Figgy Pudding?

Finally, Friday is here!

Cathy and I are just relaxing this evening, with no where to go (fortunately). So we're listening to the "holiday classics" music channel, and this guy is singing "Oh, bring me some figgy pudding, oh bring me some figgy pudding..."

Really?

Man, times must have been rough back in the day, if people were hoping to receive figgy pudding for Christmas! Now that's a lame gift.

I have some great childhood memories of Christmas gifts long ago... To be sure, little Brian Baker wasn't asking for any nasty pudding...no, this was the early 1970's, and toy companies like Mattel and Kenner were in full swing. My sibs (David, Teresa, Angela) and I got some cool toys from Santa over the years:

• Board games: Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, Clue, Risk, Yahtzee, Mouse Trap, Battleship, Stratego, Game of the States, Mad Marbles, Gnip Gnop, Facts in Five, Trouble, Super Sandwich
  
• Construction toys: Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Erector set, wooden building blocks...
• Cars, cars, cars!: Matchbox cars, Hot Wheels (the original 1970 ones with the redline tires!), SST cars (with the serrated T-handles and rubber flywheel), Smash-Up Derby SST cars (when they hit each other, the doors and hoods would fly off, and then you'd snap them back on), yellow metal Tonka dump truck & crane. Also, cool Hot Wheels tracks (orange track with purple connectors...) with loop-de-loops!
  
• Other: Superball, Whizzers (I remember spinning one up and sticking it in Teresa's hair...sorry!), Pick up Stix, Rubik's Cube, Mattel Basketball handheld "video game" (red LED lights, and when you scored it made the buh-DEE sound!), pop guns, Schwinn Caliente 10-speed bikes

Oddly enough, my Mom still lives in the home we all grew up in, and almost all these 1970's toys are still exactly where we left them (in the finished basement). Sometimes when I get together with the sibs at holidays, we'll break out a vintage game or two....

As fun as it was to receive these cool gifts, one of my most memorable Christmases was one where I learned to enjoy the GIVING more than the GETTING.

When Angela, my kid sister, was 3 years old, I bought her a Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper for Christmas. This playset looked like a miniature barbershop, complete with plastic barber chairs, scissors, and little shavers. Here's how it worked: first, you would fill the barber chair with Play Doh. Second, you would take these little plastic people with holes all over their heads, and place them in the barber chair. Third, you would turn a crank, and little streams of Play Do hair would squish out of their heads. Finally, you would take your scissors and give them a haircut!

Angela loved this toy, and I loved seeing the happiness in her little eyes. It was a wonderful Christmas.

I look forward to the upcoming Christmas break (I'll be on vacation for a week and a half, woo hoo!). I look forward to spending time with my lovely wife, as well as Zach and Sarah. (Brandon and Megan, I'll miss you guys!) I hope the gifts I give bring more joy than any gifts I may receive... And I look forward to getting to see my sibs up in Virginia when I visit Mom.

Speaking of giving, I'd better get to bed...big shopping day tomorrow...