The Part-Time Grinch in Me!

Don't get me wrong! I love Christmas and all that is related to it but...

I sure hate the crowds at every store, restaurant and shopping mall!

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

I am a sucker for Christmas music. I love to listen to the great Yuletide classic songs over and over again, may it be with different artists or even the same version repeatedly. It doesn't matter. I love it! But of course, after the 25th of December, I erase the Xmas playlist and wait for the next year to do it all over again!

CHRISTMAS SEASON IS HERE!

The undeniable signs of Yuletide are too obvious to ignore...since October!

Signs that tell you Christmas is over!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

CHRISTMAS WISHES FROM LAUREL & HARDY

My Yearly Christmas Wish

My Christmas Music Playlist Is At Full Throttle Now!

Every year, I like to play my favorite Yuletide music hits at Christmas time!

 Of course to me, the best Christmas music is the one that brings back memories of long ago, when I was a kid waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. (Yeah, that long ago!)   These are the songs that take me back to those bygone days when the spirit of Christmas was quite different from today,  so you won't find any songs by Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Justin Bieber or any of the other current pop stars here!

Now This Is What I Call Christmas!!!!

CHRISTMAS SEASON 2023

Good news for everyone except your wallet!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

MY CUTTING EDGE ELF

 

My Elf On The Shelf thought he'd cut to the chase with this year's pranks!

THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN

Five seconds after this image, I was eating a knuckle sandwich!

Christmas Greetings from Inspector Clouseau and me.

Just a reminder of those long gone days when I used to write and draw comic book stories featuring

  The Inspector for Novaro publishers. Thought it'd be a nice touch to include him in my Xmas card. I think Inspector Clouseau was my favorite comic book character, even on top of The Pink Panther during my time working in the comics business.

JOSKE'S DEPARTMENT STORE IN THE 1960s

Back in the 1960s, during Christmas, my family would hit the road and travel from Mexico City to San Antonio, Texas with the express purpose of doing some gift shopping and to spend Christmas there as well. We usually returned home on the 26th to celebrate the New Year back at home. Joske's was the main destination of our shopping days and visiting the toy department was a dream come true for us young tykes. I can still remember the toys I found there and the many hours we spent browsing through the aisles in wonderment.

The wonderful toy department at Joske's!

I bought these two at Joske's Toy Department around 1963.

Starting in 1960, kids at the Joske's store downtown would wait for their turn with Santa Claus in Fantasy Land, a 16,000-square-foot holiday-themed maze.

Santa's Fantasy Land!

The huge Christmas Santa at Joske's.

We stopped traveling to San Antonio by 1970 as we all grew older and pursued other holiday destinations but I never forgot those nostalgic days when I looked forward to the great San Antonio adventure at Christmas time!

In 1987, Joske’s was sold to Dillard’s, which occupied the building until 2008 when it was purchased and later occupied by the Rivercenter shopping mall. The building is part of the National Register of Historic Places-listed and City of San Antonio Alamo Plaza Historic District and is an individual City of San Antonio local landmark.