Deck the Halls!

I'll get this out of the way. Merry Christmas those that celebrate and Happy Holidays to everyone else. Now, it's all about ME!

 

The above pic is from a calendar I own. The following were scammed from someone, sorry I can't make out who.

My buddy Hinnie, who makes frequent trips to Japan from Hong Kong, sent me a birthday care package of items that she picked up at a HK 7-11. First up, a deck of cards. And not just any deck, they're sparkly.

The Jokers:

 

The Clubs:

The Diamonds:

 The Spades:

And the Hearts:

 

I think I like the diamonds best. (Who doesn't?)

She also gave me a huge Tote bag (450X400) of Godzilla in battle with King Ghiddorah!

And the pièce de résistance, is this plate. I was going to have my Christmas dinner upon it, but it looks so great, I may keep it pristine for a while longer.

Hmm, it is microwaveable, I may use it tomorrow for leftovers.

Speaking of Christmas dinner, I had a supermarket bought leg and some veggies. Not very elaborate, but tasty enough.

 Other than that, the only other prezzies I received was from my fellow Santa. A barely visible girl...

 and a Graphic Novel.

A little Christmas/birthday mirth.

In case any of you are wondering what age I have just reached, here's a hint. (link to a South Park short, not spam.)

I might as well show off some of the Christmas pics I've taken over the last few days at Royal Park Hotel.

 

The aforementioned Kris Kringle who gave me the X-Men and FF goods. Does this look like an AI photo gone horribly wrong?

Schmoozing with some of the staff.

 

Hey, speaking of Hotel staff, a former student of mine from my Tokiwagi days was tickling the ivories in the lounge, and I managed to show up in time to hear her play an encore.

This is me sipping a tea listening to her. 

 Earl Grey, Hot!

An incredibly boring but pleasant birthday for me. If I get ambitious, I'll post some pics of earlier Santa endeavours going back as far as NOVEMBER FOURTH!

Merry Christmas everyone, and Deck the Halls! 

 

Oi To the World!

Here's the tally for favoured Peanuts characters from CBC (Charlie Brown's Christmas) other than Snoopy. Pigpen wins with 4/8, 2 for CB and 2 for Linus. As expected, they oohed with Kawaii whenever Snoopy was on screen. And they all giggled with delight at the dancing. (I would be remiss if I didn't add a video on that very subject, proffered by a commenter yesterday.

After the special, I taught them how to properly read off a telephone number and gave a little listening quiz featuring the Peanuts gang. Can you guess why this is Snoopy's phone number? 111-1111-1111.

Tonight, I watched a new animated special called Merry Little Batman about the hijinks that Damien Wayne gets up to in Gotham City when criminals steal his Utility Belt.

I was taken aback by the artwork (Ronald Searle-esque) at first though soon got caught up in the story and it grew on me. Judge it for yourself.

I don't ever recall hearing this Punk tune before, now I'm going to play it every Christmas.

Here's the rest of the soundtrack.

And this is a Kinky tune that played over the opening credits.

If you can find this movie, give it a chance. It's quite fun...

Finally, my brother sent me a photo with a blast from the past. These Three Kings were made by my mom in the 70s/80s and she would sell them at the Perpetual Bazaar, a place for buying handicrafts made by Brampton locals.

They've held up quite well for fifty-year old crafts!