned it, but I really dig it everytime it comes on TV.

IMDB totally rocks! There have been days where I found myself thinking, for example, “what were the names of the actors in the TV show “They Came From Outer Space”?” and a quick search on IMDB tells me they were Stuart Fratkin and Dean Cameron. Both actors also have extensive lists of credits, with Stuart probably being best known for taking on the role of Stiles in Teen Wolf Too, and Dean Cameron for the role of the pizza delivery guy in Men At Work, the great Sheen/Estevez brother project.

Have any of you seen The Ref? That gets my vote for “non-Christmas Christmas movie”. The holiday does affect the plotline, but it’s definitely not your standard feel-good Christmas movie. It basically involves Denis Leary as a robber who takes a wealthy family hostage and forces them to quit bickering. Very, very funny movie. Gotta love Denis Leary.

This might be a reflection on myself but DieHard 2 is one movie that gets me in the Christmas spirit.

Jazzy: I love The Ref. Denis Leary’s “Still Smoking” is one of my favorite stand up routines ever. I used to quote it every time I smoked. Right up until I quite. Oh God I miss it so.

Oh yeah, IMDB is awesome. I haven’t seen Teen Wolf Too in so long I didn’t realize that someone else played Stiles. That’s a shame. Stiles was awesome! The last thing I saw him in though was Will and Grace. I’ll have to check out his IMDB page and see what else he’s done/doing. I still want a shirt that says “What are you looking at, dicknose?”, just to see if anybody else gets it.

I saw a few minutes of The Ref on TV once and it was really funny. One of those I would like to see in its entirety one day but probably won’t get round to it till it comes on TV again. Denis Leary can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, even if he’s in a crappy movie. He’s kind of got that Morgan Freeman quality. Shitty movies with Morgan Freeman are all that much better just because he’s in them.

Is anybody else a big 24 fan? And are you as bummed as I am about the new season being postponed?

Oh, one more thing, I was glancing at the last few threads and we’re seriously keeping this one going for a long time. The average post count for each tread is somewhere around 130-150, but this ones coming up on 250. I don’t know how much of that has to do with the lack of a new article (not that I’m complaining or anything), or just that we’ve managed to actually come up with new stuff to say.

I’ve got kind of a weird related idea. Wouldn’t it be kind of neat if we collectively picked some random article from like 3 years ago or something, then all agreed to go back to that article and continue the discussion on the thread? Just picked it up like no time has passed at all.

The Ref is great. Long live Dennis Leary. I’ve got No Cure for Cancer on cd. Or, I did. I hope I didn’t sell it.

DJ D: If you haven’t already, you have to read the review of A Very Brady Christmas Special. It’s one of my favorites.

I’ll be posting that full-length article either late or very late tonight, along with a new blog…so an empty Monday will pave way for a very full Tuesday.

DJ D: LOVE the idea man, i’d be there for it.
May I suggest the highly controversial awesomness of “cobras chia plot” ?

I just turned on Comcasts seasonal music channel…Robert Goulet was on. I was putting up the Christmas tree too, so if you see a window with a tree up today, that’s me

New? Article? Very? It’s November 12th Miracle! Deck the halls with no-vem-ber 12th falalala… eh.

Sorry if this was mentioned already, but has anybody seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure? Matt, you need to see this and review it.

Jeesh, that’s one “in space” away from being the worst movie ever without going beyond the title.

Oh my god, I’m reading that Brady article, and I’m dying laughing. I remember seeing part of this on TV as a kid.

DJD i think that may have worked but only time will tell….it was funny because i had seen spaceballs a million times before seeing star wars and i kept thinking to myself “oh…that was what they were making fun of” the whole time i watched it other than actually getting into the plot of the movie. i just cant help but love “yogurt” and his line of action figures. and i love when rick moranis is making the two figures make out and someone walks in on him and he throws them behind his shoulder….which is sad because my friends and i parodied that scene in a school video project where we updated the shakespeare play hamlet.

Bill: Just read it, and it was hilarious. I remember seeing that when I was a kid at my cousin’s house. At the time I didn’t know that Cindy wasn’t the real Cindy, but I remember thinking that she grew up to be a real hottie. Wonder if the real Cindy turned out just as well. Probably not.

JoshC: I’ll do a search for “cobras chia plot” and check it out. I don’t think I’ve read that one, but if we could agree on one and actually convince people to get over there and continue the thread, that would be really fun. I’m all for picking that one if everyone else is up for it. Being a relatively new X-E’er there’s years worth of articles so I’m never bored. I’m still playing catch-up.

Speaking of catching up, I’ve noticed that there’s been one big catch phrase that’s been thrown around a lot…something about not wanting to think about chicken when you’re eating something else…I don’t remember how it went. Anyways, yeah, what’s that from and what’s the significance? Just trying to stay in the know. After all, as we all know from all those years of G.I. Joe watching, there’s something to be said for knowing, and the quantity of the battle that said knowing represents.

“I don’t want to think about chicken wings when I’m eating my Doritos”….ah, great times.

It comes from a blog post a year and 1/2 or so ago where Matt talked about Doritos Buffalo Chicken flavored chips. That statement was made either in the post or the discussion that followed. Next came a challenge for everyone to try and slip that phrase into their daily conversations, leading to a post soon after where we all shared stories.

It seems like since then it’s grown into a non-sequiter catchphrase for things that are sometimes randomly connected in the X-E World.

Leigha: Look at you all using HTML successfully and such! Aw, our little girl’s all grown up.

I forgot to mention this in the last post. I just got back from the grocery store and I picked up my first ever Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. I was planning on just getting a 6-pack or something to try it out, but the only way it was available was the big, honkin’ 12-pack. I thought, “Alright, Matt, I’m taking a gamble on this, slamming down my $4.99 for 12 cans of this stuff. It better be worth it.”…And it was! I just drank it in my groovy, trusty Ms. Pac-Man glass mug that nothing has ever tasted bad in. I was really surprised at how subtle the flavor was. When I read the article, it just looked so blood red that I thought it would basically just taste like syrupy, carbonated cranberry juice and while I like cranberry juice, I didn’t think I was really down with that. Anyways, yeah, the craberrry really is just a splash and despite the rich red color, it doesn’t overpower the whole thing. It’s got the perfect mist/cran ratio. I drank it with a perfectly cooked Digiorno’s Pizza. Yum. I’m gonna head downstairs, refill my ice, and have another can. Thanks, Matt! Oh, and to top it off, we got another article tonight. Woo-doo!

I’ve actually gotten several friends to use the phrase “I don’t want to think about chicken while I’m eating Doritos” in ordinary conversation, on a fairly regular basis. I have awesome friends.

JoshC and Shuanfu: I just read the “don’t wanna think about chicken when I’m eating Doritos” blog post for the first time, and that officially is the funniest X-E article/blog post I have ever read. Granted, I’m still a relatively newbie but I just cracked up reading all the stories where people fulfilled the assignment and tried to work it into converstaion. Which leads me to why I’m posting. I say that in order to fulfill my fantasy of visiting an old article and continue the thread, I say we re-inact the assignment. I know it’s only been just over a year, but for us newbies, it would be loads of fun. If we decide to do it, let’s all just use Shuanfu’s link above to go back to that thread and post our results. I can’t wait to spring that on someone at work, or better yet the roommate, which would make it more awkward and funny. At my job. it would sound perfectly normal.

Speaking of work, someone taped up a TPS Report Cover Sheet to the wall the other day. It had our company log on it and everything. Hilarious.

Oh, and while I’m getting caught up on famous X-E articles of the past, can someone fill me in what a Photog is?

melk mugs make a cheaper version of the moose mug… i didn’t feel like spending 100 bucks each!

Glad you’ve discovered the joys of alcoholic egg nog, Matt. I can’t drink it any other way anymore after seeing Southern Comfort Egg Nog in the stores two years ago. You can use any brand egg nog, of course. Actually, I prefer to mix Hood egg nog with Southern Comfort.

Also, use BLACK LABEL SoCo unless you’re some kind of sissy nancy boy. White label is for girls.

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