The 2024 Christmas Thread

[Ziggy]

Just a thread for all things Christmas related that you may be doing or plan to do this year. I figured we have a Halloween thread, and a Thanksgiving thread, so why not a Christmas thread?

So what are you all up to?

[Note]

Hope everyone's having a good holiday season!

I'll be traveling to the Philippines this year for Christmas, as my partner's family lives there. It'll be my second time there for the holidays. Her family usually has a big party with their relatives on Christmas Eve and something quieter on Christmas day. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, seeing a few different places throughout the country, and enjoying some great food.

I'll miss my family on that day, but I'm happy I was able to see them for Thanksgiving.

[REPO Man]

On the 20th, my aunt is having a get-together, mostly by virtue of the kids scattering to the metaphorical four winds right after school lets out for break.

I'll be off that afternoon and after I get off from my morning job, I'm heading over with all the presents and stuff to make a ton of cookies.

We've been having a devil of a time trying to get ahold of Veronica (brother's ex-gf and mother to my oldest niece, Paulina). Thankfully, I ran into the twins' biological father (whose father is my dad's cousin, because it's a small-ass town) and told him about the get-together. I figure since he gets the twins on the weekends, he'd also be able to ask her about getting my youngest niece Zelda (for those who forgot, not my niece by blood, but her oldest half-sister is, so I consider her my niece as well) to show up.

Thankfully, Betty (my ex-sister-in-law and mother to Peach, Daisy and Link) was MUCH easier to get ahold of.

So, three of my niblings (Peach, Daisy and Link) are pretty much guaranteed to be there. I think Paulina is, too. But so far, I can't say the same for Mario, Luigi and Zelda.

Aunt Robin's thinking about making tacos and nachos, since that's what the kids like, and I'll be bringing a frozen pizza for myself.

As for the cookies, since Peach was recently revealed to have a handful of allergies, I have to be mindful when choosing my recipes. My white chocolate peanut butter chip cookies are a no-go, along with anything with citrus or apples. I'll probably just go with chocolate chip cookies, brookies, homemade shortbread cookies, snickerdoodles (including a batch made with cayenne or chili powder for an extra kick) and cookies filled with a host of small chocolates that have no chance of triggering Peach's allergies (York Peppermint Patties, Kinder Chocolate Minis, Milky Ways, Caramellos, etc).

I really gotta hurry, though, and get the Powkiddy RGB10 Max 3s that I got the older girls set up. Aside from replacing the long-outdated version of (the now defunct) JELOS with the most recent version of (JELOS' successor) Rocknix, I've also gotta fiddle around with or outright nix some of the more hard-to-emulate games (the 3DO and Saturn will probably be gutted the most, followed by Dreamcast, N64, PSP and Nintendo DS), set up a few of the games to run the most efficiently and make sure all the ports are up-to-date. Also, I gotta put on the screen protectors.

I'm still debating on what to do with the Powkiddy RGB30s I was going to give them last year before putting it off so long that I ended up getting better devices. I'm torn between selling them or prepping them as presents for my brother and uncle.

Plus, I should probably update the firmware on the Super Pockets that I got Mario and Luigi, especially since one of the carts has a native port of Cathedral that won't work otherwise. And I'm debating whether to put everything back in the original box and make it seem like I didn't mess with it OR slap the screen protectors on them and put them in the carrying cases I got them and wrap them like that.

Normally, I'm excited for Christmas but this year, it's like there's a dark cloud overhead and nothing really FEELS right. I barely could get into the spirit enough to put my Christmas playlist on repeat, instead just once in a while. I guess the reality of how hard it is to get everyone together is starting to hit. And along with it is the reality that perhaps, books and movies aren't the go-to Christmas presents they've been in the past. Soon, Christmas shopping will just be me giving each kid a Christmas card with a $20 Amazon gift card in it.

Getting older sucks.

[bmoc]

It has been a busy few weeks at the bmoc household. We visited my wife's side of the family about 2 hours away on Thanksgiving day. My wife's uncle passed away the same day while in hospice. He was in bad shape for a while so it is one of those situations where it is somewhat of a relief that he is at peace. We drove back home for a few days before another 2.5 hour drive to the funeral.

On to some good news...this past weekend, we visited my folks (another 2.5 hour drive away) and went to the FFVII Rebirth Symphony concert in Atlanta. We've had tickets for several months and it was good to finally attend a FFVII concert after the FFVII Remake concert got cancelled due to covid.

As for Christmas plans, one of the perks of working in education is a nice long 2-week break. After all the recent travel, I'm looking forward to spending some time at home. We got a new OLED TV with an early Black Friday deal so, I plan on spending lots of time gaming on it in between family time.

[SamuraiMegas]

Been a super busy month. School semester's ending right now, and I'm finishing up getting my internship credit through my full time job. Next year will be my last year in college, thank god.
My friend group is doing a secret santa and I've been doing some shopping for that. My friends all like getting my thrift finds luckily so I was able to get him some real nice Christian Dior shirts cheap, plus some things he asked for. Bought a really cool combination christmas/wedding present for my friend who's wedding I'm standing in- I printed a vinyl of some music we made together with a custom cover and background. Almost printed myself one My brother is getting a signed Homer Simpson plush with the signatures of the mission hill creators on it, and some custom pillows. I always make it a challenge to try and out give everyone else

[REPO Man]

So, while it's not Christmas day yet, I've already felt like's it's been here already considering how I've celebrated with my family yesterday afternoon.

By that point, I'd been up for over two whole days working on my eldest nieces' PowKiddy RGB10 Max 3 gaming handhelds. Sadly, I wasn't able to double-check everything (i.e. which PSP and DS games run fine on these devices, fixing the metadata for many of the games, tweak the settings on a handful of the ports, remove any port that I was working on but aren't Portmaster ready, etc). Thankfully, the girls really enjoyed them and hopefully figure their devices out. If they have any questions, I told them to ask me and I'll see what I can do.

But other than that, I went over wearing a Deadpool Christmas sweater (that definitely did NOT feel like an XL) and the stuff to make some cookies. I didn't make as many as I thought I'd make, but I left all the stuff over there in case my aunt wanted to make any. I made some sugar cookies with peppermint Hershey Kisses on top, chocolate chip cookies wrapped around a Werthers' soft caramel (which sadly ended up with a tacky texture after they cooled), some snickerdoodles made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinna-dust wrapped in the aforementioned caramels and some more chocolate chip cookies where I place a Kinder Chocolate Mini on top.

I also got to see my youngest niece "Zelda" for the first time since just after January 2023 when I gave her and her siblings Paulina, Rosalina (whose grandmother has custody of her and we no longer see) and the twins "Mario and Luigi". And OMG, the way Zelda got along with Link (youngest nephew) was so CUTE!

I mentioned that I'm technically only related by blood to my oldest niece Paulina and my second-youngest niece Daisy, right? Also, the boys' father is the son of my dad's cousin, which technically makes them my "second cousins once removed". Meanwhile, my second-oldest niece Peach is my step-niece. But "Uncle [Repo]" is easier to remember.

Aside from the PowKiddy consoles, I got the girls books, including The Divergent box set (Peach said she and Daisy LOVE those books but didn't own copies of their own), and some movies that include the Child's Play box set, Moonrise Kingdom, Rushmore, The Lost Boys and Sweeney Todd.

The boys got a few graphic novels, a couple of Ray Bradbury books (The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes), some movies (mostly DC animated ones, along with The Gate and Mars Attacks), a laser tag set, a pair of Super Pockets (Capcom and Taito, but I wasn't able to also get the Technos and Atari ones), six Everdrive carts (including the Demons of Asteborg/Astebros cart, the Xenocrisis/Tanglewood cart and the Alwa's Awakening 8-Bit Edition/Cathedral cart) and an Everdrive VS-R that came with a cart with the firs three Tomb Raider games).

Link and Zelda each got a toy archery set, a Pop Up Pirate game, a bunch of Roald Dahl books (including a few of their film adaptations), The Wizard of Oz on DVD, a Memory game (Spidey and His Amazing Friends for Link, Disney Princesses for Zelda) and a Monopoly Jr. game (Dinosaurs for Link, Unicorns for Zelda).

Overall, everyone had a BLAST! There were a lot of things I wanted to do but didn't have the time or money to do, however. I wanted to make WAY more cookies, maybe even some from scratch, but time, space and resources didn't permit me to. I also wanted to buy everyone WAY more stuff (more Evercade carts for the boys, these whack-a-mole games I kept seeing on Amazon for Link and Zelda, the Scream movies for the older girls) and also get some Christmas crackers with the snaps in them (that apparently have to be imported from the UK since the little explosives in them make them illegal over here). But then again, Easter IS only 120 days away. Hopefully, everyone will be available then... and hopefully I'll be able to get that morning off from my morning job so I can throw together an Easter brunch with sparkling juice and a make-your-own waffle frittata station alongside an egg hunt for Link and Zelda and a screening of either Godspell or Jesus Christ Superstar.

[Ziggy]

This month just flew by! I wanted to do more, but oh well.

I got pretty sick for a few days earlier in the month, which threw a wrench in the works a bit. But something good came out of it. I woke up one morning around 4AM, delirious with fever, and an out of left field idea popped into my head. Gingerbread man cookies. They seem to have gotten pretty unpopular, to the point that I haven't seen (or had) one in many years now. They're not my favorite, but I do like to have them in the mix. Something like a sugar cookie or chocolate chip, you can eat half a dozen of. But gingerbread man cookies, you can really eat only one because they're kind of spicy. So that's why I figure no one actually makes them anymore, because no one eat them. I figured everyone else will have the more common and popular cookies, so I will make gingerbread man cookies. I had to really squeeze in the time to do it, but I did it. I used McCormick's recipe. I'm no baker, but they came out already. Definitely passable!

Funny side story about making them... I was rushing to make them because I had to really squeeze it in my schedule. And since I don't really ever bake, I made a severe mistake. I took all of the ingredients and threw them in one big bowl. Then when I was trying to mix it, and it wasn't mixing, I realized the mistake that I made. I read the instructions, and yep, you're suppose to mix specific things in a specific order. So I had to toss my first batch and start over. Following the instructions the second time, it was easy enough to make the dough. But then the instructions called for the dough to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours before baking. Which meant I was doing the actual baking part late at night when I would have rather been lying down. But they came out good, and I'm glad that I made them!

I went to see The Nutcracker yesterday, a ballet production. I've seen The Nutcracker when I was very young, and I hardly remember anything about it. This is the first ballet I've seen as an adult. I'd have to say it's pretty impressive, the way they dance. Only this production wasn't filled with the best of the best, as far as talent goes. This wasn't in the city, it was at a local theater. So while I wouldn't call any of the performers bad, you can easily spot some flaws in many of their performances. Even for someone who has never seen a ballet, like myself. There were also some pretty top notch dancer too, however. But my biggest complaint was the severe lack of synchronization between most of the dancers. That, and of course there wasn't a real live orchestra. I knew the music would be played over a sound system, but I thought the quality could have been better. I swear I've heard more definition in the soundtrack when listening to it at home. But overall, I wasn't disappointed. It was a Christmas show at Christmastime, and something fun to do.

The only real off putting thing about it was the total brat sitting in front of me. I sat in the second row, and right in front of me in the first row were four little kids. Three of them were very well behaved, but one of them was a total tyrant. An adult finally took her out in the second act, but she definitely distracted me enough to miss a decent amount of the show up to that point. That, and a door to the lobby was constantly being opened throughout the show. Which, in the city they wouldn't even let happen. I guess because it's a Christmas show at Christmastime, and I went to the afternoon showing, there were a lot of young kids there and all of this is to just be expected. Maybe I should have went to the night show.

So I only really loosely knew the story of the Nutcracker. But there was one part that reminded me of Super Mario RPG. Spoilers, but The Nutcracker and The Rat King do battle. Then later, The Nutcracker is telling the story of what happened. But it's a ballet, so he's not actually speaking, just dancing and miming what happened (in a silent movie kind of way). That really reminded me of the part in Super Mario RPG when Mario is telling the story of his battle against Bowser. In fact, I wonder if Miyamoto took inspiration from The Nutcracker for that scene in Mario RPG. He's talked about how Peter Pan partially inspired Zelda, and other things from his childhood that inspired various things in his games, so it wouldn't be hard to believe if he also took inspiration from The Nutcracker.

[marurun]

Gingerbread has a lot of variation in terms of texture. I grew up with stuff that was soft and heavy on the molasses, but I know there’s also some that’s definitely more crunchy or sturdy. We also have some great Ninja Bread Men cookie cutters.

I’m not a huge fan of ballet dancing but ballet suites are some of the best classic orchestral composition around. Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky both did some amazing ballet music, Nutcracker among them. I would not want to see it without the love orchestra.

[emwearz]

Just wanted to shout out a Merry Christmas to all my old crusty retro boys. Hope you get to spend it with people you love.

I'll be with my two little ones, wife , in laws (who has pretty much been my parents for the last 16 years) and a choice people, gonna be a warm few days with Boxing Day hitting 41C (105f), which is odd because today is like 28c (82f).

[Ziggy]

Gingerbread has a lot of variation in terms of texture. I grew up with stuff that was soft and heavy on the molasses, but I know there’s also some that’s definitely more crunchy or sturdy. We also have some great Ninja Bread Men cookie cutters.

I’m not a huge fan of ballet dancing but ballet suites are some of the best classic orchestral composition around. Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky both did some amazing ballet music, Nutcracker among them. I would not want to see it without the love orchestra.

The only rare times I've had gingerbread cookies was when a few were included with an assortment of store bought cookies. And most of the time they were the hard crunchy kind. The McCormick recipe that I used, they ended up being the soft chewy kind, and I think I actually prefer them that way. I don't know if they're "heavy" on the molasses, since I don't have a reference, but I think that they are.

https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/desse ... en-cookies

Re: live orchestra... Yeah, I'm not sure I would ever go see another ballet if it didn't have a real orchestra. This one, like I said, was something fun to do at Christmastime. But also, my mother has wanted to go see The Nutcracker again for years. My father wont go, so I told her I would go with her. I really don't miss going into the city, but I do miss seeing shows there. I've never seen a ballet, but I've seen quite a few musicals. The music has always been great. Including two shows when the music was so loud when it first started that it was slightly terrifying.

Just wanted to shout out a Merry Christmas to all my old crusty retro boys. Hope you get to spend it with people you love.

Same to you, and everyone else here! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

gonna be a warm few days with Boxing Day hitting 41C (105f), which is odd because today is like 28c (82f).

It's been freezing here. It was 10 F (-12 C) when I woke up yesterday morning. It barely reached 30 F at the warmest yesterday. It snowed a little bit a few days ago, and it's been cold enough that there's still some white on the ground. And I just checked the weather, it's suppose to snow a bit more today. It's always nice having a little snow on Christmas.




Man, that reminds me... I went to a local fish market yesterday with my father, a well known and busy market. When we arrived, there was a line out the door. But it turned out that the gates were down, and this line was formed to get in when they opened. That just seems crazy to me, like it's Ticketmaster or something. I wasn't surprised to find out that the market doesn't normally open until 10AM, but I was kinda surprised that they didn't open early the day before Christmas Eve.

Fish on Christmas Eve is a big Italian-American thing (The Feast of Seven Fishes) and this is definitely a go-to fish market. But lining up outside before they open? When it's 20 F outside!? The people in the line were all old timer Italians. I don't know how long they were standing there, but there was still another 30 minutes before the market opened.

So instead we went to a local butcher that started a small seafood counter a few years ago. The fish has always been pretty good there. This place can get very busy on a normal day. Yesterday, it was completely packed like sardines. Couldn't walk around. Like out the door at points. They were on number 50-something when we went in, and were on 80-something when we left. Luckily, the seafood counter wasn't doing numbers, and the line wasn't long for it. It took longer on the checkout line than it did at the seafood counter.

My only disappointment was that I've been wanted to get these colossal shrimps, ones that are so big you have to eat them with a fork and knife like a pork chop or small steak. Well, I got "colossal" shrimp, and it's pretty big, but not quite as big as I wanted. I think the fish market would have had larger shrimps. Oh well. I also got flounder, calamari, and sword fish. My pops got clams for himself. It's not going to be seven differently prepared fishes, but it's also going to be a small gathering this year.