Come the Christmas season, there’s always a hot item that every kid in America is clamoring for. This year,apparently it was anything that had to do with Paw Patrol, Chase being the most coveted.

We fell into the trap years ago when the Cabbage Patch Kids were in vogue. Even though we had boys, they all wanted one of those dolls that was all the rage. (Ken was given a Cabbage Patch preemie, who wound up sporting a metallic blue mustache and goatee – the result of a bored little kid on a rainy day with access to permanent magic markers.)

When Tim was six years old, the most sought-after gift that had to be under the tree on Christmas morning was the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars movie. It was on his list for Santa, but the toy was not to be found anywhere. Allan and I scoured the stores early on but to no avail.

I knew that some of my friends, who apparently were more sophisticated in their buying prowess than I was, had already procured the prized spaceship and had it wrapped and festooned in ribbons, awaiting the shrieks of joy from their cherubs on Christmas morn.

I decided I needed to prepare Tim for the worst, as I knew no Millennium Falcon would be gracing the branches under our tree. I started out by telling him all the wonderful things that Santa would no doubt be leaving in his stocking. “Candy canes, puzzles, books, pears in your stocking…” I began to enumerate. At that point Tim interrupted me and said “Oh…I love pears!”. Then I gently queried “What would you do if Santa wasn’t able to bring something that you were really hoping for?” The child thought for a moment and then seriously said, “Well, I guess I’d eat pears!”

And that dear friends is how it came to be, that a little fluffy Bunny started bringing candy AND toys – a Millennium Falcon to be precise – to good little children on EASTER morn.