The Wind-Up Collection

     This year Santa has had to postpone his traditional Christmas morning visit to our house.  He has agreed to make a belated stop a few weeks hence in Los Angeles when all our family members will be able to gather together.  So, although our stockings were hung with the usual care, they were merely decorative this year… at least for today.
     Generally, Santa’s stocking gifts to us aren’t those exotic or expensive little things that you might see in the movies – no diamond rings or round-trip tickets to Paris.  He usually leaves us something practical (like a pair of mittens), something to eat (like a tangerine or orange down in the toe), and always a wind-up toy.  Besides those basics, there might be a bottle of perfume for me or a wooden spoon for Nyel-the-chef or, for Charlie and Marta a memory chip for their cameras or a coveted CD.  But for all of us, wind-up toys are the favorite stocking stuffer!
     We wind and re-wind them, laugh at their antics, marvel at their intricacies.  A few years back, when my mother was just accepting the use of a walker at the nursing home, we found wind-up grannies with walkers in our stockings!  She loved winding hers up to race with the others.  I think they are still my favorites – although the ‘anatomically correct’ (not!) beating heart and the dancing robot with nipples (why?!) are right up there.
     Each year they all get packed away with the Christmas decorations and the following year will be on display again.  Visitors love to try them out and, of course, we are delighted anew each year at the ever-growing assembly of Santa’s clever choices.  I can hardly wait for this year’s postponed visit to see what he has in store for us.