Working on expanding my collection - and yours.
My best Christmas memories are not about the food or the family, though of course those are nice. My most vivid Christmas memories are the toys. The Barbie dollhouse my dad built, my aunt painted, and mom lovingly decorated (and was later provided with draperies from a cousin in England!). The year of the Fisher Price kitchen set, when my younger sister Ashley and I got the kitchen from Santa and practically every single food set from assorted relatives. The birthday when every relative bought me a different Barbie and the Rockers set and I ended the day with the full collection and sound stage. The Christmas when Ash and I snuck downstairs successfully in the middle of the night and I saw, assembled painfully by Dad Santa and glowing under the lights of the tree, my heart's desire, a tabletop hockey game.
I've always loved toys and kept the things I had as a child because I can't imagine life without them. When I met my spouse, he had been making a living as a toy and comic dealer for years and I watched with interest as he bought and sold the toys he had loved as a child - and increased his own collection at the same time. I started my modest career as a toy dealer with a collection of vintage Polly Pockets and haven't looked back. The only thing that's as exciting as adding something to my collection is sending a toy to become part of someone else's collection.
