Another Christmas has come and gone, and from reading and hearing and spying on everyone else, I think it's safe to say that the 2005 holiday season was a strange one for most, for all sorts of reasons. Much of my past few days has been spent trying to heal one of our cats who got clawed in the eye by another cat, which then led to the worst experience I've ever had at a veterinarian, which then led to feeling guilty all throughout the Christmas celebrations as I had four cats locked in a room at home so the injured cat could have as much room and as much safety as possible while we were out. For the cats in my life, it hasn't been a particularly merry Christmas.
The big family shindigs were fun, full of liquor and seafood and red sweaters. Now I'm in that post-Christmas lull -- I wouldn't really classify it as the typical post-Christmas depression or anything; I just want to stop the clock for a few weeks so I don't have to rush right back to reality. It's too early to focus on real stuff. Just wanna look at all the pretty lights till people stop bothering to plug 'em in at night. Speaking of which, a few nights back we stopped by a nearby house's insane Christmas village...
And it was just what the doctor ordered. I'd spent the season too busy to enjoy it, but ten minutes at this place put me right back into the spirit proper. A couple of houses all owned by the same guy were dolled up in every which way, with some of the strangest decorations I've ever seen. I have no idea where one could actually purchase most of the stuff on display -- some of it was obviously made at home, but other elements seem to have been bought from old traveling carnivals and whatnot. Consisting of three big front lawns and a few side nooks, the junk was just piled left and right without rhyme or reason. It was just so gloriously screwball. Example: They had this huge Disney train full of animatronic characters, and one of the cars had a gigantic, soaking wet stuffed shark on top of it. It wasn't thematic. The shark was just "there." Everything was just so random that I'm not even sure how to write anything cohesive about it (I'm trying now and failing), so just check out the gallery below if you want that last minute bit of Christmas cheer before you start making your New Year's plans.
About to complete the Calendars -- come back in a little bit. You won't see Mare again for heelevahn months, sniff. As is customary in our yearly Christmas Fallout thread, it's time to see the goods. It's been a strange Christmas as mentioned, but on the gift side, Santa did not let me down. Check it out...
The Complete Calvin & Hobbes. Oh God yes. And unlike The Far Side's version, this one is split across three books, meaning they're a bit slimmer, meaning they can actually be read without the aid of heavy machinery.
Awesome coffee machine that whips up hot cups of you-know-what in thirty seconds flat.
Many sweaters. All are black, mostly black or very close to black. Not pictured: Jeans. They are not black.
Mario Kart DS. Those bus rides into work are going to go a whole lot quicker.
Kickass Diesel watch in uplifting colors.
Electric blanket, because I'm always freezing.
One of my faves -- a boxed F13 action figure set including sackhead Jason, Pamela Voorhees and the shrine with Pamela's rotted head. I love this thing to death.
A book about lobsters, the ol' disappearing ink gag, and GUMMY BEARS. If this was a perfect world, I'd be starting to read that book right about now and not stopping until there was no more book to be read.
DVDs, though some of the ones shown above were from me to the woman.
A liquor carousel that shifts me into the upper class all by itself.
Cologne, so I can stop smelling like shit.
Dartboard with LCD scoring thing from my godson, Christmas book, cocktails book, Kroft DVD, Mr. Show S3 DVD and a 75.00 gift certificate to my fave local sushi joint.
Dancing Slimer, which is the greatest thing anyone has ever made. Must be seen to be believed. I won't write more about it here -- this one deserves its own tribute.
More clothes, sunglasses, SOCKS.
From me to the woman -- box of Gloworm-related things and Fob puppets from Teddy Ruxpin. She was excited. The dolls were dusty.
Set of glasses with alien color stripe powers.
Gift cards to all over the place.
Dunno what this is. The woman "won" it in our family's big "White Elephant" game. Everyone buys a gift (must cost between 15-20 bucks), everyone draws numbers, everyone picks a gift, everyone has a chance to steal gifts...I don't know. She "stole" whatever that thing above it from my brother, who ended up going home with some lame blueberry candle. Me? I got a bird.
I got that bird.
REPLIES: 227 comments
uhuh...in Spain, most of us wait for the Three Wise Kings to bring the loot, so we'll have to wait to see what this holidays brought...
cool stuff, though i prefer the sweet Thing fists 
oh, btw: 1st 
Chestnuts roasted by melonian @ 12/26/2005 06:34 PM EST
I got a Tower Records-exclusive Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Captain Sisko action figure dressed in-character from the "Trials and Tribble-ations" episode. And that's it... 
Chestnuts roasted by Brian J @ 12/26/2005 06:36 PM EST
Combination Birthday/Christmas
DVD's: 40 Year Old Virgin Unrated, Sin City Recut, Fantastic 4, and Batman Animated Vol. 2.
Bookshelf
Wireless computer accessories
Gamestop Gift Card
Wal-Mart Gift Card
Money
misc food: Clementines, candy canes, and hot chocolate mix.
Those are awesome toys you got Matt. Especially Slimer.
Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 12/26/2005 06:39 PM EST
what'd ya get?
Resident Evil 4, Animal Crossing, Mk: Deception and Mario Golf for Gamecube, Queens of the Stone Age Live Cd and DVD, all three star wars prequels (early gift as some may remember) and both volumes of the clone wars, Batman Begins, Ghostbusters 1 & 2 like the one shown. No DS No Mario Kart.
Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 12/26/2005 06:41 PM EST
I didn't really get anything but a huge wad of cash. And about a Billion gift cards.....
Chestnuts roasted by Vlad @ 12/26/2005 06:46 PM EST
That watch is awesome, Matt.
I ended up with a lot of TV on DVD, a lot of gift cards to spend at Borders, and a bunch of other stuff. The most unexpected thing was this scarf I saw at Marshall Fields that cost about $50, but they had a sale so my Mom bought it for me. The most disappointing gift was another ugly pair of PJ's from my Grandma. She really needs to stop. Everybody got PJ's this year.
Thanks, Matt, for all the hard work you put into this Countdown. I was disappointed at first when the first major plotline was resolved so soon, but the rest of it made it awesome. Excellent job. I'm already starting to look forward to next year.
I hope everybody had/is having a great holiday. Happy New Year to all as well.
Chestnuts roasted by Rainbowfeet @ 12/26/2005 06:46 PM EST
I got a pretty good haul despite the fact half of it I had to shop for myself or knew I was getting.
- Marmalade Boy Scrapbook Volume 1 DVD set (girly anime)
- Muppet Christmas Carol 20th Anniv. DVD
- Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas Special Edition DVD
- He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special DVD
- Garfield Holiday Celebrations DVD
- $20 Hot Topic Gift card (from my brother Chuck)
- Final Fantasy 1&2 for GBA (from Chuck)
- 512MB Flash Drive for to back-up my website (From brother Craig)
- Get-A-Grips (they're these magical rubber thingies you put over your shoes that make you not slip on ice)
- Fuzzy Socks
- Underwear (my mom always buys me big granny panties. WTF?)
- Falling in Love perfume/lotion/shower gel set
- Falling in Love concentrated perfume solid (I will eternally smell AMAZING!)
- Some expensive $24 leather pill case o.O (from my Aunt)
- Big 100CD/DVD case wallet thing
- A coat. That looks like my trenchcoat only like, not as long.
The best part was seeing how totally surprised and amazed my brother Chuck was when he opened up the Strongbad e-mail DVDs I got him. We sat in the kitchen eating egg and sausage casserole and watching Strongbad Christmas morning. Then I went to my aunt's house and got drunk. I haven't really drank much since the freaking cops were waiting outside the club one night and said I couldn't drive home. @_@
Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 12/26/2005 06:47 PM EST
I love Mario Kart...
And that is a nice Christmas display but I never understood the relationship the Wizard of Oz has with Christmas. They're also in the Christmas Story movie, buy why!?
I got $1000. All I ask for is money and people hate shopping for me!
Chestnuts roasted by Kevin @ 12/26/2005 07:12 PM EST
Wow, I'm about to go buy a Lego advent calander just for that Lego Santa. He's all sorts of kick ass.
Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 12/26/2005 07:17 PM EST
I got shafted. I know Christmas isn't supposed to be all about presents, but I wanted my 'big gift'! Every year, my dad gets me and the sisters a variety of presents including one 'big gift' costing a bit more than the other stuff. This year I got a lot of underwear and socks. Seriously. I mean, I know I hate doing laundry and now I can go several months without running out of clean underwear and socks, but I really wanted an ipod. I got other stuff too, more other stuff than usual. My dad says that's the reason I didn't get a 'big gift' even though my other three sisters did, but I think it's really because I quit my RA job causing him to be guilted into paying my rent for an oncampus, non-dormroom apartment.
Chestnuts roasted by Karen @ 12/26/2005 07:39 PM EST
Hey Matt... why per-chance is it called the "White Elephant" game? We play the same game but sans monicker. I've only gotten my presents from the woman's family so far...
He-Man Season 1; Volume 1 DVD
Best of He-Man DVD
Mario Party 7
Wheel of Time: Book 11
Pariah for PC
Spider-Man Wallet
Retro Coca-Cola Coasters
Playing Cards
Wine Glasses (for both of us)
Wolfgang Puck Pots and Pans Set (for both of us)
The Woman's family treated me real well, Can't wait to see what Santa and my family got for me.
Chestnuts roasted by Double G @ 12/26/2005 07:41 PM EST
I just bought my first house, so I got sponges and scouring pads in my stocking! Most of my gifts were house-related, but I did get a few cool things:
1-Knight Rider Season Two DVD
2-Fantastic Four DVD
3-Red Sox Charlie Brown Giant Pez-Dispenser (plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"!)
Chestnuts roasted by Jordan @ 12/26/2005 07:46 PM EST
Among other knick knacks and paddywacks, I'll mention the Ducktales DVDs I got. Good stuff. But I think I have some sort of Pavlovian response to the show. I used to watch it when I was getting up for school, around 6am-ish, when I was a wee tot, and now Ducktales makes me sleepy. Howbouthat.
Or maybe the plots of the cartoon were more compelling when I was, you know, over a decade younger. Oh Gizmo duck, in what crevaces do you hide those propellers and satellites?.
Chestnuts roasted by mr.skeleton @ 12/26/2005 07:53 PM EST
Wow, nice haul
I had a star wars themed year, with 2 AMT model kits to go with my collection, they were the Slave One and a speeder bike
-also darth tater and spud trooper potatoe heads. and various other stuff along those lines.
those were the coolest though
Chestnuts roasted by Gene @ 12/26/2005 07:57 PM EST
Awesome gifts, as always, Matt. I didn't know there was such thing as Obsession Night. I will definitely have to smell this ... because Ryane + Obsession = Meow.
I got:
1. Prince of Persia 2 and 3 for PS2.
2. Castlevania for DS
3. Animal Crossing for DS
4. Rescue Me Season 1 on DVD
5. Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas on DVD
6. Sony CD/MP3 walkman (I'm all anti-IPod, still)
7. Citrus Obsession Barbie (Yeah I collect them!)
8. Nightmare Before Christmas Musicbox with a spinning Sally inside.
9. a Cloud bursting globe (or whatever it's called) It's really awesome looking, and from Bits and Pieces catalog.
10. various gift cards from Target and Suncoast, and some old fashioned money.
11. a booksafe
12. Boring stuff like socks and a new robe.
Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 12/26/2005 08:20 PM EST
I got 2 shirts
Chestnuts roasted by The Fuzzy Hulk @ 12/26/2005 08:40 PM EST
I got my iPod Nano 2 months ago for an early Christmas present. I got Mario Kart Double Dash (from my wonderful twin brother--thanks Brian!) and In Living Color Season 2 (thanks again, Brian!), Sonic Gems (3 rare Sonic games and 6 Game Gear games on one tiny Game Cube disk), Saturday Night Live the Best of Tom Hanks (watched it today), Christmas ornaments (a ballet dancer, an Angelcheeks Gingerbread man, and a Ty mini ornament bear holding a gingerbread man), the Hallmark Peanuts Snowglobe (I REALLY wanted this!!!!!), several iTunes cards, two sweaters (one from Brian's girlfriend Amanda and one from the parents), and two button down shirts (from parents), a $25 Best Buy card, a couple of New York and Co. gift cards ($50, $60, and $50--one from boyfriend Steve, one from parents, and one from my aunt and uncle). A xoxo necklace, Name that Tune 80s Edition, a tiny plaque that says "I Love You Just the Way you Are", all from Steve, movie tickets from my brother's girlfriend, a scrapbook from Steve's nana, and assorted goodies from Steve's parents--an Avon snowman soap decanter, Mikasa Christmas present keepsake box (w/$50--cha ching!), handmade Christmas ornaments, Harry and David Candies, and a Santa Bear Bearington Collection item from Steve's uncle. Their cat "got" me a watch also--a really nice watch with a black leather band.
My mom said she was going to get me DDR Mario Mix but couldn't find it, so I'm going to use the gift card from Best Buy toward that, plus some of my Christmas money. I'm also getting "SNL's the Best of Christopher Walken," since my mom planned on getting it and it wasn't available(Christopher Walken is a personal joke with us--we both love watching him when he hosts SNL).
We tried Jones soda holiday pack also!! I bought two, one for christmas eve (me, Steve, his cousins, and one of his aunts all braved it--we were revolted), and then my family tried it on Christmas day. My cousins, brother, his girlfriend, and my aunt and uncle were having a blast laughing at each other. My cousin Craig and my brother wre placing bets on the Turkey and Gravy one--I spit mine out--once was enough. We had a GREAT Christmas!
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/26/2005 08:48 PM EST
Hey Matt... why per-chance is it called the "White Elephant" game?
Not Matt... but I'll answer. It's based on an old story about some Indian Rajah (sp?) who bred rare white elephants. He began give the white elephants out as gifts to people. Now, they'd have to take it. It was a thing of honor, and they didn't want to piss him off. But, think about it. It was worthless. You'd have to spend your whole life taking care of this huge elephant, building it a home, feeding it, keeping it well, so you wouldn't let the rajah think you didn't love his gift. Over time, the term "white elephant' came to be the name for any gift which is nice, but not of any use. Like (for some) Precious Moments figurines would be a white elephant. You know they're pricey, and they're not BAD, like a dollar store pair of lime green socks is bad... but you have no use for it.
Chestnuts roasted by Evilizabeth @ 12/26/2005 08:48 PM EST
Tools yes tools and a tool box and some shocks and new rims and tires from the dad a big "pimpish" coat from teh grandma and a few assorted autozone giftcards and my big big gift from my entire family i wondered why i was being given tools and parts for cars and such a 1977 Datsub B-210 pickup with a mustnag tranny and engine inteh bed so im happy im gonna have a pretty kickin truck and i also liek a ton of cheapo bridgemix from walgreens i did pretty good
Chestnuts roasted by Allhopegone @ 12/26/2005 08:50 PM EST
I got:
- a Dremel tool (way awesome)
- a Motorola V551 cell phone
- Star Wars III DVD
- the Bret "The Hitman" Hart DVD
- assorted clothes, including a classy housecoat
- gift cerfiticates for book stores
Not a bad haul, all in all
Chestnuts roasted by AlphaCentaurian @ 12/26/2005 08:58 PM EST
I also got Mario Kart DS, and ended up beating it minutes ago. Freakin' awesome game.
Also got too many King Kong-related items, a couple Xbox 360 games, Infected for PSP, and (finally), a video-capture card. Now I too can put my old commercials on the PC!
Chestnuts roasted by Larry @ 12/26/2005 09:09 PM EST
What I got...
-Jawa Sandcrawler
-Asajj Ventress and General Greivous Maquettes
-C-3PO bust
-Japanese remote control R2-D2 figure
-a guitar (so I can learn to play, it's a Gibson)
-a graphics tablet for my PC
-a Return of the Jedi shirt
-a TAPS shirt
-pants, and long johns
-the book Wicked, and the book Life Expectancy
-best of Ghost Hunters DVD
Hooray! Someone else with Animal Crossing Wild World. I have had it since the beginning of the month, and am looking for someone to visit when I get my Wi-Fi connector from Nintendo...
Chestnuts roasted by JWLA @ 12/26/2005 09:11 PM EST
I got:
He-Man & She-Ra Xmas special
Socks and underwear
A watch
Cologne
A nice tool kit
And giftcards galore(I AM shopping tommorow).
The best present was a M.A.S.K vol 3 tape that my brother had.(Needs to be on DVD urgently).
Chestnuts roasted by Felix @ 12/26/2005 09:16 PM EST
The Simpsons seventh season, in the normal, not-hard-to-open box (which as far as I can tell is outselling the Marge head by a wide margin. Every store is now sold out of regular boxes).
Garfield and Friends Volume 5, which completes my set of the series on DVD (see my site for an updated G&F Supapage now).
$25 check
A mug shaped like the Blue M&M (well, I think it's cool....)
Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 12/26/2005 09:30 PM EST
The first gift I'm getting with my plethora of Best Buy gift cards is the He-Man/She-Ra Christmas Special... without a doubt!
Chestnuts roasted by Double G @ 12/26/2005 09:34 PM EST
On to Halloween now, yes? P.S. cool stuff I got is Mario and Luigi Partners in Time and a second Guitar Hero guitar. I got a lot of candy too so I'm pumped!
Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 12/26/2005 09:35 PM EST
The mug does sound cool Mars.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/26/2005 09:36 PM EST
Cool Yule as my boy has taken to saying
I got a black shirt, 2 sets of perfume and foo foo stuff from both ex mother in laws. Boondock Saints from the bf. A tin of yu gi oh cards from the kids ( which they promptly distributed after I went though them and stated there was nada in the tin for my deck, lol) A pig animal from my mom and dad, a handheld suduko game from them and a christmas with the chipmunks cd, my tape bit the dust this year. The boyfriends dad even gave me a gift card I was so amazed we hadnt been togethr long enough to warrent family gifts.
I gave the bf a cd he has been looking for Flogging Molly, and we arent even celebrating xmas until january hhis brother was broke so we are throuwing a january thing at thier house with presents more time to shop for the guys.
The best present however goes to My boy Zay who got a Star Wars foosball table from Santa Claus This table is sweet. If I can ever figure this digita;l camera thingy out, lol Ill attempt to post pics if anyone wishes to see.
Chestnuts roasted by Fast Framin Tessa @ 12/26/2005 09:38 PM EST
My favorite gift this year? Six adorable glass Disney Christmas ornaments, all of which are now brightening my tree. My siblings and I usually get two ornaments each from Mom. None of us ever got six at once before. Cool.
I also recieved...
Clothing (a red sweater from the parents and two long-sleeved Ts from Grandma)
A huge tin of tea bags from Mom and loose tea from my sister (between the two of them and what I already have, I won't be needing tea again until sometime in 2012)
The 1951 British "Christmas Carol" on DVD from my brother
A new wall clock from Mom and Dad for my kitchen
A small backpack from Dad
Fiestaware doo-dads from my other sister and her son
A pretty silver heart necklace from Grandma (it's too big for me to wear and I don't look good in silver, but I might use it as room decoration)
Watch from Dad
An art-deco-style calender from Mom
A big retro-style Oreo cookie cannister as my win from the "pickle" game (Mom hides a pickle, and whoever finds it gets to pick a present - my brother got first pick, but I got second)
Hairclips and headbands (For some reason, it's REALLY hard to find just plain old hairclips that aren't covered with lace or flowers or something)
Blank CDs
Lip gloss
A Barnes and Noble gift card from my sister
Home-made CDs and DVDs from my best friend
A cute teddy bear that smells like cocoa and packages of real cocoa from my other friend
Money from various reletives, including my parents (which means yes, I'm going shopping tomorrow, too, though a lot of that money is going towards my moving in February)
Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 12/26/2005 09:42 PM EST
used dreamcast and one of those pez/star wars things from walmart. forgot about those.
Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 12/26/2005 09:42 PM EST
I got alot of loot this year most of the good stuff from my bf or parents.
-Black and White 2 (BF)
-The Movies (BF)
-World of Warcraft (BF)
-wireless keyboard/mouse (BF)
-Karaoke Revolution Party XBX (BF)
-pink longsleeve shirt & matching hoodie (Mom)
-Fire Emblem (GC) (Dad)
-Robe, slippers, PJs with scotti dogs (Mom)
-More slippers (mom)
-Fruits Basket vol 1 manga (sis in law)
-Chobits shirt (sis in law)
-Def Leppard DVD (other sis in law)
-some kinda pink jacket
-dollar store socks (WTF!)
-a big picture frame thing to hang on the wall
-Super Gals! Ironclad Collection DVD (Mom)
That's about it. Not bad...alot of stuff from a couple of people but I love the Fruits Basket manga. I read about half of it and its awesome so far.
Chestnuts roasted by Kittycatgirl @ 12/26/2005 09:56 PM EST
Merry Christmas and Boxing Day to everyone!!
Matt, I dont know if you go it or not but I sent you an email a little while back to your mattcara@aol.com account.
Now Im off to read the rest of the advent calender! 
Chestnuts roasted by IHAQ @ 12/26/2005 10:04 PM EST
DVDS: DuckTales Vol. 1, Strong Bad Emails Discs 1-4, Madagascaer (Fullscreen, unforunately)
VIDEOS:It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, Chicken Run
CDS: Strong Bad Sings
BOOKS: The Complete Peanuts 1955-1958, Cartoon Cool (a how-to-draw book) Pearls Before Swine:Nighthogs, Get Fuzzy: Say Cheesey, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
CALENDERS: Twisted Whiskers Monthly, Simpsons Day-To-Day
GIFT CARDS: Books-A-Million for 25$, Hastings for $50
OTHER STUFF: Homestar Runner Winter Cap, Homestar Runner "Everybody" Poster, Homestar Runner "Star" Keychain, Homestar Runner Trogdor T-Shirt, Desk Lamp, Spongebob Lunchbox Keychain
Chestnuts roasted by Jadamo3 @ 12/26/2005 10:09 PM EST
Holy Cannoli, Matt!! You got more awesome stuff than I even thought possible. I'm a little jealous. Here's some of my highlights (including what I bought myself with my Xmas money):
1) Star Wars III (unfortunately fullscreen, not widescreen, but I'll live)
2) Sin City Recut-Extended-Unrated
3) Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun (CD)
4) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (CD)
5) Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs (CD)
Chestnuts roasted by Gozer @ 12/26/2005 10:10 PM EST
Matt, we must have some sort of cosmic connection.
1. Our cat Jedi's eye was also scratched by one of the other cats.
2. I got the little lady that same Senseo coffee machine. It actually takes 90 seconds to make a cup (if you include heating the water, which you should). False advertising.
3. I got my dad that Lobster book. Ha!
Merry Christmas, nice work on the Advent/Advert calendars once again!
BC
Chestnuts roasted by dj BC @ 12/26/2005 10:13 PM EST
By the way, great Advent/Advert countdown this year. To be honest, I've only gotten a quarter through the Advert and halfway through the Advent calandar, but I'll catch up this week. Oh yeah, and lest we forget the true meaning of Xmas:
Meatwad: "Carl should remember the reason for the season."
Master Shake: "Yeah, the reason for the season... is pleasin', and I ain't gotten too much pleasin'!
Chestnuts roasted by Gozer @ 12/26/2005 10:17 PM EST
WHAT I GOT FOR XMAS!
The list:
-Fraggle Rock Season 1 on DVD
-He-Man season 1, vol 1 on DVD
-Dawson's Creek season 2 on DVD
-Stand By Me Deluxe Edition "
-The Big Chill "
-Harry Potter 4 calendar
-'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King (special edition hardcover)
-Simpsons steering wheel cover and floor mats for my car
-Simpsons trivia game
-Marge Simpson mug
-Care Bears snowglobe
-Winnie the Pooh cookie jar
- a Toaster Oven
-Homer Simpson wall clock
-Winnie the Pooh mugs
- much needed DVD tower
-Star Wars collectible popcorn tub
-Chocolates
-Big Shiny Tunes 10 CD
And..........
-SERENITY on DVD!!!!!!!!!!!!(haven't seen it yet, but I loved "firefly" and saw every episode)
I feel like I was spoiled rotten this year since last Xmas I was in Korea and didn't get very much in the mail. YAY! Good haul. One of my best years ever.
Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 12/26/2005 10:23 PM EST
I got myself The 40-year-old Virgin, the first Mike Judge Beavis & Butthead set(thank God), a couple of cd's and a huge wad of cash. All in all, a good haul... heh-heh, I rhymed.
Chestnuts roasted by Les Paul @ 12/26/2005 10:31 PM EST
i got 30gb ipod, 3 johnny cash boxed sets, final fantasy IV for GBA, a bunch o fmini horror movie action figures, al pacino movie collection, joes apartment dvd, jason x, hamburger hill, a new ps2, a mach 3 turbo razor, alot of candy, new work gloves, grilling utensils, ps2 memory card, alot of hot sauce, snowglobes up the ass since i collect them, madagascar dvd, and like 20 bucks, a beer from my friend, final fantasy anthology for ps1 and legend of dragoon for ps1
Chestnuts roasted by brandon @ 12/26/2005 10:31 PM EST
hey, you gonna post your friend code for Mario Kart DS?
Chestnuts roasted by a person with internet access @ 12/26/2005 10:33 PM EST
This year, my ace present was Shadow of the Colossus. That game is so freakin' awesome. I also got Haunting Ground, which is far more fan-servicey than I expected. It really makes me feel dirty for playing it. I also got some candy, jerky, nifty headphones and about 300 bucks to buy my own damn presents with. So far, I bought a black Nintendo DS (import), a green decal skin for it (it's gonna look so cool), a cheapo USB cable for my phone (Hello Magnetman's theme ringtone), and that's all for now. I might go out and get a DS game or two, and a case to put it all in, then put the rest of my cash in savings.
Chestnuts roasted by RewolfJ @ 12/26/2005 10:47 PM EST
I BEAT YOUR MOM IN MARIO KART!
...at least my new shirt says so.
Chestnuts roasted by Timmy @ 12/26/2005 11:03 PM EST
Mystie - Seeing as you got Get-A-Grips and Falling in Love, either you or someone who buys gifts for you must be a QVC junkie.
Allison - I asked for DDR Mario Mix for Christmas too, and someone pointed out to me in another thread that you can't get it. They were right, unless you wanna pay $200 to a private seller on Amazon. Personally, I didn't.
OK, with that out of the way, here's my haul. I had a niiice Christmas this year, mostly from the boyfriend and the mom:
-A pretty "platinum tone" bracelet (BF)
-Silver Gamecube controller (BF)
-Gift set of assorted Estee Lauder perfumes (BF)
-The Beatles Greatest Hits 1967-1970 CD (BF)
-Monty Python: Live at City Center CD (BF)
-Small box of Godiva chocolates (BF)
-Travel coffee mug (mom)
-Jump rope - I had asked for fun stuff to exercise with (mom)
-Some underwear and some cute socks (mom)
-Warm cozy PJs (BF)
-Assorted clothes from various people
-Bag for holding makeup (mom)
-Nice RCA headphones (BF)
-A suction-cup dangly thing that looks like an NES controller - click my name to see (BF)
-Hair accessories
-A big suede and leather purse (from my great-aunt)
-Plastic storage containers (mom)
-Assorted costume jewelry (mom and great-aunt)
-Nail polish (mom)
-"Warm Caramel Vanilla" scented candle - I LOVE this scent (mom)
-Handheld Tetris game (mom)
-Calendar with pictures of kittens (mom)
-A nice robe and slippers (BF's family)
-Chanel gift set (great-aunt)
-"Left Behind: The Movie", given to me by a very religious second-cousin
Since my mom doesn't have a lot of money for nice presents, and I'm the only child, she often gives me some sort of special family heirloom for Christmas. This time, it was a little antique silver pillbox that belonged to my great-grandmother, who died before I was born.
This was probably the best Christmas I've had. Considering you could practically represent the very contents of my soul with the Beatles CD, the Nintendo dangler and the vanilla candle, I'd say my family knows me well.
This amount of presents for me is NOT typical, in case it sounds like I'm spoiled. The BF just got a good paying job about a month ago and was showing off (notice the more expensive gifts were all from him). I don't know why I felt the need to say that, except that I remember being jealous of people with hauls like this last year when we were flat broke.
Chestnuts roasted by jazzy @ 12/26/2005 11:11 PM EST
Despite being my least favorite Christmas of all time I came out with the best, well most gifts so I guess it balanced out.
- 7'' Portable DVD Player
- Red Nintendo DS w/ Mario Kart DS
- Super Mario 64 DS
- Final Fantasy IV Advance
- Thundercats Season 1 Vol. 1
- Queen "Night at the Opera" Remastered
- Queen "News of the World"
- Ultimate Muscle Vol. 9
- Batman "The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller
- "Don't Try This At Home" a book of culinary disasters.
- "Battle" A big ass illustrated book about the history of warfare.
- Gun for the Gamecube
- Cuisinart Mini-Prep Processor
Chestnuts roasted by James @ 12/26/2005 11:23 PM EST
Looks like a great haul!
Pretty easy list for me this year since all of the focus was on da baby.
1. SIMPSONS season 6
2. SIMPSONS season 7
3. Stonecutters Number 1 figure
4. SIMPSONS ONE STEP BEYOND FOREVER book
5. KING KONG collector's DVD
6. SEINFELD season 5 and 6
7. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE season 1
8. Really cool AMERICAN REVOLUTION DVD's from the History Channel
9. Darth Vader gumball machine
10. Sasee Tiin and exploding Grievous.
11. Choclate M-Pire figures.
12. U.S. History document book
13. book about some unknown pro wrestler
Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 12/26/2005 11:46 PM EST
jazzy - Yeah, my mom's a QVC nut. She buys stuff from them all the time. Snow shovels, cookware, make-up... The majority of her Christmas shopping that couldn't come from QVC got put on a list and handed over to me to get. I'm pretty sure I asked for the entire Philosophy line, but hey, I'll take just my Falling in Love stuff. It's the only perfume I've ever worn that a guy not only liked, but commented on! And to me everything else just smells like rubbing alcohol and 50-year-old potpourri, anyway. 
Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 12/27/2005 12:09 AM EST
Let's see
-Toshiba Satellite Laptop
-iPod Shuffle (from one of my attorneys, as some sort of atonement for making my life hell on a quarterly basis)
-MI-5 Season 1 on DVD
-New set of Tarot cards
-Good socks
-iPod skins
-Various gift cards
It's kinda hard to ask for too much when you get a new computer. Besides, my neice was born three months premature. She came home on the 19th. That was present enough.
Chestnuts roasted by LemurCat @ 12/27/2005 12:14 AM EST
Druh...that's a lot of presents. A shitload of gifts ye got there, Matt.
Chestnuts roasted by Warx @ 12/27/2005 12:22 AM EST
Present-wise, this Christmas was excellent:
-Dragon Quest 8
-Mario & Luigi 2
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II (Xbox)
-Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
-Cannon A520
-Cannon A520 Kit
-512MB SD Card
-Nintendo DS case
-Nintendo DS starter kit
-Nintendo GameCube Gameboy Player
-PS2/Xbox Component Cables
-PS2/GameCube/Xbox System selector
-$200
-A thick Animal book not unlike the one Matt got last year.
And tons of other smaller things.
Still, Christmas this year seemed "off". My Aunt and Grandfather both couldn't make it this year, the snow that had been on the ground for literally a full month melted on Christmas Eve (nothing like twenty-something straight days of below-freezing weather followed by a 40+ day with fog covering everything), and even the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book that my dad used to read every Christmas Eve couldn't be found.
Oh well. Only four months until Baseball...
Chestnuts roasted by Brian @ 12/27/2005 12:30 AM EST
A pretty sweet Christmas:
1) Several Family Guy DVDs
2) The Karate Kid DVD set
3) Satin and velvet sheets
4) PJ's
5) Espresso maker
6) Sudoku book
7) A scarf
8) Adidas pants
9) Candles
10) Excessive amounts of bath and body stuff
11) A lava lamp that gets plugged into a laptop (totally random gift, especially since my laptop has been broken for almost a year)
12) Starbucks giftcard
13) Other stuff I can't remember
This whole Christmas (or "holiday season" to be PC) went by way too fast. I owe it to not being in college anymore and missing out on the month off to shop and be bored. Aside from making money, full time jobs blow.
Matt - both calenders and the blog were awesome, as usual. Watching old commercials and reading about Lego guys and Playmobil peole hooking up is definitely better than what I'm supposed to be doing at work right now.
Chestnuts roasted by flygrl358 @ 12/27/2005 02:26 AM EST
"I thought that was called Nasty Christmas?" "Yeah, we call it White Elephant." "Well I call it fun!"
I didn't really make out with much this year but I had fun buying presents. I got some ca$h from Mom for a laptop and I got a duplicate set of the Lost DVDs from sis which I'm hoping to exchange for the new uncut Sin City. Oh, I also got the new Gabriel Garcia Marquez book from a coworker. I already finished it and it's incredibly awesome.
Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 12/27/2005 02:27 AM EST
Yeesh, I remember this NOW!
I totally miss it! :/
Most of my findings are in the last blog, and I'll post total findings tomorrow.
Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 12/27/2005 03:16 AM EST
I made out well
A new TV (not a great one, but it beat the 15 year old 13" I've been watching from when Mario looked like he was made out of legos)
A new DVD Player (really I traded mine for my brothers - he wanted a smaller one, I could use the larger one the bigger one, and I like the look better)
A DVR Box from our Cable Company from my parents (How they did that I don't know)
iHome Speakers for my iPod
Phillips in-ear Headphones for my iPod
Mario Kart DS
A new vest
$50 for the Apple STore
$30 for the iTunes Store
$25 Generic gift card
The only "Duds" were a too-small sweater and a a wallet (I have a wallet with an imprinted Apple logo... I wouldn't trade for the world)
Now, for After CHristmas, I'm going to buy myself a good quality Universal remote for all my new electronics and maybe the History of Britian DVD set (I'm been enjoying the Audiobooks throughly lately)
Chestnuts roasted by Saint Stryfe @ 12/27/2005 03:48 AM EST
Okay. Deeep breath. Most of the stuff I got I bought myself, and simply hoarded up until the day to make it more interesting. I'm still amazed at the sheer volume of cool toys and neat things I received. We did the rounds of the relatives and got them all done in the one day. And thus:
General Stuff
- Box of chocolates #1; Roses
- Hair tie; black
- Comb; afro style, brown
- MAD magazine; With Batman Begins and ROTS parodies
- Can of chrome spraypaint; Now this should be fun
- Spiffy biohazard symbol necklace; Pewter
- Bag of raspberry drops; Woop, red food colouring
- Badass new sunglasses; Was eyeing 'em the other day, mother felt generous
- Some exfoliating goop; Gotta have 'some' body products
- Fossil; Half an ammonite
- Book; The Battle of Evernight. Third in a trilogy it's taken me years to get through
- $25; Unexpected cheque from the Other Grandmother
- Large box of fruit jellies; Look rather expensive too
- Swanky aftershave; And it actually smells good
- Box of chocolates #2; Belgian ones. Mmm..
- $30
- New watch; All my others ran out of batteries
- Chocolate chess set; I'll save this to play with my grandfather
- Box of chocolates #3; More Roses!
- Less badass new sunglasses; These ones are blue. I already had blue ones, oh well.
- Some body wash goop; And it doubles as shampoo!
- $60
- This thermos cup thing; For hot drinks on the go. Dunno if I'll use it, guess you've gotta get something random each time.
- CD bag; Holds 24, and was just what I needed.
- Bag of lollies; Party mix. The jetplanes were good for interacting with another present..
- Box of assorted biscuits; Griffins. Yay the wafer things.
- $100
Alright, alright, time for the good stuff. This includes a few things I got a day or so before, as well as things I picked up in the boxing day sales. A warning: this is basically a large mass of Transformers-related jargon, so, y'know, it's understandable if noone has the faintest clue what I'm going on about:
- Energon Offshoot; A good mold with a better colour scheme than Signal Flare's. Repaints should improve, this one does.
- Energon Duststorm; A decent mold with a fairly good colour scheme. No better or worse than Wideload, really. Good for continuity with Mudflap, however.
- Energon Inferno; I alrady had Roadblock, and Roadblock's better. Inferno's got an ugly head, but some nice paint apps help. He's alright, not great.
- Universe Triceradon; A mold I love with a great colour scheme. Let down by moldwear and a few absent paint apps, as well as the tampo'd 'bot symbol.
- Universe Frostbite; Awesome mold, lovely colour scheme, sucky plastic and moldwear.
- Universe G1 Spychanger Optimus Prime; Yay, tracked one down. He's neat enough, MiniScourge is better, but I needed him for the Convoy Shelf.
- Cybertron LoC Starscream; A much better downsizing than Master Megs, Galaxy Convoy, or Scourge. Very faithful to the original, and very cool.
- Cybertron Thundercracker; Courtesy of a good friend of mine, and a total surprise it was too. He led me to believe I was getting Runabout. Thundercracker's rather cool, only he BROKE minutes after I'd opened him. I got annoyed and rammed a screw through the offending part, making him functional, if less aerodynamic in jet mode.
- Cybertron Runabout; Screw what the box says, he's not Runamuck. He is, however, a very cool mold made better. The retooling is great, the head especially, and I love the colours. They stiffened the quick-draw/punching gimmick for no reason, though, which was just bizarre and stupid. Still, great toy.
- Machine Wars Megatron; Love the little flipchanger jets, and this one's colours aren't as bad as I'd imagined. Neat one, this
- Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron; I'd wanted him for ages, and he's a very ambitious design. Not as cool as he could've been thanks to jointing problems, but good nontheless.
- Beast Wars 2 Lioconvoy: Korean version, and this particular one's not so well off on the joints and plastic as other Sonokong offerings. Still, nice load of gimmicks, and a cool design. Just need to track down an original Takara version to properly enjoy him.
- Beast Machines/Robots In Disguise Air Attack Optimus Primal; HE RULES HE RULES HE RULES. He rules he rules he rules he rules. Oh wow, I never expected him to be 'that' good. Dragged him around with me on the day, entertaining family with his awesome soundbox. Transformation is way more complex than I expected, and his gimmicks are great. Truly, this is Masterpiece Optimus Primal, and he kicks 20th's ass. Everyone should own this toy. Seriously. It's a giant robotic gorilla with a jetpack. And he punches you.
- Complete G1 Shrapnel w/box; Scored it nice and cheap, winner. Love the box, Shrapnel himself is spiffy too. About time my G1 'cons had a new recruit. I seem to have been accumulating one boxed G1 figure per year, and I hadn't this year, so it worked out.
- Reissue C-372 Star Convoy; Mmm, I knew it'd be worth getting a shiny new one. The stickers, the chromed chest star, Micromaster Hot Rodimus.. 'Still' an incredible piece of engineering after 15-odd years, and a lovely figure for play or display.
- Alternators Shockblast; Haven't opened him yet. Yay yay the boxing day 30% off sales.
- Star Wars Transformers General Grievous; Ambitious, this guy is how I imagined SWTFs would be. Quite complex, loads of joints, a bit flimsy and unstable, but an excellent design despite it all. Vader's the better Star Wars Transformer, Grievous is the more interesting toy. So for those who've been skeptical about the whole Star Wars/Transformers thing, they're not half bad.
And there's more to come! Hot damn, them's a lotta toys!
Chestnuts roasted by onslaught86 @ 12/27/2005 04:03 AM EST
Mechanic's rolling seat with tool tray, 10" dutch oven (to cook stuff in the fireplace), book about old motorcycles, flanel pants, ginger beer, cash, orbital sander (to build the mantle for said fireplace), organizers for tools and fasteners. Didn't get to see my older brother, though. Maybe next year.
My wife's family does the white elephant exchange, but it's at a time when we can't go. Nice bird, Matt. And your woman got a great hood ornament by the looks of things.
Chestnuts roasted by Jimbalaya @ 12/27/2005 08:01 AM EST
Mars, I picked up the Marge head to accompany my Homer head and thank God I didn't open the Marge one. Once I saw how truly crappy the Homer box was I immediately ordered the replacement box and I am taking Marge back to the store to get the regular box. I think if the head boxes had an ounce of quality in them, then people wouldn't mind but I guess we will never know.
Jazzy, what part of Florida are you from?
Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 12/27/2005 09:03 AM EST
Matt, Where is that house? I'd love to go see it.
Chestnuts roasted by Lou @ 12/27/2005 09:23 AM EST
I got the World of Warcraft Boardgame and an X52 joystick.
My Wife got a kitten and a Wacom digital tablet.
I think we'll name the cat 'Matt'... if not, then one of the murloc mini's in the boardgame will be gifted with that name.
Chestnuts roasted by Chiablo @ 12/27/2005 10:32 AM EST
I gots me:
* $$$
* an awesome leather jacket
* two pairs of sweats
* two of those polo/t-shirt-type things with the buttons but no collar, whatever you call that
* NAMCO Pac-Man Plug & Play TV game
* headphones
* slippers
* a wallet that I desperately needed, as mine was falling apart
* Star Wars poster calendar
* various stocking stuff
the only gift card I got was a McDonald's Arch Card. which is fine with me, as I prefer cash.
this is probably the leanest xmas I've ever had. all I wanted was the clothes and the wallet.
Chestnuts roasted by Johnny Longtorso @ 12/27/2005 10:35 AM EST
I got :
Dragon Quest VIII
X-men Legends II
Scene It
Star Wars Episode III dvd
A hoodie
A simpsons hat
$25
Red Dwarf and Black Adder dvds my friend burnt
A little case that opens up and you can play roulette, craps, or black jack with.
Chestnuts roasted by Bright Noah @ 12/27/2005 11:21 AM EST
I got a rock.
Chestnuts roasted by Charlie Brown @ 12/27/2005 11:22 AM EST
I still have my extended family present exchange tomorrow night, so I'm not done with the presents yet.
Your comment about worst vet experience made me wonder if it was worse than mine. We got a shelter kitten, and she had already been fixed when we got her (rules of the shelter). Maybe a month after that, I wanted to take her to get her shots. We went to the closest vet office, because she wasn't a good traveler and I wanted to minimize her stress (wrong way to do that!). Should have turned around and walked back out when we walked in and saw a man in scrubs pushing a broom had former gang tattoos all over his hands. You get a lot of that out there in S. California and hadn't had any problems with any of them before, tho.
I got a little edgy when we went into the office, and same former gang member was the one taking our cat's rectal temp. Or, attempting to anyway. She got really upset when he did, but I would too if someone was sticking something up my butt, so I thought it was ok. That guy left, and the vet came in. Our little kitten was sitting on the table shivering. The vet pulled her closer to him, and her butt dragged along the table, leaving a trail of blood behind. I asked, quite hysterical at this point "what the hell is THAT?!". The vet got an alcohol swab (and I want to go back and rip a hole in his tender tissues, and wipe HIM with some alcohol, lemme tell you), and wiped her butt area with it, and said as though he was curious rather than concerned "it's coming from her vagina." Meanwhile our poor little kitten actually SCREAMED when her poor torn personal areas were touched by the alcohol. He had her by the scruff of the neck and called her "bad cat" when she tried to bite and claw him. He got the bleeding stopped, and went to get the needle for her shots as though nothing had happened. Meanwhile my boyfriend and I were standing there in shock, horrified and shaking. I asked the vet why he has someone taking animals' rectal temperature who clearly doesn't know what he's doing, and he tried to say that wasn't what caused it. I, once again quite hysterical, shouted "well she wasn't bleeding when we came in here!!!" He continued to try to argue with me about it, I told him to put that needle away because we clearly were not having him touch our cat again, scooped her up, and went to get our paperwork from the front desk (I wasn't leaving my boyfriend's SSN and our address and phone # with those idiots). I would have just done that and left, and not said anything to the other people waiting, but that idiot vet actually came over behind the desk, and continued to argue with me, this time trying to tell me that even if his lovely assistant DID stick it in the wrong hole, look, the end of the thermometer is slightly rounded, so clearly it couldn't cause harm! I shouted at him again, "well, she wasn't bleeding when she came in here!", turned to the people sitting there, and told them, "I really wouldn't let this man touch your pets if I were you," and stormed out.
That was our first real pet of our own, and I felt like such an awful kitty momma for letting her get hurt by a complete moron. She still needed to get her shots, tho, and a couple month later after my boyfriend and I were more or less recovered from the trauma (took us a lot longer than it took our kitten, she was over it almost immediately, thank god), we called the shelter we got her from, and asked them who they use. We ended up taking her to the same place she was fixed, and both of the vets there were wonderful. They didn't take any offense if she tried to bite or claw, and were quite gentle. And, they knew enough to go buy a frikken ear thermometer to minimize stress on the animals.
So, moral of the (sorry so long) story, if you want to find a good vet, who is in it for the love of animals rather than the money (because they usually donate their services), ask your local shelter what vet they use.
Chestnuts roasted by mags @ 12/27/2005 11:38 AM EST
On the 12th day of Christmas, my family (and friends) gave to me.........
70 bucks toward Guitar Hero. (They couldn't find it.)
A butter cookie tin.
An official King Kong poster.
Crash: Tag Team racing
The Movies P.C. Game
Atari Flashback 2
A nice sweatshirt/Jacket
Fannnntastic Foouurrrr!! (DVD)
Family Guy mug
Some packs of HeroClix
Two pairs of Jeans
and Peter Jackson's King Kong Diarieeeeeess!!
Here's something ironic. Yesterday, I looked all over for Guitar Hero. I found it at a GameStop close by. Since they have a new "tougher box" edition, I had to pay $80, so I traded in a few games, and DVD's toward the game. When I got home, I found some Christmas presents I didn't know I had recieved from some freinds. One of them....a $20 gift card for GameStop. Gaahhhh!!
Chestnuts roasted by Shigamado @ 12/27/2005 12:15 PM EST
Uh, Matt...you got the electronic Pac Man game too. Don't forget.
I got almost nothing this year. Poor me.
Another Matt
Chestnuts roasted by Another Matt @ 12/27/2005 12:31 PM EST
Nintendo Rehab Center shirt.
A book about SNL.
A really nice throw blanket.
A goofy little plug-n-play TV game with it's own screen.
Apples.
Oranges.
And another Christmas with the X-E Advent/vert.
Now, to hit all the after-sales!
Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 12/27/2005 12:40 PM EST
Long time reader, first time poster. I got three PS2 games--DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi, Capcom Classics Collection, and Constantine--early from my oldest brother. When I went to my mom's for Christmas, she gave me a silver Nintendo DS, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Metroid Prime Pinball, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (no offense to mammy, but you can bet this sucker's getting returned).
Chestnuts roasted by Monkey D. Luffy @ 12/27/2005 01:12 PM EST
Well, I'm glad to hear everyone had such nice Christmases. I've completely forgotten about 90% of the things I got, because I'm damn exhausted today after the day off yesterday, so I'll make an inventory tonight when I get home and post it tomorrow. Because I know you all are waiting with baited breath.
I went after-Christmas shopping yesterday with my mommy and I totally bought eighty gazillion things for next Christmas at the apartment. Meanwhile, I move a week from Friday and have packed 1 box. And that only because I had to in order to rearrange furniture. Guess what I'm doing every night from now on. Guess it's a good thing I don't have the Internet at home.
I had a nicer Christmas than I expected...my mother always asks my brother and me for a list, and she never did this year, so I was pretty well convinced we weren't getting anything beyond, like, candy. I was really depressed on Christmas Eve, not just because of the material things, but because I really wanted to be with my boyfriend (I'll probably be laughing at that in a month, after living with him for that long) and because it just didn't feel much like Christmas. My dad was a horrible, miserable bastard for all of last week right until Christmas Day...I know he's stressed out, but I swear, I'd say boo and he completely flipped out on me. One episode was on Christmas Eve, so I ended up spending the entire rest of the day and all night in my room. But, Christmas Day was nice...everyone liked the stuff that I got them, and I ended up with some pretty nice stuff too. I'm sad that it's over, though.
MATT! Did you get your stuff from me? I didn't see it up there in your haul pics, and I just want to make sure it did come, since Amazon doesn't let you frickin' track things to a gift registry address, apparently. Which annoys the hell out of me, because they tell you what city it is right on the wish list, and that's all tracking would tell you. Rawr. I'm gonna email you so you can just reply with "yes" or "no" and I can scream at the appropriate people if necessary.
Again, glad everyone had a good Xmas, especially you Matt! Thanks for another great year, and keep on doin' what you're doin'. Thanks to all the bloggers, too, you guys are great. I'll post my haul tomorrow.
Off to read the Advent/verts!
Chestnuts roasted by Nicole @ 12/27/2005 01:15 PM EST
Ok, let's see...
-New Cell Phone (My first one ever, along with unlimited roaming and downloads...pretty sweet!)
-Hand-Me-Down Computer (Cuz the rest of the family is sick of all the X-E commercials and porn clogging up the laptop...just kidding about the porn...OR AM I???!!!)
-Gift Cards (Of course!)
---$50 at Best Buy
---$30 at FYE
---$10 at Gamestop (Only ten?! what the hell can you buy there for ten bucks? I hope the one I go to has a decent NES section!)
-Misc. clothes and a really nice pair of lether gloves with dead bunny lining (don't hate me, I didn't buy em! But they sure are a lot more cozy than my$5 Walmart pieces o' shit!)
-A Jagermeister gift box (A gift that keeps on giving...me hangovers for the last 2 days.)
That's about it. I think I'm gonna pick up the DVD box set for Sliders season 1&2 with my Best Buy card. If they don't have it, then I'll fill in some holes in my Adult Swim DVD collection (Sealab s.2, Space Ghost v.3, or Harvey Birdman...maybe even Home Movies!)
Anyway, buck up everyone who's going through the post-Christmas drolls. Don't worry...New Year's Eve is less than a week away! Time to get f'ed up and do things you'll regret for the rest of the year! WooHoo!
P.S. - All of those Christmas decorations pictured are supposed to be on one guy's set of properties??!! Hmmm...now we all know where Michael Jackson moved to after the verdict!
Chestnuts roasted by Antenna Villain @ 12/27/2005 01:18 PM EST
Oops, sorry. Forgot one thing!
Hey Matt...you've GOT TO tell us where we can all get our own dancing Slimers! OMG, that's the greatest thing that has ever been and I must have one!!!
Chestnuts roasted by Antenna Villain @ 12/27/2005 01:21 PM EST
Manimal - I'm from the Jacksonville area.
James - I see I'm not the only Queen fan around this blog. I think Queen was the only thing missing from my Christmas, but my family can't keep track of what I have and don't have so they just avoid that area. (Same reason I don't buy CDs for the boyfriend, incidentally.)
And I got a surprise late present from my mom today - an Ernie doll! (you know, from Sesame Street). I had asked for one a couple years ago and she couldn't find me one. Now apparently they're selling them at Winn Dixie for some reason. Weird.
But anyway, Ernie will always be the best Sesame Street muppet. Screw Elmo.
Chestnuts roasted by jazzy @ 12/27/2005 01:27 PM EST
Jazzy - Yeah I know how big of a pain it is to ask for a CD when you have a bunch already, luckily family and friends ask for either a list or a "What do you want?" while were at some place to buy things from.
Also if you don't have News of the World you should when you can, its awesome.
Chestnuts roasted by James @ 12/27/2005 01:37 PM EST
Let me try to remember everything we got this year...
From the wife:
*Thinkgeek.com t-shirts(Killer Coding Ninja Monkeys do exist, and Woot!)
*Samurai 7 t-shirt
*2 Freezepop cds(Freezepop Forever and Fancy Ultra Fresh)
*Super Furry Animals cd(Out Spaced: Rarities and B-Sides)
*Nightmare Before Christmas pencil holder(ironically, it's full of pens now)
From my mom:
*An "evening" including money for dinner, soaps, oils, skin products, etc to pamper one another, new jammies, matching mugs with hot cocoa mix and snacks for movie-watching, all put into a fancy basket.
From the wife's mom:
*Zoolander and Ghost in the Shell on DVD(GASOLINE FIGHT!)
*4-quart crock pot, stainless steel and shiny
*turtle wax, buffing cloth, and a t-shirt that says "Wax on, Wax off"
*Stocking filled with candy, soaps, toothbrushes, hot wheels, Bath and Body works gift card($20), and $20 cash
*a new wind chime for our patio
From the wife's father:
*$80, which we spent on Avenger complete collection and Rune Soldier complete collection(both anime series) and lunch
From the wife's step-grandmother:
*$50 generic giftcard for our local mall, spent mostly on a new pair of pants for each of us
And, just for good measure, what I got for the wife:
*Cinderella dvd
*Domo-kun t-shirt(brown, with silk-screened eyes and mouth)
*Domo-kun and Gorillaz mini-pins(set of 9 and 8, respectively)
*Pink by Victoria Secret
*Lain plush(wearing the bear PJs)
*1st series Super Mario Brothers 8-bit style dioramas(set of 6, from Japan)
*Domo-kun plus(dressed as a Samurai, I'll be picking the package up from the PO on the way home this afternoon)
Also, we went to the Christmas party at the bowling alley where she works, and it was a pretty kick-ass time. There was a bowling tournament, pool tournament, and bingo, besides a giant pot-luck buffet and all the free bowling and pool you wanted. My team came in second in the bowling tourney(of 7) and first in the pool tourney(again, of 7), and the wife won 2 rounds of Bingo. Add in the employees' gift exchange and a present from her boss and we left with:
*$10 On the Border giftcard
*$10 Don Pablo's giftcard
*2 $10 Outback Steakhouse giftcards
*$10 Best Buy giftcard
*$5 in winning lotto scratch-offs
Certainly, no complaints here!
Chestnuts roasted by ZiZak @ 12/27/2005 01:39 PM EST
Oh yeah, I also got an early birthday present from the wife:
*We <3 Katamari
She said I'll also have a surprise gift on my actual birthday, besides going out to dinner, which is 11 Jan, just a little over 2 weeks from now.
Chestnuts roasted by ZiZak @ 12/27/2005 01:44 PM EST
Antenna Villain - don't look at a gift card as a set price purchase, but rather a springboard into a much larger purchase!
Chestnuts roasted by HiFlex @ 12/27/2005 02:01 PM EST
holiday loot this year!
guitar lessons
2 zip-up sweaters
1 striped pullover sweater
sweet socks
express giftcard
best buy giftcard
cash
darth tater
a potato masher (not for mr. darth tater though)
restaurant gift certificates
UNC Tarheels PJ pants
assorted john lennon books
chris ware's acme novelty collection book (very nice)
simpsons seasons 6 and 7 on dvd
the original king kong on dvd
oil paints
binoculars
mini label maker
boston red sox jersey (#8 for carl yastrzemski)
there was more, it's just slipping my mind right now. another slow day at work for me obviously
all in all it was a very nice xmas. i was very excited and really enjoyed spending the holiday with the lady friend (seeing her family then mine), and i really liked the gifts i bought for everyone... even if some need a little tweaking now to make just right (i.e. i bought shoes and a little necklace for my gf that she really liked but they don't quite fit right.) not a huge deal though.
Chestnuts roasted by HiFlex @ 12/27/2005 02:23 PM EST
Wow, I've sort of been absent for a while, but I guess that's what happens when you have to work. Well, here goes:
Money (that went to buying a Pocket PC to replace a stolen one)
A Raucher Mann (smoking man, one of the coolest German Christmas traditions)
Pecans to make pecan pie!
Candy
A half day of Snowboarding in Austria
Small stuff (keychain, motor oil t-shirt, ect.)
A Scooby-Doo soccer ornament
Funny one- I told my wife I wanted a toy for Christmas (thinking exotic sports car or some random computer related thing), so she got me a GeoMag building set (basically a cross between K'nex and magnets). Apparently you can do cool things with them...if you buy 10 sets. Not exactly what I wanted or expected, and apparently rather pricey, so I think we'll take them back and get some kites of a board game instead. (Note to self: Don't be so undescriptive next Christmas.)
Chestnuts roasted by Mad Cow @ 12/27/2005 02:56 PM EST
i am jealous of you all in a seven-year-old kid kind of way.
from dad and his wife: a dining room table/chairs, a wall hanging; his wife made me a very interesting necklace, complete with matching "ear chains."
from grandma: $20; i bought her gift from dollar general.
from boyfriend: Office Space "with flair", a talking Kip doll from Napoleon Dynamite, and he is getting me a dresser when i pick one out. not bad considering all i got him was Age of Empires 3 (the plain version), a t-shirt, and some incense. so poor this year...
from boyfriend's dad: $100. which i spent on groceries.
from boyfriend's mom: a rug, a book on decorating, and a shop vac for us both.
(starting to see the "new house" theme here?)
from boyfriend's aunt: drunk. as in, she got me drunk. i love her.
from the green bay packers: a division championship for the bears. finally! thanks brett!!!! xoxoxo
nothing yet from:
sister 1 and her husband; should be in the mail today. they live in vegas where they have access to nice things. unlike bum-fuck southern wisconsin.
sister 2 and her boyfriend; we talk 3x a day on the phone and live 1/2 hr away from eachother, but havent gotten together yet out of laziness.
mom and her husband and his son: coming down to visit Jan. 8. too much church between now and then.
Chestnuts roasted by schroeder @ 12/27/2005 03:36 PM EST
Damn, that's a haul! Since everyone is sharing, here's mine.
- Marvel HeroClix Phoenix Giant Figure
- Giant Pocky (Yes, it is giant)
- 2 bottle of melon flavored Ramune (For those who don't know, Ramune is a Japanese soft drink.)
- Transformers Takara Reissue Blitzwing figure
- Transformers T-Shirt #1 (Three silhouettes of a jet, car and a cassette)
- Transformers T-Shirt #2 (The Church of Optimus Prime, the Matrix of Leadership on the chest.)
- Xavier Institute For Higher Learning T-Shirt
- Radica 20Q
- Ceramic Darth Vader M&M Jar
- America: The Desk Calendar
- $50 (Yay! Cash!)
- $10 Hulk Gift Card to Target
- $10 Snoopy Wal-Mart Gift Card
- Nanase Aikawa Unlimited Single
- Nanase Aikawa Radiance Moon Single
- Nanase Aikawa R.U.O.K.?! Mini-Album
- Office Space: Special Edition DVD
- Rush R30 Deluxe DVD Set
- Star Wars Episode I DVD
- Star Wars Episode II DVD
- 24 Season 4 DVD Box Set
- Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory DVD (Now I have both editions! Whee!)
- Desktop Zen Garden
I might be leaving a few things out, but that was everything off the top of my head. So I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy Festivus. (Been saying that all season. It's very catchy.)
Chestnuts roasted by Nick @ 12/27/2005 04:09 PM EST
Son of a bitch, I did forget something. The Sin City Recut DVD Set which is just wonderful!
Chestnuts roasted by Nick @ 12/27/2005 04:10 PM EST
The "Thing" your woman won, is called an Astrolabe
Chestnuts roasted by Justin @ 12/27/2005 04:20 PM EST
Didn't do much for Xmas... had as strange a one as you referred to in your posting too!
But the Advent calendar and the postings really rocked Brightened up the season quite a bit for me!
Thanks for keeping up what is probably one of the best kept secret guilty pleasures on the web! I've got a weekly habit of browsing your website every Friday afternoon for a laugh and some precious memories of the 80s!
Hope you have a great New years night too (and that the cat feels better as well)!
Merry Christmas, Happy New year, and all the best for 2006!
Chestnuts roasted by ZND @ 12/27/2005 04:33 PM EST
Jazzy, I was on etoys.com today, and they have an email advisory for "DDR Mario Mix," so when they get them in, they can email you to let you know. It's $49.99 new, and I put my email address in.
I went to Target and Best Buy today, and I swear I don't think anyone works there (or they'll help everyone else BUT me--it seems everyone being helped was some buxom blonde girl--excuse me for being brunette with a Velma-like haircut and short), and the customers don't speak English--I ran into the same family of non-English-speaking Mexicans at every turn. Kids clogged the aisles like artery-blocking plaque--they kept getting on their knees to play demo games. I was so digusted I left, and my dad took me to Target to find "DDR," but the guy told me that alot of people asked for it, they got a shipment in October, it sold on the first day..and no other shipment came.
I also was trying to locate "SNL The Best of Christopher Walken," and came up snake eyes on this purchase as well. Betbuy.com had it for 9.99, so I ordered it. At least one of my after-Christmas presents will be arriving in a few days.
I'm completely addicted to my new games as well. I think I played "Sonic Gems" for 2 hours yesterday. It's still in my Gamecube so I can play it again when I go upstairs.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/27/2005 04:52 PM EST
Make that bestbuy.com not betbuy.com.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/27/2005 04:54 PM EST
Here's a few things I got or bought for myself...
I'm finally in the 21st century and now have a photo flip cel phone
(How did I go through so many years without one? That's the one trend that kind of missed me).
I got a Darth Vader shirt as a gift and bought a discounted Live 8 t-shirt at JC Penny because, I thought I should wear one after sitting through MTV's 10 or so hours back in July.
I picked up a few Star Wars novels because I already had a few that were smack dab in the middle of a larger story arc.
I bought a copy of Stripes on DVD... just because John Larroquette kicks so much ass as Stillman and extended versions are cool.
I bought the billionth variation of The Emancipation of Mimi. Mariah, it's a good album but for God's sake, stop adding on to it!!! You're becoming Usher 2005.
Chestnuts roasted by MrsDanFielding @ 12/27/2005 05:06 PM EST
and the customers don't speak English--I ran into the same family of non-English-speaking Mexicans at every turn.
That's really rude.
Maybe they were sick of running into you too.
Chestnuts roasted by Betcha Didnt Know I was Mexican @ 12/27/2005 05:28 PM EST
I got a hat...and a subscription to the best magazine ever (http://www.makezine.com/). small family.
Chestnuts roasted by brandon @ 12/27/2005 05:33 PM EST
Sorry about that comment. I'm just not digging crowds. Lots of English speaking people crowding the aisles too. And I'm sure they were completely sick of me...though I was in and out of there quickly.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/27/2005 05:46 PM EST
I forgive you
Chestnuts roasted by BYDKIWM @ 12/27/2005 05:55 PM EST
Thanks BYDKIWM.
As you can see, the frustration of crowded stores gets to some. It just seems like the same people (English speaking and non-English speaking people alike) were at every turn I made. Top it off with the fact that I absolutely could not find an item or someone to help me (I've been ignored several times @ several stores--I remember asking a sales associate if a pair of sneakers were in stock, the guy said that he would check--I waited 5 minutes and the clerk came out of the back room and helped someone else, while I was standing near by--never even telling me he didn't find the sneakers. I was angry, and when I tried to get his attention, he just walked away. Nice work).
Having worked in retail/video and game rental and knowing that people don't appreciate your assistance (I used to ask people if they needed any help and they would shout angrily "WHAT DID YOU SAY?! WHAT DO YOU WANT!" at me, so I was almost tempted to say "I shot your dog...ok?!" I'm very cynical, and being ignored just doesn't help.
That's all I have to say.
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/27/2005 06:15 PM EST
* Seasons 1-3 of the Dukes of Hazzard so I can relive my youth.
* Fry's Electronics Gift Certificates so I can buy some sweet loot of my choosing.
* Target Gift Card so I can finally get Season 6 of South Park.
* Some new pants so I can appease the woman by not looking like a scruffy individual.
* A can of WD-40 from my brother, since he never returned the can he borrowed from me.
* A gift card to Best Buy also from my brother, since he felt lame about just giving me a can of WD-40
* Cash to spend where I will, which is probably going towards the United Need a New Set of Tires Fund.
* A set of cheap screwdrivers won from the 'Fruitless Gift Exchange' that my family has every year.
* A $5 gift card to a coffee shop that will probably be regifted since I hate the place in question but didn't want to be rude to the customer who gave it to me as a thank you for getting their order done early.
* Season 2 (first half) of Battlestar Galactica so I can feed my addiction.
Chestnuts roasted by QualityTV @ 12/27/2005 06:26 PM EST
I got:
Weird Tales of the Ramones box set
Music for a Darkned theatre volumes 1 and 2
Two invader zim figures
Rock n roll high school dvd
Crybaby dvd
I wanted the Calvin and Hobbes collection too even if I have all the calvin and hobbes book.. I still wanna have all of em in beautiful glory, ya know?
Chestnuts roasted by Jenny @ 12/27/2005 06:38 PM EST
i got the calvin and hobbes set too!!
Chestnuts roasted by conchristador @ 12/27/2005 07:16 PM EST
I got the Calvin and Hobbes collection too! Best gift ever.
Chestnuts roasted by Frank @ 12/27/2005 07:27 PM EST
I got some video games (which, though cool, will never measure up to the new Zelda, which I SHOULD have gotten, thank you very much, Nintendo grinches), a coffee table, snow shoes, pretty house things, chocolate, and other miscellaneous goodies.
I just wanted to post to say "Merry Christmas" to everybody (albeit a little late) and say thanks, Matt, for making this holiday season (my first since discovering x-entertainment) a little more special.
Chestnuts roasted by Kate @ 12/27/2005 07:36 PM EST
Just a little deviation from the topic at hand--relive some of the best (and worst, and oh my god that's awful) closing logos from movies and television. No pictures, just good old-fashioned descriptions. Lots of fun to read. There is another site with closing logo jingles, but I can't recall the link. This website is a complete guilty pleasure of mine.
http://members.fortunecity.com/teamfx2000/
I think one of the main reasons I checked this out initially earlier this year was to find a logo, but alas, no luck. Maybe someone can help me:
This logo had a bunch of bouncing balloons that were bouncing toward the front of a black screen. The effect is cheesy and superimposed. It has a cheesy tune that plays under the logo, and then, when the balloons bounce to the screen, they stop, and text appears below, I believe in yellow font. Someone told me this was a "Sunbow" logo, but I only remember seeing this on the video of "My Little Pony The Movie." And this was 15-20 years ago!! Does anyone know what this is? It seems non-existant after 1985!
Chestnuts roasted by Allison @ 12/27/2005 07:39 PM EST
Hey Allison...
Is this
Thank you so much!!!! Wow, I forgot what company that was!!! I didnt favor that logo when I was really young, but I like it now. I remember it as being this creepy music. What the frig is with the music? You notice how this logo doesn't really show up on many videos.
All in a day's work, madame.
And in case you're interested, I just captured it off my copy of Rainbow Brite and the Mighty Monstromurk Menace.
Awesome. do you have a link on your site yet? That would be cool to have on there.
Tons of DVD season sets like... Garfield and Friends 1-4, South Park 3-6, Kung Fu 3, Ren and Stimpy 1-3, Ducktales, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, Alf 2, Home Movies 1-2, Futurama 1-4, Batman 3, and Spiderman 67 Collection... And Muppet movies. Santa rocked my ass this year. Plus a new accordion and a Chromonica... (Little Debbie Christmas Trees) Woo!
I was gonna use my now usual Zidek, but seeing as there is a ZiZak, I'll just use my real name. Anyway, I'm late as hell, but here's what I got.
I didn't get that big of a haul this year, and it's all because I had to have a new computer in early November. I also kept telling my girlfriend I wanted some Transformers, but she didn't get me any.
Kids is Kids... is that the one that's just all Donald and kids cartoons? I know I have something like that taped off Wonderful World of Disney from back in the day with Professor Von Drake all like, observing them and shit. I'm guessing Disney can't get away with the cartoon of Donald forcing Huey, Duey, and Luey to smoke cigars anymore. You know what I always wondered? If Huey, Duey, and Luey call both Donald and Scrooge "uncle" .... does that mean Donald and Scrooge are brothers?
Got one more little gift today, my old net buddy Cristi sent me a $10 Hot Topic card. W00t w00t. I should get me some new bondage pants. I also didn't mention that I sent a nice little bundle over to Toys for Tots this year. I hope they went to someone very grateful to have them. I'm a sucker for doing stuff for others. This summer I lost a foot of hair to Locks of Love. ^_^;;
Also, thaty "Air Attack Primal" is nothing more than a recoled Optimal Optimus from the Beast Wars line. Yes, It's awesome and one of the biggest post-G1/2 figures to date. I have him too but I don't know where he went
Speaking of which, the Cybertron Optimus has a removable Matrix of Leadership, so you can re-enact his death scene from the movie anytime you want (or if you're like me and missed out on getting 20th Optimus)
"-Sideways (another awesome looking one. Almost like his Armada counterpart, his Cyberkey changes the insignia on his right arm, as well as revealing spikes)"
I'd really laugh if he was just a big wine truck from Napa Valley and came with a certificate for a free Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church mini-figures. Ahhh, sophisticated comedy.
Good load this year matt.
as for me I got some goods
DVD: sin city director cut, Seinfeld 5 & 6, Miami vice 2, Charlie & the factory,
Cds: Blackcrows greatest, Iron & wine, Cutless, Switchfoot, 3rd day
I also got Johnny Cash's autobiography, 90 bucks in gift cards and money, which puts me 10 dollars off of my target to get the hitchcock collection.
I got some nice clothes and slippers and what not.
the less good stuff... well I got one of those atari plug and play games (don't get me wrong they are cool but...I all ready had this one. Infact my mom bought it for me last year and got it for me again this year) the just bad stuff was the dog in santa's sac,(much like billy bass however this is a dogs ass sticking out of santa's bag and when you pres the button his tail wags and what is suppose to be his head in the bag moves around as the dog whines about how there is no present for him. The other thing is a stocking stuffer in the form of a little book called wacky wild cartoon animals for kids. It's a poor man's Far Side. that's fine and good and I wouldn't have a problem with it if not for the FOR KIDS right on the cover. I'm 26 years old and my aunt sees a book with big bold letters spelling out FOR KIDS and thinks of me. I'm just not sure how to take it.
As for my woman, her b/day was the previous month and I got her one of those cd/record players so christmas was all about buying her records and she got alot of them. I also got her the King Kong collection (the one with the mini vintage movie posters and such), creature from the black lagoon poster, and an edgar allen poe action figure.
Oh noes, the bold monster has struck again. Matt'll have to fix it, because I don't think it'll work if we do. I tried, though, so we'll see.
All right, so I know you were all waiting impatiently to see my haul, so here goes:
- 2 pink sweaters (1 from my grandmother, 1 from my aunt)
- Set of silver earrings (from my brother)
- Red Ramones shirt (from my parents; I could never find one I liked and I love this one!)
- Pair of jeans (from my parents)
- Big fleece blanket with snowflakes on it (from my aunt as an apartment-warming gift)
- My Little Pony stickers (from an editor at work)
- Tons of Wonka candy (from the same editor)
- My Little Pony ornament (from the parents)
- My Little Pony bath set (from the parents)
- Fuzzy house socks (from the parents)
- Animal crackers (in my stocking; we get those every year)
- New pens (stocking)
- Lots of other candy, mostly in my stocking
- $50 gift card to Wal-Mart (from the boyfriend's family, which was really nice...too bad I already spent it, heh)
- $10 movie gift certificate (from my other editor at work)
- PJs with the Siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp on them (from my grandmother)
- Set of every paperback Harry Potter book (from the boyfriend)
- Bad Cat page-a-day calendar (from the boyfriend)
- Charles Wysocki cat monthly calendar (from the parents)
- Family Guy movie (from the boyfriend)
- Mini wood ornaments (from my mom, because my grandmother has some and so do my mom and aunt)
- Small ceramic tree that my grandmother made in the 80s; my mom, aunt and her all have bigger ones too and I've always loved them
- Toaster oven from my parents--funny story: Mom told me after I opened it that she thought she was getting me this because I desperately want it, noticed on the receipt that the price was different, took it home and wrapped it, and never realized it was the wrong thing until I opened it. What a goof. I'm keeping the toaster oven, though, and I'll get that other thing later.
Not bad for someone who didn't think she was getting anything.
So no one's shared any horror stories yet...does that mean everyone had a pretty OK Christmas?
Manimal - Yay I'm popular now! I'm actually Callahan trash myself, but I claim Jacksonville because people have heard of it and I have to put up with its road system anyway, so I may as well live there. (I feel for you having had to live on the Westside. My dad used to live there and everyone I met was either on crack or didn't wash. But then my dad tends to hang around trashy people anyway.)
Mystie - That's a really nice Toys for Tots bundle. I'm sure those kids get a lot of dollar-store type toys, so the kids who get the stuff you sent will be pretty happy.
One year my stepmom couldn't afford toys for my little stepbrother, so she applied to this program where a family volunteers to "sponsor" a child's Christmas. He made out goood that year, with probably hundreds of dollars worth of nice toys that he eventually ended up breaking or peeing on because he was three at the time and has behavior problems. I guess three year olds are just not capable of appreciating nice stuff the way older kids can.
Then again, even as a ten or eleven year old I never seemed to realize how much cash my parents were shelling out on me. I thought my giant Barbie house and my Mario pinball machine were fairly inexpensive. They weren't.
Matt, if you read this, you really need to look into this odd flavor of jello-"mixed vegetable"-not sure if you've heard about it already, but i stumbled across a webpage that mentioned it the other day
My dear husband went overboard on me this year, getting me a sapphire, gold and diamond bracelet, a CD (Josh Groban *melt*) a TV tuner card, and a Nintendo DS (complete with The Sims 2, Mario Kart DS, and Super Mario 64 DS).
Ok, had the family get-together to exchange presents last night, and I got one of my best presents last year.
You all remember the pajamas with feet we all wore as little kids? I have spent most of my adult life trying to find some for adults that are actually comfortable. About 5 years ago, Land's End had them, they were great, and I got a pair from my mom for christmas two years in a row. When I moved in with my boyfriend, he appropriated one of the pairs, so I wanted to get him a pair the next christmas. Land's End stopped carrying them, and hasn't again since, and I've even written them to ask if they ever will again, because the ones I got before are worn out, we wore them so often.
I've found other pairs a couple times, but they've been cheaply made, and too short, either in overall length, or in the crotch (the makers don't seem to realize when you sleep in something, you often have one arm up over your head, and it's not really comfy to have your PJS shoot up into your crack when you do that- to be comfy to sleep in, the crotch needs to hang at least halfway to your knees, if not farther). I got a couple pairs online one time, but I got the feeling the site was more for fetishists than people who just want really comfy PJs. I was a little worried about the length, so I even wrote to make sure they'd fit someone 5'8" and they assured me they would. When I got them, I couldn't even pull them up over my shoulder, they were so short in the crotch.
Anyway, finally, to the point. My favorite aunt succeeded where I haven't been able to, and found an online company that makes them right, and doesn't seem to be geared only to fetishists. She got me a pair in polar fleece that are about the most comfortable thing I've ever worn. They're from the Big Feet Pajama Co. and they aren't kidding about that big feet thing. The feet in them flop around a lot unless I pull them up at the ankle some and tuck them under the elastic. My boyfriend doesn't like that they don't have any with zippers, only buttons, but I think the buttons are more comfortable. I'm going to get another pair in jersey, too, for warm nights.
If anyone else has had this quest for the best PJs from childhood, too, the site is www.BigFeetPJS.com (or click my name).
...
If you want to use Zidek but are reluctant to due to the similarity to ZiZak, I will glady take up another moniker. I have a few in reserve. Such as appending the word YO, like I'm some way-cool DJ or something. Or I can use something totally different. I get the impression you've been posting here longer than I have. If you see this, let me know at owtytrof(at)comcast(dot)net, as I may not see a reply in this thread.
Those are pretty cool, Mags, but I dont think I'll be wearing them any time soon.
I'm fashionably late as usual, heh heh! I got a Suncoast gift card (which I will spend on Aeon Flux box & NGE Platinum), a MAC gift card, liquor galore, a flask, a new motorcycle helmet, a box of exotic truffles, some gorgeous artsy notecards, a bad ass belt, Edward Gorey stickers, and some other random girlie things. My best present (which isn't technically a present) was going to a friend's wedding & seeing folks I haven't seen in a couple of years.
In Japan, they just did something like that with Optimus Prime, only with Pepsi. His truck carriage holds either 1 20oz bottle, 3 cans or dozens of bottle caps. I want it.
I got some movies, Batman TOS Vol. 4 (yay for the full set), Superman TOS Vol 2, The Warriors and Ultimate Spider-Man games, some Batman GN's, and of course, the best gift this year: Sin City Extended on DVD.
I just wanted to point out, completely out of the blue, that this thread always really eases the transition out of the Christmas season for me. It's really way too sudden otherwise: one minute, you're drinking hot cider and watching Charlie Brown, the next minute, your family is pulling ornaments off the tree. The Christmas Fallout thread makes it a little more gradual somehow, which makes me happy.
The bottom of the feet is a fabric with little non-skid dots all over it. Not the slick vinyl that was on some of our PJs as kids
Oh my god, Kingklash, that was a great video!! That first part looked like my alma mater's media center lower level(Richard Stockton College of New Jersey). Stuff like that in my school would have been hysterical!!
That Gremlins Mohawk figure is identical to the 18 inch statue NECA made. I have that statue proudly displayed on my dresser, my finest material possession.
Anyone ever notice how many lurkers come out of the woodwork when they have the opportunity to make lists??
Hate to be cheesy, but the best present I got was the plane ticket back to Seattle. Being with the fam was very nice. Nicer still is that I get to go away again this weekend. I guess the best tangable present was all the high class salon products that my salon owning family gave me. I'm usually a Suave girl. Got quite a few checks and gift cards too. Made it easer to buy presents for others. By the way. Nice commercial Matt.
Today's the first day back to normal. I was at Grandma's for Christmas and my parents followed me back home to stay for a few days. In a couple days I'm off again for the most dreaded trip of them all...the mother in law's. I won't list all of my stuff (there wasn't a ton, but most of it wasn't interesting and I don't feel like listing it), but the highlights were:
Satellite Radio (and it's everything I dreamed it would be.)
A new car stereo
A $50 gift card to Target to buy stuff for the house (this was the closest anyone got to actually using my Christmas list. They ask for it, and then they ignore it. I don't understand.)
I've actually been enjoying my husband's presents. Here's what he got:
A Gamecube (gently used and complete with box and all manuals) with memory card, two controllers, Mario Kart Double Dash and Resident Evil. We buy most game-related stuff late and used since we think console/game prices have gotten insane. I bought all of that stuff off of eBay for $110 including shipping.
CSI Season 4 (so far, I'm the only one who's enjoyed it. I love commentary and he hates it, so I watched an episode with commentary last night while he played Resident Evil. I also watched the bonus features.)
A personalized, autographed sketch of Yoda (and other SW stuff - it's kind of a collage) by Jeff Mailey (one of the guys who created Yoda.) He has a shop on St. Maarten, and my parents took a cruise a couple of weeks ago for my mom's 50th birthday. They saw it and had to get it. It's really awesome.
A cert for a microdermabrasion/facial at the spa Dr. Sister co-owns. Plus gas money to make the 5.5 hour drive there and back again.
A cert for a new dresser/chest of drawers.
A copy of the first horror movie I can remember watching -- Dracula vs. Frankenstein. ROCK OUT!
Best of all, my Boy and I have safely landed in our new home...and now the putting away begins.
I like the way the dude in the Pac-Man costume was screaming, "OH MY GOD!! AAAAHHHHH!!" as he ran about. Might I ask those of you who went to college, is studying for Finals that stressful? I hear'd stories about doing something crazy-go-nuts, or risk going crazy-go-nuts.
Click my name for another Xbox Xmas strip from FFN. I don't play D&D, but I still understand these guys.
Totally off topic, but I guess I'm the only one who watches CNN all the time, as X-E was mentioned on a short segment about retro commercials (this was after they were talking about the dunkin' doughnuts guy who died)
kingklash - the craziest thing i remember doing was taking a trip to the university of pittsburgh library to find something that my tiny school's library didn't have and spending 5 hours in the adjacent museum instead.
Holy Sweet Jesus Kinglash. I have no idea why, but I had tears in my eyes when I watched that video. That was some incredibly funny shit.
I was going to make a list of what I got, but meh, I'm trying to not think about Christmas being over, so maybe I'll do one next month or something. Of course, by then I will have forgotten what I received, so....
Wow, I got three books by Anita Loos, "Miracle on 34th Street" DVD (The Natalie Wood version), and Abba "Gold" again, and another Nativity set from my father in law. That makes three nativity sets in three years, only last year we didn't get one, so that means, yes, i got TWO Nativity sets the previous year. I guess he really thinks I'm going to Hell but maybe I can barricade myself with resin angels and wisemen.
It seems a lot of you got the He-Man Christmas Special. It sounded neat at first and I was going to get it, but then I realize I still have it on VHS from USA Networks back in 1980-something. I wish they would pu that old Muppets Family Christmas from 1988 on DVD that was cool.
I know all about that Optimus Pepsis truck. I also know where you can get one. Here: http://www.digital-toys.com/autobot.html
I've ordered from this place before and the best thing is that they take PayPal if you have it. Very reliable.
I know all about that Optimus Pepsi truck. I also know where you can get one. Here: http://www.digital-toys.com/autobot.html
I've ordered from this place before and the best thing is that they take PayPal if you have it. Very reliable.
I love to do writing on unusual topics. I wrote a small article about the song "Choppin' Broccoli," and another about "Bordello of Blood" after watching the movie. While I watched, I came up with an analysis, and since I have too much putting around in my head, I decided to put my ideas to use (or waste) and type them out. The result is this little gem. Click on my name for a rather interesting "article" I wrote.
Comments/criticisms are welcome. Sure, it's a little insane for the eyes, but I gotta get some ideas out of my head.
If you're more of a Dana Carvey fan, you may like this one. You may not, but this is the best place to showcase anything. It also contained the most ridiculous picture of animated broccoli ever. I removed it because it was too silly. But, I think this is pretty good. Click on my name. Enjoy!
Oooh, ok. I thought it would work. Guess not. Thanks!
Everyone disregard those links. I'm gonna upload them to the internet.
The two articles are now published on writing.com.
"to onslaught88: Awesome, awesome loot.
Also, thaty "Air Attack Primal" is nothing more than a recoled Optimal Optimus from the Beast Wars line. Yes, It's awesome and one of the biggest post-G1/2 figures to date. I have him too but I don't know where he went"
Nup, the one you're thinking of is Primal Prime, who 'was' released during Beast Machines. Air Attack Primal's the Supreme-sized version of the actual Beast Machines Primal design, and has Garry Chalk's voice and stuff. He was a TRU exclusive during RID. Click my name linky for review-related fun!
I can thoroughly recommend Mudflap, too. They really made an effort, he's got quite the realistic vehicle mode, and a transformation I'd wanted to see for ages. My next targets are Sideways, Buzzsaw, and Wreckloose.. Mmm, new toys. Most places are ravaged after the christmas insanity, sadly.
i didnt get anything. not even a card. :-(
O ya....D'oh. I didn't get him for some reason. Makes it awesome all the same.
And yes, I picked up Mudflap today. And Scourge as well at Target to spend my gift cards.
And that Target was indeed ravaged. So was the nearby Wal-Mart (it's in a mall so its not as big, but had a slightly better selection)
Anyone else have a shitload of work that they were SUPPOSED to do over Xmas holidays but instead have been avoiding and are now in near panic mode??
I'm unemployed for the time being, while I'm waiting to hear about two job interviews. I will know how I did the first week of January.
I hope you'll get on to work soon. Anyways, happy holidays to all.
Popetorak - I just picked up a Holiday Pack at Target the other day. They're selling half price now that Christmas is over. We're going to buy a second pack to save as a display
I'll be back most likely Tuesday. (thanks, boss for the day off!) Have a good time, keep your wits about you, kisses to the chicks, high fives to the dudes, hand me my rubber duck, I'm full of BBQ sauce and eggnog, party time fun time yeah yeah yeah!
So.... aren't we getting a Saturday Night Thread? ;.;
Anyone other than me having a regular old non-holiday mode night? I can't be the only one not celebrating.
Muppet Baby Yes, I was supposed to have all tax stuff prepped by this monday, whch is going to be nearly impossible. Why are we the only ones to file taxes rigt at new year?
I'm not really celebrating on account of I already celebrated New Years on October 31.
I'm not really celebrating either. I couldn't get together with my friend for New Year's Eve like I usually do because I work late and couldn't get home in time for us to do much of anything. I'm at my parents' house. One is going to bed; the other is watching his 24/7 "Law and Order."
In fact, it just turned midnight here in South New Jersey, so now I'm celebrating. Happy New Year, guys.
How good my year will be is based soley off how the number looks in print. 2006: what horrible year.
We had an unusual celebration which only lasted about 30 minutes and consisted of making fun of how Dick Clark is like 400 years old, setting off really small fireworks, my boyfriend shooting a rifle into the air, me calling my friend for like five minutes, and having a Jones Soda Holiday taste test. I didn't find most of the flavors too offensive but my family was pretty grossed out. I must not have very sensitive taste buds.
I wish I were out having fun tonight, but we're a little too broke to go out to a club and none of our friends were having parties, so we just stayed home. *shrug* I'm under 21 anyway so New Year's isn't that great of a holiday for me yet
Best Wishes to all your headaches, and the rest of your bodies too....cause that's hott.
anywho, i was sooo fucked up last night, I woke up at 1 p.m. today, and it felt like ti was 7 o'clock. it was crazyy!! anyway i just wanted to come on here and say hi to everyone...
happy new year Matt, kingklash, squee, Gozer, kneg, Darth poopy, Mystie...
I see the advent calendar is now gone. Is there a way to access it now that it's off the blog?
Howdy all! Happy New Year! I don't know about anyone else, but I've been out scouring stores for my own home game version of the advent calendar...so far I've got Waiterbot and the Santa House down. Need to snag Knacks and Kuse next...soon I'll have the ultimate X-E Toyline! Hahahah!
I got this freaking awesome mini claw game (you know-the kind you play in arcades to win some stupid stuff animal) that is filled w/candy....I can't stop playing the thing(I filled it w/candy), sweaters, Mickey Mouse from my g/f, mini lighthouse, lighthouse ghost book, book on totally useless information, chocolate by the ton, chocolate, more chocolate, socks, and chocolate.
Hmm..
Empty DVD cases and 25 blank DVD-R's (for my movie making and storing of said movies)
HOLY CRAP! I forgot the best thing of all...
Awesome game. That is all that need to be said.
I got 2 red guards, a bespin guard, a storm/clone trooper evolution pack,assault on Hoth battle pack, Tie fighter with big wings,Darth Tater, Robotech Protoculture collection,Akira special addition, Ghost in the Shell,Robot Space Trooper, Sherlock Holmes 5dvd collection, a subscription to Mad, and now for the 3&3/4 inch gi joes. Most of these I bought for myself, 2 H.I.S.S. tanks, comic-book three pack with Tunnel Rat, Hawk and Flint, 16 Snow Serpants(i'm an army builder), Salvo, 4 Medi-Vipers, Major Barrage, Footloose, and Barrel Roll. All of these were purchased at HasbroToyShop.com because that's the only place were you can buy new 3&3/4 inch joes. All they sell in stores now are the Sigma Six gi joes. I,m a spoiled little bitch.
I forgot A cinema of george lucas book and $80 in gift cards for Barnes and Nobel book sellers. Used comic books here I come. And my dad got me a book of comics from the new yorker. I don't get him sometimes
Either you guys are all incredibly spoiled or I am completely unloved. Maybe both? Seriously, kingklash and poor pope are the only ones whose hauls didn't fill me with feelings of Christmas neglect.
(Trajeal has continued to pop by on occasion.)
Feedback for Allison: I could definitely tell that you were writing about things you really cared about. I think the Bordello review was hard to follow, and I've seen the movie. Try reading some of Matt's old reviews, or check some out on a site like Something Awful for ideas on keepin' it cohesive.
My gods, Matt! What do you do with this site, I had to come in today just to see what's up! Could it be that I'm *gasp* addicted? Hells, yeah!
My boyfriend and I went to a New Year's party--his boss's son's future in-laws own a catering company, and they catered at a fire house's hall in Washington Twp., New Jersey. It was a really cool party--we stayed until 1:15, but I'm sure it went on way longer than that!
The DJ looked like Will Ferrell in about 15-20 years, so my boyfriend and I went up to tell him that he looked like Will Ferrell, to which he was all excited--he quoted Ferrell from "Old School" all night. I did my best Michael Jackson dance steps to every Michael Jackson song he played (he played "Dont Stop Till You Get Enough," "PYT (Pretty Young Thing)," and "Billie Jean."
Yesterday, Steve and I went to Circuit City, Target, and the movies. I got a wireless Game Cube controller, and we went to see "Fun with Dick and Jane." If you guys like Jim Carrey, this is a great movie to see--he was hysterical!!!!!!
So, now comes the question on everyone's mind -- when WILL Matt be removing the Christmas stuff THIS year? If last year was any indication, I'm thinking June
I would think that Matt has learned his lesson from last year and made sure to back-up the non-Christmas design. Let's start pegging him with bean bags, though. Just in case.
I bet they'll be down within the week. Remember this design isn't really a christmas design but an interchangeable template made so that these things can be changed quickly. At least I hope because I actually wasn't coming to the site as much last year because the christmas design was making me so angry. I think it's because the background reef reminds me of spaghetti and that stuff is gross.
I dunno...Halloween references are still up. I give it till March at the earliest.
And I went to see The Producers on New Years Eve. My god, I thought that was great. I REALLY need to see the original now!
Happy 2006! Took time off from all my heaps of work (I teach Grade 10 English, so I have loads to grade and prepare) to drive for 5 hours to a party in Fredericton, New Brunswick with my old University crowd. Great time! Made me forget about the loads of marking waiting for me... it is HARD to be a teacher and a "real adult" when you're only 24 and some of your students are 18! I JUST WANT TO PARTY, TOO! There- felt nice to get that off my chest!
Hope everyone's parties were as awesome as the one I went to was. Or, hope you all had great evenings at home if that's what you did. I also hope that XE has another kick ass year in 2006!
....and I think the Xmas theme will be up until mid-February at least. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT!
-"I"s vol. 2 + 3
-Bleach vol. 4-7
_
I've NEVER noticed that bar said anything till now. Not even during halloween did I see that.
And yes, that was what I was referring to. You get a peanut.
Happy New Year...several days late! Woohoo! I didn't do a damn thing; in fact, I was pretty much asleep before midnight. Actually, I did watch the South Park marathon on Comedy Central, so I suppose that's something.
I finally decided to start packing (I move Fri/Sat.) on Sunday, hurt my weak back lugging on boxes and couldn't do any packing yesterday when I really planned to do a lot since I had the day off. That and I have a nice cold...good times. I already have seriously like ten boxes of books. I need to stop buying books. I'm getting excited, though, even if it'll take me the next ten months to unpack everything.
So, hope everyone had a nice New Year's even if you didn't do anything. Now, the holidays are really over. *sniff*
Wow. I'm about 7 days late. I have no excuse, really, I was off from work the whole week, but not I'm back at work, ugh.
I got a rock. No, seriously. My husband gave me this ugly statue of a peacock carved out of a piece of jade. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be returnable. I suspect it will take up residence in the basement closet. I guess I should give him points for creativity and effort.
Candy from the kids, money from my parents. MIL gave me a couple of knicknacks from the Hamilton Collection.
Not a great holiday. The peacock statue kinda depressed me.
I guess I should say that hubby got a sucky present too. He asked his mom for Lost dvds, and got ties. She swears that's what he asked for. We're still trying to figure that one out.
Hey you might already know but Christmas Crunch returned this year with a Polar Express rebate thingy theme. Was yummi. Saved the box like always.
I hate tuesdays that feel like mondays.
I was in Madison for New Years. All my friends that were out decided to come back to my sisters pre-countdown so I could have a proper New Years toast. I was in for the night with my 4-year-old. So, I didn't mope long. I love love random acts of drunkin pity such as that.
Kinda sucks that the holidays are over now. Oh well.
I now officially have more video games than I know what to do with.
Also - Matt...is there a link to the 2005 Advent Calendar? I didn't read from 12/22 on, and I can't find a link to it anywhere.
Poor kb--couldn't get a baby-sitter on New Years Eve? That's a shame! At least your friends came to your sister's house.
Fucking awesome Dancing Slimer Matt. I got:
Fucking awesome Dancing Slimer Matt. I got:
I don't know about anyone else, but this holiday season left me broke. I had about $1,300 in my checking account before I started my Christmas shopping. After buying presents and treating myself to some rather nice things, I'm down to about $50. In a period of about one month I went from $1,300 to $50, insansity I tell you!
All in all, Christmas was good, New Year's was horrible. I had to work New Year's. I did get out at 9 PM but I was so tired that I went home, had a few drinks, watched some of the SciFi Channel's Twilight Zone marathon and then went to bed. With the holidays out of the way, I can only hope to save my money and put it towards something useful rather than spend it on more DVDs or CDs or video games or beer. But then again, isn't beer useful?
Awesome stuff, Matt.
Christmas was great this year. Lotsa goodies.
And not just that but in a few days, I'm off to Australia for a roadtrip from Sydney to Melbourne. I'll be spending my time surfing, hiking, swimming, shopping, visiting friends and family, and searching for truth and fun.
Cheers, everyone!
1. 1/2 gallon 18 yr. old jack daniels
2. Emeril Lagasse Delmonico cookbook
3. Anthony Bourdain Les Halles cookbook
4. $300 knife set and cutting board
5. black pot for cooking my award winning chicken and sausage gumbo
6. badass Rhino fishing pole
7. tackle and box
8. complete gunslinger series from stephen king (that's 7 books)
9. colt's and I.U. hats
10. my chemical romance c.d.
11. a subscription to playboy
12. nose hair clippers(is that a hint?)
13. a weed eater(because i'm a yard freak and am always complaining about not having one)
14. blink 182's greatest hits
15. married w/ children season 1-4 dvd
16. all the resident evils on the game cube (i already own the ones on the playstation)
17. assorted gift cards and cash
18. an 8-bit nintendo
19. an iced tea maker because i wore my other one out
20. a collection of dvd's of the black and white version of the Andy Griffith Show, the best show ever
21. a beginner's guide to play the guitar
22. a guitar so i can be a rock star
23.
Man, I can't believe that the Holidays are over. From January to April is probably the most boring/depressing time of the year, what with the lack of major holidays (The next major holiday is Easter, which isn't until April 16th) and the fact that weather here in Illinois is winter-like until essentially the beginning of June (when on many days it becomes as hot as Florida until October--So much for the idea of "Spring", huh?).
I wish the trix rabbit well have trix and the stupid kids thats well not let him to give him the TRIX!
I wish the trix rabbit well have trix for chistmas moring and the stupid kids thats well not let him to give him the TRIX!
and you got the complete calvin and hobbes books with 3 books inside the book and I don't got the book and is a lot of money.
That is a sweet Gremlins 2 "Mohawk" figure. Don't think I've ever seen that one.
