All I got for Christmas was a chance to beef up my site content.

"It's a Pagan holiday, Charlie Brown."

This blog's still in its early stages, so just bear with me while I fiddle about with posting links, editing images, and giving readers more lists of things to skim through for their/my amusement.

Anyway, I hope everyone reading this had a kickin' rad Christmas/whatever holiday you celebrate/honestly, it's probably Christmas, right? I know I did. Honestly, this was one of the better Christmases in memory for me. I didn't sit around bored all day in a silent room with a silent family, since now that I'm in college suddenly my relatives and I have things to discuss. It's always good to see aunts and grandparents and cousins and a great aunt? whose name I can't remember (but it's alright, I don't think she knew mine either).

More importantly, because I am a child, I got an excellent heap of presents. "But Cameron, that's not what Chri-" yes it is. I am an agnostic raised by church-going protestants who never discuss religion. This is not a religious holiday for the Schimmels, it is a spend-your-money-on-your-family-and-get-things-in-return day. It's a birthday for everyone. Note: This is not a bad thing, and as the comic above points out, Christmas as we celebrate it was never that Christian to begin with.

Anyway, because I'm thrilled with what I got this year and anxious to develop content for this site, no matter how pointless, here're some of the nicer things my parents, brother, and other relatives got me.

Gummy Bears

These puppies were so important that they were on the outside of the wrapping when I got them Christmas Eve. Take a look, these are gen-you-ein Haribo Gold Bears. That's the quality stuff.

Comic Books

Specifically, trade paperbacks of "Y: The Last Man," "The Walking Dead" and "Fables." All very good reads, and all very different stories. I would recommend any of them to a non-comic reader because they are simply good stories. Also, kudos to my parents and uncle for hunting down comics for me.

Modern Guilt on vinyl

My brother picked this out for me. Great album, a fine addition to my vinyl collection, and it even comes with a free download of the entire album. I don't need the download, but there's no sense letting it go to waste, so it's yours if you want it, first person to read this who wants it.

"Up" on DVD and an iTunes card (spent)

I drained that card of it's monetary value the instant I got it, and am now the proud owner of "Twin Cinema" by the New Pornographers. Not much to say here. Good movie, good music, thought I'd share.

The Greatest Gift of All Time

On Monday, I went to Toys R Us and saw these guys among the other equally-awesome Toy Story toys. I picked up the box and just kind of stared at it, stunned and impressed that someone bothered to make movie-size-accurate Pizza Planet Aliens, when a mother came up behind me and informed me as to how much they cost (too much to justify purchasing myself). She considered buying them for her son, who loves the movies, and I admitted that I, a 19-year-old college student, wanted them for myself. I had grown up with the characters and first saw the movie in theaters at age six. We had a nice, brief discussion about how great the movies are and went on our ways. Later I told my mother about how awesome and expensive the Aliens were, and by the end of the week they were wrapped and under the tree.

This is an excellent gift for two reasons: First, just look at them. They don't squeak, but I prefer it that way because the plastic's of high-quality and they're otherwise just like in the movie. They even come with a certificate of authenticity. Second, I never would have bought this for myself, and those are always the best kind of gifts. Whether they're too silly or expensive to justify spending your own money on, or special and unique enough that you didn't know you wanted it, the best gifts for me have always been the ones I didn't ask for, at least not sincerely.

So that's this year's Christmas for me. I'm visiting my grandmother tomorrow and will likely get another DVD or comic or something, but I'm more than happy with this year's haul already. If I could even pretend that I had readers, I'd ask you to share your holiday stories in the comments section, but I don't have readers, so you can't. Happy New Year, and expect a bigger, better blog come January.

Oh, and I also got this awesome chocolate bar called the "firecracker," with chipotle, popping candy, and other appropriate things, and a bottle of Mexican Coke, with real sugar. Delicious.