Action Figures...

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Meagan and Rana stayed the night last night so everyone is still in bed (9:35 CST) and I expect them to be in bed for a while.

Eric works at 4:00 this afternoon, so we'll have a couple hours of Christmas gifts and such before he has to go.

This year, from a shopping perspective, has been unique.

This is the first year in many that we have not bought a toy.  Xbox games do not count, board games do not count, I'm talkin' TOYS from the toy department, specifically Action Figures.

Christian is in 6th grade, and technically on the high-side of action figure action.  But because of his older (rotten) brothers, he tends to do what they are doing, so he plays some video games, likes Nerf and Airsoft guns, and music, and clothes...not "Batman."

We have (I would guess) hundreds of Action Figures in our attic.

1.) The most: Batman. We have a dodecahillion Batmans (Batmen?) All of the boys have loved Batman.  Christian would only ask for "Batman" for any gift opportunity (Birthday, Christmas, Arbor Day, Hey-I-Have-Some-Money-To-Spend Day.)

2.) Close Second: Star Wars.  We have been very, very good to George Lucas.

3.) Lord of the Rings. Those movies came out when December 19th, 2001. Eric was 10. My Dad, Eric, and I went to see it.  It was a pivotal experience for the boys.  When I was 10 we had movies like, "The Sting", "American Graffiti", and "The Exorcist." (not really kid-fare.)

Mr. Jackson really raked in on the Geil family. Remember we buy everything x4.

Here is a list of Lord of the Rings stuff we've had:
> VHS Copies of all three movies
> DVD Copies of all three movies
> DVD Extended box set of all three movies
> Action Figure of all Major, Minor, Sub, Rejected, Thought-of, or manufactured character (we still have more Batmans/Batmen)
> All three LOTR Playstation-2 games (+ The Hobbit)
> The LOTR Milton/Bradley Board Game
> LORT Chess
> LOTR Stratego
> LOTR Risk (which is awesome)
> LOTR Trading Cards (I still find them tucked in couches and under dressers)
> Multiple versions of the LOTR books
> LORT Posters
> LORT Weapons and Armor

We like Lord of the Rings.

Now it's all quasi-adult gifts. They each got (will get) an Xbox game (good for one, good for all) cologne/body wash stuff, clothes, books, candy, money, boring stuff.

As Ecclesiastes says, "For every thing there is a season." or as Roland Dechain says, "The world has moved on."

chris

(PS. Christian did ask for and got Batman: Arkham City  for Xbox 360...some things are the same.)