Happy Holidays from Panini America!

Join Tracy Hackler and Scott Prusha for a very special holiday greeting from Panini America. Oh, and those 12 boxes of sweet sports cards you see are not just there for decoration. They're gifts that you can win by sharing your favorite sports card holiday memories as a comment to this post.

Join Tracy Hackler and Scott Prusha for a very special holiday greeting from Panini America. Oh, and those 12 boxes of sweet sports cards you see are not just there for decoration. They’re gifts that you can win by sharing your favorite sports card holiday memories as a comment to this post.

Here’s wishing everyone out there a tremendous holiday season filled with fun, family and Panini America trading cards.

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92 Replies to “Happy Holidays from Panini America!”

  1. My favorite holiday collecting memory was when I would get those large plastic candy cane shaped tubes filled with random packs of cards. There would be a mix of baseball, basketball, football, with a little bit of hockey, and a few weird packs, like racing or even some of the college packs (Notre Dame, Michigan State, etc.). Never really got anything mind blowing and it was pretty much a mix of junk packs from previous years but as a beginning collector around 8 or 9, it was simply awesome.

  2. I am a huge Pens fan, born and raised in Pittsburgh. A few years ago on Christmas day, I pulled a Mario Lemieux Autographed 3 color jersey #/25 from a box my Dad and Mom bought me. Seriously the best Christmas present ever!

    Happy holidays and Go Pens!

  3. I don’t have many associated with Christmas, but one I would have to say is when I got two boxes of baseball cards in the late 1980s. It was awesome to have so many packs at once.

  4. my favorite memory has to be, last yr during christmas i always meet the owner of the card shop i go to in grapevine tx. and we always but a box of cards together. well at the time i had been hooked on 09-10 rc and stars basketball and the day before had just busted a case of it, and was joking with him that i would not quit opening that product until i hit a dirk auto out of that product. (cause i had just seen the patch auto version online of dirk) well before walking out of the store the owner scott tells me hey lets play a round of box poker where who ever has the best card wins everyones boxes. which is a huge risk reward!!!!
    so we start busting and right away scott hits a jennings patch auto, so im getting flustered thinking there is a 100 bucks down the tube, but little behold i saved the thick pack till the end, and crazy enough it was a 4 clr logo patch auto out of 25 of DIRK!!!!!!

    so that def has to be one of my favorite holiday card moments. cant wait to see what kind of stories are out there. Thanks again panini for making great cards and having great service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    kevin

  5. Back in 1990, I was 10 and Leaf had just come out for baseball. I had just started collecting cards and was all about picking up Frank Thomas cards. That Christmas, my parents got me a box of Leaf (this was unheard of at the time amongst my friends). I tore through that box and got Thomas somewhere near the end of the box. Needless to say, I had THE card and my friends were jealous.

    I recently found out that my wife and I are expecting our first child. I hope to be able to have such card collecting memories with my child when he/she gets old enough.

  6. My favorite would be when I was a kid, getting those assorted packs from the local store because we couldn’t afford expensive hobby boxes. Multi-sport, and mad fun to bust as a kid.

  7. I just came back from my in-laws and they got me a box of 2010 nfl rookies & stars for christmas ! its the first time anyone has got me any trading cards for christmas so that was cool !

  8. My favorite sports card memory definitely comes from last christmas. I got my younger brother a Mike Wallace jersey since it was his favorite player at the time, along with a couple packs of cards just an assortment of products just as a little extra. What else did he find in those packs other than a mike wallace autographed card which made him jump and fall off of his chair. (He looked like me when I pulled my first Crosby!) Moments like that are what this hobby is all about, and it lets everyone feel that much closer to our favorite sports teams and players. Its great to see others especially your younger brothers or sisters enjoy it as much as you do and makes Christmas the most satisfying time to give some of your collection to others who you know would enjoy as much, if not more, than you do.

    Thanks again guys and a Merry Christmas,

    Sean

  9. I remember I was breaking a box of 2010-2011 Rookies and Stars Basketball. I broke 21 packs and only got a DeShawn Stevenson jersey card. I was furious and was about to comlpain about not getting all 4 hits in a box. I break the next pack, and BOOM! John Wall Gold Patch Auto #/25! Best pull of my life just this holiday season. Thanks Panini! Favorite card in my whole collection.

  10. My favourite memory happened just this evening…..opened a box of 2010-11 Certified Hockey…a total HOTBOX…..platinums galore….a Mike Cammaleri gold platinum /25….Zach Boychuk green auto #5/5…..and a sweet SHIRT OF MY BACK dual jersey of Iginla & Crosby!! My very first HOTBOX!!

  11. I have 2 short ones, my first was about 7 years ago and my uncle who got me into collecting had went to a show in KC, MO and got me one of my favorite players autos. It was a jhonny Bench auto and he put his HOF under it, and to this day it is still one of the best looking signitures in my opinion.
    My second is from just a couple of hours ago, my wife gave me a really nice display case for a MMA glove I personally received from Justin Wren (A good ol’ Texas boy I may add) right after he won a big fight in Omaha, NE. He is a great guy and really reaches out and is one of the classiest people I have ever met. Thanks for letting me share my stories and Happy Holidays!

  12. Great thing you guys are doing around the holidays! So first and foremost thanks for the opportunity on this.

    My favorite holiday memories actually came every year on Christmas day from 1985 when I was 5 years old until I graduated high school in 1998 when I was 18. Each Christmas my father would purchase a box of cards for us to open together and we’d have a Pack Wars of sorts. It would start where we’d each dig through the box and select 1 pack. We’d open the pack at the same time and see who had the best pack. The best pack was determined by the amount of “better” players pulled. Whoever pulled a Griffey, Ewing, or Marino in the pack would be declared the instant winner of that round as I was (and am) a huge collector of those guys. Well at the end of the box whoever had the taller stack of cards was the winner. Now my father never kept the cards if he so happened to have the taller stack at the end of the box. He used to collect as a kid but that didn’t last beyond his teenage years. So really the ultimate purpose of winning the pack wars box was only to have bragging rights for that entire year until the following Christmas’ pack wars box off! I was never fortunate enough to bust another box with him for the fun of it since 1998 and I really wish I had as he passed away just a couple years ago. But I’ll definitely never forget the memories of our Christmas pack wars together.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Years,
    Brad~

  13. My favorite memories involve my lovely wife who certainly is no expert with sports cards nor sports in general. She sneakily went behind me to my local card shop owner and bought 4 boxes of contenders football. I am a huge fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes and when I opened the boxes it was totally strange. In the four boxes, one box had the Troy Smith auto/rc, the next a Teddy Ginn auto/rc and the last an Anthony Gonzalez auto/rc. I couldnt have packed them out any better on my own. She put a lot of time and effort in figuring out what boxes would suit me best and I am incredibly blessed to have a wife like who support my hobby addiction.

  14. My favorite card collection memory comes from the last Christmas. I’m a huge Dave Andreychuk cards collector, but I’m also livin’ in Russia, it’s not so easy to collect NHL cards there, but I’m doing my best.
    On October 2009 I found a 1 of 1 Dave Andreychuk card. The starting price was about $70 and the auction was gonna end on Nov. 3rd (USA time-zone) – which is my birthday. I had to watch the auction price til 4 am of Nov. 4th (Russian time-zone) just to win the card for $89. I was extremely happy by getting those card as a late birthday gift and it still my only 1 of 1 card. But it’s not the end of the story.
    You should know, that Russian post is terribly slow. Sometimes it took about 2-3 months for some items to arrive from North America to us. This time there was no exception. I wait for this card for some weeks, just to find it in my postbox on the morning of Dec. 25th! This is how one card made two holidays at once – my birthday and the Christmas, even though in Russia the official Christmas holidays are on Jan. 7th, as the Russian Orthodox Church still using Julian calendar. But since this card from North America, I think it’s fare to call it the Christmas card 🙂

    This is my story, thanks for reading.

  15. My favorite Sports Card Christmas story was back in Dec. 1990. I was just fresh out of High School and home for the holidays from SDSU. I went to a party with several of my high school friends that I had not seen in a year. It was a fun night of catching up w/ old friends. As the night wore on and it came time to go home, along the way I stopped at the local gas station to buy a few gallons of gas. As I went in to pay I noticed behind the cashier they had a box of 1989 football cards. I bought a few packs to rip open at home as well as stopping at Del Taco for some late night munchies. I ate the food and opened the cards and woke up covered in salsa and card wrappers at my parents’ dining room table. I gathered up my mess and threw it away.
    That morning I woke up with a headache and faint memories of Mexican food an foootball cards. I started to think and recollect my memories that there was something strange about one of the cards from the pack I opened. I rushed to the kitchen trash to find a pile of food wrappers and football cards covered in salsa. To my dismay the one card that was undamaged was an autographed Joe Montana card #’d to 2500.

    To this day I have kept that card. I keep it on a shelf in my living room to remind me how lucky I am and better days gone past. It kindles my passion for collecting sports cards and tells me that even in a pile of trash there might be a diamond waiting to be found. I will always love the Christmas season of 1990.
    Thanks for reading my story.

  16. My favorite memory will hopefully happen later today. Sounds like my Son and I are getting some Score blasters and we hope we will finally pull Taylor Hall

  17. My favorite memory was 04 when I was deployed, my wife (who won’t admit to anyone she likes to open packs) would never send me cards in any care packages… secretly had been buying a few packs at a time every trip she took to the PX. When I got a Christmas care package from here there were 25 or so packs of cards. but as I started opening them there were no cards in them. She had busted all the packs, took out the cards and put in pictures of our new born baby girl and homemade baby footprint and hand print cards. That was my best and funniest card Christmas moment.

  18. My favorite holiday sports card memory was just a few years ago in 2008. In October my 2nd son was born! That christmas my wife got a few blaster boxes of basketball cards and labeled them from my sons. She knew how much I loved my sons and collecting cards. So, I put my 2 month old son on my lap and my 4 year old son next to me and opened the boxes with them. It’s was the best feeling in the world. I love sharing my hobby with my boys. This year, I got my older son the 2010 Panini NFL Sticker book and a couple extra packs. He wanted the book because he wanted to be in the card business because he saw the video y’all made a few months ago. So, it’s going to be fun opening it up with him and helping him with his book. My youngest is too young to understand still be he always tries to help daddy with his cards. I just make sure they’re in a hard plastic before he touches them. Merry Christmas Panini!

  19. My favorite holiday collecting memory was when I was 7 and getting a box of 1989 Donruss Baseball from my grandmother and pulling 3 Ken Griffey jr. rookies out of it!
    I was the coolest kid on the block for a whole week

  20. Well its 7:50 a.m. as i type this , christmas morning. I await the awakening of my young daughter, so as i wait of course i have to visit my panini pals. My sportscard/christmas best moment is when 1999-2000 pacific revolution came out with an insert called ornaments. After i pulled my first one of Eric Lindros i just had to have them all. There were 20 in the set and were seeded 1:25 packs. They actually came with a little string hanging from the card so you could put on a tree… I did just that! I bought myself a little tree and hung up all the ones i had along with some little figurines i had and some other hodge-podge nhl stuff. It was sooooo cool. And all around the base i had hockey pucks stacked. I might have to dig these up again, how cool would they look alongside this years 10-11 Score snow-globes inserts?

  21. My favorite sports related Christmas memory was during the 1980’s when my aunt sent my brothers and I a package. When we opened it there was an autographed picture of Mickey Mantle. She had met him at a casino, taken a picture and had him sign it. The only problem was that she had written ‘Boys’ right above his autograph. I kept the auto since I was a card collector even though my brother is a Yankees fan. I was determined to get the ‘Boys’ off of the picture and tried to erase it. Now it is gone but it is very clear that something was erased. Regardless it has been one of my most prized possessions for as long as I remember. Here is a link if anybody would like to check it out:
    http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k153/dpuccio/Autograph%20HOF%20Memorabilia/mantle.jpg

  22. I remember getting my first box of cards at Christmas in 1986. Up until then it had been loose packs in the stocking, but this time it was wrapped and under the tree! I was so excited as a 12 year old. That was followed in future years by factory sets, which were always fun. That first box really got me off on the collecting craze I am still on 24 years later!!

  23. I love busting wax on Christmas. Since I tend to turn the spending on myself down in advance of the holidays, it’s usually the first I’ve done in a while.

    Just this past year, I received a box of Gridiron Gear and pulled my first Mark Sanchez auto in the form of his pull-out jersey autograph #/100. Considering my box/pack pulls had been pretty ho-hum as of late, it was a wonderful Christmas/hobby memory!

  24. I live in Europe and some friends comes back for christmas holidays. I see these persons 2-3 times “in real” and not by phone or emails. Then, I order and they buy cards/boxes and, for christmas, I receive hundreds football packs, for thousands cards. I collect since 15 years now; and my collection is composed by Topps, Action packed, fleer, Gameday, Proset, Bowman, Jogo, Extreme, Donruss, Panini, … All cards are a real pleasure because, sometimes, it’s a relic or autograph I discover, but every time, it’s magic.

  25. definitely this first christmas with my wife and 4 month old son. my wife bought me a bunch of packs of gridiron gear and hid them all over the house with notes leading me to the next one! she’s definitely the sweetest. best christmas ever!

  26. My best sports card memories was this morning when my two sons (Ethan age 9 amd Jeff age 6) open their stocking to find that Santa brought them gift certificates to our local card shop Jason Sports Card in Baton Rouge, LA. He also had a couple of Drew Brees cards in their stocking. The look on their faces made it priceless to me.

  27. For the past few Christmas’s we make it a little tradition for a few friends and family members to buy a few packs for which ever person we drew a name for……you get to see all the wishes everyone is hoping to pull just before breaking into the packs…….then you get to hear all the smack talk when someone gets that big pull especially if someone hits their wish card or if someone pulls a stinker…….just a little fun that makes for good conversation…..

  28. My only holiday story is from today as I just started collecting cards a few months back. As I live in Scotland there is nowhere to buy cards from apart from online so I rarely ever get any. Today I got a box of 2010 Rookies & Stars football and I pulled a Toby Gerhart jersey auto. The best card I could have hoped for as he is my favourite player.

  29. My favourite Xmas memory dealing with sports cards (aside from this year with the excellent box of Certified Hockey my wife bought for me) was back in 2008 – it was my first Xmas back in the hobby, and it was made extra special by my wife, who made me a custom blaster box with an array of packs in it. The “Holiday Mix” happened to contain some great mojo, including a Carey Price jersey card. It was just a great effort by my wife to present the gift to me – definitely much cooler than just “here’s 10 packs in your stocking – and the fact that it contained a very cool PC item made it that much more memorable.

    Merry Christmas to all!

  30. While I have many memories of receiving sports cards during the holidays, my favorite sports card holiday memory is more about giving than receiving and even more about a great memory and time that I spent with my mother. My father had been away on military assignment for an entire year and my mother planned on visiting him during for a week before Christmas. To make a long story somewhat shorter, we (mother, brother, sister and a few friends) prepared hundreds of packages for her to take with her to share with the troops. As, a child it was hard to see those cards and cookies leave with my mom, but she explained that the people receiving them would really enjoy them and it was the right thing to do, it’s always better to give a gift than receive.

  31. My favorite Christmas memory was in 1996 when I was 12 years. I got a pack of basketball cards from my math teacher for Christmas for getting an A on my math test. In the pack I got my very first autograph card: a Nick Anderson autographics. To this day I still have that card and still remember the excitement of pulling my very first auto card, from my math teacher no less! I guess studying for tests actually can pay off.

    Merry Christmas!

  32. My best sports card holiday memory is from christmas 1992. I got a box of Pro Set football cards and pulled an Emmitt Smith Auto. Pulling an auto in those days was a rare occassion and I still remember the feeling of excitement from it.

  33. I can narrow it down to 2
    1st would be last Christmas when my dad bought me a few packs of baseball and the 1st pack I got a Kevin Youkilis bat barrel card with black ink numbered 3/5.
    Next happened at 12 in the morning this Christmas when my amazing mom got me a box of R&S football and I pulled a Sam Bradford Jumbo 3 color jersey numbered 4/5.The box also had a Eli Manning jersey /175 and a Ryan Matthews jersey /249.I thought that was all I got so I went to bed when I woke up I found another football pack that had a Ryan Matthews auto /300 then I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and another pack with a Keiland Williams auto /350.

  34. my favorite holiday memory is from 2006 when I got a nice autograph of my favorite sun shawn marion. It was a very nice card and will always stay in my collection

  35. My favorite Holiday memory was just this year when I got 4 Panini Boxes for Christmas. Out of the Gridiron Gear I got a fe wnice PC Cards, like a Joe McKnight Pullout Auto. In the 10-11 Threads Basketball I got my favorite rookie auto on that awesome hardwood suface of Evan Turner! Then to cap it off today out of the box of Certified, got a Tim Tebow Freshman Fabric Dual Jersey Auto! Today has been awesome! Also have a Certified on the way in the mail along with some loose packs of Gridiron Gear! Hope to continue the streak of great cards! Thanks for the Contest and have an awesome Christmas!

  36. My favorite sports card memory to date came just this past week.

    My son Austin and I opened his first boxes of hockey cards ever, both Panini products. Our plan was allow him to keep only the cards of his favorite team, The Los Angeles Kings, and then donate the rest as prizes on a terrific site hobby site, Sports Card Forum. (www.sportscardforum.com)

    Austin’s favorite player is Anze Kopitar so he was hopeful to pull some new Kopitar issues for his collection of Anze.

    Austin actually pulled a Kopitar base card in the box of Donruss and Score so he was SUPER excited.

    As luck would have it this week, the Kings happened to be in town playing the local Avalanche so we made the trek out to see if he could nab a couple autographs.

    Austin got his first hockey jersey as an early Christmas present to wear to the game. (An Anze Kopitar Kings Alternate Jersey of course)

    He was able to get Kopitar to sign his jersey and all was right.

    This is where the Christmas season and magic of giving came into play.

    Austin was so excited that his buddy Anze Kopitar had signed his first hockey jersey for him that Austin decided he wanted to give up the two Kopitar cards he had just pulled himself to Kopitar as a Christmas gift.

    So Austin put the cards in holders, and wrapped them himself.

    He also pulled the base cards from the same two products of Drew Doughty and did the same thing, wrapping them up for Drew.

    On the way to the game, we swung by where the Kings were staying and Austin waited patiently for Kopitar to emerge from the hotel. Kopitar soon came out and after signing autographs for everyone, Austin approached him and said “Here Anze, I brought you a Christmas present” and handed him the little gift he had wrapped.

    We then took a picture and, as you can see, in Kopitar’s left hand is the small gift Austin gave him.

    Kopitar started to walk away and then turned around and said “Thanks for the Christmas gift Austin!”

    It was SO awesome!

    http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c204/BearGrice/AOA%20-%20Adventures%20of%20Austin%202010-11/Grice004.jpg

    While I am sure some will say “Oh those cards were only worth a few bucks, who cares?” then you are missing the point entirely.

    My son loves ANY card of Kopitar that he doesn’t have as if it were a 1 of 1 and worth a million dollars. Every unique card of Anze is special to him because he tries to have as many as possible, a true collector and fan of his player.

    So for him to give up the first two Anze Kopitar cards he had ever pulled himself was a huge thing for him and showed not only his big heart, but the true spirit of giving and the magic of the Christmas season.

    Thanks to Panini for producing great cards that made my son’s first wax-opening experience a gift that truly kept on giving.

  37. My Favorite Holiday Sports Card Moment was TODAY! I pulled a SICK SICK SICK EPIX MATT SCHAUB AUTO!!!!!!!! I love getting and hobby boxes for christmas. I LOVE GETTING PANINI PRODUCTS ESPECILAY (oops hope you forgive me Scottie i caps locked accidently) Oops

  38. This was my first Christmas in the hobby and so far it has been a good one. A while ago my dad came back from a trip and brought some boxes with him. I got a 09-10 Studio basketball. This morning I opened one of my gifts to find another box he had brought back for me- it waits to be opened later.

    But the truly special moment came when I opened the gift I got from my 11-year old younger brother. I am the only dedicated collector out of my brothers, but I’ve been trying to get my youngest brother into the hobby.

    Anyway, I opened his present for me to find a box of 09-10 Crown Royale basketball. Knowing the price, I asked where he got them. His response: “Dad gave them to me, but I wanted to give them to you because I thought you would enjoy them more.” I was touched by the innocence and sincerity of his reply.

    It turns out my dad had given him the box of Crown Royale. His first thought instead of opening them to see if there was something sweet inside: maybe my big brother would like them even more. If that’s not the holiday spirit, I don’t know what is.

    Additional note: And the box contained local Jazz player “Big Al” base and insert, a triple rookie jersey and an Alonzo Mourning /99 on-card auto as well as a Toney Douglas /699 on-card rookie auto- I had just seen him play in Madison Square Garden against the Thunder two days before and was impressed by his performance.

  39. Christmas 1998–opened a box of hockey and got game used jersey of Eric Brewer–pretty neat in those days –first one pulled and was from box my wife bought me

  40. When I was a very new collector (early 90s or so), I could not afford my favorite card (let alone find at that time) – 1969 Rollie Fingers rookie card which was about $40-50 bucks. Back then, to me, that was THE CARD – a whole new level of collection.

    I am no sure who in my family got it for me that Christmas (in stocking), but that was the best.

  41. My favorite would have to be when I was 9 years old my stepdad gave me a factory set of cards and showed me his old cards. He explained the condition and value and it tought me to take care of your possesions and they will be worth more. To this day I am still very picky on how my cards are handled and keep them in mint condition.

  42. My favorite Christmas memory was a few years ago when I opened up my presents and found a couple of blaster boxes bought for me from my 6 year olds allowance…I didn’t get anything super special, but a low end jersey card, but the fact that she paid for the blasters with her own money was pretty touching to me

  43. Being a kid in late elementary and then mid-school, doing chores for allowance money and mowing and watering neighbors’ lawns/gardens while they were on vacation gave me enough money to buy factor sets of the big four (Topps, Donruss, Score and Fleer) in the mid to late 80’s.

    Since my savings was wiped out with the purchase of the factory sets, I would ask for the various traded/rookies/highlights sets for Christmas. It was always a fun memory for me to open those on christmas and go through them and look at the rookies as well as the traded superstars who were shown in their new uniforms on cardboard for the first time.

  44. Christmas 1995 when I opened my first whole sealed box of card; 1994-95 Hoops. I have decided to collect Jason Kidd and when I opened that box. Pack after pack had Jason Kidd cards in them. My favorite was the Jason Kidd Magic All-Rookie Foil-Tech. This box cemented Jason Kidd as the player I would collect to this current day (16 years and counting).

  45. My favorite moment would have been opening a box of Panini Basketball Hall of Fame tonight if not for the fact that I pulled a third Scotty Pippen USA jersey card out of 4 boxes.

  46. For years my wife would find something new to add to my Ken Griffey Jr. collection but in the last couple of years our son, who is now 10, has been drawn in to collecting too and my favorite memory has turned in to a tradition for the family. Each year for the last 3 years my wife has picked up two blaster boxes, one for me and one for my son. After everything is opened on Christmas morning him and I will sit down and rip our packs. We then usually end up talking about each of the players we pulled and go through all the cards together making sure to set aside our favorite players for our personal collections. This year we each got a blaster of Gridiron Gear; I pulled a Platinum parallel of Aaron Hernandez #/25. As a surprise my wife also picked up a blaster from the Justin Bieber release for our 7 year old daughter who got to join in on the fun this year, needless to say every card in the box was her favorite.

  47. My favorite story had to have been when my son was 1 years old and I was home on leave from my first deployment . We were at Walmart stopping to get drinks before going to the in-laws . He grabbed a pack of 2007 Donruss Threads . We opened it when we got home and there was an Adrian Peterson Letterman Rookie Auto in there . That card is on a shelf in his room on his wall with other cards and autos he has gotten over the years .

  48. This year, i got my first big time box of cards with Rookies and Stars Longevity. I pulled a Derrick Favors dual jersey, a dwight howard jersey, and a Derrick Favors auto. Being the Kentucky fan i am, i was disappointed that there were no UK guys. But my granddad came through with an Eric Bledsoe jersey /25.

  49. The best part of Christmas as a kid was the trip to grandma’s house. I knew that meant I was going to get the only box of cards that I was going to receive for christmas. She usually took me out a few weeks before christmas to show her which one I wanted. Typically it was a box of basketball or baseball cards. Then one christmas I reallllllly reallllllly wanted a box of Fleer Metal. The cards were shiney and you could get some sick inserts (molten metal anyone???). We spent an hour at the card shop that day while I tried to convince her it was worth the $99 price tag.

    By the time Christmas rolled around I was soooo excited just by the prospect of receiving that box of cards. When we got to grandmas I scoped out the box to see if it was the right size and weight. Unfortunately it didn’t feel like it. When gift time came, I ripped into the package that I suspected the most to be that box of metal and what did I find one pack…

    Everyone laughed as my 10 year old mind tried not to act disappointed. I opened the pack and didn’t get any inserts. I was sooooo disappointed. Then one more gift with my name was placed in front of me. I opened it and it was another pack of metal. Then another package and another. Grandma had opened the box and individually wrapped each pack from the box into different shaped boxes to throw me off.

    Not only is that one of my greatest collecting christmases, but one of my favorite memories of Christmas with my grandma…

  50. This year was pretty special, I hadn’t really had a special Christmas memory until this year. This year was pretty special though. Have to start with a little backround though first. My family has kinda had a rough patch in the past few holiday seasons. A few years back, my personal icon, my grandfather passed away after a pretty brutal bout with melanoma cancer. As tradition, even in his very weak and frail state, he still put on his Santa cap and handed out all the presents. It was a very special even as he passed away a few short months later. Since then, it has been hard to get ALL the family together as we have family all over the western half of the country. Now, the last few years, my grandma has been having her own fight for her life with lymphoma cancer. She beat it into remission once, but last year it came back with a vengeance. If you have had to deal with anyone who has had cancer, and made it to remission, you know getting it the second time is pretty much a death sentence. Last year, she was hooked up to oxygen and couldn’t hardly walk from one end of the house to the other. To top it off, we couldn’t get everyone home for Christmas because of work and the weakening economy. It was a special Christmas though, none the less, and we grew closer as a family. My grandmother, through the grace of God, has made an incredible fight and is not in remission, but as healthy, at 75 as shes ever been. Finally to the Christmas this whole story as led to. I was late getting to the house for Christmas, due to having multiple family Christmases (My significant other’s family) and I had expected the family to have started just a little earlier (I called on the way, let them know it was O.K.) and I walk in the door and my younger cousin came up and gave me a present, and said I had to open it first. I pulled the tissue paper away and found three packages. The first one, had a really nice jersey auto of one of my main collectees, Golden Tate of the Seahawks (were from Washington and are diehard Seahawks fans) which was so crazy because it was from my cousin and I didn’t expect to get any cards (although I wanted some, but no one in my family knows how to get anything other than maybe a pack of cards from like wal-mart, which we all know packs a lot of value, so I just didn’t ask for any cards or let it known, even though they all know I love cards) for Christmas. The second package, I opened up and it had an ornament for my baby (we’re expecting soon!) with a Seahawks logo. At this point I was pretty excited, because I was enjoying these presents, but nothing could have prepared me for what I opened next. Down at the bottom, in the last package, was my granfather’s Santa hat. I was stunned, I hadn’t seen it in a few years and it was really touching. My grandmother then spoke for me, because I couldn’t find the words, and told me that I would be “Santa” this year and hand out the presents. Maybe it wasn’t the best card holiday (well the Golden Tate card was pretty sweet!) but it was the best Christmas memory I have. Thanks!

  51. My favorite sports card holiday would be this year. I have just started to collect cards again and I use my five year old daughter as the reason to do so. Makes it o.k. with the wife.
    She has gone with me to the card shop so much that they know her by first name.
    This year without me knowing she gave me two of her favorite cards. Now grant it that the cards are just common cards that aren’t worth much but for her giving them to me, they are the worth more than any card I have.

  52. My favorite sports card holiday is this year. I am a big fan of DeMarcus Cousins, and bought a box of 2011 Rookies and Stars Basketball. I busted all of it except the last pack… in the last pack, I wished there would be a sick card, and hopefully a DeMarcus Cousins jersey card. I opened it, and i got a Ekpe Udoh and DeMarcus Cousins Jersey card the DeMarcus Cousins was a 3 – Colored patch/jersey and Ekpe was 2 colors. i was so excited when I pulled the awesome card 🙂

  53. My favorite Christmas sports story was in 03-04. being only about 11 years old I was at my local card shop, Carl’s Sports Attic. Im not sure why they were open on Christmas day but that’s besides the point. Their was a customer in there opening up some Donruss as well as a box of another manufacturer’s basketball product. I was in aw of the beautiful cards. He pulled a Brent Barry base card and I got all excited by seeing one of my favorite players. He gave it to me and bought me a hard screwdown case for it. This cost him 15.00 for the case. After putting the card inside the screwdown he told me Merry Christmas and left the store. As I was only about 11 years old, the Barry base card brought me and continues to bring me more joy then a 1/1 ruth mantle dual auto could ever bring me. This was a truly kind person who gave an 11 year old the best Christmas he could have ever hoped for. I hope to be able to pass down the hobby as this man did for me. It was truly a special feeling I will never forget.

  54. My favorite sports card Christmas memory would be from my first Christmas with my wife when we were first married. I had been collecting cards for years and my new bride was aware of my hobby love, but I did not think that she was necessarily crazy about it. I would go to card shops and card shows and come home with my “treasures”, and she would sit there patiently with me as I described the cards, the players, and why they meant something to me.

    For our first Christmas, my wife surprised me with a box of cards from our local shop. I was shocked that she even knew where to go, not to mention that she had gotten a box that I would really enjoy opening. After I opened my package and thanked her, she proceeded to tell me the whole story of how she had gone to the shop and told the young man who was working there all the things she remembered that I had told her about cards and players I liked. She told him how much she could afford to spend (not a lot) and he gave her his best suggestions as to what I would like. She bought one of those boxes and came home not knowing if she had bought the right box or not. I assured her that she had picked the perfect box and I delighted in sitting there with her and opening it. I will always remember her efforts to find me the perfect box and her smile when I told her that she had done just that. It was a great beginning to our life together.

    Happy Holidays everyone!

  55. I remember it was christmas 1990 my mom ran a flea market with my grandma and dad. I saw a huge bag of mixed sports cards at another table for a few bucks. I ended up getting that bag of cards the next morning for christmas . times used to be so easy no autos no jersey cards just the thrill of getting your favorite player.

  56. My favorite sports card holiday was last year. When I was young I collected cards in the early 80’s and really enjoyed the thrill of opening packs and finding my favorite players. My nephew had recently started collecting and was telling me all about the cool cards that his friend has autographed, material, even pieces of balls and shoes. This really peaked my interest and I started reading up on cards again and was amazed at the presentation and beauty that the cards today present for the collectors. I purchased a few packs of cards for my nephew from Target and then went online and purchased a pack from ebay that a guy listed as having a patch card in it. That Christmas I watched my nephew 10 years old open the packs of cards and when he opened the pack with the patch card he looked like he saw a ghost. He was so excited he pulled patch of Eric Chavez and it was numbered to 25. To see the excitement that this brought to him reminded me of collecting when I was younger and what collecting is all about.

  57. I enjoy reading all of these posts!

    My favorite Christmas “Football card” present is easy. I was ten years old at the time and was just getting into collecting. My cousin and I were best friends (come on, I know family will be family, but we were really close – he was my best man at my wedding), and he gave me a present that he bought with his own allowance (he was 11 at the time).

    A 1987 Jerry Rice. Sorry, no auto/jersey/whatever – This was a 2nd year card of the hottest wide receiver ever to play (this was christmas 1987 also). I was pumped. It was in a screw down case and everything. He probably spent $15 bucks or so on it.

    It is one of those cards I’ll never part with….and it remains in the screwdown case still today.

  58. Actually my earliest Christmas memory was about football cards. My parents were young when they had me (18 years old) and my Dad was putting himself through college so money was tight. But in 1985 with the Bears gearing up for the Super Bowl my Dad gave me a set of 1978 football cards. It turned out he had put the set together right after I was born in ’78 and was waiting for me to understand the game enough to appreciate it. Doug Plank & Walter Payton were my favorite cards. My Dad went over where he got each one with me. Mind you this was before real card shows or the internet. The Jim Hart came from a pack at the drug store. The Gary Fencik he traded with someone at work etc. We didnt have much money and that was the only gift I got that year. But its still one of my favorite Christmas gifts! I haven’t stopped collecting since. And one I will sit my kid down when he is old enough and hand him a stack of my Certified Football cards and say “I got this one from….”

  59. It all started for me Christmas 2001. My Brother-in-law gave me a blaster box of 2001 baseball cards and I pulled a Ken Griffey Jr. jersey card. That gift got me into collecting and thru collecting I have met some really cool people. This year my wife bought me a box of 2010 Panini Certified Football, that had two sick retired player hits Jim McMahon 3clr patch autograph #ed/10 and Don Maynard jersey autograph #ed/25.

  60. This is the first year that people lisened to what I wanted for Christmas.Every year I ask for football card and never get them,I’m 51 they think I’m too old for football cards; worng!
    This year my wife and my sister both got me football cards.Best Christmas ever. I love getting FOOTBALL CARDS!!!!!!!!

  61. I rarely receive packs or boxes of cards (basketball only) for Christmas. For one Christmas a few years ago, my brother and I did a small gift exchange. He bought me a couple of random bargain packs as well as a hobby pack. The other packs yielded base but the hobby pack had an autograph of Monta Ellis. It was one of the first auto cards I ever pulled. Granted at the time Monta Ellis was nothing but a unknown second round pick, but he has since emerged into on of the top guards in the league, making this card from a single pack one of the better cards I own. More importantly, it was one of my best pack pulls since Ellis has not signed cards since his rookie season.

  62. My memory isn’t about getting anything but giving something. My 8-year old nephew had always wanted a Michael Jordan card. A couplw of years ago, I packaged up an assorted shoebox filled with all types of sports cards. Of course it included a handful of MJ cards. The look on his face was priceless.

  63. My favorite christmas moment was when got my first box of cards. Every pack i opened, there was nothing but parrallels. I opened my last pack, right in the middle, there it was, my first Jersey Card. The best part was it was autographed, too. Great christmas for a beginner card collector..

  64. I have to buy my own hockey cards for Christmas as I don’t trust anyone in my family to find good deals on singles, packs or boxes! They really don’t have a clue so I buy them myself. This year I got myself a box of 10/11 Donruss Hockey and was extremely thrilled to pull a redemption card as it was Rookie Showcase Signature Threads #3 Jordan Eberle /100!!! Very stoked to pull that sweet card! Panini is treating me pretty good this year with Certified and now Donruss. Score was brutal though as most of my cards in 3 boxes are damaged and the process required to return them for replacements really takes way too long! Am collecting the whole Certified set and just need #212 to complete it. Need about 50 more platinum reds, 75 more mirror red, about 50% complete on the inserts, and 30% complete on mirror red inserts. Anyway keep up the great work Panini. Can’t wait to receive the Certified redemption cards I have redeemed.

  65. I remember one year, my mother got me a big box of cards. It was filled with packs, and it took me an hour just to get the thing open. Then I would go back to school in January and trade with a few of my friends.

  66. As a kid I was a huge Chris Mullin fan, I think it was the hair cut.
    I really wanted his 1986 Rookie Card. I dropped hints all year and finally Christmas morning I was opening and presents and got tons of cool stuff, but no Mullin. My dad said ‘Oh I forgot this one and handed me a pristine 1986 Mullin Rookie Card.

    Years later I was able to repay the joy he gave me. My dad grew up in Brooklyn and is a huge Yankees fan. His favorite player as a kid was Hank Bauer. I found a Hank Bauer RC for him and gave it to him for Christmas. He loved it.

  67. I remember my parents bought me a box of 1992 Donruss Series I Baseball for Christmas one year. I was dying to pull one of the Elite autos, never pulled an auto but did pull some of the Diamond King inserts which were THE cards to have back in the day.

  68. My favorite card collecting story is from this year. I’ve collected on and off ever since I was 6 years old (i’m now 25 years old). Growing up in Kentucky, we never had any professional sports teams so I was always an avid Kentucky Wildcats fan

    Flash forward to the present day. The 10-11 draft class from UK was excellent but for some reason they are not my passion. My passion is collecting Jodie Meeks and unfortunately, he is not in any of this years products. So I asked for Christmas to get a box of basketball cards from 09-10. I got a box of 09-10 Season Update and I opened it up just three days ago and was delighted to get a Rookie Duals autograph card of Jodie Meeks and A.J. Price numbered to /99, which as I’m sure you all know, is pretty short print for any rookie auto.

    Last year I opened atleast 6-7 boxes of 09-10 product ( I know, that probably isn’t a lot to many of you but I’m far from being well off lol) and never hit one Jodie Meeks besides base RC’s, which was awesome but I never got an auto, GU, or even a serial numbered card from him until that Christmas miracle. It’s not a logoman, shield or anything even remotely close to a 1/1, but in my heart, It might as well be.

    1. If you’re on HK or Cardcollectors, my username’s montypython. Let know your address. I’ve got something for you, keeping in line with the holiday spirit and all.

  69. So back one Christmas when I would get all excited about busting open a box or pack of cards, my parents wrapped a top loader up with a $50 bill and a note in it saying that I was to use the money for a card on my “Top 50 Wish List”. Pretty sweet Christmas gift.

    BTW, that was like four days ago.

  70. Last Christmas my Mom bought me a box of Limited Football 09 for my christmas present. I was just happy getting the box, but i was really hoping for a great hit, like a cut auto or a Hall of Famer auto. When i opened it, it wasnt a cut signature but it was a Hall of Famer!! It was a Jim Brown jrsy auto # out of 15!!!! This dude was one of the hardest runners ever and love him or hate him, you cant deny it! Needless to say it was a great Christmas and my Mom picked out one heck of a box!!!!! Thanks Mom and Merry Christmas Panini!!!!!

  71. I had three great card experiences around Christmas. The first one was opening a football pack and seeing a very different card. It was a rookie card . . . with a signature of Darren McFadden . . . AND a sig of Matt Ryan, numbered out of fifty! I also brought another pack home , and it had a Stephen Strasburg card in it. Then I noticed it also included a game-used jersey. THEN I noticed it ALSO had his AUTOGRAPH! This Christmas, from a Panini Absolute Memorabilia football pack, I pulled a Toby Gerhart War Room triple color swatch numbered out of fifty!

    1. I completely agree. Tons of great responses. Thanks to everyone who shared their story. Made the holidays seem a little bit . . . warmer. We’ll send out prize boxes next week. Everyone have a safe and happy New Year.

  72. The 12 winners have been selected and will be notified shortly. Thanks again to everyone who participated. You guys and gals really made this holiday season evern merrier with your great stories.

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