Millennium Falcon moment

When was your Millennium Falcon moment?
I was talking with some college buddies the other day, and we were recounting the single greatest Christmas moments of our youth. By my count, 140 percent of the respondents said getting a Millennium Falcon. For guys my age, getting Han Solo’s super cool space ship toy is the ultimate Christmas memory. It is the item we reflect back on that sums up the excitement, the anticipation, the magic of Christmas. (Most of us put the Death Star as a close second.)
I asked my wife what her Millennium Falcon moment was, and she told me that every year, her mother would give her a porcelain doll, and she could not wait to find out which one she would get for her collection. Porcelain dolls are fine and all, but it is nowhere near as cool as the Millennium Falcon. Does a porcelain doll have a trap door to hide Han, Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker? I didn’t think so.
Anyway it is with eager anticipation that I gear up for Christmas, hoping to find what my kids’ Millennium Falcon Moment will be. Parker is 3, so he doesn’t have a singular thing he is geared up for Santa to bring him. Ask him from day to day what he wants, and it will change. Often, he says he wants Superman. And I don’t think he wants an action figure. I think he actually wants us to bring him Superman. He’s either a big fan or Lex Luther.
He’s really into bugs, so I am sure lots of his Christmas presents will center around that. Given his druthers, Parker would rather be outside, turning over logs and finding things to put in his bug house. Odd side note: The other day, he was carrying around a dead beetle in his pocket. (Not a dead Beatle. That would be weird). Anywho, I asked him the beetle’s name. Without so much as a pause, he said, “Hoo-Hoo Lava Jam Jesus.” Figuring he was just stringing together words, I asked him about an hour later what the beetle’s name was. Hoo-Hoo Lava Jam Jesus. We are two days removed, and he still answers unequivocally, Hoo-Hoo Lava Jam Jesus. I have no clue what to make of the name. Just figured I’d share.
The other thing he really loves is riding his Big Wheel, so the next logical step will be to from three wheels to two. Or, four, I guess, since it’s not very nice to put a kid on two wheels and just let him fall over.
Regardless of what Parker finds under the tree Christmas morning, it’s a safe bet that he will not have that Millennium Falcon moment. He’s still young, and he still gets excited regardless of the manner of presentation when he gets gifts. To a 3-year-old, Christmas and birthdays are not reserved for gift giving. Rather, it’s that every day should be for that, and they really don’t totally understand why EVERY day isn’t a day in which Matchbox cars magically appear.
Allie, however, could be approaching her Millennium Falcon moment. If it’s not this year, it will probably be in the next couple. She is uber-excited about Christmas, and is counting down the days.
Her Christmas list is growing quite lengthy, and I am to blame for much of that. I made the mistake a few weekends ago of letting her turn the television on one Saturday morning. Normally, this is not a problem, because she usually watches Disney or PBS, meaning no commercials. Network Saturday morning? Not so much. It did not take her long to come sprinting to me, almost out of breath. “DADDY – I have GOT to get Barbie: 12 Dancing Princesses and a Makeover Magic Camera and ...” At that point, it became all white noise. For what seemed like about 11 days, she rattled off toy after toy after toy, complete with a description of just HOW AWESOME!!! it really is and how she has GOT TO HAVE IT!!!!
Finally, I stopped her. “Allie. You need to take a breath. It’s been all exhale.”
I managed to remember 40-50 of the things that she told me about, which I relayed to her mother, who is our household’s Chief Santa Liaison (CSL). I was CSL for my daughter’s first Christmas. When a football and a baseball mitt came down the chimney, I was stripped of my title.
It’s probably better that my wife handles the CSL duties at this stage, since I get a little overwhelmed when shopping for her. If you have never shopped for gifts for a 6-year-old girl, I will let you know this: Roughly 85 percent of the world’s commercial products are geared for this demographic. There will never be a time when someone can honestly say, “I just couldn’t find a thing for a 6-year-old girl.” There could, however, be a time when someone says, “I just kept adding and adding and adding until the cart was piled 42-feet high, and in a flash I was covered in an avalanche of Barbie and My Little Pony.”
Regardless of what Christmas morning brings, I know this much to be true: My children’s eyes will light up at the wonders under the tree, and that’s a Millennium Falcon moment for me.