The toy solution

With the Christmas season almost upon us. (Okay, walking through the stores, you'd swear it's already in full swing.) AJ can't help but focus on that magical place where all good toys come from. It's a place that's a bit of a mystery to him. He hears all about it. But who's really ever been there?

Santa's workshop at the North Pole? No. E-bay.

"Mommy, where's e-bay?" AJ asked the other day.

He's been the recipient of enough of Mommy's great finds, that I suppose he wonders.

"E-bay is kind of like a garage sale on the computer," I tried to explain.

"I want to go there!" was his enthusiastic response. I told him that wasn't possible, but I did let him sit on my lap as we scanned through the listings of Playmobil toys.


Now it's quite common for him to ask if we can look at "play sets" on e-bay. And when we're shopping, if I tell him we're not going to buy something because it's too expensive, his usual response is, "maybe we can find one on e-bay." He is the eternal optimist.

Jeff has maintained a rather cynical view of my recent obsession with this online shopping source. But I think he's coming around. On Sunday, while trying to navigate the still-under-construction roads in the mall area, along with about five million other shoppers, Jeff began to sing. "It's beginning to look like an e-bay Christmas..."

Another convert.