Random Thoughts on Christmas

• Two year olds have a limit on the number of presents they will open. Four year olds do not.
• One of the best gifts the entire family has enjoyed (together) is 40 Years of Sesame Street on DVD. It's fun to relive a lot of those classic animations, characters, and episodes. Highlights include the Ladybug Picnic and the Song of One.
• I'm beginning to think Sesame Street may be responsible for a lot of my liberal viewpoints. There's a lot of songs and segments about everyone being equal.
• Toy manufacturers today use way too many "security precautions." In the past week, I've spent literally hours untwisting wires that are used to prevent shoplifting. I understand that the shoplifting of toys is a problem, but I think they've gone overboard just a little bit. I wonder how many wire lobbyists there are in the world.
• We love great grandma Lee. We love that she bought our children some wonderful DVD movies for Christmas. But, I hate the Disney "Buddy" movies. It started with the Air Bud series of sequels revolving around one golden retriever. Now they have an entire bunch of movies about the "buddies," which are just a group of puppy versions of Bud. Santa Buddies save Christmas - weird, lame, left me with a feeling that there was something strange going on just under the surface of the story, like it was about something totally different. Perhaps it was an art film I just didn't understand. The "Christmas Icicle" made me sad on various unintended levels.
• Movies I did like: The Hangover was funny and raunchy. I liked Superbad better. J.J. Abrams' Star Trek was just as good on DVD. My wife even liked it, and she hates the original Star Trek even more than I do. District 9 was a gem. It's a great sci-fi flick with strong commentary on humanity's love of greed and cruelty. 500 Summers is a movie every young romantic should see, not because it's romantic, but because it's more realistic.
• Apparently the HP (Hewlett Packard) company doesn't see the benefit in making their digital video cameras Mac compatible. Instead of creating MPEG files, they produce outdated Windows Video files. It seems like they'd go with something more universal, but what do I know about running companies? I thought more customers was better for the company. Luckily, my dad bought the camera from QVC, so they'll happily take it back.
• Large, fuzzy pajama pants are all the rage this year. I got two pair from two different people. My brothers both got the same thing from totally different people. They're big. They're fuzzy.