2025-2026 Topps Basketball Holiday Mega Box

25-26 Topps Holiday:  Merry Christmas!  Jaylen Brown is having a career year.  With all the roster turnover and injuries, he's shown he can carry a team.  Surprisingly, to me anyway, the Celtics are top 4 in the Eastern Conference and Brown is the reason why.  He's averaging 29/6/4 while shooting 36% from three.

Reminiscent of 1982 Topps the Holiday flair brings some pizzaz to the 2025 Topps Basketball design.  Great pull in this box.  Nikola Jokic is leading the league in assists and rebounds and I believe he is having another MVP season.  At age 37 Steph and KD are having historic seasons for their age.

All three of these rookies are having good years with VJ Edgecombe and Derik Queen standing out.

Topps gives us horizontal shots, and this one is tons of fun.

My parallels include Blue Metallic Glitter Parallel, Light Blue and White Glitter Parallel and Glitter Parallel.  You can feel the "glitter" as it feels sprinkled on the card.

My Holiday Relic.  Khaman Maluach is seeing minimal time on the court with the Suns.

Another great photo on that Dalton Knecht card.  Deni Avdija is having a career year in Portland averaging 25 PPG, 7 RPG, and 6 APG while shooting 36% from deep.

That Cedric Coward is my SP Image Variation that comes 1:23 packs (there are 10 packs in a Mega Box).  You get one SP per Mega Box.  An easy way to determine if you have a variation is the code on the back.  Below are the codes.

Base Set — 997
Image Variations — 039
Back Variations — 040
Hidden Elf — 042

My Oversized Diecut Ornament.  I like it.  Nice holiday design.

Some big man love.

Another nice horizontal card.

I really like that Trae Young photo and card.  And I did get a Cooper Flagg.  He's having a good first year in Dallas.  I'm glad I picked this box up.  It was fun.  I hope Santa was good to you all this Christmas.

BREAKDOWN:
100 – Total Cards
20 – RC
7 – Glitter Parallels
1 – Holiday Relic
1 – SP Image Variation (1:23)
1 – Oversized Diecut Ornament
1 - Blue Metallic Glitter Holiday 
1- Light Blue and White Glitter Holiday 

Christmas Holiday Movies Watched This Holiday Season

I always enjoy this time of year watching holiday classics and new releases.  It was a busy holiday season for us, so my list is small but still fun.  How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Christmas Carol are my go-to favorites right now.  I did see Red One in the theaters and sat and watched White Christmas with pop.  I must have been a kid last time we watched a holiday movie together.  I watched Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, for the first time.  It's not all Christmas but enough and a fun watch.  I hope everyone has a great Christmas day!

 

Red One (In Theater)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
A Christmas Carol (1999) w/Patrick Stewart
Holiday Inn
White Christmas
The Muppets Christmas Carol

Klaus

Santa Claus 2

Random Wax: 2022 Donruss Football Holiday Blaster

2022 Donruss:  I always enjoy holiday boxes.  Unfortunately, Panini didn't add snow or holiday related bling to these.  Disappointed but I still appreciate the cards.  My all-time favorite player in the NFL kicks it off.  John Elway had a cannon for an arm and finished his career with two straight Championships.

I do like this design.  It's a little different but the photos are good.

Jermaine Johnson made the Pro Bowl this year.

Some great players in the league but Myles Garrett is the only player still with the same team.

We do get the Rookie Sweaters relic which gives us some holiday feels.  I like Franchise Futures and that Christian Watson is an Optic Rated Rookie Preview Red and Green Parallel.

Does feel like we only get the players in the photos.  Sometimes it's better when we can see an actual play as opposed to just the players in frame.

Donruss 2002 and 1992s throwbacks.  I do like the 2002 design though the player name is hard to read.

I love retired greats and we get some of the best here.  I love them and that's a big part of Donruss for me.  Great Warren Moon photo too.

BREAKDOWN:
90 – Total Cards
12 – Rated Rookie
10 – Retired Greats
1 – RC
1 – Donruss 2002
1 – Donruss 1992
1 – Franchise Future
1 – Rookie Holiday Sweater Relic
1 – Optic Rated Rookie Preview Red and Green

Christmas Holiday Movies Watched This December

 

The holidays are a fun time of the year for movies.  I always try to watch as many as I can.  It's also difficult with all the sports going on as well as family commitments.  I was able to watch the classics Rudolph and Frosty with my youngest grandson who'd never seen them.  Maybe my highlight this year.  A Christmas Carol and How the Grinch stole Christmas are my go-to Christmas movies of late though Arthur Christmas isn't far behind.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Frosty the Snow Man
The Grinch (2018)
Klaus
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
The Muppets Christmas Carol
A Boy Named Christmas
Home Alone
A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart)
Arthur Christmas

Random Wax: 2023 Topps Holiday Mega Box

2023 Holiday Mega:  Merry Christmas!  I hope Santa was good to you today.  This is my second holiday mega box.  These are fun and this one paid for itself with this 1999 The Santa Archives insert.  The odds for these are 1:161 mega boxes.  Can't beat that and it's perfect for today.

I'm a fan of the 2023 Topps design and they did well not holding back with the holiday version.  That snow sticks out and that's what you want.  No doubt these are Topps' holiday cards.  Look at how excited Shohei is about the snow...and his gazillion dollard contract he signed with the Dodgers.

Youngsters including NL Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll who helped the D-Backs make an improbable run to the World Series.

These are my two SP inserts from my box.  I enjoy the addition of holiday "apparel" to the photos.

My game-used relic.

No complaints with my pull.  Plenty of great players.

Ozzie and the Braves ended on a sour note after a season where they put up historic offensive numbers.  As long as their pitching staff can stay healthy there's hope they can again be a top contender in the NL.

Speaking of the Braves.  Acuna Jr. took home the season MVP but Corey Seager, more importantly, took home the World Series MVP and helped Texas win a championship.  I was happy to see them take home their first.

Hall of Fame career right there.

Die Cut Ornament insert.

Fun box of cards.  My pull was great and I enjoy the design and the holiday season.  I hope you have a fun day.

BREAKDOWN:
100 – Total Cards
30 – RC
5 – Metallic Parallel
2 – SP
1 - Relic
1 – Topps Rookie Cup
1 – Die Cut Ornament
1 – RC/Topps Rookie Cup
1 - The Santa Archives (Odds: 1:161 Mega)

2023 Topps Baseball Holiday Mega Box

2023 Holiday:  Happy Thanksgiving!  This guy has much to be thankful for.  He'll get a ton of money this offseason.  And he deserves it.  Guys like this don't exist.  You see the Santa hat which means this is one of the two SP cards I pulled.

These hit the shelves this month and are always fun.  This year's Topps design is already a good one.  Add a holiday take with snow and it's a win.  I do like it.  Topps doesn't shy away from this being a holiday set.  I want to see the snow and we definitely do on these.

Nice Julio and Volpe pulls.  That Meneses is Metallic Parallel.  Youngsters made up 45 of the 100 cards in this box.

Excited to pull this Acuna relic.

Only 200 cards in this set so your pull should usually be a pretty good one.

No word yet on whether or not Zack Greinke will retire but that doesn't have to keep us from enjoying a look at some of the great stats he's put up over his career.

Another SP with that Joey Votto (candy cane bat) who is also at a turning point in his career after being released by Cincy.  A guide to the variations can be found here.

Gotta have ornaments for those folks putting up their Christmas tree this weekend.

Votto had a stellar career with the Reds.

These are fun and I look forward to them.  Pretty good box I think.  And Cutch is excited for some turkey.  Let's do it!

BREAKDOWN:

100 – Total Cards

37 – RC

5 – Metallic Parallel

4 – Topps All-Star Rookie

4 – Topps All-Star Rookie/RC

2 – SP

1 - Relic

1 – Die Cut Ornament