Christmas in March

 It is time to finally wrap up the mailer from Dennis @ Too Many Verlanders with some bonus included wax. There was the contents of a 2024 Holiday blaster in the box as well. Not the box itself, since that would be too bulky - just the contents.

Contents vs. blaster itself was probably because this made it slightly harder to send the latter. In the mailer, it was just included in a top loader. If only I trusted Mischief around a Christmas tree, I could add it to a tree. But I don't trust her.

Now, the pack-by-pack highlights!

Pack 1:

My first card out of the first pack is the Blake Snell, while the Goldschmidt is my first parallel as a silver glitter. Even if the photos are reruns from flagship, I like the completeness of the City Connect uniforms appearing.

Pack 2:

My first Mets cards of the break came back-to-back here. Gimenez will become the latest member of my "Both a Met and Jay" mini collection.

Pack 3:

Strange collation here - the SP Trout Santa Hat variation is followed up with the regular base card.

Pack 4:

Davis Schneider becomes my first Blue Jays card of the box. At least we get some variety in the gear for this SP variation with CJ Abrams sporting his finest in elf attire.

Pack 5:

The way the background is on the Winn, it almost looks like he's throwing the decoration in the background. In general with these, I wasn't too enthusiastic about how the background worked with the horizontal photos. But with the Carroll, it works for some reason. I'm not sure as to why, though.

Pack 6:

It always seems like the hits I pull head elsewhere, and this one will be packed up and on its way to Portland by the time you read this.

Pack 7:

There's the final SP variation, and it was immediately followed up with the regular base card. Collation can be interesting sometimes. Tovar is another one where the horizontal medium just seems to work. Maybe it is just because the player's positioning allows for the entirety of one of the background decorations to be shown.

Pack 8:

It still works with the parallel too. I'm guessing Vlad Jr cards on the Jays will be a thing of the past come 2026 releases.

Pack 9:

If I didn't recognize the photo as already being used in other flagship releases this year, I'd think that Lars Nootbaar's photo was chosen specifically and solely for this release. The socks are too perfect. The DeGrom is a Blue Metallic Glitter parallel, which I think are one per blaster but am not interested enough to check. At least I got one of a well-known player, and the uniform sported goes nicely with the design.

Pack 10:

Athletics green is just a perfect choice to appear in this set. There's my final Met, and the final parallel. 

I'd have to see other boxes of this to judge it, but it felt pretty average.

It may have taken about a month and half-ish to wrap things up, but that's the recent trade envelope from TMV. Thanks for all these, and I wrapped this up just in time to have another return fire sent to Ann Arbor.

There you have it!