The Christmas present in May....

The picture is a Christmas present for Andrea, my 5 yr. old granddaughter that finally arrived today! There is a story to this.

It started with the Fisher Price Little People. I've been buying them for each granddaughter as they became old enough to play with these happy little people and their endless little playsets. Years ago, my son who is in his 30s had a Little People Farm complete with animals and a Little People Bus that occasionally even had a kitten or two riding in it, thanks to a rather creative little boy who could always find other uses for his toys.

I have a granddaughter in Texas named Sophie, who is almost 3, and I've been buying Little People sets for her. Before Christmas in 2005, I found the cutest little Ferris Wheel. This was just a little set, with the ferris wheel, a ticket booth, two Little People and a nice little hand crank that turned the wheel and played music. There is also an annoying little circle, appearently for a loud mouth circus barker, that laughs like a maniac when you place one of the Little People on it and press it down. That last part could have been left off, I would have left that off, but that is, of course, a favorite of any small child.

Andrea saw the set before I wrapped it up and sent it off to Texas, and she wanted it! I said not to worry, I would get one for her too. She was okay with that, but little did I know I was setting off on a journey that would mean Andrea would not get part of her Christmas present until May.

I had bought this at a local discount store. It was the last one, and every store, Target, Wal Mart, Geoffreys, KayBees, you name it, I went to did not have this set. Every other Little People set, but not this one. I got a different musical one for Andrea in hopes this would be an acceptable substitute. It wasn't! She already had it! So, grandma's can do anything, right? I said I would find it and get it for her!

And so it began. I searched every site online I could think of. From Target and Wal Mart to Amazon and E bay. Everything! I put Fisher Price Little People in search engines and visited hundreds of sites, none of which had the ferris wheel. Not even the Fisher Price site had it. A few places listed it, and it was sold out.

Finally in desperation, I found out I could list it as a pre order on Amazon, and if---a big IF---it came in, I could buy it. I put $20 or so in the high price I would pay, considering it was cheaper than that in the stores. By now I was determined. I would have gone over that just to get this elusive toy. By this time, Andrea had forgotten all about it.

From January until last week, I kept renewing the pre order, thinking that sooner or later, I really should end this. If I kept it up, Andrea would be too old to play with the toy when I finally did find it! Last week, in my e mail was one from Amazon. Since the one other order I had there was already shipped, I wondered what this was. Unbelievable, someone in Levittown, NY had listed a ferris wheel set for $10. Amazon had already charged my credit card, and it would be on it's way to me soon.

Then another e mail, saying it would arrive between May 4th and May 18th. Today it arrived! In it's box, the Little People, the ferris wheel and the ticket booth all still twist tied in, the whole thing in perfect shape! Andrea wasn't home when it got here. When she did get it, she just stood and looked at it, turned the crank on the ferris wheel to play the music, and then began ripping apart the packaging to get it out! The smile on her face was worth waiting 4 months for this toy to arrive.

After a concentrated 10 minutes untwisting all those twist ties and cutting through the tape that holds these toys into the packaging (just where do they think toys are going to escape to?) The ferris wheel is all set up, and Andrea has raided her other Little People sets for more people and animals who will be riding the wheel. As I was looking at the box it came in, I realized that there is a whole carnival that goes with this. I've never seen this carnival in any store. And I'm hiding the box, I'm not up for another 4 month long search for a toy!