Toying with My Affection

When the toy catalog from Toys R Us arrived in our newspaper a couple of weeks ago, I knew the holiday season was off to its official start. The whole toy thing is really below my radar. My son is in college now, so my shopping list will consist of things like gift cards, clothes and X-Box accessories.

When he was small, I was up on the latest trends, although he rarely asked for the hottest toys. So I wasn't inclined to get caught up in the mad dash. I do remember going from store-to-store one year, trying to find a Spiderman web shooter. It straps to your wrist and spews the equivalent of Silly String. I was so proud of myself for finding it. He played with it once. Maybe twice. The toy he loved best as a child was his set of Thomas the Tank Engine trains and track. He played for hours, days, weeks, with those trains. I used to read him the original stories by Reverend W. Awdry. Then I'd hear him playing with the trains later, saying things like, "Cinders and Ashes, Percy, we're going to crash!"

To me, that's what toys are all about.

Playing my new "Beatles Flip Your Wig" Game

Lately, I've been thinking about the toys that shaped my own childhood. I still have my first slinky. And the dolls, much loved, but incapable of doing anything but blinking their eyes. I have my (one and only one) Barbie doll, complete with the original bubble cut, a few outfits and some mismatched shoes. From my mom I snarfed the cardboard frame puzzles we played with. Then there were the games. Christmas Day was our annual game fest, when we cleared the kitchen table (or living room floor) and played board games. My pride and joy was the Beatles Flip Your Wig Game. We had the classics like Clue, Risk, Monopoly and Life, plus card games. One sister had Barbie Queen of the Prom. My other sister had a game with a small purple princess phone that you had to dial for instructions. It took the place of the dice.

Then there were the crafty toys. Looms for making pot holders. The Easy Bake Oven. The too-hot toy that made creepy, crawly bugs so our brothers could torture us (like they needed help). The Spirograph. The white building blocks that were the predecessor to Legos. The Lincoln Logs.

Just out of curiosity, I googled to see what this year's hottest toys are. Although in some ways they have become a little more complex (and obviously more high tech) the themes are essentially the same. Included on the list were Legos, a make-your-own-bracelet kit, Elmo, a couple of board games and some dolls. My favorite of these was an "exclusive" by Toys R Us called the "Tub & Toot Doll." Yes, it does what you think it does. Complete with bubbles. I may have to get one for myself.

Christmases are much quieter these days. I can sleep in -- in fact, I'll probably be the first one up this year. That's nice, in a way. But I will reminisce about those Christmases past, when a family of eight swarmed around the tree and ripped open presents and spent the day together.

Am I glossing over the fights and disappointments that also took place on those long-ago Christmases? Of course. But they're my memories, and I'm sticking to them!