Tag Archives: Christmas Nuggets

My Virtual Christmas Tree

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Way back in 2014, Matt at Dinosaur Dracula unleashed on the world an idea to create a virtual Christmas tree. It was an awesome idea, but I didn’t heed his advice until this year. I’m glad I waited actually. 2020 has been such a year, that making this was a much-needed distraction. While he printed out the blank tree, used crayons to color it, and printed out the ornaments and presents to glue on, I opted to do it all digitally. The end result was still the same in that I probably had as much fun making mine as he did his.

So for my tree, I went with traditional green as the color scheme. I almost chose to go with white as a throwback to the awesome tree my grandmother had for the Christmases of my youth but felt that the green would make a better background for the ornaments. And speaking of the ornaments…when you’re doing a virtual tree like this, you’re not limited to traditional ornaments. So I went with ornaments based on the members of WCW’s Dungeon of Doom! I didn’t feature them all, but the main ones are there.

And then there are the presents. Oh my, what presents are waiting for me under the tree! The only thing featured there that I actually had was the Super Nintendo. All the rest are items from my want list that I never got. The Eternia playset and Horde Slime Pit from the MOTU line, the G.I. Joe USS Flagg aircraft carrier, and the Cobra Silent Castle, the cage for the LJN WWF wrestling ring, a Mad Scientist Monster Lab, the A-Team train set, and one of the pirate ships from LEGO.

Can you even imagine what Christmas day would have been like after finding all of that under your tree as a kid?!? Hell, not just Christmas day, but the entire week…and probably the month of January as well. Every day would have brought awesome playtime!

If you’re looking for some kind of easy and fun activity to squeeze out of this holiday season, I can’t suggest highly enough that you create your own virtual Christmas tree. Matt’s post has the tree image that you need to get started with. You can print it out or do it digitally as I did. Either way, if you do one, I’d love for you to show it off in the comments. Here’s hoping you make the most of the season by making your own!

My Famous Christmas Punch Recipe

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You may not know this, but I’m a pretty damn good cook. Not necessarily in the vein of a Gordon Ramsey or an Emeril Lagasse, but when it comes to good old southern cuisine, you won’t find much better.

A lot of times, the simpler the recipe, the more it’s enjoyed, and that’s pretty much the story with my green Christmas punch. Now I can’t take credit for creating it. Hell, I remember my mama making this punch every year when I was young. But since I make a big deal out of it and put on a full presentation unveiling it each year, the locals around here identify this stuff with me.

Regardless of any presentation or how much I hype it up, this stuff stands on it’s own. Just one taste and you’ll know what all the fuss is about. It’s like green liquid crack. Green liquid crack with creamy sherbet floating in it.

It’s quick and easy to make, and I cannot suggest strongly enough that you make it this year for your Christmas. But if punch isn’t your thing, you can also try my recipe for quick and easy egg nog.

Green Punch
Print Recipe

Green Punch

An exceptionally good punch for any occassion.
Prep Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Keyword: Christmas, Christmas Punch, Green Punch, Grinch Punch, Lime Punch, Punch

Ingredients

  • 2 packs Lime Kool-Aid
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 48 oz Pineapple Juice
  • 2 ltr Sprite or 7-Up
  • 1 bowl Lime Sherbet
  • 1 cup hot water

Instructions

  • Add koolaid, sugar, and water to punch bow. Still until disolved
  • Add pineapple juice and soda. Stir.
  • Chill until ready to serve
  • Just before serving, add bowl of lime sherbet to start melting into the punch
  • Over indulge and enjoy

Notes

You can make this a party punch by substituting the soda with champagne, rum, vodka, or just about any other clear liquor.

Two Great Christmas Specials from 1987

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What a year it was for new Christmas specials! 1987 saw the debut of the much loved Garfield Christmas Special, AND the less heralded, but just as awesome, Claymation Christmas Celebration.

These two specials debuted on December 21st 1987. Compared to today, it’s really unique that they waited until that close to Christmas to air them. Like this year, the annual showings of Rudolph and Frosty were in November. I’m not a fan of that. Christmas specials shouldn’t start airing until late in the first week of December at the earliest. Unless we’re talking about the 25 Days of Christmas on Freeform. I love that shit.

I distinctly remember watching these debuting specials on that night. I was really into The California Raisins at the time, and always being a fan of the Garfield comic strips, this was appointment television for me. I even distinctly remember recording both shows on VHS. If I only still had that tape. Sigh.

This is a great example of what I miss about the old days of television…anticipation. With the modern world of streaming, it doesn’t quite feel the same. Seeing an ad like this in TV Guide, and keeping it on your brain until the day it aired is an art lost on children of today. And with so many fewer options back then, stuff like this was widely viewed by the public in general. That meant that you and your friends at school would get giddy together waiting for the day, and then after it aired you knew it was going to be the topic of conversation before school and at lunchtime. Stuff like this were shared experiences. I’m willing to bet that a whole lot of you reading this can relate stories about seeing this as an example of what I’m talking about.

If you’re interested in seeing these classics again, there are a couple of options. The Garfield Christmas Special is streaming on Amazon for Prime members but is also free on Tubi as well as free on YouTube. The Claymation Christmas Special is a little more obscure. You can pick up a DVD copy of it that also includes Halloween and Easter Specials for just $20 bucks. Or if you’re willing to sit through a lot of ads, there is a playlist on YouTube with all the segments that you can watch through.