For the past two nights I have found myself staying up into the wee hours to find Snowflake's Christmas presents. Drooling at the fine sweet treats that wait for him Christmas Morning, I am caving in to the gross materialistic consumerism that drives our society all in the spirit of the season. I think I am a Toy Snob.
Yes, I look down with a disgusted tsk! to Fisher-Price and Playschool, plastic and batteries. Today's cheap, mass produced toys leave little to the imagination and they are just so annoying you want to find creative ways to destroy them for you own twisted pleasure!
It's not about quantity. It's about gorgeous, wonderful wooden objects of functional art that will create amazing memories for Snowflake. It's about him opening up a box in 30 years to find that his toys are perfect for his own babies. Last year for his birthday I bought him a bunch of building blocks from HABA. These are like the colorful blocks that I had as a child and you cannot find them anymore. They are made of hard maple and lacquered with lush bright stains, some in unusual shapes.
Christmas will bring Snowflake a "Like-A-Bike" from Germany. It is so cool, I can hardly wait. It teaches a toddler to balance long before they get on their first real bike. Bonus= they never need training wheels. Then there are the toys from Vilac, a company in France that has been making toys forever. One is a wooden blue plane pull toy with St.Exupery's Little Prince riding in the cockpit. SWEET. The other is a beautiful wooden clown push toy. I couldn't resist ordering a luscious "Fan-Fan the Elephant" pull toy for Sid's bambino. There are more...
I could go on and on, excitedly touting every detail of all the precious presents I purchased, describing the Rolls-Royce like finish, the non toxicity of it all, the SpielGut award... I would be in a gleeping frenzy! Suddenly the thought occurs to me...
I am a Toy Whore!
