Christmas 2023

[Reprise]

Yeah, we're really enjoying the co-op. It works really well. He really enjoys playing co-op platform games with me, we were doing World of Illusion on my Mega Drive a couple of weeks ago, as his tastes tend to be cross-generation (I guess that's my influence rubbing off).

[Raging Justice]

^Daze before Christmas is a platformer from sunsoft worth a playthrough. kinda easy but only released in Australia for the mega drive so I pull out my repro and give it a go around this time of year.

I love a good platformer. I'll try and check it out.

I got a package of roasted chestnuts this year for Christmas. I’d never had them before and was curious. They are weird. They’re soft and even a little moist. I guess when you roast them their water content causes them to sort of steam instead of getting crunchy like most nuts. I’m glad I tried them but I can’t say I recommend the experience. Maybe if they were fresh instead of packaged there would be more to appreciate.

I remember having fresh roasted chesnuts about 25-30 years ago from a market store during Christmas. You used to get a lot of that around Christmas time, with shops staying open late and you'd have all these different markets offering roasted chesnuts, fresh doughnuts, sweets and other festive treats. It's not such a thing now, maybe in some parts of the country, but not really where I am, I guess the highstreet is slowly dying.

Anyways, for some weird reason, as a kid I always wanted to try them, but then I finally did when I was about 9 or 10 and I hated them

For Christmas, I got Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It was my son's idea, mostly because he wanted it himself and thinks he's being clever at sneaking another present in, but I am ok with it. We had played the demo together and both really enjoyed it and I did want to get it at some point anyways. We also both got Super Mario RPG, which again was something I wanted to get at some point and my son kept on going on about wanting it, so Christmas seemed like the right time (usually I'd say I am waiting for a sale, but Nintendo games never go on sale )

I have never played a full Kirby game but I have played some of them for a few stages and always find them to be pretty interesting. Forgotten Land is one I plan on playing more of. There's one on the 3ds that I played some of that was pretty awesome. It had a mech that you could pilot.

I'm not much of a Christmas person but this year in particular I felt a lot of positive vibes. I've had some good experiences with some nice people this holiday season and it's put me in a good, positive mood that I'm gonna try and maintain going into 2024.

[Limewater]

I got a package of roasted chestnuts this year for Christmas. I’d never had them before and was curious. They are weird. They’re soft and even a little moist. I guess when you roast them their water content causes them to sort of steam instead of getting crunchy like most nuts. I’m glad I tried them but I can’t say I recommend the experience. Maybe if they were fresh instead of packaged there would be more to appreciate.

I've only had chestnuts "roasted" in the microwave. I can't speak for pre-packaged roasted chestnuts, but they were pretty good. They do get softer when cooked.

[REPO Man]

I know it's almost a month too late and I've already mentioned what I did with my family in the smiled/ticked off thread.

The tl;dr is the day before I gave my nephews their presents on Christmas eve (my mom was hella shocked by how much I got them) but didn't get the chance to see them open them, then I hung out with my mom and her boss and coworker and their respective kids on Christmas day, then early this month I gave two of my nieces and my youngest nephew their presents and a week ago my brother's ex-girlfriend sent my pics of my youngest niece opening the presents I got her. But I still have to give my eldest niece her presents, and that's why I haven't put a pin in Christmas 2023 yet.

For the girls I got them a bunch of DVDs (Return of the Living Dead; Carrie (2013); a three-pack that includes the de Palma version of Carrie and The Rage: Carrie 2 along with the 2002 NBC miniseries; Clueless; 10 Things I Hate About You; Critters tetralogy; Breakfast Club; and Sixteen Candles), the first two volumes in Dark Horse Comics' Tales from the Crypt collections, the first two Hack/Slash omnibuses and a few cookbooks (Nerdy Nummies, Bingeing with Babish and Feast of Fiction).

For the boys I got them some TMNT action figures from Playmates' line of reissued classic TMNT toys (all four Turtles, four villains and the Party Van), four skateboarding TMNT figures, a skate park playset for the skateboarding figures, four NERF guns, two Transformers (Optimus Prime and Bumblebee), some graphic novels (TMNT/Batman Volumes 1-2, Justice League/Power Rangers and the second volume of TMNT/MMPR), two punching bags with boxing gloves and a bunch of DVDs (mostly DC animated movies in triple feature sets, as well as the WWE crossover movies with Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and The Jetsons, and Surf Ninjas). And it turns out that their dad didn't have a whole lot to spend on the kids due to not having worked much in the summer due to not having someone to watch the boys, so my excessive spending really made their Christmas special.

For the toddlers I got them each a Don't Break the Ice game, a marble run building block playset, some books (including Dragons Love Tacos), Chutes and Ladders (Spider-Man for Link, Disney Princess for Zelda), Yahtzee Jr (Spider-Man for Link, Disney Princess for Zelda), and a stocking filled with a few things I snagged from Dollar Tree (coloring book, scented crayons, books and a few other things).

Some folks say I spend WAY too much on the kids, but God knows I still splurge on them each and every year. Plus I love spending money on the people I love.

[stickem]

those girls into those kind of movies?

[REPO Man]

Well, Peach said she likes horror, Daisy literally cosplayed as Slenderman a few years ago and Paulina... IDK, but one of her other uncles DID take her to see Halloween Kills back in 2021. But as for retro teen movies, I imagine that they might. Plus Daisy LOVES to cook, Link loves Spider-Man, Zelda comes from a family of Disney stans, and the twins are boys between the ages of 5 and 12 and as such there was ALWAYS great odds they'd flip their lids for Transformers, Power Rangers, NERF guns (they have TONS of them) and superheroes.