And so this is Christmas…
I actually ended up having a whole lot of fun with this little blogging series, and looking back, it’s kind of a little hard to believe that I ended up with so many different holiday-related topics to write about over the last 24 days! 
In fact, I’m even finding myself walking away with a few more that I didn’t even get around to using, so I guess that just means I’ll have to strongly consider doing a 2012 Holiday Advent Blog next year, too. In the meantime, though, here’s a look back at everything I wrote this year, day-by-day…
- The Spirit of Giving
- Scott’s Christmas Mix Tape, volume 1
- Things I’m Looking Forward To…
- LEGO Advent Calendar
- Merry Christmas from Disneyland, 1958
- A Muppet Family Christmas
- Christmas Eve on Hollywood Blvd
- Angry Birds Seasons!
- Animal’s Holiday Guide
- Child’s Play Charity
- Scott’s Awesome Holiday Gift Guide
- Candlelight Processional
- Christmas Cards
- Memories: Gaming at Grandma & Grandpa’s
- Cinematic Favorites
- Dick in a Box
- A Quaint, Little LEGO Holiday Village…
- COOKIES!!!
- It’s Time to Light the Lights…
- Memories: The Magic of Christmas Morning
- How About Some Hanukkah?
- Chex Mix
- A Bit of Holiday Humor
- NORAD Tracks Santa
Until next year, Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!!
I guess there are also a few iPhone apps that do this same sort of thing, but the NORAD tracker has always been the classic one for me and I just love the Google Earth overlays along with the animations and the running total to keep us all up to date on Santa’s progress. Such a simple project, and yet such a great way to mix Christmas with technology – if the Internet had been around when I was a kid, there’s little doubt that I would’ve been up into the wee hours of the nigh watching the big guy right up until I could see his sled approaching our town!
Technology is fun. Christmas is fun. Put the two together…
I’ve written a lot of humor columns about Christmas over the years. I love this time of year and all of the various facets that there are to get caught up in, and since The Humor Column is more or less an autobiographical commentary about the things that happen in my life, it just kind of makes sense that the columns to be posted during the month of December would more often than not be centric around Christmas and the holidays and all of the fun to be had during this most wonderful time of the year!
Eventually some day maybe I’ll put together a book that’s nothing but all of my holiday-related humor, but in the meantime, for your advent calendar-ing perusal with the big day literally right around the corner, here are a handful of my own personal favorites from over the years:
- (2011) The Three-Dollar Waffle Maker
- (2010) To Build a House of Gingerbread…
- (2010) Once Upon a Last-Minute Christmas…
- (2009) Decking the Halls Should Be the Law!
- (2008) A Public Service Announcement with Regards to Snow
- (2007) Top 10 Things I Would Do to Get an iPhone This Christmas
- (2007) The Rules of Manhood with Regards to Illuminated Christmas Decor
- (2003) Santa Claus vs. The Dump Truck: A Comparative Analysis
I love me some Chex Mix, especially during the holidays!
I didn’t get around to making any this year, but it’s sort of a tradition of mine to bake several batches of Chex Mix over the holidays because I seem to go through the stuff just about as fast as it comes out of the oven. I actually prefer making it myself because that way I can just omit the pieces that I don’t particularly care for – namely, pretty much everything except for the cereal itself! This year I’m settling for just a bag from the store because it was a lot cheaper and quicker than buying 3 separate boxes of Chex cereal and then spending an hour slowly sealing in the juices in the kitchen.
Also, with our stupid convection oven, the long, rectangular pan that I normally use for making this stuff wouldn’t have really worked anyways, so this is probably just as well…
More Internet Chex Mix Fun!
- Dreamgirl, a song by The Lonely Island that happens to mention Chex Mix
- A Holiday Tribute … to Chex Mix – a humor column that I wrote a couple of years ago about the delicious snack
- THE OFFICIAL RECIPE – it’s not too late … just run to the store, grab three boxes of Chex cereal along with some assorted spices, and prepare to board a one-way train to Awesome-Delicious-Town!!!
I’d forgotten just how great this Stephen Colbert holiday special from a few years back truly was…
What’s that? Still not quite sure exactly what Hanukkah is all about?! Well, this little song by one Adam Sandler should help to resolve all of your outstanding questions. 
The unveiling of Christmas morning was always a huge deal at our house growing up…
The colored lights from the tree peaking around the corner, my parents’ favorite holiday music playing on the stereo, and even before we got to the epicenter of it all, we’d find a letter from Santa awaiting us on the dining room table, along with some visible cookie crumbs, an emptied glass of milk, and of course, a myriad of chocolates and Hershey’s Kisses and M&Ms in the candy dish, all perfectly coordinated in reds and greens and silvers.
The tree itself was nothing short of incredible, with gifts piled high around the entire base, and in hindsight knowing what things actually cost, it’s no secret that Santa most certainly over-extended himself in the name of bringing wonder and amazement to our faces on Christmas morning! Once we had finished unwrapping presents to the view of several cameras and video cameras for future embarrassment, Mom took to the kitchen to ready our holiday breakfast – sometimes a giant green Rice Krispie treat shaped like a tree, sometimes a special pineapple pastry whose recipe had been passed down through many generations, and always chocolate milk because I think that my Dad liked it just as much as us kids.
I remember it being a really big deal and frankly, it’s the kind of excitement that I want to shoot for when someday I’m a father myself. For a kid, Christmas is really the pinnacle of all holidays, filled with treats and toys and lights and music, and at least for me, it’s just not really Christmas unless all of your senses are just completely and utterly overwhelmed with all of the joy and happiness and collective efforts come Christmas morning…
So the picture above is actually about 10 years old, of one of my last light displays at my Mom’s house before I moved from Northern Michigan down to sunny Florida. I’ve always gotten a real kick out of putting up lights for the holidays, although for what it’s worth even though I’ll admit that the snow adds a certain quaint ambiance to the scene, I can’t deny that not having to shovel it as well as being able to put up the lights in shorts are two perks of living in the south that I particularly enjoy!
I would’ve loved to post a picture of our house this year, but sadly I kinda fell behind the ball and only put up an embarrassingly small number of lights the other night on a couple of bushes out front. Part of the problem is that we have an extraordinarily tall house, making it seemingly impossible for me to hang lights around the perimeter of the roof because A) I’m a wuss who’s afraid of heights, and B) we don’t have a ladder that reaches that high anyways. It’s still something that I want to figure out for next year, though – this house just has too cool of a street presence to not take advantage of it by lighting it up brighter than the North Star for one month out of the year…
I really love this little holiday series that LEGO started last year, first with the bakery and toy store, and now adding to it this year with the village post office – it’s like our own personal version of one of those fancy, holiday villages made out of porcelain that people work on meticulously throughout the year, although ours goes back together a lot easier if/when something breaks!
And I never would’ve believed that it would already look so expansive after only 3 sets – even though if they keep this up we’re going to have to find a bigger place to put it next year, I do hope that they continue with even just a single new set each year because it’s fun to have something special to build for the holidays and then also have some cool decorations come out of it when all is said and done… 
You know, for when you just want to get her something from the heart…
…something special…
What can I say?! Justin and Andy really knocked it out of the park with this one!
A couple of other holiday classics from the likes of Saturday Night Live over the years:
