"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Ok, so Julie Andrews is not one of them. I mean, she was a fine actress and singer, but she really had no business being in "My Fair Lady". She and Kevin Costner could make a parody movie titled "We can't Speak English." (Or rather, with an English accent.)

Enlightening, I know.

So, it's Christmas time again, and that's great. I'm more excited for Thurman than I am for myself, which is probably a sign that I may be *gasp* maturing as an adult. Well, maybe. Actually, I still feel like a Toys 'R Us kid at times, and try to live vicariously through Thurman it seems. For example:

This year, the majority of Thurman's gifts from us (and Santa, of course) are Hot Wheels World Race cars. For the uninitiated, Hot Wheels World Race was a cartoon movie put out by Hot Wheels in 2002 or 2003 for it's 35th anniversary, and featured a collection of 35 cars that were all part of this movie. Thurman loved the movie (as most 4-year old boys would), and likes the cars as well. But since the cars are a couple of years old, you can't buy them at a store. Which brings us to eBay. Some of the cars, being more "common" than others, are cheaper to get on eBay. However, there are some cares that are much more rare, and therefore more expensive. Seriously, some people are buying these cars at $15 a pop, plus S&H. There's even a special "36th" car that they only made 1,000 of, which I've seen go for over $100.

So, I obviously went for the cheaper ones, and focused on a few of the more expensive one that I know he really likes. However, I must admit that once you start collecting them, it gets into your system and it's rather difficult to stop (and yes, I finally did.) But I had to ask myself why it was so hard.

I went through a similar situation with Hot Wheels' latest incarnation, "Acceleracers". This was a four-part series that was broadcast on the Cartoon Network, and had a set of 36 cars to sell (along with even more toys, tracks, collectible card game, etc.). And I felt the need, well more like an obsession, to get them all for Thurman. Yes, he enjoyed them and likes to play with them. Did he need them all, no. But did I need to get them all? Sure felt like it. So, again, why did I feel like that?

While admittedly, I can be a sucker for promotional tie-ins and marketing, and I often recognize when I'm hooked into something. (Carma likes to call these my "phases".) But I felt this was something even stronger. The best hypothesis I was able to come up with was the fact that in my childhood, I NEVER had a complete set of anything. Star Wars figures, G.I. Joe, Hot Wheels, whatever. My Legos were always pacthworked sets at best. Understandably so, as we were never well-off as a family and could not afford such children's luxuries. In retrospect, I'm grateful for what I did have, and I obviously survived just fine.

However, has this unfulfilled childish desire of mine created an overbearing desire for me to give my children all the things I wished I'd had, but never really needed? Perhaps. I guess the important thing for me is to maintain a balance between wanting the best for my kids, and wanting to spoil them. I'm grateful that my family is in a better financial position than when I was growing up, but I need to recognize there are different pitfalls and hazards that come with that territory as well.

A LincolnBlog

It's kind of like a Lincoln log, but much shorter. Anyway, this is a test, it is only a test. Had this been a real Blog post, it would have contained meaningful content, humor, or thoughts from an intelligent being.

Ok, so not really.