Still Just a Big Kid

>> Tuesday, December 15, 2009



Since the holidays wouldn't be the holidays without a little disappointment, I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about all the Christmas gifts I repeatedly asked for as a child, but never got. You'd think that as an adult I'd have more perspective, and realize that material posessions don't matter, that I am no worse for the wear, that not getting everything I wanted taught me a valuable lesson about the true meaning of Christmas. You'd think that--but you'd be wrong. I eagerly anticipate getting all of these things (or their modern, boy-appropriate equivalent) for my son and having him NOT be disappointed year after year. And yes, I know that Christmas isn't about posessions and blah blah blah, but I still want to see his little face light up. . .and of course, I will enjoy playing with the toys myself. Wink.

So without further ado: Christmas Gifts I Never Got. . .


The Easy Bake Oven. What little girl (or boy) wouldn't want something in which they could bake all their favourite treats? Well, I was no different from the other little boys and girls out there. I desperately wanted to bake my own cookies, cupcakes and squares, but year after year, I remained easy bakeless. Le sigh.


Yes, I am aware that these are gaudy and terrible, but I am still scarred by the image of my friends zipping around the neighbourhood in their battery operated cars, while I was stuck on the sidelines with my STUPID BIKE, expected to actually PEDAL to get where I wanted to go, like some kind of chump!



Ken Dolls. I have no idea why, but year after year I asked for a Ken, and year after year I continued to get only female Barbies. My solution to this, of course, was to cut off their hair, dress them in shirts and pants, and pretend that they were men. Were my parents afraid that I would act out romantic scenes between Barbie and Ken, which would lead me to eventually realize that I was interested in boys and didn't want to just spend my life hanging out with my gal pals? All I know is, that to this day when walking through the toy section, I feel a little pang when I see the various Ken dolls that my Barbies never got the pleasure of meeting.



I don't know that this very cool Eco House from Plan Toys was around when I was a kid, but I do know that I longed for a proper dolls house--not one that was made out of lego. This house is amazing. It's got solar panels, wind energy, and I believe you can purchase recycling bins and rainwater containers to go along with it. I definitely plan on buying this for my little guy in a few years. And if he's not interested in playing house? Well, I know of someone who will be playing with this toy all by herself. . .




Look at this kitchen! It's a dream! Though when I was a kid I'm sure I wanted a gaudy, brightly coloured plastic one-piece kitchen, this is definitely more my style. It's better than the kitchen I have now, actually. I loved to play with playfood in Sunday school when I was a kid, and even as a baby sitter I definitely enjoyed pretend cooking with the kids. Nothing burns that way. My son will also have a kitchen. I already have it picked out. We don't have the room or the money for the one above, but IKEA has a very sweet realistic little kitchen that I can't wait to get my hands on. To give to my son, I mean.





I asked for a Game Boy for several years in a row, then finally realized it was never going to happen. I assumed that, because we also had no Nintendo system in our home, the reason must be that my parents were philosophically opposed to these  electronic games. And so I abandoned all hope. Just this past year I was talking to my mom about the fact that we weren't allowed video games growing up, and she told me that it wasn't that we weren't allowed. She just had no idea how to choose one, and since taking us to the store with her would have ruined the surprise, we just didn't get one by default. Oh, mom. ASK THE SALES CLERK! I'm sure my husband would agree with my latent frustration, since he is forever trying to get me to play video games with him, and I am forever getting frustrated because I don't know how. I had no practice in my formative years, I'm just not good. We recently got Little Big Planet, though, and if you're like me and would like to play but just don't know how, I'd recommend starting with that. It's a video game for people who don't like video games. Nothing comes out to kill you (at least on the levels I've seen), and you get to dress up your character and then randomly place stickers everywhere. Does it get any better than that?

Up Next: Christmas gifts I've asked for as an adult, year after year, but never get. (I'll be making sure the Husband reads that one!)

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