it's like christmas in november

i see that this year, the topps holiday release is being referred to (at least in some locations such as sportlots) as "topps holiday christmas". this probably has more to do with the "holiday" inserts in series 1, 2, and update (i assume they will be in update again this year), but it's fairly obvious that the holiday this standalone set recognize is christmas.

i haven't purchased retail product for a month or two (chrome sort of bummed me out - future post foreshadowing), but i did grab a holiday mega box at target last week. turns out, i must be on the nice list because the box was pretty much the most i could hope for without a major "hit".

not the pete alonso oversized ornament

but the box yielded several cards that will go straight into my collection.

first card of the first pack i opened was this shohei ohtani card

so things began nicely. the insert in that first pack was this kristian campbell silver glitter parallel

beckett's website tells me to expect six of these, plus a blue metallic glitter parallel and a blue and white gltter parallel in the box, along with four other parallel or insert things (in addition to the ornament). the box itself also mentioned three holiday variation short prints per box. we will see.

when i opened the second pack, these three cards greeted me as the first three of the pack

going back-to-back-to-back with blake snell, ohtani (he has two base cards - one as a pitcher and one as a dh), and mookie betts was very nice to see for this dodger collector. however, the pack lacked an insert.

the next pack delivered, with a nick kurtz rookie card

and the blue & white glitter parallel

which just happened to be dodger teoscar hernandez. i like how the image of hernandez seems to have him checking to see if the candy cane is real.

the fourth pack was a bit weird at first. it included another dodger - roki sasaki

and the last card in the pack was a masyn winn silver glitter parallel

but the two cards immediately preceding winn's had me stumped for a few minutes. here's how they appeared in the pack

the second card was flipped over, so i knew it was not a base card. plus, the code on that one ends with a 7, while all of the base cards end with a 6. here's the front of the card

and here they are side to side

it seems obvious now, but i spent a lot of time looking for a hidden elf. the variation is brighter, but the real difference is the amount of snow/frosting and primarily the fact that there is a snow cap on the positional field in the lower right corner. so, this is just the short print variation, i guess? the typical variations with christmas themed elements added are the super short prints this year? 

moving on to pack five, there were some big names but no dodgers. the insert was this agustin ramirez silver glitter parallel

same with pack six - some good base cards plus a silver glitter parallel 

this time it was marcelo mayer. this pack also afforded me my first look at rafael devers in a giants' uniform on cardboard

and it's their updated city connect one at that (note that this is bonus giants content to please mr. haverkamp).

pack seven saw a return to dodger goodness with freddie freeman's card showing up

and it also contained my "big" hit. i was guaranteed a relic, auto, or chrome parallel and i received the latter.

it's a purple refractor of salvador perez numbered to 299. adding chrome to the holiday release was a good move in my opinion. the cards look nice in chrome format but it certainly didn't need to be its own release.

there was also a silver glitter parallel in the pack featuring hunter greene

in pack eight, i found my guaranteed blue metallic glitter card - francisco lindor

is that a #colormatch?

the second to last card in pack nine was backwards

it was another roki sasaki card

but with a different code so i knew it wasn't poor collation by topps. but, with no obvious changes to the front image i was initially stumped. ultimately, this is how i discovered that there were back design variations. i have seen this referred to as a "christmas cookie back" but not sure that is the correct term. here is the regular back

so the change is the team logo swap and the color theme.

the final card of the final pack was a more obvious variation

the standard christmas light necklace, with a nice gift added as well. here's the base (from pack nine) with the variation.

it makes one wonder if the photo was selected for use in flagship (and hence holiday) because it would fit a holiday variation theme, or if these are determined after the fact. i assume the latter, but you never know.

after opening all the packs, i totaled things up and figured i was missing one of the six silver glitter parallels but hit on the others, including the three short print variations - chapman, sasaki, and rodriguez. however, when i went to scan the cards, i took a closer look at blake snell's card

and discovered that it was also a back variation short print

to hit three dodger variations/parallels is pretty good luck for this dodger collector and probably bought topps some goodwill from me heading into archives and update season.