Each year about this time I enjoy sitting down and rifling through a number of catalogs and advertisements that inevitably end up in my mailbox. Sometimes I wonder why I do it since the entire purpose is to provide my family with some shopping tips and hints for Christmas gifts. (It’d make more sense if they actually bought me the stuff I asked for!) This year I had enough catalogs to go through that I found myself creating more than one wish list. SO, here’s another Christmas wish list. This list comes from the Cabela’s catalog and the NRA Store catalog.
From Cabela’s:
For the past couple years I’ve been enjoying the occassional cigar. For me that means about one or two each week. Since I can rarely find Don Diego Royal Palm cigars anymore I’ve had to search around, testing various cigars from different makers, of different lengths and wraps. One thing became abundantly clear EARLY in my experimenting to find a suitable replacement for my preference: dry cigars are no pleasure to smoke. Additionally, if they aren’t protected in some way, they will get destroyed in transport (I found this out when I had to put a couple in a pack with other items and they came out mangled). So, I ended up with a travel humidor. Referred to by Cabela’s as a Cigar Caddy, mine holds five cigars. Cabela’s has an option for a two-cigar model as well. Essentially this is a Pelican case with foam padding and a small sponge to hold moisture. I’ve never had a use for the lanyard that comes attached but I DID once see a guy who tied his cutter to the humidor with it. Now, since I already have one I can almost hear people wondering why this is on my wish list? Well, basically because I’m lazy. I have a pack and a briefcase that I take to meetings, on travel, etc. I don’t want to have to constantly switch stuff out from one to the other dependent on my destination… so another one of these would be great.
Now, as much as I hate to admit it, aside from my vice of enjoying cigars I have something of a watch fetish. Most of the time I’m happy to wear a watch that simply tells time and I have a preference for analog over digital, but I can be just as happy with either. On rare occassion though I find a watch that just catches my eye – and that’s what happened with this one. The Field Series Watch from Luminox doesn’t look like anything particularly special but it’ll perform pretty well. This is a pretty big watch with a 42mm case and the coloring on the dial makes it pretty easy to read (in addition to those big numbers and luminous hands). What caught my eye was the day window on the left side across from the date window on the right side. You have to admit, it’s pretty cool looking. Add to that the scratch resistant crystal and the fact that the watch is water resistant to 200 meters, and you have a watch that looks pretty good, tells time accurately and takes a fair amount of abuse. Sounds like almost exactly what I need.
I’m sure that this one would take my wife by surprise and even make my sons raise their eyebrows a tad. After all, it doesn’t LOOK like a machete. It LOOKS like a short “ninja” sword. What the heck? What attracked me to this is the overall length of 27 inches this tool is about 1″ longer than the friction lock baton I’ve trained with for the better part of two decades. The balance of it in my hand and the length forward of the grip (18.75 inch blade) would just make it easy and familiar to swing. Easy and familiar in this case would translate into efficient. Delivered with a nylon sheath that has a hard plastic insert, the machete also has a nylon-cord wrapped handle that is also familiar in my hand (thanks to other knives I own and use). So, while it may LOOK like a short ninja sword, I can easily see it as an efficient tool for moving through some brush. I can also see it easily strapped / attached to the side of my pack.
These next two items go hand in hand. The Jeep Cherokee I drive is about five years old now and still going strong. Still, as with any “family” vehicle of that age (and about 120K miles) a few stains and wear marks pop up here and there. Early on I discovered that the spare magazine and flashlight I wear on my off-side hip rubbed the seat every time I got in and out – and with every bumb in the road. Not that my seats or floors look BAD, but they could be dressed up some. And since I’m one of those guys who freely considers himself a redneck and enjoys camo-anything (nearly), I thought that matching seat covers and floor mats would be the way to go. After diligent searching I found these seat covers from Cabela’s. The pattern is Mossy Oak with black trim and I’d need the ones for the bucket seats rather than the bench seats. Of course, since I have two front seats, I’d obviously need two seat covers. Each can be snugged on by way of the drawstring that pulls the cover tight over the seat and holds it in place. AS well all know, anything fabric stretches eventually, so these’d probably need tightening up every other month or so. The matching floor mats are available in pairs, front and back. Now, I might be a redneck but I’m not seriously unaware of fashion, so the floor mats would have to be in the same camo pattern as the seat covers: Mossy Oak. 
I suppose, if my family chose to get me a different pattern, I wouldn’t complain about Real Tree or New Break-Up.
The last item on my list from the Cabela’s catalog can likely be found in plenty of other catalogs and online as well: the Under Armour ColdGear Mock-T with zip collar. When the collar is unzipped it looks sort of like a long sleeve polo shirt. I’m not big into the super-tight clothing so I’d rather have the relaxed fit and the sapphire color looks pretty good in the catalog. Of course, this is meant more for base layer wear than for outer apparel so color is only going to matter so much. I’d list the regular Mock-T on my list but Under Armour doesn’t make one without the zip AND without their logo on the neck. I don’t buy their clothing to advertise it for them. Moving on…
From the NRA Store catalog:
A few years back I did a review of the 5.11 Tactical 5-in-1 jacket and was very impressed. To this day, that’s the winter coat my wife claims as hers (which she often does with quality products I get in to test and evaluate). As much as I’m a fan of black as a color for clothing though, I have come to enjoy OD Green or similar colors a tad more now. “Earth tones” is what I think they’re called. This 3-in-1 jacket, made by 5.11 Tactical, and sold through the NRA Store with the NRA logo embroidered on the left chest, gives you three different options in outer wear:
- Just wear the fleece (which is plenty warm on its own)
- Just wear the outer jacket shell (which is a pretty good rain coat / winderbreaker)
- Wear them combined for a toasty warm, fairly water resistant coat.
The NRA Store catalog lists this item as available in Navy, Tan and Tundra. I assume that’s blue, tan and green.
Although the manufacturer isn’t specified for these polo shirts, they look of decent quality and I can’t imagine the NRA attaching their name and reputation to poor-quality products. Even in the winter months I’ve become a fan of polo shirts. They look a bit dressier than t-shirts but aren’t as uncomfortable to wear as dress shirts. Like the jacket above, these polo shirts have the NRA logo embroidered on the left chest. They are available in navy, black and tan.
Of course, whether you’re wearing jeans, “tactical” pants or dress pants, you need a belt. That belt has to coordinate with your pants and shirt (and boots / shoes as I’ve learned). I’m a fan of understated belts as compared to the large garish ones, so the NRA’s simply nylon belts with a flat finish buckle appeals to me. The nylon belts remind me of the black one I was issued by Uncle Sam’s Army a few years back (okay… more than “a few”). On the buckle is a raised NRA shield, and the belt measures 45 inches on delivery. Just cut to fit. The belts are available in black, tan and olive (green) and are priced under $13 each including the buckle. I think I need one in each color!
And the last item on my list this year is the NRA “Dark Ops Pack”. Offering almost 2,400 cubic inches of storage in one configuration this pack can expand to hold up to 3,920 cubic inches of your stuff. Of course, such capacity requires heavy duty zippers and compression straps – which this pack has. The pack is constructed from 600 denier poly material with a double PVC coating for durability and reportedly making the whole thing waterproof. All of the design features about this particular pack are too many to list, but suffice to say there are plenty of pockets, MOLLE webbing for customization to suit your needs, padded straps, chest strap and waist band for carrying comfort. Available only in black.
So, that’s my list this year. It’s not super long and has a variety of items. I’m taking bets on how many of them I actually find under my Christmas tree from my family. Anyone?
Stay Safe!
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