Tag Archives: Advent 2017

No Lego Calendar This Year

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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!

2017 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 23

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My Tamagotchi died last night. I got him a few weeks ago as an early Secret Santa present. He was with me during most of my Christmas shopping. His name was Tom. He lived a good life. He loved to hop up and down and eat food.

Rest in peace, buddy.

In lieu of flowers, please send cash and a brand new Nintendo Switch or PlayStation 4…it’s what Tom would have wanted. Thank you for your support during this most difficult time.

In today’s calendar we find… Continue reading →

2017 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 20

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Over the next few days, there will only be 4 hours of daylight because the sun hates Christmas.

These dark days of winter can get you down, and the stress of holiday shopping and preparations only adds to the choking darkness.

That’s when I turn to Lego. It’s when we all need it most. I simply eat three Lego pieces and I feel much, much better.

If we can get through this week, things will get brighter and brighter. That’s not greeting card crap, it’s straight-up science.

Until then, maybe the daily Lego thing can help cheer us up!

In today’s calendar we get… Continue reading →

2017 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 19

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Thanks to everyone who ordered Power Pencils this holiday season!

I have to run off to the post office and send out the last of the orders. I expect the line at the post office during lunch to be short and there will be happy people handing out free eggnog and cookies as every customer is treated to a back massage and a puppy! Yay! Post Office!

In today’s calendar we find… Continue reading →

2017 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 18

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Tonight you will be visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and this spirit will warn you of the terrible future that awaits if you do not order Power Pencils by midnight tonight.

Tonight is the deadline for Christmas delivery. If you’ve ever thought of giving the gift of magic, etched wooden pencils, this is your last chance!

Visit the Etsy store for more details!

In today’s calendar we get… Continue reading →

2017 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 17

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Growing up, we never put Christmas lights on the outside of our house. While inside, things were festive and bright, the exterior was always dark and dead. We were a Christmas geode.

In my defense, our house was half-Jewish and it was the 1980s, back when outdoor decorations meant a few strings of lights and maybe a light-up snowman. It’s only been in the last two decades that homes have gotten more and more luminous and balloominous, thanks in part, I suspect, to the Griswold house of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and the versatility of inflatable decorations.

I still don’t decorate outside, mostly because I’m lazy and because how can a few lights compete with neighbors who ignite the night’s sky with holiday cheer?

So instead of decorating my own yard, I feed off the sparkles of others.

Last night, we spent three hours looking at lights and I’m happy to report we saw at least six, maybe seven, Christmas dinosaur decorations. That gives me hope for this world.

Someone also decorated their street signs, which seems illegal to me but I’m not about to call the cops because someone’s Christmas oozed out too far.

Today in the calendar, we get… Continue reading →

2017 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 16

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I bet Santa hates the Polar Express. Here he is on the busiest day of the year and Tom Hanks comes along with a train filled with sugared-up tourists. Santa doesn’t need that right now! He needs to focus. He needs to get in the zone.

It’s like running up to Adele right before she goes on stage in front of the whole world and saying, “I didn’t like your music until right this minute because now I believe! Hey?! Hey!? Can I get a picture?! Can you call my mom and leave a message? What soap do you use?!? Can I have a bell?! A bell from Adele! Ha! Why you not laughing?”

Santa’s a good sport about it, but if you look closely, you can see him roll his eyes when the kid asks for bell. A bell? Come on, kid. Santa has real work to do. When the kid grows up and is working as a lawyer or something, I hope Santa comes during the kid’s busiest day and just hangs out asking questions and poking around the office.

Today in the calendar we get… Continue reading →