The Rebel Faction

I got The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge for a cousin :D, and let me tell you, those things are like 15 years old and impossible to find.

They are quite possibly the best games ever, though .

A couple of months ago, my brother came home from college to do laundry (he goes to school in the city), and asked if he could 'borrow' my headphones for the day. After much protests, he managed to convince me that he would, in fact, return them to me when he returned to pick up his laundry (who knows where the fuck he was for the actual day). Now, I don't have the best memory in the world. In fact, my earliest 'clear' memory dates back to seventh grade. So, needless to say, when he did in fact return I had forgotten all about his promise and as well the fact that I had owned a pair of headphones (these were good headphones).

So, about two months later, after various more visits from him headphoneless, I finally managed to convince him to bring my headphones home on his next laundry to visit. When he finally got here, headphoneless once more, he claimed he had lost them. That fucker lost my headphones. The sad part is, he probably really did. Not exactly the most intelligent guy in the world when it comes to shit like that.

So this year, for Christmas, I got that motherfucker headphones.

Thats my story of Christmas cheer.

I went a little overboard this year, but there's a back story to that. Every year since he hit his teens, Archie has had to buy the bulk of his own presents because his parents use the "I just don't know what to get you" cop out. They give him money, have him buy his own stuff, in which he then has to wrap it, and put it under the tree so he can open it Christmas. Other than things like socks or candy, there's never anything to surprise him.

Now granted, it's taken me awhile to get the hang of what to buy him but I think I got it right this year. Firstly I commissioned a personal piece of artwork tailored for Archie. It's a knight in full gothic armor holding a banner with Archie's SCA group's shield on it. Then, because I was pretty much out of money, I bought him some filler gifts of hot chocolate mix gift baskets and things like that, cookies and candies, so he'd have more boxes to open.

THEN I laid my hands on some more money, thought it over, decided I had time to order more things for him and then promptly did so. I got him the entire collection of Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai X, Series 3 Figures, which were sorta a 'I'm sorry I destroyed the box on one of your collectibles, here's 5 to replace it' gift. Then I kept adding Full Metal Alchemist figures until I ran out of money. I managed 7.

For everyone else, I got my mother a box full of professional artist brushes to help inspire her to start painting again after her illness this year. I also picked up a bunch of stuff throughout the year by watching some of my fav discount places. I got her a Kermit doll, an Animal cell phone cover kit, and Archie found her a huge trunk for me. For my brother I got a Limited Edition Bobo Fett Sucker Cover candy thing, a discontinued Jedi Workbook you could only buy through a cereal advertisement back in the 80's, mint and still in the package, and one of those huge tin cans of various types of popcorn.

Oh, and Archie's parents just got various gift basket things too. They both got hot chocolate sets much like Archie's, so they'd all have matching mugs, and his mom got an extra flavored coffee creamer set with little cookies and Christmas ornaments with it. His dad also got this stocking shaped like a fish with various kitty ornaments in it and other sundry cat related objects, as he's a maniac for his cat, Garfield....

All that and the cakes and things I'm baking for the dinner, the dozen or so Christmas cards I sent out and just ham and turkey breast I'm fixing is pretty much my contribution to Christmas for the family...

I got my girlfreind a couple of inu yasha animes (and she got me the spaceballs collectors edition DVD, Hot damn!)

I got my little brother a computer game, my sister the whole chronicles of narnia collectors edition, my dad a bluegrass guitar fake book, for my mom i got 3 cookbooks, and for my best freind I bought an ACDC tab book.