When I was a little kid, I loved toy soldiers more than anything else. This is a little bit strange to some people because I wasn’t a big fan of military toys. I had toy guns, a soldier costume and a water pistol, but I rarely used any of them. On the other hand, you could not get me away from those toy soldiers. I would sit down with them every chance I got. I would bring them to the dinner table, smuggle them in my pockets into the classroom with me, and even play with them on the way to and from school.

My very favorite toy soldier models were called “Knights of the Sword”. They were medieval toy soldiers and they were absolutely spectacular. Although they were made of plastic, they were some of the most dramatic and well designed soldier toys I have ever seen to this day. They were all in these great poses.  They would have their sword arms ready to swing, the shields raised fiercely in front of them and their standards blowing in the breeze.

They also had a lot of toy soldier play sets. One day, my parents bought me an actual toy catapult that went with the set. It came complete with two knights to load it and plastic stones to fire. Although I did not actually have a toy castle to fire the siege engine at, I would set up blocks and knock them down whenever I wanted to pretend to have a siege.

Of course, I had many other toy soldiers as well. I must have had hundreds of green army men, but my parents would have taken them away if they knew what I did with them! The great thing about green army men was that they were so cheap to buy. My parents a buy them for me whenever I wanted. As a result, I could actually play war with them. Some of them would get broken to pieces, other ones I would melt with a lighter that I found in my dad’s study. I would get together with my best friends and we would play toy soldier games for hours on end. We would set up elaborate outdoor battles, complete with land mines and bullet wounds. Few of those toy army men survived more than a few battles and it is strange that my parents never wondered where they all went!

There are some things that do not change from generation to generation. These are the things that fond memories are made from. There are also the things that we want to do differently than our parents did with us. The things that we want to do differently probably are those that have created hurtful memories for us. We all had good and bad experiences in childhood, the key is to be able to move on from our past and create happier memories for our adult years.

One of the experiences that may have caused either good or bad memories is the toys for Christmas that we received. For me I have both kinds of memories that I think about when I reminisce about the toys for Christmas I received over the years. When I was seven years old I wanted a Barbie doll. The dolls had come on to the market the same year that I was born and my name is Barb. When I was younger everyone called me Barbie. So many of my friends owned Barbie dolls and I thought I should have one. My parents did not have much money so my mother did a great deal of shopping in discount stores. She was the queen of off brand merchandise. That year for Christmas when I opened my present I found that I did receive a doll. It was the same size as a Barbie doll, however it was a Vivian doll. This was the cheaper off brand version. The Barbie doll clothes fit the doll. The difference was that the Vivian doll did not have the same feet so the high heeled Barbie doll shoes did not fit. Also the face looked different. I was very disappointed with the doll. I did not think that the couple of dollars that mom saved was worth it. I do not remember any other toys for Christmas from that year.

I think my mother realized from that experience that cheaper is not always better. I never did enjoy playing with that doll. From that time on it seemed that we received brand name items for our toys for Christmas. Now that I am a parent I make sure that my children have fond memories of the holidays. They do not get everything that they put on their lists because moderation is a lesson I want them to learn, but the things that they do receive are high quality and specifically what they ask for. I am sure there are things that they will do differently when they parent their children, but hopefully the hurtful memories they have from childhood will be few.