Awesome Christmas

It’s August and triple-digit temperatures outside for some of us, so the idea of watching a Christmas-themed short film seems a little premature. But we couldn’t resist sharing this charming holiday animation about a boy with very special powers. Directed by Philippe Tempelman for the a German supermarket chain Netto.

Domino master Lily Hevesh rings in the holidays with a series of Christmas-themed domino displays, including a giant pixel grid of Santa Claus, presents, ornaments, sleighs, and stockings. We’re guessing she had to stock up on extra red and green dominoes for this video.

If you believe in Santa Claus, you also must accept the notion that he somehow manages to deliver all of his presents around the globe in one night. Science Insider looks at the physical toll such a chore would take on Santa and his eight tiny reindeer each year.

Guitarist Charlie Parra del Riego knows how to celebrate Christmas with style. Turn your speakers up to 11 and enjoy as he shreds a very special heavy metal edition of Jingle Bells. We recommend adding this to your holiday playlist between the Bing Crosby and Burl Ives.

Nothing says Christmas like a 150-ton hydraulic press crushing things. To help us get into the holiday spirit, please enjoy this sequence of festive Christmas decorations, treats, and gifts being smashed into oblivion. This feels like it should be part of our Festivus celebrations after the airing of grievances.

Musician Nahre Sol performs a unique classical piano arrangement of The 12 Days of Christmas in which each verse gets progressively more and more modern. The performance starts out with the early 18th-century sounds of J.S. Bach and ends with an abstract 21st-century MIDI composition.

You know how you can improve your Christmas tree? Strap a rocket engine to it and launch it into the sky! It’s not quite as easy as that, as Xyla Foxlin, Joe Barnard, and a team of aerospace engineers show us with their insane holiday build. With 1000 newton meters, their tree definitely has more thrust than yours.

To celebrate the holidays, software engineer Scottbez1 built a miniature replica of a Nintendo Switch to hang on his Christmas tree. The 3D-printed model is roughly 1:5-scale with a working LCD screen that plays animated GIFs of Switch games and has tiny clickable thumbsticks.

To celebrate the holidays, JBV Creative cracked open a cold beer with his 3D-printed bottle opener. The mechanical wall art delivers both a Christmas greeting and a beer-drinkers’ greeting with a flick of the wrist. The 3D model is available free to JBV’s Patreon supporters, or you can buy the model from his website for $3.99.

Here’s a little Christmas song for the grammar and punctuation nerds out there. Enjoy as RamsesThePigeon sings an a cappella version of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, and plays around with the comma placement to explain why it goes where it does.

Your typical nutcracker does a pretty good job at pulverizing walnut shells. But Shane from Stuff Made Here wanted something that could crack a steel nut, so he put his engineering chops to good use and built this insanely powerful nutcracker that uses gunpowder to chomp down with more force than Jaws in Moonraker.

The talented vocalists of Eclipse 6 put together this great holiday-themed parody of Hamilton which recasts the part of Alexander Hamilton with a similarly brilliant outsider who will someday guide Santa’s sleigh. This story has a much happier ending too. (Thanks, Rob!)

The Paul McCartney and Wings song Wonderful Christmastime is one of our holiday playlist favorites. Musician Mike Tompkins puts his festive spin on the tune with an arrangement in which he performs not only the vocals but all of the instrumentation as well.

Designed to look like the ominous Borg Cube, this awesome advent calendar is packed with 24 quality Star Trek collectibles from Eaglemoss. Gifts include console screen drink coasters, Enterprise-D socks, a First Warp Flight commemorative espresso cup, and many other surprises.

There I Ruined It wants to Un-Ruin a Christmas by donating the proceeds from their holiday fundraiser to Toys for Tots. All you have to do is listen to their new and improved version of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas as performed by Dee Snider, then open up your wallet and give.

Start celebrating the holidays with this festive medley of Christmas classics performed entirely on brass instruments. Musician Scott Sutherland put together this warm dose of holiday cheer along with 229 tuba and euphonium players from 21 countries around the globe.

The American Museum of Natural History and OrigamiUSA celebrate the holidays with a truly unique Christmas tree. The 13-foot tree has been decorated with over 1,000 handcrafted origami models inspired by gems, minerals, sharks, whales, and dinosaurs on exhibit throughout the museum. Photos by D. Finnin / AMNH.

Looking for a unique idea for a Christmas tree? Woodworker TyeMadeIt shows off a tree he made by cutting 288 wooden stakes to different lengths then stacked them on a pole and twisted them. Since making the one shown in the video, he’s been commissioned to make custom ones for clients. Build video here.

Frostbeard Studios makes delightful candles for book lovers. For the Christmas season, they’ve created festive fragrances inspired by A Christmas Carol, Harry Potter, and the cozy Danish concept of Hygge. The collection incorporates warm and spicy scents like sugar plum, cinnamon, pine, fig, holly berry, and mistletoe.

Nicholas ‘Nico’ Martin took a MINI Electric and wrapped it in 2000 Twinkly LED smart lights. The festive electric car is touring various locations in the UK this holiday season, bringing cheer and helping to raise awareness and donations for three charitable causes: The MS Trust, Duchenne UK, and the Alzheimer’s Society.

Now that it’s mid-November, we figure it’s okay to start playing a little Christmas music. Let’s start off the festivities with this great instrumental cover of The Pogues’ cynical classic Fairytale of New York, performed beautifully by the Vitamin String Quartet. We love how the fiddle embodies the spirit of Irish folk music.

Gear up for the holidays with Garud’s tactical Christmas stockings. Each one has lots of locations for hanging stocking stuffers both inside and out, with four rows of MOLLE webbing, hooks, and a zipper pouch on its side. Available in a variety of colors as well as camouflage patterns. Includes a removable Velcro US flag patch.

Artist Scott Wilcock creates his freehand Snow Graffiti by spraying cans of fake snow onto windows. Watch as he creates a series of Halloween and horror-themed portraits, inspired by Edward Scissorhands, Hocus Pocus, and IT. Find more of Scott’s images on Instagram. The Mandalorian one is really incredible.