[wdwfan]

Man, great stories by all. Love reading about these types of things. So much better than scammers, thiefs, etc., what we usually read about on these boards.

Here's my Christmas story...

It was 1987, and I was 12 years old. I hadn't collected any type of cards prior to this Christmas. I watched and listened to baseball with my dad, but I was into video games and the such.

So that Christmas Eve, my grandmother gave me a 1987 Topps complete set (the green box at Christmas). She and I sat there and opened it, and we started going through all of the cards. We'd read the stats on the back, see where they were from, find players from my team (the Rangers).

We spent time going through that set, even after Christmas when we'd be at their house eating or visiting. I loved that box of cards. It was like my carbine action 200 shot range model air rifle. I finally broke down and put that set into a binder so I could flip through it more easily. But I never got rid of that box. I still have it to this day.

Fast forward to 2010, and my grandmother passed away in February of that year. My wife and I have a picture of her displayed in our cabinet in our living room. Right beside that picture is that 1987 Topps box. It's empty because the set is still in my closet in the notebook. But I still have both to this day, and I don't ever plan on getting rid of them, even though they're only worth about $5.

Oh, and Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of my favorite all-time games simply because that's what we'd sit around and play at Christmas at my grandmother's house when it came out.