Tim Burton's New Nightmare

Today's Yule jewel is a circa-1959 'Golden Funtime Stickums Books' offering that is sure to instill mortal dread in even the most cynical of children's hearts. 'Chris Jingle' gives us a brief glimpse into one tiny reindeer's late winter night's rampage of terror. Though light on the back story, this is obviously the tale of a demented little ruminant who's gone all Lock, Shock and Barrel on the Sandy Claws and is trying his feeble-minded best to fulfil old Saint Nick's Christmas Eve obligations all on his own...

The book is taller than my scanner, so I've unfortunately had to crop the pages a bit awkwardly-

Chris Jingle looks suspiciously like one of those fuzzy stuffed animals with the creepy vinyl faces that were all the rage in their day... which leads me to believe that this 'Stickums' book is some sort of toy tie-in. Chris Jingle also has that dead-cold Michael Myers glint in his eyes that leads me to believe that he may have long since sold his soul to the devil his own damned self. Probably in exchange for that snazzy red ribbon!

As our story opens, Chris has already commandeered (Ha! Get it?) Santa's sleigh and magic bag o' toys. What's become of the old elf is not mentioned, but I'm pretty sure that by the time the last reel rolls his lifeless body will have come tumbling out of someone's closet, bloodied antlers protruding from his eye sockets.

Ooh, ooh! I want to guess! Is it a big bag of whup-ass? I bet it's a big bag of whup-ass!

"'Cause if you don't, I'll have to stab you through the neck with this candy cane! Tee, hee!"

He looks like the sort of person who would poison Gotham City's water supply...

HE'S GOT CUTLERY!!!

And those are the stickers folks. There's actually one more page of story, but over the years that last page of stickers has become perma-glued to it so I can't tell you how the story ends.

I think that we can all agree that however it finishes up... it won't be pretty.

Merry Christmas From Da Boyz!

From the left: Stan, Petey, "Buttons," Shy Tony, Little Phil, and Big Phil wish you all very happy holidays!

That's The Pot Calling The Bowl Full Of Jelly Fat, Big Boy!

Spare Bulbs

Before you start decorating be sure to have plenty of replacement bulbs for all those that burnt out while sitting idle in your attic this summer...

More Felicitations Of The Season

These cards were without envelopes so no postmarks to date them, but they all came from the same batch as the three which were previously posted so they're probably about the same time period.

Yes, my grandfather did have a friend who went by the name "Beaver."

Black & White & Red All Over

Three Christmas cards sent to my grandfather back in December of 1940, all of which have a cool deco look and, in the case of the first two, an unusually non-Christmasy red, black & white color scheme. Just as interesting as the cards is the way in which they were delivered. They are all in envelopes with just my grandfather's name and the town he lived in written on them. No zip codes or street addresses or return addresses yet they were stamped, postmarked and obviously reached their intended recipient. Try dropping a letter in a mailbox today addressed to "Bob Smith, Boise, ID" and see how long it takes Bob to get it...

And Then Came Christmas!

Get ready to "Fa-la-la" your brains out 'cause December is here and that means that the next 25 or so days are all about Christmas- Christmas swag, Christmas decorations, Christmas lights and yes... I even have a Christmas-themed issue or two of Highlights Magazine laying around the place somewhere. I don't remember how or when I acquired such a huge pile of old Highlights, but I've got at least one for every major holiday and that makes for some ready made blog posts!

So hurry up and get all your Christmas shopping done early so you can sit back, relax and keep checking back here for as much cool Christmas junk as I can scan, photograph or link to in between all of those real world obligations that Christmas brings along with it! You know I'm all about the wassailing, baby!

The Bride Of Satan

Here's today's completely random panel from a Broom Hilda comic strip!