By Robert Covarrubias

Whenever I attend a convention or my local toyshop I look around and realize that we all have something in common: We were all fortunate as kids to have grown up in the best toy culture around. Most of us remember grabbing those wrapped presents from under the tree and opening up that Mego figure, Star Wars toy, Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe, Etch A Sketch, Barbie, whatever it was it made us feel whole. And our parents would spend their very last dime and hunt that elusive toy, wherever that might have been, just so that they can see our smiling faces on Christmas morning.

I remember a year when my mom scoured all over Queens and Manhattan looking for the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Unfortunately she never found it and till this day I’ve never owned it but it didn’t matter because knowing that she was out there looking for it was good enough for me, not to mention that she made up for it by buying more toys for my brother and I.

Every year we would go through a ritual, my parents would walk through the door one day early December and tell my brother and I to stay in our room. We obeyed but obviously knew what the real deal was. While they were secretly stashing our gifts in some unknown place, we were planning our manhunt. I can say that I found them every year and faked my look of surprise when I got to open them Christmas morning. I have to say that I became quite an expert at finding them and even unwrapping them and re-wrapping them if need be.

One year though I was fooled into thinking that I was getting the Star Wars Death Star Space Station playset, only because I did my usual snooping three weeks before Christmas and found the box in my parents’ closet. You can imagine my disappointment when I opened gifts Christmas morning and the playset was nowhere to be found. How was I suppose to bring it up and tell them that there was one gift missing. I wasn’t about to ruin a good Christmas morning by getting yelled at or punished so I let it go. When I was old enough I told my parents about my yearly manhunt and asked them about that Star Wars toy. At first I got a puzzled look and then the silence was shattered with a loud laughter. Apparently it was an empty box all along. They were using it to store some stuff. Till this day I’m not sure if I believe them or not. My feeling is that it was a given to someone they forgot to buy a present for, perhaps one of the neighbor’s kid.

Christmas was a time I can certainly say I enjoyed very much. Today I try to bring that same pleasure to my kids by making sure they get exactly what they want. Even though my oldest hasn’t yet appreciated the beauty and variety of today’s toys. If I could rewind to five today I would start a whole new collection that I wouldn’t have to pay for and have more years to enjoy today’s toys and the ones I probably won’t see. More than anything I hope to create the best collection that I can to pass on to my children so that they can continue to add to it and pass to their children.