Just had to do this, and in the spirit of fun. #HoHoHo

That’s right! It’s September, and The Road To Christmas has begun. We’ll be covering Christmas related Tat more often from the past and present during the run up to Christmas 2018! Coverage will also extend to our parent blog Figured Out. Stay tuned!

Halfway to Christmas!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjcPxxTgw37/?taken-by=herokenflatt #BristolRocks is a fun creative community at 28k+ members strong that encourages art on rocks/pebbles/stones etc. Find out more at the facebook community here. .

That’s right! There was a Ninja Turtles Christmas musical. “We Wish You a Turtle Christmas” depicted the awesome foursome on Christmas Eve where they’ve forgotten to buy a present for Master Splinter! It’s up to the brothers to complete thier quest before all the stores close. Lots of amusing Turtley Christmas tunes are sung throughout. This rendition of Deck The Halls is on my old University Youtube account and probably the most viewed piece of media I’ve ever uploaded. Be sure to join along this merry tune (sung in a bad Jamaican accent) in the middle of May and chuckle at the very bad costumes!

ROAD TO CHRISTMAS 2017: T.E.A.M Rudolph Blindbag Figures A random treasure find at a local Southern Co-Operative Supermarket. Retailing at £1.50 each and featuring 11 figures to collect, all based on the animated stop-motion feature - T.E.A.M Rudolph & The Reindeer Games The blindbags are neatly presented in a stocking shape and the figures inside though small are nicely detailed and protected in extra mould tray packaging. This does make it more difficult for those in the market for ‘mystery figures’ to ‘feel around’ and find out what figure could be inside. If you are out of the loop on ‘blindbags’ you’d not have a clue what this entry is on about :P The toy lineup is quite simply 9 individualised Reindeer (including Rudolph of c ourse) and Santa, plus a rare gold chase variant that makes up 11 in total! This is also Series 1 too, so perhaps other Rankin-Bass stop-motion characters are in the lineup for future collections. The Meiser Brothers are a must! So far I have managed to collect Comet, Cupid (both pictured) and Blitzen, but I intend to hunt down the rest in the long run, including the golden Santa!  For more info. Visit rudolphtoy.com

Be sure to check out her linked Instagram page which is always festive and full of original Christmas content!

Here’s me helping out at the CASA Grace Romania Shoebox Appeal a few years ago. The photography elf really didn’t get my good side! :). If you are locally caught between Bristol and Bath and would like to contribute towards this wonderful scheme, click on this link and see how you can take part in the 2017 Shoebox Appeal.

ROAD TO CHRISTMAS 2017: Festive Edition Kinder Surprise! What a pleasant find last week on a visit to Tescos. Christmas Kinder Surprise is back! I picked up a £4 Deluxe egg and took it home. The £4 Grotto giftsets are also back, but will cover those another time. The Deluxe egg didn’t disapoint! This year, Snowman gimmick figures are this years collectable series for the bigger eggs. I actually didn’t realise this was a stamper until I looked at the leaflet... Who doesn’t want a squatting snowman that leaves a trail blue snowflakes in his wake? This is an awesome Christmas toy! The Road to Christmas continues...

Force Friday on a Monday. Chewbacca and his pet Porg are at last part of my own personal toy collection. Even I receive toys a little late #HoHoHo

Not only is the end of this week Force Friday II, it is also September the 1st which marks the start of the BER months and The proverbial ROAD TO CHRISTMAS! Keep on the lookout for fun SantaNanegans and showcases of upcoming Christmas clobber from the good to the bad and the downright weird! More posts on here to come and its been a long time coming.

As Post-Christmas-Blues remain in my household, I feel it is a great time to start blogging again with so much Santa activity to reflect on for the rest of 2017! One particular gig I have had my heart set on for a while came to reality last year as I took over as the school Santa for St John’s Primary in Keynsham.  From what I understand, my predecessor was a very jolly fellow and I hope that I did the school and he proud. Here’s a photo of the lovely classroom grotto I was in. And... Here’s the magic part. The 2 children in the photo are my own!!!. They still don’t see through the disguise and even when my hat fell off without realizing.  Being Santa in my town is like having a superhero identity, a registered one like Captain America. Now, Santa can’t fully operate as Santa without a great team to work with. The school PTA consisted of some very hard working and helpful elves who collectively made the event a festive success. Bravo to all. The school Christmas fair has become a new annual highlight for this Santa. I very much look forward to doing this again.

New boots are here #HoHoHo

Very nice of Hallmark to sort me out with the new Walking Dead Daryl Dixon Christmas Tree Ornament ahead of its October release #HoHoHo. More photos on Figured Out http://www.figuredout.org/2015/09/christmas-run-up-hallmark-daryl-dixon.html