No Lego Calendar This Year

I’m not opening a Lego Advent calendar this year. I feel bad about it. The Lego Advent Calendar and subsequent blog have become one of my favorite Christmas traditions. However, it’s not happening this year for a variety of reasons which I have listed below because this is the internet.

I’m Busy – I have freelance and consulting projects that require focus and lots of emails, conference calls, video chats, radio transmissions and coded notes delivered by hawks. And training those hawks to talk is so much trouble I’m not even sure it’s worth it.

The Calendars Are Bad – I looked at this year’s offerings of Lego Advent Calendars, and they all seem so very, very meh. Even the new Harry Potter calendar seems lackluster. By not buying the calendar, I’m voting with my dollars and sending a message to Lego that we demand higher quality toy calendars filled with imagination and creativity instead of yet another snowmobile and pathetic excuse for a table. Come on, Lego! Give us something new!

I’m Not Feeling It – Am I being a Scrooge? Yes. But it’s better to take a year off than to blog my way through the month with a sour puss on my face. I don’t want to do something in my free time out of a heavy sense of obligation. I want to do it out of a heavy sense of wonderment. Or for cash. Or for gems.

Christmas isn’t ruined. It’s just different.

I still plan to do some fun stuff on this fancy webnet during the next month. Might try some recipes. Invent some cocktails. Steep some herbal teas. I have no real plan, but I plan to have a plan. And that’s the first step to planning!

And if you haven’t read the old Lego Advent blogs, get comfy and enjoy 9 years worth of drama, excitement, joy, horror and one instance of nudity.

Year One
Year Two
Year Three – The bad time.
Year Four
Year Five
Year Six
Year Seven – Playmobil a’hoy!
Year Eight
Year Nine

Happy Holidays!

Lego Advent Calendar: Day 23

It’s Christmas Eve Eve! Today is the perfect day to read my short story, What If Nothing Happens This Christmas.

There are only 2 items left in this calendar. One of them is Santa. Santa will pop out of the calendar tomorrow. That’s a sure thing.

As such, if I’m going to get a Mrs. Claus in this calendar, today is the day.

Will she appear? (Hint: No.)

Today’s item is… Continue reading

Lego Advent Calendar: Day 21

Happy Winter! It’s the first day of Winter, which is strange because in Eastern Pennsylvania, we’ve already had three snow storms this month, and today it’s going to be 60-degrees. Calling this Winter is like calling a bald guy “Curly” or calling live-action fairy tale remakes “good.”

Today’s item is great. Of course it is. This entire calendar is great! Continue reading

Lego Advent Calendar: Day 20

I make a Christmas card every year and send it out to the people who are lucky. Last year’s card, pictured below, looks like the poster for the new Joaquin Phoenix movie called Her. If Joaquin (which I pronounce as Jokin’) had a full beard and was sans shirt, I might take legal action.

Here’s a picture of the card…

And here’s the inside…

This year’s card is more of a think-piece. I’ll share it with you at another time.

Let’s rip open day 20 of the calendar! Continue reading

Lego Advent Calendar: Day 18

By this time next week, the Lego Calendar will be empty. That’s sad. I am genuinely sad about it.

I’m surprised at how fantastic this year’s calendar has been. From Mickey “Two Mugs” to the Omega Trophy, nearly everything has been great. If I got a Mrs. Claus at this point, I might just burst into pure Christmas energy.

But before I send a flowery letter of thanks to the Lego Headquarters, let’s see what the remainder of the calendar offers. Today’s item is… Continue reading

Lego Advent Calendar: Day 17

I wrote a short story about Santa Claus called What If Nothing Happens This Christmas. You can read and/or download it here!

The story was originally much shorter, and darker. In the original version, the story contained only the first section and ended with Santa missing Christmas because he was too afraid of what was out there.

That all changed this summer when I began making a list of possible enemies for Santa. Writing long lists is one of my many hobbies, so the end result was a list of over 100 possible enemies. I’ve included some in the final version of the story. The other’s I’m saving.

I love how the story turned out. The tone of the story changed significantly when I added a certain snowman to the mix. Everything became happier.

I hope you like the story. I had a blast writing it, in case you couldn’t tell. Let me know what you think.

Now let’s Lego!

Today’s item is… Continue reading

Lego Advent Calendar: Day 16

It snowed this weekend, so my girlfriend and I built a snowman. It has been approximately 15-20 years since I last built a snowman, but the muscle memory never forgets. Brett is an authentic snow person, with real coal eyes, mouth, and buttons. We didn’t have a carrot, because carrots are gross, so his nose is a stick. He also doesn’t have a scarf or hat, because the neighborhood kids will steal them. He doesn’t have a pipe because Brett is not a victim of peer pressure.

I sure hope Brett never, ever dies! He’ll live forever, right?

Today’s Lego item shines some light on yesterday’s mystery object, but not much light. It’s like a tiny light on your computer that you only notice when it’s dark in your room.

Today’s item is… Continue reading