Spot On Rudolph

~My collection of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Christmas Toys.~~Oh, LOOK ! I bought myself a new toy I just had to open before Christmas. I was shopping with our daughter and her two little boys, shopping for OTHER people at the toy store when a whole display at the toy store stopped me . The display called out to me....."Kathy, it's us, Rudolph toys and ornaments...you love us, stop here, buy us and take us home !" Oh my, how silly, me a grown up, stopped in amazement and delight at this display. I think my daughter must have found it a little silly, we were on a go and buy and get home mission for some other people, and here I was oohing and ahhhing over all the toys. I resisted all but one toy, I had to have another toy, after all, the only Rudolph toys I had are in the picture above, so daughter helped me make my choice and then we continued shopping.

~Here is what I bought ! (above ) I waited a whole week to open this up and yesterday I made fresh coffee to go with my breakfast of sugar cookies , What ? You don't eat Christmas cookies for breakfast in December, how could you NOT ? I was so excited to open my new toy and put it on display, and play with it. ~LOOK AT ALL THE WIRES holding the toy in the package ! Every reindeer leg was wired, Santa AND the sleigh were wired, there were wires attached to wires and I just wanted my toy. How are we grown ups supposed to open our toys with all those wires ! I got out scissors, but still this was time consuming and I was getting irritated. Why, almost a whole CD of Christmas carols was done playing and I was still removing wires. Plus, it was awkward to remove the wires because the plastic mount the toy was wired to was bulky and in the way.I had visions of the toy packagers doing this deliberately to get back at the toy receivers..".ah ha ! Take this and take that, you think you're going to get your little hands on this toy easily ! I'll make you work for it! Another tightly wound and twisted wire here for you !" ~Well, this picture was taken when I was ALMOST done. Look at the wires. I have been to birthday parties for little children who open their presents and cannot get their presents out of the packaging. An adult usually has to sit nearby with scissors and wire cutters to finish the job of opening the presents. Isn't this a bit of overkill in the packaging department ? Don't you think this is a lot of wasted wire and plastic, and cause of needless frustration? I think parents might begin a whole new tradition on Christmas eve...instead of putting together bikes and the like, they can spend the time after the kids go to bed , UNWRAPPING and REMOVING TOYS FROM PACKAGING!This would not only give the kids access to the much anticipated toys, but the parents can sleep off the frustration and irritation before the joyous morning . ~Well finally. My coffee was cold, and another CD of Christmas carols was over, but I had my new toy out of the box and assembled! There is something about the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer that makes me happy. I play the movie every year before December, and sometimes I watch it just to make me happy. The little rejected reindeer who saves Christmas . Maybe I love the story because of the memories. When I was little this story was only on T.V., and only around Christmas. Our whole family would assemble in front of our little black and white television, myself and my sisters would be in our pajamas and Mom would have special snacks for us to eat while we watched the Christmas Special. Then on Christmas Eve I remember our Dad would yell, " hey, look out the window, I see something." Sure enough , we would see a red light in the sky, and we KNEW it was Rudolph with his red nose leading Santa's sleigh and Dad would say "Well, you'd better get to bed so Santa can bring your presents ." ~Maybe because I was an Army brat and because we moved frequently I went to as many schools as there are years of school to attend, I was always the new kid. Always figuring out how to fit in and just be O.K. And then also, every year Rudolph was on T.V. He was a constant, a comforting constant that let us know even a red nosed reindeer can find a niche and purpose and fit in !