Christmas 2023, Part 3!

 

With family gone, my girl and I were able to sit down to a nice quite day after Christmas, watch a movie together, and open our gifts to each other. Well...So we thought.

Unbeknownst to us, we had created a monster over the years. He was hyper, ready for gifts, and tore them all open like a rabid stray going after a meal.

Despite receiving over ten gifts from us, this simply wasn't enough, and he soon turned his attention to helping us open ours.

Excuse me, that's mine!

When paper wasn't available, he took to chewing through boxes.

And when it was all said and done, whew...there was a mess.

We weren't upset by any of this, though. See, recently our pup went into a critical diabetic condition, and we thought we were going to lose him. This was how we learned he had the disease, and is now very diet regimented, as well as insulin dependent the rest of his life. We were glad to see him so energetic and happy. We know the reality of the disease, and the unfortunate "side effects" which can lead to other issues, so want to enjoy as much time as possible with him, and ensure he has a good life.

What I could wrestle from the dog, I found that I had received some great gifts from my girl.

Apparently, the Christmas elves were talking, because she got me a bunch of mylar bags to re-bag my comic collection. I used to use standard poly bags, but after seeing how much better they display in mylar, and knowing I won't have to change the bags again in my lifetime is necessitating the change. Plus, as I slow down from physical collecting, I'm finding myself just wanting to organize, and present my things in the best manner possible, while keeping them well protected. Mylar accomplishes all of this.

She also picked me up a (second) copy of the Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide. She had already bought me a copy of this last year for my birthday, but knew the used copy she picked up was missing a component that I really wanted.

That component is this map. I'm going to frame this bad boy, and hang it up.

She also got me a custom nuclear blast model which includes a miniature city. It lights up via USB.

Those of you who know me well, know I cook. I've been wanting a good salt and pepper grinder for a while, because I've had two which were made of plastic in the past, and broke them both. They would either fall and bust, or simply snap into pieces when unscrewing them. Hopefully, these wood ones are more durable.

Again the Christmas elves huddled, and I also got an additional case of BCW plastic comic boxes.

I got Weird, The Al Yankovic Story on DVD, and this was the movie we ended up watching. While I knew it was a parody of a biopic, it sadly wasn't as funny as I was expecting. You expect the unexpected from the artist, but this was so far out in left field that it actually derailed itself. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story definitely did parody biopics better.

In hindsight, it was rather stupid of me to go to Baltimore Comic Con this year, and buy Ultimate Fallout 4, get it signed by Brian Michael Bendis, and not pick up the other five issues in the series and do the same thing. Well, thanks to my girl, I at least have the books now.

In part 2 of my Christmas 2023 series, I stated that G.I. Jigsaw may have won best Christmas gift ever with his little people renderings of Spider-Man characters that he gave me. Well, sorry, George. You have been unceremoniously dethroned. As much as I love those little figures, and I'm still going to hit you up for a wave two...and apparently beyond with the 75 characters I wrote up yesterday...My girl has taken the title from you.

I have wanted something signed by Stan Lee for a very (VERY) long time. Even when he was still alive it was my goal to get something. Sadly, he never seemed to come to my neck of the woods, or even within driving distance. Then...well...he kind of passed away. Prices on his autographs skyrocketed, and though I still wanted something, couldn't justify the cost.

Well, now I don't have to. My girl took care of it for me, and presented me with this awesome 11 X 14 signed poster of Amazing Fantasy 15.

I went out frame hunting the next day, and after not being able to find one that suited my wants, specifically with the mat, I decided to do a little custom work with some red and blue paint, and a white and black gel pen. It turned out great! I mean, I like it.

Then I went back to bagging and boxing comics. As you can see from the pictures below, the upgrades make all the difference.

Before

After

And I'm only about half way...

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