Post Christmas 2012

Well, Christmas 2012 has come and went. Being a father these days, I tend to view Christmas much differently than I did as a child. As a kid, Christmas was HUGE. It was like the Mecca of all days. I remember the excitement that I used to feel when I’ve rush out to the living room to see what goodies Santa had brought the night before. As a dad, I try to make it my goal to recreate that same level of energy for my kids. It’s not easy with money being what it is, etc. It seems like no matter how much you do or how many gifts you get, it’s never enough. I’ve come to learn that while I might feel this way, the kids don’t. Most children are oblivious to things like finance and they don’t seem to be keeping a tally of gifts. Regardless, I decided to start early this year so I could maximize the number of gifts under the tree. My wife and I hit all the black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, and really snagged the best deals we could find.

All in all, my kids made out like bandits this year. As you can see from the pic above, the youngest got a HUGE cardboard castle and tons of various toys, the type that most four-year olds tend to enjoy.

My oldest, the gamer, received that Wii U that I mentioned a while back. I got him the white model (basic set) and a copy of the Scribblenauts Unlimited game. He also snagged a copy of Paper Mario: Sticker Star – courtesy of his mom. Both boys will also enjoy a little time away from the TV thanks to a new 14-foot trampoline. (Even gamers love to bounce).

As for me, my wife gave me a gift card for the PSN store. Which I promptly used to purchase some classic titles that were missing from my physical PS library. Namely, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil: Director’s Cut. On the PC front, I really hit the Steam holiday sale pretty hard and bought myself a few PC titles.

All in all, it’s going to be a lot of fun being the “8-bit Dad” in the coming year.

Now that my legacy Castlevania playthough is all done, I’ll be posting my first impressions of the Wii U. As well as, some updates to other things game-related, so stay tuned.

Merry Christmas to all my readers.