Check out this year’s Christmas Card as drawn by the marvelous Mike Holmes of Mikenesses fame.  

I haven’t had much time to work on this project but I figured I would share this wonderful addition to the collection.  The misses had a baby on the 21st so next year we will have a new member on the card.  

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Rather than take a ridiculous family photo and send it out to family, friends and the random stranger we have decided to have a different artist draw our family.  Back in October I send Mr. Louie Chin a request to do the illustration for my family’s Christmas card. After knocking a few ideas around we decided to move forward on a Family Four inspired card and a big ‘ol group shot with its inspiration coming from the cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  They were both so damn awesome that we had them both printed up and sent them out. 

Do yourself a favor and go check out Louie’s incredible work for yourself!

Here is another wonderful Christmas cartoon.  This one is titled “Santa’s Surprise” and was released in 1947 out of Paramount’s Famous Studios under the Noveltoon moniker.  This toon holds some significance (apart from being awesome) as it was the debut of the long running character, Little Audrey.  Audrey is the red haired girl that that appears to be running this covert mission.  Little Audrey was a variation of the Little Lulu character whom was hugely popular at the time and featured in comics, cartoons & various toys.  Paramount decided not to extend its contact with Lulu creator Marjorie Henderson Buell and instead debuted the Little Audrey character in this seasonal toon.

You will certainly notice a horrible amount of stereotyping within this cartoon.  Just take a look at the little black boy and try not to be offended on at least three levels.  I am particularly taken with the dutch boy who seems to further the stereotype that the Dutch are very clumsy.  I, personally, have never heard this stereotype, but based on the other racially-based gags in this cartoon it must be true. 

Enjoy.

I love Christmas.  If it were possible I would marry Christmas and have little half Jon, half Christmas babies and celebrate the season all year round.  I wouldn’t be excited about changing little Christmas diapers but what a dream come true that would be.  No offense to my wife and children but c’mon.  Who wouldn’t want to marry a wonderful holiday (sorry Guy Fox day, you don’t count).

Way, way back in the long time ago I watched “Pee-wee’s Christmas Special” when it aired as a prime time special.  I still try to watch this special every year.  It has everything: Grace Jones, the Del Rubio Triplets, Fruitcake.  What more can one man want?  Part way through the special the King of Cartoons shows up and shares a (very) truncated version of a cartoon called “Christmas Comes but Once a Year”.  I spent years trying to track down the full version of this cartoon.  But being 10 years old and without the invention of the internet it was nearly impossible.  Years later I finally tracked it down and learned that it was a 1936 cartoon that came out of Fleischer Studios.

The story takes place on Christmas morning in an orphanage.  All the little kids wake up and sing a song about Santa Claus only to find that all of their gifts are complete garbage and break after a few minutes of play.  As they all lay on the floor crying (which makes my daughter very, very sad) the hero arrives in the form of Professor Grampy, inventor.  He completely tears the orphanage apart in order to create new toys for the children.  It is a phenomenally cool cartoon and one of my favorites for the holidays.  You may notice a very cool animation technique that came out of Fleischer Studios that used 3D models mixed with cel animation.