Nostalgic G

Today, people all over the world celebrate the arrival of the three wise men at Bethlehem to worship baby Jesus. This is the last major event of the Christmas season. Unfortunately, not a lot of people in the U.S. outside of the Latin communities are very familiar with this celebration of the epiphany. Three Kings Day, celebrates the Biblical story of the three kings, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, who followed a star that led them to Bethlehem, where they brought baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The journey is believed to have taken 12 days, beginning on Dec. 25 and ending with their arrival on Jan. 6. O n the eve of Three Kings Day, children leave a shoebox filled with grass, sometimes accompanied by a glass of water or freshly polished shoes, under their bed or by the door to help the three kings and their camels along on their journey. When children wake up on the morning of Three Kings Day, the grass and water...

Toys 'R Us yearly Christmas items blowout sale starts today. All Christmas themed items, from Candy to Figures and everything in between will be markdown to 75% off. This is the time when I always pick up more Peanuts and Rankin Bass Holiday figures and playsets without having to pay the ridiculously high prices. If you've been wanting to pick up some holiday items that were originally too expensive now's the perfect time. You can display them in only 11 months!

As Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, explains in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, nothing about Christmas can be separate from "the veneration due to its sacred name and origin." This is what gives meaning to Scrooge’s resolution at the end of the story: "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." If there’s hope for mean old Scrooge, Dickens is saying, there must be hope for each of us. Or, as Tiny Tim would put it, "God bless us, every one!" Merry Christmas to all! Thanks for visiting the Nostalgia Factory!

When we think of classic Christmas movies we tend to remember It's a Wonderful life, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, and the many film adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Those are all beautiful stories brought to the screen in timeless productions that we revisit year after year, but there are so many other lovely Christmas films out there that for one reason or another have been forgotten over the years. A film no one ever really talks about when reminiscing about their favorite Holiday movies is one that I believe should be re-examined and every one who hasn't seen it should really do themselves a favor and check it out this Christmas season. I'm talking about Preston Sturges ' Remember the night. The film is a prefect combination of genres, working both as a touching drama and a heartwarming romantic comedy. The film Features a clever screenplay by the great Preston Sturges , and stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in their first film together. The story...

Many of us are very fortunate to have everything we need and so much more this Holiday season. There are many families that won't be able to put toys under the tree this year, but we can all help out. You can buy new toys to donate or give extra packaged items from your collection. Please help bring some joy to a child in need this Christmas. If you want to learn more about the Toys for Tots campaign or to find a drop off location in your community please visit their site now.

It's sort of become a tradition for my friends and I to watch Home Alone on Thanksgiving evening, or at least have it playing in the background at our yearly get together. Tonight we upheld our tradition. After watching the film again I started thinking of the Super Nintendo video game based on the first film which I got for Christmas the year it came out. Then I thought about all the stuff that came out during the release of the second movie which led me to the brilliant conclusion that I should write about all those goodies on tonight's Nostalgia Factory post. As a moderately budgeted family comedy Home Alone was not expected to be the gigantic financial success it went on to become. So when 20th Century Fox made preparations for the film's release they didn't have anything to draw in major tie in and merchandising partners to produce items for the film's release. Once the film opened to big numbers at the box office the story changed and THQ quickly drew up a dea...

It's odd that a symbol for speaking up against the commercialism of Christmas has actually become a mass produced item which pops up every holiday season in most stores. The pathetic little Christmas tree that Charlie Brown picks out at the tree market, for which he's made fun of by all his friends, has become an iconic image that millions have come to associate with the beloved character of Charlie Brown, his struggles and everything he stands for. We finally picked up the decorative replica of this little tree after seeing it in stores every Christmas season. It's a reminder of one of our favorite Holiday traditions, watching A Charlie Brown Christmas with our loved ones and smiling with great joy as Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang make us laugh, cheer and stop to remember the true meaning of the season . I'm glad that in a society which continues to try and veer away from the true meaning of Christmas we have a yearly reminder of what we should actually be ce...

Forever Fun , a company which has changed its name multiple times in the last five years has a new assortment of Peanuts toys and accessories for this Holiday season. Every year they offer a nice batch of poseable figures, mini figures and Christmas tree ornaments celebrating the classic Christmas special featuring good old Charlie Brown and Company. This year the assortment of poseable figures is back with new accessories as well as a new build a tree promo which basically steals the idea of DC Classics' buid -a-figure line by having each figure come with a bonus piece which once put together makes a big Christmas tree. This year's mini figures set focuses on the Christmas pageant nativity scene. Two new play packs featuring poseable figures of Linus & Sally and Lucy and Charlie also focus on the nativity scene by including the characters dressed up and accessorized as Mary, Joseph, Angels, and baby Jesus (Woodstock). Also in this year's assortment we get a couple...

If there is an actor that truly understands Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol its Patrick Stewart. After having played every single role in the text for more than ten years every Holiday season on Broadway, Stewart starred in one of the best film adaptations of the text in 1999 for the TNT cable network. I've never had the opportunity to see Stewart's one man show but those who have seen it say it's quite an intelligent and powerful performance. Last night I saw the movie version again. I hadn't seen it since it first aired ten Christmas seasons ago and I had forgotten how great this production is. Stewart is amazing as Scrooge. The scene were he has to witness his younger self letting the love of his life walk away is truly remarkable as we see Stewart powerless to change his past and painfully reliving one of the biggest regrets of his character's life. The film is full of great moments just like that one. It truly is a joy to watch Stewart take Scrooge throu...