Though the “Toy Story” saga has been entertaining children since 1995, our family is relatively new to the Disney-produced animated gems. Our daughter, Mary Ann, is only four years old and our son, A.J., is only two. And thus it was the summer of 2011 when we first began to watch the three “Toy Story” films on DVD. And truthfully, it was Dad here who was the last to sit down and watch them. My wife and the kids had been enjoying them for quite a while before I finally got around to sitting through the first one, but once I did, I was just as eager as everyone to see the two sequels. They’re wonderful movies for kids and they come with just enough wit to also entertain adults.
Simply put: I like “Toy Story.” And my kids love “Toy Story.”
At Christmastime, the children let it be known that they would like Santa to bring a little “Toy Story“ to our house. They wanted a “Buzz Lightyear” action figure, as well as “Woody” and “Jessie.” They were told that if they were good, Santa would probably grant their requests, and once my wife and I decided to start our “Santa” shopping, we planned to get them the three “Toy Story” characters that they liked best. At least that was my plan. My wife, however, had another idea.
“We'll need to get two Buzz Lightyears,” she said. “One for each of them.”
“Why?” I asked. “I thought they’d share them.”
“They won’t,” she said. “At least not the Buzz Lightyears. They both love him. And they'll each need to have their own. If they don’t, they’ll fight over him.”
“Well," I said. “We are their parents. Isn’t it our job to teach them to share?”
“Trust me,” she said. ”It won’t happen. It will be a nightmare.”
Knowing that my wife was the one that was usually at home with the kids during the day and that she would be the one that might have to serve as referee in this daily tug-of-war over Buzz Lightyear, I agreed that Santa would bring one to each of them. There was one problem, however. Once we started our holiday shopping, we noticed that some of the “Toy Story” characters were pretty hard to come by, especially the incredibly popular Buzz Lightyear. And though we briefly panicked, I was able to order them online. Two Buzz Lightyears were on their way. Our kids were in fact very good. And Santa would reward them.
And that’s when things got complicated. In fact, that’s when the whole wonderful vision of Santa through a child's eyes was nearly destroyed in our home.
One afternoon, just a few days after we ordered our Buzz Lightyears, my wife pulled the car up in front of the house with the two kids in tow. She parked, unbuckled them from the seats, and as children often do, they ran off ahead of her to the front porch. And that’s when she heard exclamations of sheer joy.
“Buzz Lightyear! Buzz Lightyear!”
Though it took my wife only a few seconds to get there, the damage was done. The Buzz Lightyears had indeed arrived and, inexplicibly, the delivery box was wide open on the front porch. And the kids had them. To say my wife was not only disappointed but also angry would be an understatement. A few days later, she asked the UPS driver how this could have happened. He explained that drivers are supposed to re-tape all boxes that are accidentally opened during delivery, but he said that not all of them do it. Great. Just great.
We had ourselves a Christmas crisis.
Fortunately, she thought quickly, right on the spot. She told the kids that these toys were not ours and that they must have been delivered to our house by mistake. She even went as far as to tell them that they must have been meant for our neighbor across the street, and that our neighbor must have ordered them for her nieces and nephews. And, in full damage control mode, we later asked our neighbor to come over to our house and – in front of the kids - inquire if we had mistakenly received her delivery. We told her that indeed we had and the Buzz Lightyears were "returned" to her.
That seemed to solve at least a part of the problem. But our daughter is now almost five years old and is as sharp as a tack. She doesn’t miss a trick, and we still felt that if the Buzz Lightyears were under the tree on Christmas morning and were “from Santa," she still might somehow connect them to what she had seen on the front porch a few weeks prior. And so we decided that the Buzz Lightyears would be gifts from Mommy and Daddy, and Santa would bring other gifts. And the truth is, once Christmas morning arrived and the hasty unwrapping began, the nametags seemed pretty obsolete. There were lots of gifts under the tree, and that’s all the kids seemed to care about. Of couse we still made a point to emphasize that the Buzz Lightyears were from us, not Santa, and thankfully the kids made no mention of the opened-box incident.
We did it. Was saved the magic of Santa. At least, hopefully, for a few more years.
As far the two Buzz Lightyears go, my wife was right. We needed two. In fact, since Christmas, my daughter has already told me that ”My Buzz Lightyear is the real Buzz Lightyear. A.J.’s isn’t the real one.” I can’t imagine what it would have been like if we only had one. Mommy knew best.
Two Buzz Lightyears are better - and smarter - than one.
