Dino Drac’s Countdown to Xmas!
Welcome to Dino Drac’s Countdown to Christmas! This feature will be updated daily (or close to daily) through December 25th, with some kind of holiday-related thingamajig. You never know what might turn up!
This one’s really for the old schoolers who prefer blogs to algorithmic timelines full of ads for dicey hair products. I won’t be plugging it often off-site. If this is up your alley, remember to check back often! (And visit After Dark and the Xmas Jukebox, too!)
12/12: Betty Crocker’s Eggnog Pie! (1965)
A classic recipe from Betty Crocker in the ‘60s, Fruit Cocktail Eggnog Pie was exactly what it sounds like – a pie made with whipped eggnog, topped with a ring of canned fruit cocktail.
I’ve seen similar magazine ads containing this recipe floating around social media, and the reactions are always mixed. I’m not even a pie guy, but I dunno, I think this looks pretty great? It has all the visual charm you’d want from a retro recipe, but there’s nothing off-putting about it, either.
Will I make it for the family Christmas party? I mean, I want to, but historically, what I want to bring to the Christmas party (crockpots of marinating cocktail franks, celery-stuffed Jell-O molds) and what I actually bring to the party (ten dollars’ worth of cookies bought five minutes before arriving) are very different things. But it’s a nice thought.
12/12: Dunkin’s Crystal Apple! (1983)
If you’re an active thrifter, you’ve probably seen this glass apple container more than once. Well, now you know where they came from!
For a multi-year stretch in the early ‘80s, Dunkin’ Donuts sold these gorgeous “crystal” apple jars, filled with thirty Munchkins. Since nobody wanted to toss a perfectly good glass jar, they hung around households for years after the Munchkins were finished. Hell, some of you probably still have one!
I just love the idea of turning up at a friend’s house on a Sunday morning, ready to demand coffee in trade for my Munchkin-filled apple. I’d be wearing my longest coat and a red scarf, because obviously, it’d be snowing outside. We’d eat donut holes, gossip about the neighbors, compare notes on how far we’ve gotten on our holiday shopping, and end the visit with some variation of, “If I don’t see you, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.”
12/11: TRU Christmas Dream Book! (1986)
Released annually for a few years, the Toys “R” Us Dream Book was a series of circulars that went out with Sunday newspapers. They were neither long nor thorough, serving up only small samplings of the particular year’s hottest toys.
The best part was always the cover. TRU’s Dream Books had amazing covers. This 1986 edition is fantastic… even if my heart says that it was created a year or two prior, for a different advertisement. Sticking a Coleco Robo-Force figure in the center made no sense otherwise. Those were on liquidation by Xmas of ‘86! I hate that I know this.
Inside were six pages’ worth of talking geese, laser guns, infants that grew like leafy vegetables, and of course, ThunderCats. Six pages, maybe eight, I don’t really remember. What’s important is this cover, featuring what must’ve been an especially large Christmas tree, given that the average height of a male giraffe is 17 feet.
12/10: Santa Barney Animation Cel! (1980s)
During last year’s Christmas feature, I showed you a genuine animation cel from the legendary Pebbles Cereal Christmas commercial, which played a gazillion times in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and was a huge part of my childhood. (And probably yours, too.)
Since then, I’ve managed to collect several other cels from that TV spot, including this gem. You’re looking at an animation cel of Barney Rubble RIGHT as he delivered his famous line, “Ho ho ho, I’m hu-hu-hungry!”
It just blows my mind to own literal pieces of that commercial, which meant so much to so many of us. Think about how insane that is. Any time you catch that commercial in one of the thousand YouTube Christmas compilations from here on out, know that several physical pieces of it are living here at Castle Dracula. WILD.
(If you’re wondering which other ones I found, I have a couple of Santa, a couple of Fred, one of Barney splatting down the chimney, and then another of Barney when he’s clinking spoons with Fred at the end of the commercial. Not bad!) Read More…
Dino Drac’s December Funpack is here!
Dino Drac’s December Funpack is here, and it’s stuffed with yuletide cheer. (And also chocolate!)
I think you’re gonna love this Funpack. It’s kinda like the perfect Christmas stocking, and the lead item is seriously to-die-for. More on that in a minute!
Subscriptions are currently maxed out, but I have a small number of spares that I can sell on an individual basis. The cost is $25, and that includes shipping to anywhere in the United States. If interested, scroll to the bottom to see if there are any left!
Now, in the immortal words of Kuni from UHF, let’s see what’s in the box! Read More…