I love dewbacks. The first toy ever in my collection was a Power of the Force dewback that I bought with Rish Outfield back in 1999. It's the granddaddy of them all, as Keith Jackson might have said about it.
My son got a Lego dewback for Christmas this year, and I like it so much that I want to confiscate it and put it on my shelves.
I suppose I can't just push him down and take it. I guess that's what being a grown up is all about.
In about a week, I'm supposed to travel to Green Bay to watch the Minnesota Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers with my friend. I was quite worried about being warm while there, especially since we got rid of all most of our cold weather clothing when we moved to Texas.
My wife decided to get me a beanie to wear while I was there, and instead of just getting the usual NFL branded merchandise, she decided to take it to the next level. Behold, my Christmas present:
I think it'll work just fine, because I started sweating almost immediately when I put this thing on for the photo.
It
hasn't been our best year, but we couldn't finish without a Christmas
episode of some sort, so Rish and I got together and had a chat about Christmas songs and which ones are our favorites.
(EDIT: Now that the feed is gone, the only way to hear the show is over
on the Dunesteef Podcast YouTube page, which I am embedding below).
Well, I made my choice, and picked my Krampus, and now he's here.
I love it. I chose this one just because he had hooves instead of regular old legs like the other one did.
It looks more like this:
That's what I was after. Not so much this:
The other one was just a repainted Santa with a different head. Behold:
The thing is, I could still get that other Krampus later if I wanted. That one is just a pre-order. It's not arriving until next year anyway. And I just may.
I
looked up and saw the Potato Bowl is on. They deserve an Emmy for this
display. I think it may be the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen on TV.
First
of all, they play the game on Boise State’s blue field which always
hurts the eyes and makes you think there’s a problem with the color
balance on your TV.
Then there’s the two teams. Wyoming wears yellow and
brown, possibly the most unfortunate combination in sports.
Surprisingly, Kent St. actually managed to out ugly Wyoming with a full
body yellow outfit.
It’s the bananas vs the rotten bananas…on a blue
field. The whole thing turns my stomach.
Oh my gosh! This is the greatest thing I've ever seen. Apparently, in Bucks County, PA, you can go and get your picture taken with Krampus, and he has a basket that your kid can get inside like he's being carried off.
I'd go to this...I'd pay for a picture, and I've never paid for a picture of my kid with Santa.
If you live near Bucks County, don't miss this, folks.
It took me way longer to get them all up this year. I just didn't want to put in all that effort. But I finally got going, and once I got going, it got fun, and then I happily put in the work. I just wish I'd finished it all sooner, so I could enjoy looking at it for longer.
So, here's the Christmas decoration extravaganza for 2020.
This is as close to a full room view as I can get with my camera. I had more trouble with the lights than usual this year. Several of the sets have half the lights not working on them.
I'll need to watch at Halloween time for some more lights. Has to be Halloween lights, because they put those on black wire instead or green or white like they do with Christmas lights. That makes them look way better on the black book shelves.
Now for some close ups. First, the white tree that reminds me of the fake tree I had growing up.
And the regular green tree decorated with action figures instead of ornaments.
Okay, now for the shelves. Of course there is the AT-AT reindeer.
Then there's the Starks at Winterfell.
And the White Walkers north of the wall.
The empire is throwing a Christmas party on their newly captured territory of Hoth.
While the Wampa family is posing for their Christmas card photo.
And Ultraman is keeping the town safe from this hideous giant monster.
The biker scouts are taking the holiday off, so this guy is patrolling for them.
The snow elves are patrolling as well in the far north on their loyal steeds.
The nutcrackers are keeping the rats at bay. The one on the left more so than the one on the right, I think.
Then there were the Pez dispensers.
Who are followed in the parade by the Legos.
I think next year, I want some bigger Lego stuff, some of those holiday houses that they do. Those are cool.
Next came the Fortnite ice dragon, soaring above the trees.
And the Game of Thrones ice dragon ruling its domain too.
And these new Disney figurines that I got from Target this year. Fresh meat for 2021!
My favorite part was to sit in the room at night and watch all of the mini-Christmas trees flash as their lights blinked on and off.
Let's all have ourselves a merry little Christmas, eh?
Found these at Target today. I couldn't pass them up. They'll be an amazing addition to my Christmas decorations in my study.
Sorry this picture sucks so bad. Out of focus, whoops.
**Edit
I know that I talk about this in the post about the decorations, but I figured I'd add the on-shelf pics here too, you know, to give you closure if you need it...and also to get you a picture that's in focus.
I think I’m going to get this poster for Rish Outfield
for Christmas. I saw it at Ikea and since he’s a writer, I assumed he
would love it. I mean, he uses the alphabet every day, right?
That must
be why they made that poster, because I can’t think of one other person
that would think it was cool.
My kids have always loved Avatar: The Last Airbender, and we own the entire series on DVD (which we haven't needed for a while because it's been available on several of the various streaming services we subscribe to). I've seen lots of episodes of the show, because my kids are frequently watching them, but I've never actually sat down and watched it, despite their recommendation that I should.
I started seeing these toys at stores, however, and it made me want to watch the show. The toy was so cool that I wanted to own it...but I couldn't buy a toy for a show that I have never even seen, no matter how cool it is. What, do I claim it's a Christmas decoration like I do with Fortnite guys?
Then again, how much of a chump am I that I would spend hours and hours of my life watching a TV show just so I could own a hunk of plastic that went with it? Especially after my own children told me I should watch the show, but I never took their advice.
Well, I'm a pretty big chump, because that's exactly what I did. My daughter and I sat down together a few Sundays ago and started watching the show. We watched several episodes before giving it a rest. Then this weekend, we did it again.
I got myself Appa, the flying sky bison; Aang, the Avatar; and Sokka and Katara of the Northern Water Tribe.
Appa, the thing that tempted me into doing all of this, looks great, but is really just a big hunk of plastic. It has very few moving party on it, but I still love it. I feel like toy lines need to do more of this kind of thing. It only cost $20 for this big old thing.
Growing up, there were toys like the Wampa, the Rancor, the Tauntaun, and the Dewback that you could get for your Star Wars guys, and they really added something cool to your collection. I commend McFarlane Toys for putting this thing together, because it's exactly what an Avatar line needs.
There are other creatures like this that people ride on. Maybe they'll do a few more beasts of burden in the future.
At the very least, it got me interested enough to watch the show, and I'm enjoying it so far.