Thanksgiving

I can get a Hot Wheels Speed Racer Casa Cristo 5000 set for my son at Toys R Us for $21.99. It’s also available at Target for the same price. For some reason, on Amazon it’s listed for $39.99, although I’ve seen the price fluctuate to as low as $19.99. I’m a smart shopper and I’ve done my research.

A farmer opened up his farm to the public after his harvest knowing that there was more in the fields to pick and that during the current economic situation, folks could benefit from some free goods. He expected a good turn out but what he got was phenomenal. An estimated 40,000 people showed up. The interstate came to a stand still. One man explained that with the potatoes and onions he picked, he would be able to make an excellent potato soup that would last for some time.

My son also wants the Lego Bionicle Rockoh T3. I like getting him Bionicles despite the fact that none that he has resemble what my wife and I have purchased for him. He tends to trade important pieces that he has for important pieces that he doesn’t have with his best friend. From the big blue box of assorted pieces, he sculpts and names his own Bionicle, endowing it with powers and weapons no one has ever heard of. The Rockoh T3 is $39.99 just about everywhere and I think he may have to wait on that. I know full well that I would be spending 40 bucks on something that will soon enough be added to the box of pieces or traded away.

Somewhere in Zimbabwe a woman bends over a pile of cow dung. She carefully exhumes undigested pieces of corn, collecting them for later. She then washes and dries the kernels and pounds them into a meal. This will be today’s food supply.

He likes Lincoln Logs and Maxim Tumbletree makes a good knock off that sell for about half of the better known brand. I’m inclined to go with the budget brand even though it sounds like a male porn star. Then again, I’m sure there’s a gunslinger out there who goes by the name Lincoln Logg. There has to be. But I digress. This is about creativity and for what price we can afford its tools.

For Christmas, I would like Santa to bring me an opportunity to sit down with Jimmy Carter, a man who has done more in the name of peace as an ex-president than any former president I can think of. He’s an ambassador of peace and a better symbol of “Christian values” than any radio preacher or televangelist. Whatever Carter’s opinions are on same-sex marriage, they are not part of his public platform. He does not seem to be publicly outspoken on the issue of right-to-life vs. right-to-choose.

His Christian ‘walk’ seems to be one that focuses on promoting the well-being of all people despite their personal beliefs. It comes as no surprise to me that he is the one who is helping to bring the situation in Zimbabwe into the global discussion.

I will buy my son a Hot Wheel set and I will run out to Pittsford Plaza this afternoon to pick up that special Papo sheriff he spied two weeks ago. It looks like his grandma will get him the Lincoln Logs.

I want my son to get everything he wants for Christmas. He’s seven and I want to spoil him. Spoil him rotten. I want him to be well fed and have lots of time to play. There will be plenty of time for him to discover that this world is often a scary, fearful and desperate place. That many children spend their days crying in hunger. As he grows, he’ll discover his own responsibility towards those who are less fortunate than him.