The greatest Christmas gift of all is surely the gift of Neil Patrick Harris, and so it is with great joy and seasonal goodwill in our hearts that we hear the news that he has been confirmed for the cast of A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, the Yuletide-set threequel for the loveable stoners and their mushroom-and-E-addicted friend / frenemy 'Neil Patrick Harris' (not to be confused with the real Neil Patrick Harris, who we hear prefers his mushrooms sauteed rather than trippy).
Harris, who was shot in the back and apparently left for dead in the last film (but when did that ever stop a beloved character from returning for the sequel?) joins John Cho and Kal Penn, without whom there would be no Harold & Kumar (respectively), and new cast members Patton Oswalt and Thomas Lennon. The film has already started shooting in a Michigan mall, and counts a waffle-making robot among its characters according to EW, which can only be a good thing.
It's all being directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson from a script by original screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, rounding out an apparently Germanic-origin team. We should see the finished result in time for Christmas 2011.