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12/18/2007: Snow Business.

We found out late last week that Christmas dinner was going to be at our apartment this year. For the woman's side of the family, at least. I hope this doesn't necessitate of a slight curtailing of the usual amount of alcohol downed at my family's party on the Eve, but even if a little voice told me that it did, I'd probably ignore it.

I was completely fine with this turn of events at first, but I think that was just blind optimism. We've gone from having a casual stroll through the holidays to needing to write up gigantic lists while hopping from grocery store to grocery store trying to pick up the little necessities that always seem to sell out when you're trying to obtain them a week before Christmas. What, does everyone on the planet need plastic cups? Can't anyone just use real glasses? We would, but I don't think I want to make her family drink from my collection of Star Wars Burger King cups, or those frosted Batman Forever McDonald's mugs. After all, it's Christmas, and Christmas isn't about watching everyone fight over who gets to drink from Two-Face.

So far, the biggest bone of contention between us has been over what we're going to serve. Her family's tastes are very American, while I was brought up on gluttonous Italian Christmas dinners where no dish is complete until it has incorporated at least three ingredients that will offend half the people at the party. Take the stuffing, for example. She's of the mind that we should keep the stuffing simple, and dare I say, of the Stove Top variety. I could live on Stove Top all year long, but on Christmas, stuffing isn't complete unless it's got sausage marbles, apple chunks and raisins peppered all over it. And keep in mind, I hate raisins and apples in stuffing. It's just the way it has to be. I mean, if I wanted to eat Stove Top stuffing for Christmas, I'd make my car run out of gas near a Holiday Inn on the morning of the 25th.

Still, I'm kind of excited about doing it. It's the first time we've hosted a major holiday party, and as host, I'm at full liberty to correct the many things my own family has clearly done wrong for so many Christmases. For one, I plan to have Christmas music blaring throughout the entire soiree, no matter how much it drives everyone nuts. For two, eggnog will not be something that just sits sealed up in the refrigerator as a lark until I finally find one or two lost souls willing to have "half a glass" with me. No, this time, I'm putting out the freakin' bowl and I'm going to stare down everyone at that table until they discover its true glories.

And if you're pressing me to come with a "for three," let's go with this: Christmas specials on the television throughout the day.

I mentioned our little snowstorm a few entries back, completely forgetting that fact that many of you live in climates that have completely precluded you from ever touching the funny white stuff. I can't imagine that. I feel for you. Fortunately, some two-bit company from someplace or another has seen fit to deliver us from the evils of snowless societies with a little kit that will let anyone create and play with a substance that, on a stretch, passes as actual snow!

The "Super Snow" kit consists of a little baggy of magic powder, and if I were you, I wouldn't try bringing it through airport security. By stirring even a small amount of powder with a few ounces of water, an icy, sticky and sopping wet mass of snow-like alien gel will form!

If the process sounds exciting, I have some evidence to disprove that: Check out this video, and note how even the most hard-driving action music couldn't save it from being the most boring two minutes in YouTube history. Then again, it's not the process that we came for…it's the reward.

As you stir, the water and powder will join hands and transform into a white blob that looks sort of like really clean oatmeal, and incredibly, it works very much like real snow: You can roll a snowball, make little snowmen, and if the mood strikes, I'm pretty sure that you can eat it without dying.

In reality, the substances used to make this "instant snow" are borrowed from another purpose. The snow gel is actually more often used as plant soil in dry areas. I'm not making this up; it says so right on the back of the package. Then again, the back of the package also claims that Super Snow can be used at parties, weddings and festivals. They may have taken a few liberties. Sure, it could be used at a wedding…but for what? Did the upstart tradition wherein man and wife consummate their contractual bond by making fake snow together somehow escape me?

All in all, I was really surprised at how well the stuff worked. I was expecting a gloppy, powdery mess, but the faux frost really does feel like the end result of some foreign utopia's ten year research expedition. I really can't think of a single way to improve the stuff. It's not poisonous, it looks like snow, it feels like snow, and it's kind of shiny. Those are the four hallmarks of any item worth purchasing.

I found my Super Snow in an actual store with real doors, but it looks like there are plenty of online options. True, it might be a bit late to be ordering the stuff for Christmas, but I think snow is safe to enjoy in January without anyone telling you to get over yourself.

The Advent is technically up to date so long as I put #18 up before midnight. Vegas odds never favor me, though. I've got a few others things that need to be covered before Santa arrives, lest I be left with a big plastic bin of "stuff to write about" that has to rot in the closet until next Christmas. Maybe another blog entry later today? Vegas says no, but we'll see.

I still have those McDonalds Batman Forever cups too. Your Christmas dinner is gonna rock Matt!

Don't have the Batman Forever cups, but somewhere around we still have "super size" cups from Batmans Returns. Yes, they are somewhat faded, but if I want something out of a giant cup, it is nice to have real Catwoman on it!

I always thought that fake snow consisted of micro sponges that just absorbed the water. Or maybe that's just state of the art.

On that video it looks like instant mashed potatoes made with Jello, is that the consistency it has?

I don't know… a quick google search doesn't help. I remember seeing a video on youtube where some guy explained it in an infomercial kind of way, but I don't know how I'd dig it up now.

Does the snow actually get cold? I remember buying some snow last year and I was really surprised at how mixing it with water instantly turned it cold. I was pretty tempted to put it in my drink.

Never had fake snow, except for the cotton kind. The youtube video looks kind of…odd…I'm sure the people looking over my shoulder at work were confused.

Anonymous, I think the real Catwoman will always be Eartha Kitt. Rrrowwwrr

Ooh hosting Christmas dinner! Sounds exciting but stressful, like all the best Christmasses. Good luck!

Matt, I found out for the first time last year how great it is being in charge of…basically Christmas.

Everything changed and I got to be the person who did all the food, organised all the decorations and so on. It's a lot of work, but dammit if you can't completely have Christmas the way you always wanted it.

I had the TV auto-switching between Christmas cartoons and assorted movies (and the Queen's speech, of course), music blaring out of the kitchen all day and I changed it from Christmas lunch to dinner, which made things so much more brilliant.

But here's the kicker…if Christmas is at your place, you don't have to worry about being sober enough to get home!

Cotter asked what I'm curious about, is it cold? It's not snow (or chalked full of irritant chemicals) unless you can hold it in your hand and it turns your skin red.

If not, I wonder how it'd hold up in the freezer for a few minutes. Oh well, add some milk, vanilla, and a bit of rum and make yourself some snow ice cream.

Wine will be consumed from the same glasses that were used on Thanksgiving, the old wine goblets from Arbys. I can't wait.

So you're going with an egg nog bowl, eh? I hope you have enough moose mugs for everyone!

fistpittingnork, I am interested in this alcoholic snow ice cream you speak of and would like to sign up for more recipes in this collection…

I envy everyone who gets to host their holiday festivities. As it stands i get to meet my mother's new boyfriend which is weird given that i am 27. and my 50 year old mom is having waaaaay more sex than me. sigh.

Matt:: I was at a party on Friday night (cool, eh?) Anyway, one of my buddies brought home made eggnog… Needless to say I was suitably skeptical as he emptied 6 Mason jars into a bowl (a la Christmas Vacation). Joyously he announced "The booze has already been added" - my skepticism increased… Skeptically I began filling a glass (moose glasses would have made the whole scene surreal) and drank this mysterious elixir… IT WAS INCREDIBLE!! 24 eggs, 2 litres of milk, a litre of cream, blah blah blah - the thing tasted like melted vanilla icecream. Un-freakin-believable. If you're looking to make a huge 4-hour-long mess prior to entertaining your Christmas guests and you want to blow them all away. I suggest homemade nog. In Yoda's voice, "low fat, it is not." Enjoy

We're hosting Christmas Eve at our house this year…mostly I hate it, because it means that all the cleaning we haven't done throughout the year, we have to do in the week before Christmas. And we don't get to go to the Christmas Eve service…and our house is tiny, so fitting my extended family into it will be rather uncomfortable. On the other hand, good southern Christmas food (turkey and ham, probably) and it may actually be cold.

Also, my aunt makes the strongest eggnog in the world–I get dizzy from the fumes alone.

So this is the first time I've been able to get online in a serious way for over a week. The ice storms had me without electricity for four days, and even after the power came back up my internet was still dead. Since the OU library had been the only source of heat, light, and bandwidth for (apparently) miles and miles around, I've spent most of my time there. With approximately thirty thousand of my closest friends. During finals week. The overall experience has been very similar to trying to write a term paper in an aiport the weekend before Christmas.

So while I have technically had internet access, I really don't think I could face trying to explain the depth and nuance of X-Entertainment–starting with the fact that it's not a porn site and working my way down to the efforts of several plastic people to save plastic Christmas from some plastic rabbits–to a caffeine-crazed freshman who needs my computer to research syphilitic writers through the ages.

Anyway, I'm back on the farm now, and I finally have the time, energy, and technology to go read through the week and a half of advent calendar that I missed. Wish me luck.

We're doing Christmas breakfast at our house for all of the local family and friends and I'm pretty freakin' excited about that. I'm making egg nog waffles/pancakes/french toast, the fiance is making eggs, bacon and sausage and we'll have plenty of hot chocolate to go around. It's a diabetic's dream and it should be a blast! Now if I could only get myself up before noon to start cooking!

Christmas is in a week and I don't even know what I'm doing that day yet. I'm thinking maybe I'm gonna stay home and play video games all day or something. I don't really feel welcome at my dad's, and I definitely don't feel welcome with my fiance's family.

I think I want to make a nice dinner later in the evening just for us, but I have no freaking idea what to make. Does anybody have any suggestions other than turkey?

We actually had our family get together on Sunday at our great-grandma's apartment complex for the first time. She's 95 and it's hard for her to travel to our houses. It was kinda fun as we had all just brought dishes and desserts. We had Lasagne, goulash, meatballs, garlic/cheese bread, chicken enchiladas, a pasta salad, etc. I guess we were in an Italian mood even though we aren't Italian.

I watched "Bah Humduck, a Looney Tunes Christmas Carol" Last Night on Cartoon Network. I'm planning on watching "Santa Claus, The Movie" tonight on AMC. Also the "Top 100 Songs of the 90s" on VH1.

That fake snow we used about two years ago when my sister and her friend decided to throw a Christmas in July double birthday party because they're both summer babies. That snow stains your clothes!! Beware. That crap got on my tank top and still is stained to this day. And it feels like thick snot to me. I wasn't very happy with it but it does look damn real. You can check out my pics of it here: www.flickr.com/photos/melissay1 I have a album called rooftop party or some shit like that.

While I agree with Eartha Kitt goodness, I've always been a Julie Newmar guy myself.

And as for Christmas Day, my grandparents (Dadf's side) are coming over this year (as they have been for the last few years), don't know if anyone else will.

As for Xmas Eve…it's gonna be at the house of the grandma on my mom's side…which I'm dreading because her house is small, filthy, and smoke-filled to the point where spending 10 minutes makes your clothes forever smell like an ashtray. I was there for 2 hours a few weeks ago for her birthday and I ended up with a cold after trying to get all the nicotine & secondhand smoke out of my lungs and throat.

Vanilla Fire–We should compare your aunt's egg nog recipe with my granddad's. You can get a serious contact high from that stuff!

I'm getting married on the 24th so I'm off the hook for Christmas. I'm planning on sleeping in late, visiting with the family that will be in town for the wedding and then hunkering down in front of the television for whatever cable marathon suits my fancy.

My family's Christmas gathering is, perhaps, too "normal" to even describe here, but I'll do so anyway:

My father has three sisters, and between them, they have eleven kids, so when you add in myself and my two brothers, that makes fourteen cousins. All except myself and one of my cousins are married, and when you add in spouses and cousins' kids, the total number of attendees averages sixty.

Each year, the responsibility for hosting the family party rotates between my father and each of his three sisters' families. Starting about 10 years ago, the cousins gradually started taking over the responsibility for hosting their branch's year. This year, it's our family's turn, and the Christmas day gathering will be held at a rented hall a mile from my brother's house.

It's a pretty fun affair. Everybody pitches in and brings a side dish, my mother thaws out and cooks the free turkey she got for spending $500 on groceries at Shop-Rite during November, and a spiral-cut ham, and makes two Libby® pumpkin pies and a homemade apple pie, as well as her 20+ varieties of homemade Christmas cookies.

After dinner, we all gather, my Dad breaks out his songsheets, and we all sing "The twelve days of Christmas" and a couple of other holiday favorites, and my Dad acts as Santa, handing out the various gifts from the cousins to each other and their kids.

We don't have stuffing at all on Christmas. We do have a fair share of American and Greek food, though. No turkey, though. My family (both sides) is all about ham. Mmmm….

Matt that is so cool that this is the first Christmas you and your lady are hosting at your home! This is my first Christmas also doing Christmas at my own home!!! AND I also was planning on having Christmas specials showing all day/night on our TV, and I spent two hours last night creating the perfect music play list off from Rhapsody. I have 200 hundred songs about, and I went through and made sure each set of 50 songs had no repeats- that was hard!

Matt will your moose mugs make an appearance beside the egg nog this season? Or are they to valuable for even the finest of holiday gatherings?

Growing up, every time it snowed my mom would make my brothers and I snow ice cream, of course she didn't use the rum, it was something I added later on down the road.

Just mix everything to taste, but take it slow with the milk. If you pour in too much it takes away from the glorious texture of the snow and you're left with a clumpy bowl of milk. A teaspoon of sugar is a nice addition.

Not sure if I have any other recipes dependent on natural occurances, but I'll toy around with my left over tequila and things laying around the yard and I'll see what I come up with.

Christmas on your own turf is the BEST! We did it last year and are getting ready for the 2nd annual bash as we speak. It's pretty small, just my parents and my boy's mom, but it's so much easier than trying to negotiate the travel and the extended family and such. I went a little overboard last year and am hoping to focus more on appetizers and alcohol this year. And if you're having fun dancing around the kitchen preparing goodies while quoting lines from the Garfield Christmas special, your guests will have fun too (even if they think you've gone a little too heavy on the nog)

Since Super Snow isn't really snow, it would probably remain in its snowy form even when warmed in a microwave.

When we have family come in from out of town for Xmas, the fond memory is the "Alligator Farm": when the ones who spent the night are sleeping in all available spaces, usually camped out in the living room, and are dozing happily on the floor.

At least your fake snow is actually icy. We were playing with some at the mall yesterday that was just greasy and slightly cool. It was really gross.

On Christmas, my family does a Pepsi-pineapple ham as opposed to a turkey. Pineapple rings are "hung" all over the ham using whole cloves and basted in Pepsi.

I've heard plenty of people doing this, but I still get people who almost seem freaked out and disgusted just at the thought.

it's funny how there was a few people that commented on "those batman forever mugs." The best part about that line Matt, was that we ALL know the exact mugs you're referring too. It's great to be part of a cult. lol. Good luck with the gathering! Merry Christmas!!!

The funny part, Jay, is that most of us not only know what mugs he's referring to, but we all probably have the same collection ourselves.

Special K, I'm coming over to crash your Christmas breakfast, that sounds like a lot of fun!

I wonder, how do you incorporate a bowl full of white goop into a Christmas party? I guess you would have to buy a shit load of it to decorate, but where? And How? I don't get it. This doesn't mean I don't want to buy any and play with it, cause if I see it somewhere, I'll buy it in a heart beat.

I have never hosted Christmas. My family is always on Christmas Eve and my cousins, and her house how a lot more room than mine to host even our small family. Then the other side is always Christmas Day at my In-law house. In theory I would love to host a party, but sadly that means I would have to invite people that I don't like into my home, and usually that is best avoided.

I'd like to throw in that even across the pond, we know which mugs they are. Nowhere locally had the Two-Face though.

It was the same time that the drive-in McD's sold the Mega Mac for a while, which was something like two or three Big Macs in one, with a bucket load of Big Mac sauce.

Damn, now I realise it's been over a year since I last visited McDonalds…and I have Big Mac sauce taste memories.

"…Christmas isn't about watching everyone fight over who gets to drink from Two-Face."

This year is going to be totally different for me. I am actually traveling to Texas to have Christmas with my boyfriend's family…..I just realized that I probably won't be able to access the internet for the entirety of next week!!! I will miss the "Box 23" revelation! Either way, I am looking forward to having BBQ beef brisket and beer for Christmas dinner as opposed to ham and macaroni and cheese.

There was a MegaMac? I so wished I lived there at that time. Although we briefly had something sorta similar called the McClub.

JLAJRC, some of the motorway services bring them back every so often, though for some reason they always have extra salt sprinkled on them. Different places change whether you get 4, 6 or 8 patties, but it's always a metric slopping of sauce.

Yeah, I think I still have a full set of those Batman Forever mugs kicking around too. You're pretty much inspired me to break them out and force feed eggnog to all of my relatives on the 25th, Batman style.

An 8 patty Big Mac? Curse you Guise! I know it would probably stop my heart in a second but I would love to try one of those!

I never got a Two Face mug either, I only got the Batman and Riddler ones dang it!

Matt: So you mean someone's finally made GOOD fake snow? Awesome! Last time anyone in the family got non-spray fake snow the results just looked like some sort of translucent gel-substance… Really disappointing, it was.

So- We're hosting both a posada and christmas eve at my home. But- becuase I live with my BF's mum… I don't get to do it my way. Which sucks nads cause i HATE, HATE the way she does things. She tries to be festive, but gets stressed out too easy and that ruins the whole gig.

and hate to double post (not really…:P)
I think I had a Two-Face… the handle of the mug is a flipping con, right?

To those asking: Yes, it stays cold. Not snow-level cold, but certainly colder than, say, a bowl of water would've been by now just sitting out on my table. It's a little more like playing with thick grits than thin snow, though.

I'm thinking about buying at least a small present for everyone and maybe little stockings to hand out with candy and whatnot. I'm not sure yet. I want to do something fun and silly and I hope to make this a yearly tradition. Anyone want to help me out with some suggestions?

Special K, I really want that breakfast you're planning, but right now I mean. I may have to make your Christmas breakfast for dinner tonight.

Also, new development: Now we're debating whether we should skip the cooking entirely and rely on a Chinese takeout feast instead. It worked for Ralphie.

My issue: Chinese food is always a party, but since Christmas is normally about sitting at the table and eating for 4-5 hours straight, I'm not sure how it'll work out. You really can't eat Chinese food for more than 30 minutes.

Matt, how about getting the longest table, huge chinese buffet split to either end, a stack of board games underneath and a game in the centre. The game becomes what you are sat there for and people can feast throughout.

If you've got a local catering supply store, grab a few cheap hot plates to keep stuff heated, so people can keep gnawing throughout.

That way, no-one leaves the table, it's still a family meal, and food is a convenience not a chore.

Matt: You can stretch Chinese food into a 4-5 hour affair… remember, it only stays with you about 20 minutes then you're hungry again. Eat in cycles!

And I was thinking about doing a Christmas breakfast preview tonight myself… I'm so hungry for a gigantic egg nog waffle… oh, man, I'm drooling…

Special K: I was at Party City earlier today and they had a ton of neat, cheap stocking stuffer toys. (Don't know the age range you're referring to, though.) It's not top drawer stuff, but considering how much even preparing a Christmas breakfast will run you, I doubt you're looking to hand out PSPs.

And just like that, the Chinese dream has ended. I had the woman call her mother to get her reaction, and in her estimation, Ma #2 preferred the traditional meal. Might still get some appetizers, though, as I'm now convinced that every Christmas will be vastly improved by oily Chinese chicken in foil.

we have the 23rd- the day before christmas eve. The day before our posada night, we go to see my grandma- she lives in SNOW COUNTRY! whee!
So, This weekend- crazy christmas themed insanity.

Matt, you can always push the oily chicken in to a vaguely roast carvery shape and claim the fried rice is a unique stuffing. We won't tell, honest!

Knegative, my bunny ears, letters to Santa and strategies on best way to bombard people with torn up wrapping paper may wish to dispute that one.

kittymao
The only good thing about having to go to my Parent's for Christmas (350 miles away in a town I hate) is that I don't have to clean up my house.

The party sounds great but all of you intending to blare christmas music,are a bit sadistic. I worked at home depot for several years,and the day after thanksgiving the christmas music would begin 24/7 even after the store closed.It drove me into a murderous rage by day 2! it wasnt even good music it was chrismas songs by bon jovi and backstreet boys. The only one I liked was the one sung in english and spanish I cant spell the tile so I wont, but that one is forever stuck in my head.

If one can't do a full Chinese take-out, then at least get a couple boxes worth of fortune cookies. You can still read the fortunes out loud and add the usual "in bed/in your mouth/in my pants" to them. Or, to adjust to the season, "in a manger/with a wise man/in Santa's pants/fa la la la la." Whatever drives your sleigh.

The biggest concern I would have is if there's gonna be a lot of little kids there, and I take it you (like a lot of us) have little displays up with all your cool Star Wars/Charlie Brown/Transformers/Whatever collection shit on them. You gotta watch out for the kids, they think that stuff is there for them to play with. Believe me, I've found that out the hard way….

Darth Justin, I'm pretty sure that's why the Gawds of Science gave mankind razorwire, electric generators and "Practical First Aid for Dummies" books.

After reading this, I went searching to see if there are other types of nog, because I've always wondered. Seems like egg is the only *true* nog, but when I searched for nog on wikipedia it told me: For egg nog, corn nog and related drinks, see Eggnog. So there was this big wtf moment of contemplating the idea of corn nog, until I found out it was a thing on The Simpsons that my boyfriend and I both forgot about. But before that, I found this recipe for corn nog made of creamed corn drippings, cola, soy milk, and rum. Oi.

We always have steak and french fries for Christmas dinner… I didn't even realize that was unusual until sometime in college.

Hobbit, have you ever heard of Silk Nog, eggnog flavored soy milk? They sell it in some grocery stores where I live for Vegans

jedok, how long were you without power? I got power back sunday, but they just took my down because the line was damaged, but I had it through the crucial period. (also from Norman)

Thanks for feeling sorry for me Matt. The only good thing we get here in Florida is pretty good chill. And I mean the temperature.

I'm going down to my mom and stepdad's house in North Cape May, NJ, on Christmas Eve with my sister for a couple of hours to deliver presents and just see them and the house one more time before they move. I haven't seen them since I went to my little nephew's third birthday party in late July. I'll spend Christmas Day with my biological father, stepsister, and his girlfriend at her aunt's house. None of my siblings and I are married (my sister is a single mother), and not only is my nephew the only grandkid between the five of us, but my brother and stepsister are still teenagers. Christmas was always a reletively small family affair in my family. (Thanksgiving was the huge 60-person get-together.)

fistpittingnork: Yeah, I guess I could understand why some people might cringe at the thought of the pineapple/pepsi ham, but that is only because they are naive. It is totally common to cook meats like ham in a sugary liquid like that. Why once I saw Alton Brown (on Good Eats of course) do the same thing but with Dr. Pepper instead of Pepsi.

Ok all you wonderfull computer folk, please tell me how to link my MYSPACE page to my name when I post like so many others of you do. any help would be very much appreciated1!

Mortalwind
Just put your MySpace address in the space that says website and it'll link to your name

that will make any dysfunctional family christmas gathering a happy, giggly time.

(Sorry if there are any typos, my black cat is working the laptop touchpad for me tonight. He's two-pawing it! Why is there never a camera around for my LOL cat worthy moments?)

Special K, a stocking stuffer breakfast theme, would be fun, though, I don't really know what that would include? Gift cards to IHOP maybe?

The more I look at the picture of the fake snow, the more tempted to touch it. I must go out and buy some, hmmm.

Does anyone else's pass time include eating junk food while watching The Biggest Loser? I can't be alone in this.

So yeah….had my christmas with my dad and stepmom who came from Maine last friday night…went to Charlie Browns and i had prime rib and lobster thermidor…got food poisoning from the chicken liver on the salad bar…and you all know about the wii ordeal. So I'm thinking christmas is gonna be Me, my husband, mom, mom-mom,brother, uncle,aunt, 7 yr old cousin and 20 yr old cousin and her bf and my shih tzu. We Normally have ham or turkey, coleslaw, stuffing and deviled eggs and veggies and dessert…basically thanksgiving only christmas.

…I require this fake snow. Nothing makes fake snow better than…A KNIGHT RIDER CHRISTMAS.
Seriously, I heard this randomly on XM a few days ago and after much searching I found it online.
So here for all of your enjoyment is "The Night KITT Saved Christmas."
http://www.sonicslang.com/sonic_slang/audio/kitt_the_amazing...

Well, I just found out this is my last christmas. Ever.
I won't elaborate, but you can probably guess what that means.
Nice chatting with you all.

Geez man, thats the most ominous post I've ever seen. Lets hope you're just converting to Judaism or something…

Haa… cant wait for the 18 advent calender entry.. beside if you guys want snow ;P we just got hit for like 50 centimeters tonight

That fake snow stuff looks pretty cool. My Christmas will be pretty normal and that's the way I like it. My parents, sister and me are all going over to my brothers house for Christmas Eve, then my brother and his family are all coming over to visit us at my parents house. I'm sure we will all have a blast. =)

Im sure that method works but my shity laptop makes nothing simple or easy Ive tried to post a couple of times with my my space url in the webssite feild, but nothing post its weird oh well thanks for the info.

The Good Guy
either your dying or planning on the world wide demise of christmas. either one sucks, hope all is not as dire as it would seem.

I have been at Disneyland for the last 2 days and it is cold here at the moment. We got rained out tonight so we called it quits early but it was still a fun day. Yesterday was so cold I think I pulled a muscle in my back from shivering while I watched Fantasmic and the fireworks. Would it kill them to put up a heat lamp or to leave the lake on fire so we could warm up?

Ah well, it is all good fun and what kind of vacation would it be without the risk of pnuemonia???

My family always eats for hours on holidays as well, usually broken up with walks around the block to help with digestion. I think Chinese would be a bad choice, but only because of the bad experience I had with food poisoning at a Chinese restaurant. Twice.
I want to find that snow now, but not for now there is plenty outside my door. I just want to have it in August when I cannot stand the heat one more day.

Wow. I will speak on behalf of all the people who have never experienced snow and say that I am priveleged that you would dedicate a BLOG to people like me who spend Christmas in a warm climate with flies. I've always wanted to have a fire and a hot cup of cocoa in the Christmas season but if I actually did that there would be more of a chance of me dying of heat stroke/exhaustion than there already is.
I think that Australia is definitely ready for the fake snow phenomenon as here a traditional Christmas consists of a BBQ where someone ALWAYS has to burn the sausages or else it just doesn't feel like the holiday season. Thankyou for making my snow dreams come true.
Also, I have NEVER had eggnogg.

When Matt ohh when will the advent Gods shine there happy little gaze down upon us?

Dont feel Bad snow is wonderfull and quaint until your sliding of a freeway exit even though your going 20 miles and hour, Its also not so quaint by by the time january comes and the sides of the road are piled high with Black snow, yummy!

But on a good note If you lay on your back in a snow storm it does look like your going into hyperspace. Thanks Calvin and Hobbs.

I got that same snow storm that you got matt. I'm in Ontario though. I think we got the brunt of it considering there was lightning and thunder. It was surreal.
I've never been in a warm climate on or near christmas, it just wouldn't feel like christmas for me. And the fake snow, though with its merits, just doesn't cut it (throwing it would be interesting and messy ^_^).
I feel your pain matt, I've been planning family christmas too. I just want to be finished shopping already. I think we're planning for too much though. Oh well We're all going crazy on the holidays anyway.

"Traditional" Christmas dinner is subjective, anyway, and they all start somewhere. So I'd tell Mom-in-law to poke, grit, and shut.

bethanythemartian: My power went down on Monday morning and came back up Thursday evening. Sadly, my cable connection was still down when I left, so I can only hope that it's back up when I get back. Good luck with your power situation.

Hey everyone, I hate to ruin the mood (not that it was that high to start with - The Good Guy, I don't know what's going on with you, but take care man), but I've just found out my Christmas is pretty much ruined.

I had just started a new job as a part-time caregiver for a child with multiple handicaps and various neurological problems. Special needs kids are my passion, so I was loving this job.

Well today, I woke up to a phone call telling me the child I was taking care of passed away this morning. I'm horrified. Today would have only been my fourth day on the job. I was just starting to really love the kid and the family. And his mother just started teaching for the first time.

Merry fucking Christmas. *sigh* Since I'm obviously unemployed now, I will probably still be around here to distract myself…

I came here to say I was running a little late, but that seems a bit trivial after that comment. Jeez, jazzy, that's terrible…very sorry to hear it.

jazzy
That is terrible. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the family…

jazzy, very sorry to hear that. That's not an easy thing to go through any time of year, but it's gotta be especially tough around the holidays. If you don't mind me asking, what sort of medical problems/disorders did he have?

jazzy
My condolences to both you and the little boy's family. It must be rough to lose a loved one around the holidays. I consider myself lucky that I haven't had to live through that kind of pain.

I wish there was something I could say or do that would make the pain magically go away, but unfortunately, there isn't. All I can hope is that immersing yourself in X-E will get you back into the Christmas spirit.

jazzy,I am really sorry to hear that.=( I hope that in time your pain will heal.

I'm terribly sorry to hear about your patient, Jazzy. It's always worse when it's sudden. I hope you can pick yourself up again quickly.

And The Good Guy, I hope it's not as bad as you're thinking it is. If you do have limited time left, lets try to eat, drink, and be as merry as we can in the circumstances!

Chris: He had a lot of neurological problems, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy and severe mental handicap. I knew he was probably not going to live into old age, but as he was only 13 and was doing fine yesterday, this is still a huge shock.

Arkenor, I'd love to hear your good news anyway

Just because some of us are having a bad time doesn't mean no one else should have a good time. And personally, I need to hear good things right now.

On your way out, The Good Guy, be sure to pick up your complementary gift basket, stop by the souvenier shop, and take a picture at the Zarquon's Singing Fish tank. We hope you enjoyed your stay, and tell all your friends about us. I'll tell the Management to Comp your next go-around. Y'all come back now, y'hear?

jazzy
Hoping to bring a smile to your face, did you listen to the mp3 that Sara found yet? If not, scroll up to her comment and click on the link.

It wasn't that good, but I did meet Santa Claus today. Not just any Santa. OUR SANTA!!!!

That's awesome. Now that I see him scaled up next to people, escalators, etc, it makes me realize that if Santa's that big, there's no way in hell I'd fuck with Waiterbot.

I know! It was really weird, and put me in a strange state of mind. I started keeping my eyes open for Mares, just in case!

thought id jump in, im a long time reader and rare poster on the board lol
i finish finals on saturday and then its home to jersey for christmas break with my family.
my sister and i exchange our gifts to each other christmas eve, and then christmas morning is for santa gifts.
this year my bf and i cant be together for christmas, so we exchanged gifts early, i got him a fossil watch, he got me a light pink psp
wooo christmas lol

WAITERBOT: Chocolatey goodness! One of the only phrases I'd consider turning into an ass tattoo! HANDS DOWN BEST LINE EVER!!!!!! Seriously, the next time i see a box of ding-dongs that is all im going to be able to think of….waiterbot's chocolatey ass…gross.

Arkenor, you must have a strong will, because I could not possibly have walked past that Playmobil ranger without scooting him over to make it look like he was screwing the deer.

Ha, I just realized how open they left that. Reminds me of this time when my family, family friends, and I were site seeing in Chattanooga and we went into some Lookout Mountain information lodge or some crap. Anywho, standing in the corner was this wireframe man wearing lumberjack-esque attire. Walking in, he had a boring, standard pose I can't remember today, but by the time we left, his left hand was high in the air flipping off visitors as they walked in the door where his right hand was holding the corncob boner sticking out of his zipper.

I was probably 17 at the time, a little old for that crap, perhaps, but now being 25, I'll admit I'd still be tempted to do the same. And get just a big a kick out of it as I did almost 10 years ago.

Hahahahaha…great. I'm loving this caldendar. Leviathan?! This is gonna be good!

Just to let everyone know I posted some XE links over at MIXX.com It would be cool if some regulars, went over and voted them up. So more people can experience THE WORST GAME ROOM EVER, and other such gems culled from the archive. By the way I got dibs on the chocolay goodness ass tattoo!

I have a full set of those Batman Forever mugs,2 Batmans for some reason.If any mug would be fought over it was always the Riddler,then Two-Face and of course Robin was always the last choice of anyone.

Leviathan? I dunno, considering the hallucinagenic nature of the ACs in general, the Beast is likely to be a Lego puppy with a drool problem. Or another Tigerboy. With a drool problem.

Matt, those ever-changing website titles for XE are great, I have to keep remembering to go back to the homepage each day to catch them for a quick smirk.

Guise There's a homepage? Seriously, I don't think I've been to the homepage in MONTHS.

I guess you know when something has altered your perception of reality when you can't look at the Giant Playmobil Santa and see anything BUT an evil, scheming villian.

Cameron, I've had it as one of my 'auto-opens' for ages, but recently changed it to the AC, and now the titles seem to change daily I have to keep going back so I don't miss them. Maddness I tells ya, madness!

Also, I'd be tempted to see if they sell off the marketing stuff after Christmas. I've done that before to get posters from cinemas and display cases. I used to have a nifty 3.5ft cardboard Sonic the Hedgehog from an electronics chain store.

dood. If they had a hssxxlllo- you would bet I'd have taken a pic with him, that adorable traitor.
I totally want a full-size playmobil guy, like… NOW.

I did pick up a Playmobil catalogue. Hssxxlllo and Hare are from the "Bunnies Music Lesson" set, from the Bunnies line. Sadly nothing from that line was in stock anywhere, else I would probably have cracked.

When we got our Knight's Duel Advent Calendar, there was a little booklet of all the cool Playmobil sets you can order. I want the Gladiator set SOOO bad! It comes with Roman soldiers and gladiators and a tiger and, I think, a bear. I also want the Medieval set because no reenactor's home is complete without Medieval toys.

I used to have a Playmobil Pirate ship. The biggest one. I'm pretty sure the one you can buy now for like 40 bucks is that one. I've been tempted a few times…

Wait a minute. What do you want a 360 for, Matt? What game(s) do you have your eyes on?

Where the heck do you find Playmobil stuff, anyway? I think it's awesome and want to buy some for myself. I mean, my future children.

Also, this is my first Advent Calendar, and I'm having a blast. I ought to go back and read all the others that I missed.

hee, already ordered my hssxxllo and mare… and the most adorable f*cking playmobil raccoon playset. I will gte the unicorn someday.

Also this is a very late mention but National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation aired last night on Turner Movie Classics unedited.

Anyone watching "Year Without A Santa Claus" on ABC Family Channel right now? It just got past the part where Santa sings "I believe in Santa Claus."

Here are the Ornaments I mentioned a couple of days ago. I dunno I think they are neat

Kittymao, I ventured to my local Toys R Us to see if they had Hare and Hssxxlllo, to my disappointment, they didn't have them.

I'm not going to the Playmobil site and thinking of what other shows I can recreate with Playmobil.

Hey Matt, what toy is waiterbots head? It sort of looks like an anime version of Krang.

It snowed today. And our family is staying at a hotel right now ren miles from where I live where we have placed a dozen stockings on the wall to be filled with random christams crap and there is a small tree sitting on the dresser. Now we are going to go swimming. Strangest Christmas Ever. But that's OK. Merry Christmas Early everybody!

Hey! There was some kiosk in my local mall selling some form of fake snow. It was VERY overpriced and the name escapes me. Fake snow is snow fun. (read that carefully and add a "at all" at the end)

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