The Toy Box

Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up 148

Title: Marvel Team-Up
Issue Number: 148
Release Date: December 1984

Highlights

First appearance of nurse June, and the Monks of Dakoth-Kuru
First appearance of Black Abbott's Stronghold
Reference is made to Marvel Team-Up 146, The Amazing Spider-Man 258, and Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars
The young kid Tony makes his return, now trying to be a super hero, instead of a street gang member
Tony finds a secret tunnel with weird jets inside
Spider-Man sneaks into the hospital room of Black Abbott, only to inadvertently have the room hit by a missile from an unknown enemy
Black Abbott's origin is told, and the man in the hospital turns out to be one of his apostles
At the Baxter Building, Johnny shows his girlfriend Alicia the symbiote in its prison, and she says she feels sorry for it being trapped in a cage on a strange planet
Black Abbott's apostle convinces Thor to take him to his master's hideout to defeat the villain, but it turns out to be a trick, and Thor is ambushed by Abbott and his other apostles
Tony sees Spider-Man, and tells him about the secret tunnel, leading Spider-Man to Black Abbott
Spider-Man frees Thor, and after he recovers, he blasts all of Abbott's apostles with a blast of lightening
As Abbott flees, he sees Tony, and takes him hostage, but only briefly, as Spider-Man rescues him

Low Points

None

Oddities

None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Retro Spins: ABC - The Lexicon Of Love

I've touched on a couple albums from ABC, and even went into a little bit of their history while playing through their sophomore album, Beauty Stab. However, what I hadn't done up until today, was play through their highly successful debut, The Lexicon Of Love. So, it's time to jump in our Delorean, and head back to 1982.

The album entered the UK charts at number one, going platinum. It then exceeded expectations further by going gold in the US, led by Billboard Hot 100 singles, The Look Of Love (Part One), peaking at number seventeen, and Poison Arrow, peaking at number twenty-five. Since then, The Lexicon Of Love has been repeatedly listed as one of the best albums from the 80's.

Well, that excited me! Let's get into it!

Things kick off with Show Me, a song I'm unfamiliar with, but which definitely has found a new home in my shuffle list - you know, for the IPOD I still can't find. It's followed by the hit, Poison Arrow, a song which I admittedly didn't like back when it was first released, but which has grown on me considerably.

While I thought things would taper off with the slow starting, Many Happy Returns, the tempo quickly picked up, making it another solid entry for me. ABC, I found, was a solid rock group. I was really digging the drum and bass work, and the overall smooth vibe coming off of each track. The word, "groovy" kept coming to mind. Almost like a Kool & The Gang vibe, one that continues with Tears Are Not Enough.

Look, at this point I could keep going track by track, professing how great this album is, but that's just going to be sentence after sentence of me stating the same thing over and over. Basically, what we have here is another contender for the faux third row of wall albums. The Lexicon Of Love is a fantastic album from start to finish. No fillers. Just hit after hit of carefully crafted tracks. Granted, I'm not shocked considering the involvement of Trevor Horn (The Buggles) as producer. The man consistently delivers solid music.

An interesting after thought aspect about the album was the work contributed by Gary Langan, J. J. Jeczalik, Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, who would all go on to create the band, Art Of Noise.

As for ABC, as noted above, I've already listened to a couple of their albums for a Retro Spin: Beauty Stab, and How To Be A...Zillionaire! So, my next stop for them is on the tail end of the 80's with 1987's Alphabet City, and 1989's Up. I'll be diving into those over the next couple days.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 26, 1981

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 26, 1987

Christmas Dinner And Stocking

Slow and steady, that's the name of the game.

While cooking dinner, I surprised my girl with a month of ad free Netflix. The reason, so that we could watch the final season of Stranger Things, catch up on season 2 and 3 of squid games, three seasons of The Great British Baking Show, and for myself, the final season of Cobra Kai, and the new Karate Kid movie. All of this, while juggling season 2 of Fallout on Amazon Prime.

For dinner, I made a pork roast and served it with a bit of maple bacon aioli. My girl made her fabulous mac and cheese to accompany it, and the rest of the sides were handled by a jar of beets, a can of cranberry sauce, and some heat and serve rolls. Not bad, if you ask me.

Stuffed to the brim, I heated up my traditional annual Christmas pudding and served it with a finishing sauce.

The Christmas pudding came out of pre-made bowl, which just needed to steam for thirty minutes. The sauce, however, I made with one can of condensed milk, 1/4 cup of water, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 1/2 a stick of butter. Traditionally, the British would pour a brandy over the top, and light it on fire, but I'm not big on alcohol.

It's a dense and sweet desert, which will make you miserable in the stomach when you're already suffering from a massive pile of mac and cheese, but it's so good.

From there, we opened our stockings up.

My girl was quite heavy handed with the candy; she usually is.

But she also got me a pretty cool Spidey Pez dispenser, which immediately went into the collection.

She also got me a mystery Fallout 4 keychain. Right now it's on my Fallout counter, but I may open it at some point.

She also bought me another Spider-Man ornament, which we'll put on the tree next year.

Last up, and quite the surprise was this rare Thompson Twins double album. This is the only way you can get their first two studio releases on CD, and sadly, it was never released in the USA. It's been on my list for a long time, and I'm really glad to have it.

With Christmas day coming to a close, we still haven't touched the gifts under the tree, and I also have a few more to open from friends and family. But tomorrow's another day, and I'm off the rest of the year, so there's no reason to rush through it all. Christmas comes but once a year, but that doesn't mean it has to end in twenty-four hours.

We finished the evening off watching her son open his stocking gifts and stuff under the tree, while also giving the dog a couple more. Mainly because he wasn't having it watching people open stuff and having nothing for himself. Her son also gave us a gift, which for me was another ebay gift card - Score!!!

All and all, it was a great day!

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Gifts From My Brother

I caught up via telephone with my brother this afternoon to take some time to wish Christmas bests, while also opening up our respective gifts. We got him an ebay gift card to help in get those elsuive (and expensive) Nintendo Game & Watch handhelds that he's been ravenously collecting. He also took an interest in the various Nintendo related Lego sets, so we grabbed him the Mario Cart.

For us, he sent a gift cards, Old Navy for my girl, and ebay for me. However, he also sent us an additional Wal-Mart card, and send me a super sweet signed / red stamped Spider-Man issue 1!

Really cool of him to do all of that, but that wasn't all. He also got the dog a gift to open, which he gladly did.

Fun fact - When we give the dog Christmas gifts, he'll tear through all of them like a little kid, but once the paper's off, he's done with them until he eventually gets back around to actually playing with them. However, when my brother sends him a Christmas gift...

Oh, it's the greatest thing in the world. He's seriously been chewing on it for the past hour. One year, he wouldn't even chew the toy he got from my brother. Instead, he carried it carefully around the house for over a week. To this day he hasn't sunk one tooth into it.

Oh well. At least he's happy.

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Retro Christmas Stocking And Christmas Breakfast

As I've said frequently around here, it's important to get yourself some gifts for special occasions, and Christmas shall be no exception.

This year, I decided that I wanted to fill a retro themed stocking for myself. While my initial plan was to wake up with it at the foot of my bed, kind of like mom and dad used to do back in the day to keep us kids in bed for just a bit longer, I honestly forgot about it when dragging myself to bed late while Just Doodling my Spidey picture.

When I finally pulled myself out of bed just shy of 8:00 AM, it was with a startle and realization that people were waiting on me to make breakfast. Oops.

I threw some Red Lobster brand cheddar biscuits in the oven to bake, and then started on the hashbrowns.

While those browned on one side, I got to work on the star of the show, homemade sausage gravy. It's a really simple one which consists of one pound of raw ground sausage (Jimmy Dean preferably), 1/4 cup of flour, 2 1/2 cups of milk, and about 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. Simply cook up the sausage, then use the grease to brown the flour, stirring it in with the meat. Add your pepper to the milk, and pour it in, topping with more pepper if you wish. Then simply stir and let it thicken.

Last up was some scrapple. While I'm not a fan of it, my girl and her kid like it.

Toss in a couple of over medium eggs for everyone, and there you have it. An amazing Christmas breakfast to fill you up for the morning.

With everyone's stomach's fed, rather than dive immediately under the tree, people showered, made their calls / texts to others, and as for me, focused on coloring in pictures.

My girl's son then took off for his dad's house to spend a few hours with him, and she took a nap. All of this led to this point of me finally getting to the second point of this post, opening my Christmas stocking to myself. As I mentioned above, I kept it retro themed. Basically, I wanted a stocking that could feasibly have been received as a kid. Well, sort of. Use your imagination for some of it, because a couple items didn't exist back then.

Four packages, packed with so much goodness inside!

Inside the Disney wrapping paper was the complete series of The A-Team. This was followed by the Grinch paper, which had a full set of Topps Michael Jackson cards, series 1 and 2, Cyndi Lauper, and Duran Duran. Next up was the Peanuts paper, which hid a complete 80's discography for the band Marillion. Last, there was the Nightmare Before Christmas wrap, which concealed a Legend Of Zelda Game & Watch.

Fantastic!

Well, while people sleep, and visit other family, I'm off to play!

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Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up 147

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Title: Marvel Team-Up
Issue Number: 147
Release Date: November 1984

Highlights

First appearance of Black Abbott's Island Base
Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 3, 257, and 258
Spider-Man is swinging around the city when two jet craft soar past him, the one behind releasing a missile
Spider-Man is able to stop the explosive, but in doing so gets knocked about by the concussion of the blast
Human Torch saves Spider-Man from a fall, and then soars off to help the pilot of the craft being chased, which was just blown out of the sky
Johnny Storm has moved out on his own to an apartment
The mysterious Mr. Abbott shows up at Peter's apartment, and tries to use hypnotism on him to get Peter to join his special peace project
Peter resists the attempt thanks to the warning of his spider sense, but decides to still go with him, pretending to be under the man's command
In the hospital, the dying pilot tells Torch about Black Abbott, his plans, and his secret base
Human Torch infiltrates the base, but is quickly overcome by a pair of guards
Human Torch gets hypnotized by Black Abbott, and Spider-Man is only able to break it by making him angry
There are two Black Abbott's, and Spider-Man asks if the other is Black Costello
In the Baxter Building, the imprisoned symbiote continues to hammer its fists against the glass, a futile effort to escape

Low Points

Spider-Man finally breaks the hypnotism on Torch by telling him he's glad his sister lost her baby because he'd be a terrible uncle - Dang, that's rough

Oddities

Editor's Day Off: Who forgot to color in the Torch?

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Christmas Eve Preemptive Strike

As the days ticked off, and the cartoons kept flowing, my excitement for my favorite day of the year ramped up more and more. Thankfully, there's the annual tradition of the single Christmas eve gift to help get us over stimulated kids over the final hump.

We picked some awesome wrapping paper this year...I mean, Santa did. Nightmare Before Christmas, Peanuts, Disney, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Yes, please! Classic Ren and Stimpy albums from the 90's! My brother used to have these on cassette back in the day, you know when the show was the only thing worth tuning into Nickelodeon for. However, it quickly became one of my favorite cartoons as well.

These certainly helped stave off the itching desire to dive under the Christmas tree.

Despite the day, the regular posts are still coming today, but I'll also be sprinkling in a few more here and there as the days progress. Per usual, we'll be taking out time with the holiday, opening gifts up slowly, and throughout the remainder of the week / weekend. We've waited all year for this day to come, and there's no reason to rush through it.

With that said, while gifts, time off, and visits with friends and family are nice, it's key to remember the true reason of the day. The birth of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He's the true guest of honor for the day.

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Retro Spins: Kraftwerk - Electric Café (AKA Techno Pop)

I find myself not too interested in the history of the band, Kraftwerk. That's why you may have noticed that my previous post on them relatively cut straight to the chase of my listening session of the album.

Rather, what intrigues me more is the massive list of other 80's artists they inspired along the way: Depeche Mode, New Order, Giorgio Moroder, Whodini, David Bowie, and more. It intrigues me to want to hear some of their work which was specifically influenced by Kraftwerk.

However, before I do that, I need to wrap up the band's final 80's album, Electric Café (AKA Techno Pop). Much like my previous listening session of Computerwelt (AKA Computer World), it was a good experience, but again, being who they are, there weren't exactly hits among the bunch.

Mind you, I didn't hear anything bad. It's just that the nature of their music doesn't really allow for top Forty radio hits. They're mostly instrumental, intercut with speaking here and there, and when it does occur, singing is limited.

I'm glad I picked up their two albums from the decade, and even more happy to have finally heard them. They're enjoyable, if for nothing else how different they are from all the standard pop rock of the period. They're just not something I'm going to go back to frequently. As I noted yesterday, listening to them in front of someone would probably raise more questions than I would want to answer.

I can definitely see how their music would inspire other artists, specifically this comes through in Depeche Mode's music. Beyond that, I don't honestly have much to say about Kraftwerk.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 25, 1982

Merry Christmas!

I was hoping to color this one in, but started it way too late to get it posted just in time for Christmas eve to turn into Christmas morning.

Santa also came while the misses was asleep.

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Countdown To Christmas With Classic Cartoon Holiday Specials - Mickey's Christmas Carol

December in the 80's was a magical time of year to be a kid. Not only did we get all the fantastic toys for Christmas, but every year, throughout the holiday season, the television would segue from regularly scheduled programing to air animated holiday specials. They'd come on just late enough that it could be a family event, but early enough that we'd get to enjoy it just before bedtime.
Each half hour block was special. Perfectly crafted with just the right number of advertisements to remind us of all the toys on store shelves, the treats to be had from local restaurants and grocery stores, and all other manners of consumption in between. But at the heart of it was that cartoon which would come out of hiding just once a year, fill your eyes with wonder, bringing smiles, laughter, action, adventure, drama, but at the root of it, a classic holiday message of peace, giving, love, and joy.
It's become my own personal tradition each year to pull a holiday special off the DVD shelf each day to enjoy. It's a ritual which not only has become my way of counting down the twenty-four days of December leading up to my favorite holiday, but my way of reminding myself that no matter what's happening in the world, my day-to-day grind of work, life, health, trials, and tribulations, that for a moment, all of that can be put a side, and I can simply become a kid again, even if it's just at heart.
While I wish I could share the actual special with all of you, be it by inviting you all to my home to join me in front of the fireplace with a bowl of popcorn, sadly, that's just not feasible. However, between sites such as Youtube, Arhcive.org, Dailymotion, and Vimeo, you can probably find them to watch. Of course, for those of you so bold, you could also pick them up on DVD yourself, something I would highly recommend. If not for yourself, for your children.

On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck), a cruel and sadistic moneylender of Victorian era London who hates Christmas, refuses to give money to a panhandler outside his counting house, declines his nephew Fred's (Donald Duck) invitation to Christmas dinner, and uses questionable logic to turn away two gentlemen (Rat and Mole) fundraising aid for the poor. His overworked and underpaid employee, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse), requests to have half of Christmas Day off; Scrooge reluctantly agrees, but without pay. That night, the shackled ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley (Goofy) appears to Scrooge and warns that three spirits will visit Scrooge during the night, and that he faces a worse fate if he does not change his wicked ways.
Later that night, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket), who shows him visions of a past Christmas party hosted by Scrooge's old boss Fezzywig (Mr. Toad), where the young Scrooge fell in love with Isabelle (Daisy Duck). Flashing forward to the counting house, Isabelle mentions buying a honeymoon cottage for when Scrooge agrees to marry, but Scrooge forecloses on the cottage, marking the moment he loved money more than her.
Scrooge next meets the gigantic, merry Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant), who takes Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's house. Scrooge sees that their Christmas dinner for their family of five consists of barely enough food to feed one person, and becomes especially concerned when he sees Cratchit's ill son Tiny Tim (Morty Mouse).
As Scrooge asks about Tiny Tim's fate, this ghost disappears and the Ghost of Christmas Future (Pete) takes Scrooge to a cemetery in the near future to see the Cratchits mourning Tiny Tim's death. As Scrooge asks the spirit if the events can still be changed, they see two gravediggers (Weasels) remarking how no one came to mourn the man they are burying. After they leave, the Ghost reveals the tombstone bears Scrooge's name, and shoves Scrooge down into the grave while dubbing him "the richest man in the cemetery." Falling into his own coffin which opens to show the flames of Hell, Scrooge vows to change his ways before finding himself in his bedroom on Christmas Day.
Filled with glee, Scrooge begins spreading happiness and joy around London, donating a sizable amount of money to the gentlemen's charity and reconciling with Fred. At the Cratchit house, Scrooge puts up a front acting like his old cruel self, then surprises everyone with gifts of a prize turkey, toys, and giving Cratchit a substantial raise along with making him his business partner, as Tiny Tim declares "God bless us, everyone."

Yes, all day long, and yes, a thousand times more. This is my all time favorite Christmas cartoon special, and the one, I could watch over and over. I actually have to force myself to limit this one to the holiday season. Mainly because I'd overplay it, and I dare not risk burning out on it. Instead, just like Christmas day, I want to squirm like a little kid, anxiously waiting for Christmas Eve to roll around. The day when I pop it on each and every year.

For me, it has to be the version which I saw as a kid on the original white clamshell release. Mainly because it contains four extra cartoons which are a must have for me, and which play prior to the main feature. Those being: The Hockey Champ (starring Donald Duck, Huey, Louie, and Dewey), The Art of Skiing (starring Goofy), Corn Chips (starring Donald Duck, Chip, and Dale), and Pluto's Christmas Tree (starring Pluto, Mickey Mouse, Chip, and Dale). Fortunately, the 30th Anniversary DVD preserves this format.

Wanting to get a little more holiday joy, I pulled out a couple more DVD's and enjoyed some random Christmas themed episodes. Today's picks were:

Pinky and the Brain Christmas from Pinky and the Brain
It's A Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas from Tiny Toons
The Nightmare Before Christmas

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 97

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 97
Release Date: December 1984

Highlights

First appearance of Hermit, AKA Timothy Quail, and the robber, Elliot
Reference is made to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars
The origin of Hermit is told from the perspective of one of his co-workers
A group of robbers disguised as average workers loading a truck trick Spider-Man into thinking they're just working, even though his spider sense is buzzing around them
In the Baxter Building, the symbiote scrunches itself up, and hides in the containment cell
Johnny Storm goes to open the container to search for the alien, but is stopped at the last second by Reed Richards
Reed shows Johnny how cunning the alien is by activating the sonic shock, forcing it to reveal it is still inside the prison
Spider-Man confronts Black Cat again about where she got her powers, and demands answers to other questions - She refuses to answer, and storms off
While reviewing the surveillance camera f Cloak's attack on Kingpin, Jonathan Ohnn picks up on a radiation level not of this world emanating from the mysterious hero, and is determined to unlock its secrets
Timothy gets wrapped up in a robbery, but helps Spider-Man by warning him of an attack from behind
Spider-Man takes Timothy with him from the crime scene, and gets his story from him, making a suggestion how Timothy can go through life being left alone, like he wants

Low Points

The first four pages of the issue are nothing but recap from previous issues

Oddities

Spider-Man's advice to Timothy to avoid people, which he takis, is to wander the streets dressed in a three piece suit with a long beard, talking to himself - So, act like a crazy homeless person...right...

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Retro Spins: Kraftwerk - Computerwelt (AKA Computer World)

When looking into electronic music from the 80's there is frequently reference to Kraftwerk. They're often touted as pioneering the genre, as well as influencing many of the artists who adopted that sound themselves. Despite this, to this day, I have never heard any of their music.

I came across my first couple album from the band while digging through the used bins at my local used CD shop. Frankly, I was surprised to find them, as these often get scooped up fast. Though out of the norm for me, I did pick up their 1978 released Die Mensch-Maschine (AKA The Man-Machine), and today's Retro Spin, 1981's Computerwelt (AKA Computer World). Seeing that there was only one more album released by them in the 80's, I frantically dug but came up empty. No worries. A quick transaction on Discogs, and it would soon be on the way. Hopefully, this wouldn't be a mistake, as again, I'd never heard any of their albums up to this point.

I was of the impression that the band was an instrumental group, so I was a little surprised when the opening track, and title of the album, featured lyrics. Not in the sense of singing perse. Rather, a somewhat mix of spoken dialog with singing, and all of it mixed with vocoders. It was different, for sure.

When Pocket Calculator started up, I immediately thought the song would have easily fit into the film, Revenge Of The Nerds. Not only did the lyrics fit, but so too did the instrumentation. I could picture it being overlaid into the movie, and from what my mind composed, it worked well.

I don't know what I think about Kraftwerk. Part of me wants to say I liked it. However, the other side is saying that I would never play these songs in public, let alone around someone. Not that it would be embarrassing, but rather, I think it would raise too many questions and require a lot of explaining.

With that said, it was enjoyable overall. I think a lot of its charm comes from how different it is from the usual pop / rock / synth / new wave of the era. Did I find any takeaway hits? No, not necessarily. I don't think this is something I'm going to be playing often. However, it's nice to know that if I do, it's a solid one from start to finish.

As for Kraftwerk, they only released one more album in the 80's, and not until five years after this one. That's where I'm headed next, so I'll see you there.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 24, 1983

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
December 24, 1988

Countdown To Christmas With Classic Cartoon Holiday Specials - How The Grinch Stole Christmas

December in the 80's was a magical time of year to be a kid. Not only did we get all the fantastic toys for Christmas, but every year, throughout the holiday season, the television would segue from regularly scheduled programing to air animated holiday specials. They'd come on just late enough that it could be a family event, but early enough that we'd get to enjoy it just before bedtime.
Each half hour block was special. Perfectly crafted with just the right number of advertisements to remind us of all the toys on store shelves, the treats to be had from local restaurants and grocery stores, and all other manners of consumption in between. But at the heart of it was that cartoon which would come out of hiding just once a year, fill your eyes with wonder, bringing smiles, laughter, action, adventure, drama, but at the root of it, a classic holiday message of peace, giving, love, and joy.
It's become my own personal tradition each year to pull a holiday special off the DVD shelf each day to enjoy. It's a ritual which not only has become my way of counting down the twenty-four days of December leading up to my favorite holiday, but my way of reminding myself that no matter what's happening in the world, my day-to-day grind of work, life, health, trials, and tribulations, that for a moment, all of that can be put a side, and I can simply become a kid again, even if it's just at heart.
While I wish I could share the actual special with all of you, be it by inviting you all to my home to join me in front of the fireplace with a bowl of popcorn, sadly, that's just not feasible. However, between sites such as Youtube, Arhcive.org, Dailymotion, and Vimeo, you can probably find them to watch. Of course, for those of you so bold, you could also pick them up on DVD yourself, something I would highly recommend. If not for yourself, for your children.

The Grinch is a surly, antisocial green creature with a heart "two sizes too small" who lives alone in a snowbound cave atop Mt. Crumpit, located above the village of Whoville. He especially hates Christmas and has always been annoyed by the town's Christmas celebrations. One Christmas Eve, he finally decides to stop Christmas Day from coming to Whoville by disguising himself as Santa Claus, his dog Max as a reindeer and, in a reversal of Santa's visit, stealing all presents, decorations, and symbols of Christmas. Once loaded, he plans on dumping the bags of stolen goods. He is noticed by a girl named Cindy Lou Who, but is otherwise undetected.
As the Grinch reaches the icy summit of Mt. Crumpit, ready to dump the bags, he discovers that the citizens of Whoville, despite having no gifts or decorations, have gathered in the middle of town to sing as Christmas Day dawns. Realizing that Christmas means more than just material possessions, the Grinch's heart grows three sizes. He saves the sleigh, returns the presents and the other belongings to the Whos, and joins in the town's Christmas celebration by carving the roast beast, giving Cindy Lou Who the first slice.

Now we're really into the good stuff. I mean, if you don't like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, there may be no hope for you. This is an absolute must have in my Christmas cartoon watching rotation. I dare say if you took everything away except for this one and my number one pick, I could be just as happy. Thankfully, I don't have to choose or limit myself.

Wanting to get a little more holiday joy, I pulled out a couple more DVD's and enjoyed some random Christmas themed episodes. Today's picks were:

Care Bears: The Nutcracker
A Disney Christmas Gift

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