Merry Christmas!

[lhb412]

Feliz Navidad, folks!

Ugh, it's been so hectic at work the last week I'm almost enjoying the fact of being off as much as the holiday itself! Anyway, did all the classic Christmas traditions with the family throughout December, but I failed to make my way through my annual rereading of A Christmas Carol (I stalled at the beginning - partway through Marley's ghost!). Got Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck (as Duck Dodgers!) ornaments to add to my ornament collection.

Already gave out all my presents - kinda overdid it, honestly. I just like buying gifts for people! My favorite reaction was from my Mom when she received a DVD set of all the Emma Peel episodes of The Avengers (her favorite show as a little girl). She's one of those older people who isn't online at all, so if she doesn't see something in stores it doesn't exist - makes her easy to surprise!

[Dr Kain]

We had our Christmas party with our friends last night, and it was cool. We watched Home Alone and exchanged gifts. Unfortunately, one of my friends bought me the Blu-Ray to Gundam Origin and someone from Amazon had slit open the shrinkwrap and took the disc out, so I ended up with an empty case. -_-

That pretty much sums up our holiday season in a nutshell. Easily one of the worst Christmases we have ever had, but at least my g/f has a job that starts on the 8th, so hopefully things will return to normal.

I'll post a picture of everything I get tomorrow after we open our remaining gifts from each other.

[canofhumdingers]

Oh man I’m so exhausted. It’s 8 minutes until 11pm on Christmas Eve and we’ve been playing Santa for our two very young boys (both under 4 yrs old).

It’s been a lot of fun, but we just had one of those nights that I’m sure we’ll look back on a decade or two from now and laugh, but it was hell to go through.

So our kids are getting their first bicycles. I was a bike shop mechanic every summer throughout high school and college, so naturally I chose to go over the bikes because I (rightly) assumed the Walmart employees wouldn’t do a very good job assembling them. Both had issues that I had to fix. But one was a flipping nightmare. They royally screwed up the handle bar attachment. I won’t get too detailed but basically they had slapped it in and cranked so hard on the nut that they got a piece jammed permanently. With that piece jammed the way it is, the handlebars will NEVER line up with the front wheel. I tried everything I could think of to fix it but it’s totally ruined. And in the process of trying to fix it, my glasses slid off my sweaty face. I caught them with my ninja-like reflexes. But.... I was holding a wrench in that same hand and BAM the lens lands right on a hard pointy corner. The brand new, very expensive lense I had just gotten put in LAST MONTH. Scratched BAD. Ruined.

At this point my wife and I scramble. The kids are fast asleep and grandparents are here to man the fort. We bolt to Toys R Us (Walmart, of all places, is actually closed!). We get there 10 minutes to close and grab the only similar bike they’ve got. At checkout they tell us it’s the display model and they have to check the stock... ok, they’ve got it in stock, but unlike Walmart, they sell their small kiddie bikes unassembled, still in the box. Fine. I can build a kids bike in under 20 minutes and at least I know it’ll be done properly.

Oh, and it’s $25 more than the Walmart bike (these bikes are all under $100, so an extra $25 is a big jump).

We swung by target too, b/c they were open for another hour after TRU but they had NOTHING left.

So we get home, I unbox and (correctly!) assemble the bike while NOT wearing my glasses. I won’t make that mistake again.

Whew! Time to get way too little sleep as I’m sure my kids will be up by 5am bouncing off the walls wanting to see what Santa brought.

Merry Christmas y’all!!

[lhb412]

we just had one of those nights that I’m sure we’ll look back on a decade or two from now and laugh, but it was hell to go through.

Ha! But it's those moments that really make a life. Think about decades from now when you'll tell this story to your kids to guilt trip then into doing something you want!

[Dr Kain]

Oh, and it’s $25 more than the Walmart bike (these bikes are all under $100, so an extra $25 is a big jump).

Why didn't you have TRU price match Walmart?

[mr.negativity]

Merry Christmas!

[canofhumdingers]

Oh, and it’s $25 more than the Walmart bike (these bikes are all under $100, so an extra $25 is a big jump).

Why didn't you have TRU price match Walmart?

B/c it wasn't the same bike. The Walmart bike was Thomas the train themed. The most similar thing we could find at toys r us as they were closing on Christmas Eve was a Lightning McQueen bike. And we were lucky to find that!

Lesson definitely learned though, don't wait until you're putting out the santa gifts on Christmas Eve to check them for quality control issues!! I knew better but we've been so insanely busy I just never forced myself to make time earlier this month.

But it's all good now. The kids love the bikes and we've had a wild and fun Christmas morning.

EDIT: also, when you're in parental panic mode and having a total catastrophe while your kids are asleep dreaming of Santa Claus and sugar plums and all that, things like logic or rational thought are totally GONE! If you'd even said he words price match to me last night I'd probably have just stared at you dumbfounded wondering what these strange foreign words coming out of your mouth were.

You remember the scene where Chevy Chase totally loses it and cuts down his own tree to replace his torched one, then smiles as he uses his chainsaw to "fix the newel post"? That was me last night.

[Dr Kain]

That makes sense then.

Here is what both my g/f and I got for Xmas, minus a Gundam Origin Blu-Ray since someone at Amazon stole the disc before they shipped it (that was an interesting unwrapping) and Horizon's Frozen Wilds DLC since I can't show a picture of a digital game.

[jellydonut25]

Merry Christmas y’all!
Little girl woke up not feeling well, but we’re doing okay. A sore throat wasn’t gonna stop her from tearing into every gift possible with her brother.

I got some cool stuff but getting to kinda relive the pure joy and excitement for the day through my kids is better than the Gifts.

I got the Honda bio. That’s the highlight. Tons of other books, movies, Houston Astros (Your 2017 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS) gear, and a Hunt a Killer Box I’m pretty excited to get into.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Here's my Christmas haul this year

-Jeans
-Gym shorts and shirt
-Plain Blue Shirt
-Hoodie
-Khaki Jean Shorts
-$25 Xbox Gift Card
-$25 Papa Johns Gift Card
-$50 Best Buy Gift Card
-Axe body wash kit
-Discount on the electric bill
-Paid fishing trips when we go to Texas in a few months.

[canofhumdingers]

Like Jelly mentioned, Christmas these days is all about the kids and family time. And it’s great. Seeing them go to the same ecstatic highs I remember from childhood is incredibly rewarding.

I did get a few nice gifts. My parents gave us tickets for my wife and I to take the kids on the Polar Express train ride over thanksgiving which was loads of fun.

And a few weeks ago my in laws bought me a ride in an AT-6 Texan at the Commemorative Air Force. The T-6 was one of (the?) main advanced training aircraft in WW2. It was the “final exam” so to speak before you went off and flew fighter planes in combat. It feels like a fighter in every way except the airspeed. If you had been in the U.S. Army Air Force, you learned how to fly in a primary trainer (like the PT-17 that I got to fly about a decade ago), then you learned how to fight in an advanced trainer like the AT-6.

Anyway, it was a BLAST. The CAF pilot took off and got us headed toward a safe practice area, demonstrated a steep turn in each direction, then turned control over to me. I got to spend the next 20 minutes or so playing fighter pilot from the back seat and it was flipping phenomenal! I’ve wanted to fly for the CAF for many years but have always lacked either the time or money to do so. I currently lack both, but this has strengthened my resolve. I WILL fly for the CAF some day!

[lhb412]

I got the Honda bio. That’s the highlight.

I got the Ishiro Honda book, too! It was a highlight for me as well. Got a few comic collections, including the new graphic novel, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, which I'm excited to read. Got a few movies, and my favorites were the 36th Chamber of Shaolin Trilogy and the Ultraman X Movie because I found out Hong Kong Blu-Rays are in our Region code and are usually English friendly, a fact I'm sure will come in handy in the future (and the packaging for the 36th Chamber set is legit).

MST3K logo shirt (to replace the one I got via the Kickstarter, which developed a big hole), Twin Peaks shirt that I'm wearing right now, Turner Classic Movies logo mug, a wonderful canvas messenger bag that I managed to nab at the Dirty Santa exchange at my aunt's house, and my brother surprised me with a ice pair of Nikes - which was really surprising, as I'm particular about sneakers and have wide feet, so getting shoes I liked and fit me is a small miracle in of itself, plus he's usually a gift card guy!

[The Shadow]

Between gifts and the stocking here's what I was given over Christmas: Unpictured is a copy of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for the Switch



He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: A Character Guide & World Compendium and Beast Man & Teela Mega Construx (formerly Mega Bloks) mini-figures




A bunch of home video stuff as Black Friday had some great deals (especially Best Buy) and Barnes & Noble surprised everyone by turning their usual 50% off British T.V. sale into a 60% sale (plus all those 20% - 30% off coupons that worked on top of the sale prices).

-Avenging Eagle + Blood Brothers double feature DVD (was $2 at Big Lots)
-Swordmaster
-Doctor Who: Destiny of the Daleks
-Doctor Who: Brain of Morbius
-Doctor Who: Web of Fear (one of the two recently recovered serials, although part three apparently walked off between the serial being found and before it was recovered)
-Doctor Who: Timelash
-Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space (the only classic DW serial in HD; this one was recorded all on film instead of the usual mix of video & film for location shots)
-Suicide Squad
-Lego Batman
-Spider-Man Homecoming




-Batman Beyond: The Complete Series
-Doctor Who: Dalek War
-DragonBall GT: The Complete Series
-Wonder Woman
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
-Legends of Tomorrow: Season 2
-Kong Skull Island
-Transformers: The Last Knight
-Justice League Dark
- Combo pack of the movies True Legend and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame



And Mega Bloks (now Mega Construx) 50th Anniversary model of the USS Enterprise; 33 inches of Constitution class heavy cruiser.