Christmas Toys
This past week after Christmas, I was driving around my hometown. I couldn't help but notice how much was missing from the scenery. The Sears was closing, the Toys R Us is gone, and there is only one retail book store left. K-Mart is absent, as is Record Bar (which I have lamented before), and there is nothing even approaching a Blockbuster Video to be seen. Such is life, I suppose. Things change. But I began to think about Christmas and Christmas gifts from way back when. Toys, in particular. Toys were what I looked forward to. Toy stores were places of joy and excitement. Toys R Us was one of many: Circus World, World of Toys, Children's Palace, K B Toys... they all had an excitement and a uniqueness to them. For example, Children's Palace carried a ton of Japanese robots well before Transformers came along. Shogun Warriors or Godiakin anyone? Or what about Micronauts? ROM the Spaceknight? Even the movie Dune had some cool toys. And I remember find