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Nerds thrive on holidays. National, spiritual, birthdays, plain-ol' special occasions... those are special days of the year for the purveyors of nerd-dom. Sure, they are for most kids; who doesn't love presents? But for a nerd it means a chance at receiving something that indulges the obsession that qualifies you for nerdiness. These are the days when parents think "Oh, what the heck... we can the kid that (Dreamcast/Monster Manual III/Legends of the Dark Knight series/Shards of Alara box set/Voyager Season 4/Beast Wars Optimus Primal action figure/C++ primer/Miroku plushie... I could go on). We don't indulge him/her all the time, since that crap is expensive, but it is a holiday." No matter what you believe in, a holiday is a time when a nerd might finally get that one thing they crave for their collection and have the time off from school or work to play with it for hours.
No matter what you might think of holiday commercialization, when you're a kid there's something truly magical and getting something that you just love to death. And for me, and I imagine you too, the realization of those hopes and desires were what made the holiday memories last. In my nerdy life, one Christmas in particular sticks out.
That morning I went downstairs as excited as a young kid who knows he's getting presents (because I was), still believing in fat, crimson-clad toymakers who defy the laws of physics. As usual, gifts were strewn about the bright, colorful tree, stacks of cubic multicolored paper swaddling precious, precious material goods. My parents, on whom my brother and I pounced on at 8:00 AM sharp (the earliest we were allowed to wake them), walked bleary-eyed towards the tree, their excitement somewhat dampened by the "early hours." Also because my brother and I were too young to have a non-allowance income, meaning that most of the presents were not for them. But they were for me, and that's what mattered.
My brother and I tore open every gaudy box presented to us, overjoyed at each new thing that emerged from the ribbon-spangled, tape-sealed chyrsalises. I don't remember everything I got that year (or any year, for that matter), but I remember when we reached a larger box with both of our names on it. Our tastes being as different as young brothers' can be, we usually received separate presents so we weren't expected to share. A gift for both of us was rare. And rare meant good.
It was a Gamecube, the latest and greatest Nintendo console. I was already a Nintendo fanboy, complete with a subscription to Nintendo Power (may it rest in peace) and in possession of the aging N64. So you can imagine that nothing excited me as much as the purple cube in the box. With it, came two controllers and four games: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Pikmin, and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader. My mind was blown. I asked for one, but I never imagined that I would get one. Amazing. Incredible. Wondiferous. Superberbolic. No words, real or fake, could describe how happy I was with my new toy. Both my brother and I were tempted to stop opening presents for a few hours so we could start gaming, but we were told that it would have to wait. But when we finally got to that moment, it was oh so sweet. Hours of beating on each other in Melee (the best SSB, hands down), grinding the ramps of THPS3, shooting down TIE fighters in Rogue Leader, and... well, I still haven't beaten Pikmin. It was one hell of a Christmas, and it could not have meant more to a nerdy 12-year old boy.
At this time of year, we tend to remember not just the past year, but all of them. In that spirit, we at the N3rd Dimension hope that, no matter what you celebrate, your memories are wonderful ones. Especially if those memories involve nerdy crap. So Merry Christmas. And Happy Hannukah. Happy Kwanzaa. Have a jolly Solstice. Revel in Saturnalia. Happy Candlenights. Be festive this Festivus. Game on through Winter-een-mas. Stuff yourself at the Feast of Winter Veil. Celebrate the Doctor Who Christmas Special (a holiday onto itself). Have a splendid Calibration. Hail the Prophets at the Gratitude Festival. Smoke some Old Toby on Yule. Rejoice in the Snowdown Showdown. Happy Hogswatch. And may you finally receive that signed, first-edition Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone because you've been telling everyone that you reallyreallyreallyreally want it.
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You can read all this and more at the N3rd Dimension!
