First-nighters, packed earmuff-to-earmuff, jostled in wonderment before a golden, tinkling display of mechanized, electronic joy!

Yes, that is my family. I am more nostalgic at Christmas time more than any other time of the year. I'm guessing it's the same for many people (maybe not). Certain songs, smells or images will set off my favorite memories. As an adult I look forward to the Christmas season for some different reasons than when I was a kid, but even then I knew the real meaning of Christmas. Even when I didn't always get what I wanted I never had a bad Christmas because of all the love my family shared for each other.

That being said, I did get some pretty kick butt gifts. Here are a few vivid memories of opening life changing material treasures. Keep in mind I was born in 1980, so this is a time capsule.

Teddy Ruxpin

Mr. Ruxpin was something magical back in those days. He not only spoke, but if you put one of his cassette tapes in his back his lips would move as he told the story and he would blink his eyes. I remember playing non Ruxpin tapes in him, but he just gave be a zombi like dead stare. Unfortunately Mr. Ruxpin had an accident that rendered him some what useless. Sitting on the kitchen floor playing with him I saw a neon green centipede next to me. In terror I smashed the bear's face a top of my deadly attacker. I should mention that I had also received a bunch of neon green glow in the dark bugs for Christmas that year. I must have been so caught up in story time that I didn't have a clear head. Teddy Ruxpin's lower jaw lay there on the floor. Plastic broken and un-fixable. Sure I could still play tapes in him and he would blink at me, but his mouth would never moved again.



G.I. Joe and Transformers were my go to toys and TV shows. I wish to the Dear Lord that I had kept all my figures and toys, but many of them ended up being buried in the back yard or on the roof with a parachute tied to their backs. The following are a few favorites:

Cobra Night Raven was probably my favorite G.I. Joe vehicle with Mad Dog as a close second:

I'm not one who really approves of targeting kids as consumers, but how could I not want this...



One gift I wanted but never got was this ridiculously huge G.I. Joe Aircraft Carrier


I was also a huge Construx fan...

Another favorite Christmas memories from childhood will always be the morning I walked into my living room to find that an Optimus Prime tent had been set up as I slept. Inside was a Gilligan's Island toys set for the bath tub. I often wonder if I am making some of these memories up, but a quick Google search for a Gilligan's Island toys set for the bath tub yields results and Christmas memory validation.

Now for my final and greatest Christmas toy memory. MASK was another cartoon created to sell toys kind of show, and I really loved it. I wanted Rhino, the main vehicle of the show more than anything that year, but was not sure I would get it.

Knowing I may not find it under the tree Christmas morning, I gave my mother a list of other MASK characters and vehicles:

I asked for buzzard:


T-Bob and Hurricane:

Well I got all of those, and I also got Rihno. I literally remember opening it and jumping up and down in crazy joy. My mother joined me. Here excitement for me having some stupid toy will always stick in my head. Not so much as a memory of her giving me anything I wanted, but the joy I saw in her because I was happy.

This will probably be my final post till Christmas day due to tomorrow be a traveling day for me, but I will do a Christmas day post, and just maybe a few post-christmas-posts. Thank you for all the fun this season! It's always awesome to stroll down memory lane this time of year and remember the best times, but my hopes are always for men of good will live in peace again. That stupid political arguments or religious differences don't drive wedges of hate between families and friends. That we let go and forgive the wrongs done to us, and that we see the millions of people all over the world living in utter despair and we make some sort of step to make it better. I celebrate the birth of a Savior, but whatever you celebrate may it be filled with Love, Joy and Peace.

Happy Holidays!!!

Don't worry. We'll make it though... somehow.

Here is another great vintage video. This one in about the history of the Christmas Carol, Silent Night.

Uh..Uh...Uh Santa Claus probably put it there.

We were all told that "it is more blessed to give than receive" but as a kid, that pretty much goes out the door at Christmas. How many times did my parents bestow upon me waaaaaay more awesome gifts than I could ever give back to them? Sorry, guys. It was a bit early in my career.

They weren't left completely giftless though. Somewhere, in the recesses of a kid mind that still enjoyed recess, do I remember going through a holiday-themed school store that catered just to elementary school children. There were more tacky coffee mugs, keychains and wallets than one could shake a candy cane at, but it was a quick, cheap and easy way for a kid to spend their ten dollars of chore-earned cash on Christmas gifts for ones they loved. Luckily my parents never dipped into the same store that I shopped for our presents from about age five until eleven.

I've got to say, as far as the "getting" goes, my sister and I really cleaned up. Looking back, we got some pretty awesome things. A few of my favorites were completely fitting for the time period. The first was a Holly Hobby kitchen set, complete with the pots, pans, plates and two wee-sized aprons for little four and five year old Beth and Jill.

There's home video of us looking, in absolute awe and excitement at a gift that we ended up playing the heck out of. Some people, whose name just happens to start with a "B" and ends with an "H", like it so much that she, I mean 'they', were caught on film pushing me out of the way. Fully, "You best move out of the way, beeotch" hip bumping a certain older sister.

A couple of years later, after my long flowing golden locks had been murdered and turned into a Dorothy Hamill (aka "mushroom cut") and I had suffered an earlier pre-Cabbage Patch Kid incident (it was a homemade fake CPK - my mom wanted to test it out to make sure I was ready for a 'real' one), Beth and I finally achieved true 80's kid stardom with our very own CPKs. Mine had blond hair and was named Nicolette Fay.

As I aged and moved into the teenage years, my taste in Christmas pressies matured…although my taste in clothing quite faltered. Hey, it was the 90s. Further awesome gifts ranged from a pink and grey 10-speed bicycle, a mammoth-sized Caboodle makeup case, leather brown bomber jacket and a full-fledged boombox (with my first CD player, mind you). My former squeals now turned to "Wow, like, totally cool!" but inside that giddiness was still there.

As a grown-up, it's hard for me to think of even a few things that I "want" anymore. The desire to "get" has changed and I've discovered that it really is more blessed to give than receive. But I will never forget the excitement and wonderful memories that were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for my childhood eyes on Christmas morn.

Starving people would be happy to have that...

Five days till Christmas, and you were probably wondering when I was going to be posting some A Christmas Story study materials, right? Well wonder no more:

Click HERE for some awesomeness. I found this pdf on the internets and it's packed with goodies. Enjoy

The heavenly aroma still hung in the house...

Want your Kitchen/Apartment/Home to smell like Christmas? Don't have a real tree? Used that last Christmas candle? Well that was my issue. So here is what I did, and just maybe so should you...

In a pot I put:
Cranberries, Clove, Cinnamon sticks, Apple Cider, Orange Slices, Lemon Slices, Vanilla, Any Orange, Lemon or fruity loose leaf tea, Cranberries juice. Put it on simmer, and now I live in magic. It's true.

If you don't have these exact ingredients, you can substitute. I just suggest you use some sort of cider, orange juice and Cinnamon. It is a delight!

Oh, for cripes sake, open up the damper will ya?

Let's just say things were a bit different back then...

Yeah, mind power, Swede, mind power.

My mother had not had a hot meal for herself in fifteen years...

I was visiting with some South African friends a couple of weeks ago, and as happens this time of year, the conversation turned to Christmas. They had asked me if I had seen something called Dinner for One. I had not, and they quickly gave me an education.

Written for the theater in the 1920s, this 11 minute single take black-and-white 1963 TV recording featuring British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden has become a tradition every New Years Eve on many European television sets. It has also been preformed live and recorded in many other countries. Here is the British version from 1963.

Our hillbilly neighbors, the Bumpuses, had at least 785 smelly hound dogs...

I love finding strange, unique, and sometimes bizarre records at local shops, and when you add Christmas in the mix, it's just straight up holiday magic. Let's take a look at some wonderful Christmas kitsch.

I don't need all this jazz about smugglers and pirates...

The Christmas ep that I recorded with a few friends and my wife is still being mixed and will be shared as soon as it if finished. With the urge to work on something else while the ep is still in the microwave, Jill and I, armed only with a non-pro tools wielding laptop, a cheap Yamaha acoustic guitar, a bathroom, a closet and a bottle of cheap brandy, set sail to tell the tale of star-crossed lovers longing for each other on Christmas (maybe we enjoyed the brandy a bit much). Below is the song on youtube, and you can CLICK HERE to download the song for free if you so desire.



Enjoy

You know this wine ain't bad. You want a sip?

Many of us have our favorite Christmas albums, movies,television specials etc. Sounds and images that trigger nostalgia and reassure us the the season is in full swing. A Christmas Story, Ella Fitzgereld's Christmas album and A Charlie Brown Christmas Special are always at the top of the list for me, but the journey for undiscovered and sometimes forgotten Christmas adventures always calls to me. File this list of Christmas Television Specials under "not so popular/guilty pleasure/non classic" or maybe just horrible. Still, I remember watching them, and I'm a fan of them and I'm gonna share them with you.

First up is The Neil Diamond Christmas Album and Television Special. I remember seeing this thing back in 1992 and being memorized by Mr. Diamond's tan. Still, I will never speak ill of "The Diamond".



Let's not forget the opening to the Pat Boone Family Christmas Special. Debbie was my favorite.



Andy Williams is a Christmas time staple, and he had many a Christmas special. Here are a few clips from him. I had to post a couple, because he is always rather fun and jolly.



Here is one with Andy, and his less successful Williams Brothers.



The Internets are full of these treasures, and I'll probably be posting more of them this season.

Ah, baloney. What would your old man know about anything?

'Tis the season for sharing, and I love to share what my fellow Christmas Brothers in arms are up to at this time of the year.

Red Letter Agent are a Nashville based band who I have known for quite some time, and have just today released a Christmas EP called Rejoice. O Come,O Come Emmanuel & Rejoice are definitely the stand out tracks, and fill my head with visions of Luis Bacalov & Ennio Morricone sitting down and making a Christmas record. It's worth a listen, and at $3.96 it's worth a buy! Nice going boys!
Check out and buy the EP HERE


Grant's Advent Calendar is the longest running holiday video podcast on the web, and I don't mean they are long podcasts (each episode is actually quite short), I mean it is the only holiday video podcast still around since the dawn of the holiday video podcasts. I'm glad it has stuck around, because it's great fun! As with a real life advent calender, there is a surprise for you everyday. Check him out over at www.grantsadventcalendar.com

Here is a promo for this year's season featuring Rowdy Roddy Piper. Yes I said Rowdy Roddy Piper.

I think I see Aunt Clara's gift to you right over there...

Well, here we are, December first. Twenty five days. Today is the day that all the Humbugs who tell me it's to early to listen to Christmas music bite their tongues. No more will I hear, It's not even December yet. Yes folks, welcome to full blown Christmas Bacchanalia!

In celebration of such a glorious moment, I am sharing my annual Christmas mix with all of you! A few days before Halloween, I start pulling together all my resources, and any discovery that might be found in a vintage store or some deep dark corridor of the internets. This is why some of these songs may have some old school record pop and scratch noises. Think of it as culture!

Click on the link below to download! I will guide you through the steps if you are not familiar with the process.

Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie Presents Mikey's Christmas Mix 2011

Click on the above link to download directly to your computer. The download will be in a folder called Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie Presents Mikey's Christmas Mix 2011. Drag that folder into itunes or whatever music player you use on your computer. It's just that simple.

I have listed the track order below just in case something funky happens with the order, but I have tested everything on two computers, and everything should be locked in!

1. Santa's Night Before Christmas///Santa
2. Christmas Wrapping///The Waitresses
3. What Will Santa Claus Say When He Finds Everybody Swinging?///Louis Prima
4. I Want To Spend Christmas With Elvis (Heartbreak Noel)///The Holly Twins
5. Dasher///Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
6. Christmas Shopping///The Shoppers
7. Christmas Wish///NRBQ
8. Merry Christmas, Baby///The Beach Boys
9. All I want For Christmas is a Go-Go Girl///Ben Hinds
10. Christmas Day///Detroit Junior
11. Merry, Merry Christmas Baby///Dodie Stevens
12. Christmas Greeting From Hawaii///The Islands
13. Mele Kalikimaka///Arthur Lyman
14. Christmas Island///Bob Atcher & the Dinning Sisters
15. Exotic Night///Martin Denny
16. Sleigh Ride///The Ventures
17. My Favorite Things///Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
18. The Bell That Couldn't Jingle///Burt Bacharach
19. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town///Arthur Treacher
20. Here Comes Santa Claus///Bob Dylan
21. YULESVILLE///Edd Kookie Byrnes
22. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas///Ramsey Lewis
23. We Three Kings///Jack Brokensha Quartet
24. Christmas Time Is Here///Starflyer 59
25. Santa Claus On Mars///Voldar
26. Santa Done Got Hip///The Marques
27. Futuristic Christmas Tree///Dick Horner and The Camarada
28. Jingle Bells///The Three Suns
29. Sun Valley Ski Run///Esquivel
30. What Is A Santa Claus?///Stan Kenton
31. Santa Has To Go Now!///Santa

I hope this collection brings you tidings of comfort and joy, and may just expand your Christmas collection pallet beyond Bing Crosby and Andy Williams (no disrespect to those fellas, I do love them as well). Enjoy!

Oh! Don't forget, you can download last year's mix RIGHT HERE! Happy December first!