PLAYMOBIL, THE GATEWAY DRUG

According to Wikipedia:

The first Playmobil sets were themed around Native Americans, construction workers and knights. The first construction worker set included a wheelbarrow, a road roller, ten traffic cones, as well as three crates holding 18 bottles of beer. The German Ministry of Youth intervened in response to this set's packaging, which showed two Playmobil figures discussing their beer consumption (-"That's my fifth
bottle today." -"Don't worry, we've got enough beer.")[1]

Which brings us to the Playmobil nativity set brought home by Her Awesomeness for the kids. Check the size of the flagon the third wise man is hoisting there:

Duuuude. We saw the star and figured there had to be a totally sweet after-hours party or something!

This nativity scene isn't for the itty-bitty ones (<3)>

NO, SANTA'S NOT BRINGING YOU JARTS

The Cool Mom Picks Safer Toy Guide is out. Lovely stuff, too - and it's a handy dads' guide too since I'm the kind of Santa who's at the point where he'd give his kids a rusty chainsaw for Christmas long as it wasn't encased in an impermeable plastic bubble, sixty twist ties and a mile of packing tape.

ALSO, IF YOU DIDN'T NOTICE THERE TO YOUR RIGHT...

...the Boogershoppe is now up and running! Only a few items in there at the moment, things which my family already has and has found favor with, with the exception of that Genesis box set, for which I am furiously lobbying Santa Claus. You buy the stuff through me, same as you would through Amazon, at the same price regardless, and Amazon shows me a little bit of love. And therefore...

If there's something you'd like me to track down, drop a line via knockatize --at-- gmail --dot-- com and I'll try to find it and post it.

Also, for those of you trying to shop local, I'll be trying to get as much local stuff listed as possible in a local version of Boogershoppe, things that you can track down by heading to a Hudson Valley locally-owned store near you instead of to a jam-packed mall full of the sort of people who don't know better than to not walk three abreast in a mall corridor during the holiday shopping season. I'll have the local stuff up soon as I can teach myself the relevant geekery - and again, if you're a local merchant yourself drop me a line and I'll list you. If you've got graphics, what the heck, send them along and I'll try to fit them in. Free, at least until Xmas, while the space lasts.