WHOA!!!! Santa has been busy this year..... Santa is an excellent detective... Santa is a VERY generous, and spent a lot of time (someone once said love is spelled T-I-M-E!!) on the detecting, gathering, wrapping (gotta admit, it smells like Ms. Claus helped here and probably overall too) and shipping of my wonderful gift haul. I'm absolutely stunned at the generosity and specificity of the things I was sent..... Check it out.....
I'm a big hockey fan. Grew up liking the North Stars (Minnesota waaaay before the Wild), as I really liked Neal Broten from the '80 Olympic Team. And they had this fiesty rookie named Mike Modano top go along with Dave Gagner, Jere Lehtinen, Dino Cicarelli and the boys.... And as luck would have it, 3 years after I moved to Dallas, so did the North Stars.... Becoming the Dallas Stars.... Who won the Stanley Cup in 1999... My Santa knew of this passion and got me a stellar Stars hat and a logo'd Stars puck. Both which will go nicely downstairs with my autographed Brett Hull Jersey!! (Bah, no skate in the crease, Buffalo fans, give it up, it's been 20 years, lol, we win, we win!!) Thank you, Santa, so perfect.
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Santa also knows my biggest passion of all, the Seattle Seahawks. Been a fan since 1976, when I was 8. My Dad's team was the Vikings, so I needed my own team. The Bucs and Hawks came into expansion that year, and I wasn't a huge fan of the orange Bucs, but I really dug the Seahawks helmet and logo. So they became my team, and I now and forever bleed silver and blue. The last 10-15 years have been great from my fan perspective, because in the 80's and 90's, I mostly got, "Why the Seahawks, dude?" and "you're literally the only Seahawk fan I've ever met." Those were tough decades- I think we won like 5 games in the 80's (kidding, but not much). But Santa reeeeally came through here. I have a TON of Hawks memorabilia, but none of these....
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Wrist bands!!! These are sweet!! I will wear these at work on Sundays for sure!! (I run a restaurant and it gets HOT in there. Perfect for wiping the brow!) Thank you Santa!!!
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Tough to see up there, but those are wrist bracelets. The silicone, stretchy ones. I wear these things all the time at work. First ones I remember having were the Livestrong ones from Lance Armstrong (not the first, but first ones I remember), but these are amazing and will get used forever..... Santa smart!!
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This pic is right above my computer... Amazingly enough, I did NOT have a Seahawks mouse pad (hanging on locker room sign in middle).... But now I do!! How effing schweet, and absolutely perfect. Thanks again, Santa!!
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I also did not possess any newer Seahawk coasters. Now I have some completely sweet gun metal logo coasters, and some really cool, and authentic Century Link, errr, Lumen Field coasters. I have some with the old Kingdome, now I have a complete set of both stadiums! Schwiggity sweet! Santa (and Ms. Santa) are amazingly spot on.
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A new Seahawks Trivia book!!! Filled with super "deep dive" personal, professional and quirky trivia tidbits of Seahawks past and present. I know just about everything about the Hawks, and their history, but this book has really cool stuff in it that I didn't know. And my wife is enjoying stumping me on stuff and giving me a hard time about it. "See? You don't know everything about the Seahawks. You're NOT the world's biggest Hawks fan, haha." Hey!! Santa got this for me, babe, not for you to give me sh-t with!! LOL. Thanks Santa, nailed it again.
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Not the greatest pic with the sun, but a fresh new Seahawks throw (and as I age, I get colder as "cold" is just "old" with a "c" in front!!) to keep me warm when I get chilled. As you can see, one of my pups is also curious, and loves blankets. I think he just wanted to make sure to point out the new present. Attaboy, Tug! You never cease to amaze, Santa. Excellent choice!
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Now, while in sports, my passions are absolutely Seahawks and Stars, the biggest overall passion I have in my life is Batman. I have an absolutely huge collection of Batman paraphernalia, stretching over 45 years of collecting.... Santa (heeeeeey, ever thought about how you've never actually seen Santa and Batman together in the same room..?..?) got me something I didn't even know existed... Bat insignia ICE CUBE tray!!!! Holy hell, Batman, those will be perfect while playing my Batman DE, my Batman DK, and my newly acquired Batman 66!! (Yes, Santa, by next year I will re-acquire a Batman Forever and have one helluva quartet. There will be a nice Bat corner/Shrine made when I get the forth and final bat pin.)
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And last, but definitely not least.... Definitely not least, Holy Mary, Mother of God, look at this haul..... Growing up in Dallas/Fort Worth, we had a local wrestling show, WCCW (World Class Championship Wrestling)... It featured many guys that went on to the WWF. Kerry Von Erich, (and his brothers David and Kevin and Dad, Fritz), the Free Birds, Gentleman Chris Adams, Bruiser Brody, and yes, this guy, Hacksaw Jim Duggan always with his 2 x 4.... HOOOOOOOOOEEEE!!!!!
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But here is the one that left me absolutely stunned as to how Santa could have known. Now, mind you, while some of these guys "graduated" to national wrestling, these guys were only well known and famous in DFW. There was a couple seasons where a new character, Kubuki, came on the scene. He was Japanese, and his persona was an acid spitting, martial arts expert shaman, and he basically was the arch enemy of Fritz Von Erich, and therefore Kerry, David and Kevin too. This led to some great shenanigans for a couple seasons, and the "foreigner/tribal shaman" thing was so popular, the WCCW came up with a new character. Kamala, the Ugandan Giant in 1983. He was a 7 foot giant of a man, and dressed like an aboriginal chief and stomped around a lot, wearing just his tribal loincloth. I can't remember for sure, but I think he may have had a brief stint in the WWF (propelled by his WCCW success and popularity). Then of course, there was a season where Kubuki and Kamala were at odds. Great stuff. Fond memories. I cannot for the life of me figure out how Santa was able to reference Kamala. I'm sure I've posted about Batman... Seahawks... and even the Stars.... but this wrestling stuff from the WCCW. Amazing. One could even say Hacksaw was a "lucky guess" as he gained (and still a little) some national notoriety for his patriotic presentation. But Kamala..?..? What the, how the, it's baking my noodle. Santa, you're the man. Words cannot express how thankful I am from the kindness of a person I do not even know. The time this took to research, put together, order, wrap, sent..... flawless execution, and so far above the expectation I am just speechless.
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In closing, I would just like to say thanks sooo much, Santa. With the way the world and people have become, this is so inflating, motivating and restores some of the faith in humanity I have not felt for a little while. I did follow your lead, and because I am blessed to be able, I really hooked up my Santa recipient and paid it forward. I'm terrible about being curious, so I must admit, I did "figure out" who you are and will be forver grateful. I'll never forget this Christmas, nor this gesture of human faith and kindness. I truly hope you have the best Christmas ever with your family in Florida. Tell Mrs. Claus thank you for helping wrap these wonderful gifts (I'm sure she did a lot more than wrap too!). Thank you both for filling the heart of this "getting a bit bitter" old man with love, hope, kindness and joy. Merry Christmas to you, your wonderful family and all of pinside.