TOYS

My husband and I watched the Evel Knievel movie last night and Steve got all excited when the little Evel Knievel action figure was shown.  He idolized Knievel as a child, much to his family's dismay, and the little white clad plastic motorcycle stuntman (stuntbike sold separately!) was his favorite toy.  That got me to thinking about my toys.  I don't think I had toys as a child.  We were pretty poor so  most of our presents, regardless of the occasion were practical, like clothing, underwear, and books.  I didn't mind though, because these gifts usually came in boxes of various sizes, with ribbons and bows that were always so much fun to play with after all the presents were unwrapped.  Seriously folks, my siblings and I always had as much fun with the wrappings as we did with the presents themselves... and in the case of underwear... even MORE fun.  And hey, for those long months in between birthdays and holidays, just toss us an empty paper towel tube or a packing box and we were in heaven!  They were trumpets, they were telescopes, they were microphones, they were baseball bats or swords, they were castles and forts, cars and planes, virtually anything and everything we could imagine.

I do remember Barbie dolls.  But my Barbies looked nothing like the glamorous fashion beauties of today.  By the time it was my time to inherit a Barbie, she usually had no hair, had wires sticking out from the backs of her knees, and had chew marks and ink stains all over her naked limbs.  You see, I was the 4th daughter, and my Barbies were all hand-me-downs.  I honestly don't remember ever having a new Barbie, one with perfect hair, posable legs that actually stayed bent and clothes! 

All of the old toys are coming back.  Remember Lincoln Logs?  Those were my favorites.  I used to make the coolest one room cabins.  Now you can make a 3 story mansion with all of the extras!  I got my kids a colorful Barrel Full of Monkeys, another of my childhood favorites.  They just looked at the pile of plastic monkeys with blank stares.  By the end of the day we had monkeys hanging off of the lights, hanging off of ears, stuck in the vacuum, chewed up in the disposal, and launched onto the rooftop with a rubberband... there were no monkeys in the barrel.  So much for sharing that fond childhood memory.  All of their fancy, modern toys were strewn all over the house and they were running up and down the stairs, chasing each other with the long empty wrapping paper tubes, swinging them like swords, shooting pingpong balls from them, or trumpeting out a melody.  And I was right there with them, waving my wrapping paper tube over my head like a warrior princess with a bent sword, with my calico ribbon crown sitting lopsided on my head.  Outwardly I was spending quality family time with my children.  In my mind I was thinking:  "note to self.... don't waste money on toys this Christmas, just get a bunch of boxes and tubes, and stick some pretty bows on them.  More fun, less money, completely disposable!"