Johngy and ChrisM Spreadin' the cheer!

I spent the day on Monday bein' off work. You'd think that would lend itself to a day of rest and relaxation. Not exactly. As the holiday season approaches, the time has come for the annual "redding up" (as we Pittsburgh natives say) of the kids' outgrown toys. In case you aren't familiar with the vernacular, 'red up' means to 'clean up.'

The brightest portion of the day by far was mail call. The postman (I can say that because, well, he is a male) left two packages in the box. One was from Johngy and the other from ChrisM. Johngy must have spent a LONG time sifting through my 'wants' and 'haves' to come up with the spectacular vintage offering:

Those are '75 MINIs (a whole slew of 'em!) and quite a selection of 1971 Topps. Almost every single card he sent came off the 'need it' list. But, it didn't stop there:

MORE '75 Minis and a cool collection of 1970 Topps! If memory serves, ALL of these cards removed a check mark in the WANT category. You would think that would be all for one day, wouldn't you? Not Johngy:

The cards above represent several different years, makes, and models. And all (I believe all anyway) of them came from the 'not owned' list! I hadn't realized just how many 'base' cards from the 80's I actually need! That surprises me, given that was the height of my collecting until I got back into it after college... Weird. Thankfully, someone out there create blogging! Believe it or not, there are still more cards:

The cards above are all from the Traded or Tiffany Traded variety. As I mentioned before, I did not understand the difference until relatively recently, so my inventory of traded and Tiffany are a bit out of whack. These definitely filled holes in my collection!

In fact, if memory serves, out of all the cards he sent, less than a handful were cards I already had. In his defense, however, I noticed that some of those were in my 'to be filed' box (meaning I had only recently acquired them). Talk about your holiday spirit!! I'll have to work extra to try and even come close to matching it!

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And then to my wondering eyes did appear, but another package of holiday cheer! I read the return label, and ChrisM's what is says. Inside the envelope were TWO Victor Martinez!

Chris sent me a 2007 UD Masterpieces Captured on Canvas and a 2008 UD Masterpieces! I don't know about the rest of the card-collecting bloggers out there, but when the artwork on the Masterpiece cards is done right, it looks fantastic. Quite like little painted treasures. I also like the 'raised border' effect, like the cards are framed. These are great additions to my Tribe collection!

Thank you Johngy and ChrisM for a wonderful surprise after a hard day's work! You'll have something extra in your stocking this year, for sure!!

Don't forget, readers, the 2nd Annual "12 Days Giveaway" is happening now!