Greetings, loyal airmen.  Well in two days Valerie and I are off to Ft.Collins, CO., to spend Christmas with son Alan, his wife Nikki and our two grand kids, Cora and Alex. You'd better believe we've been counting the days. Alex is now nine and the last pictures I saw of him, I almost didn't recognized the little guy. Well, that's because  he just isn't little anymore.  He's starting to shoot up, lose the baby-look and you can almost get a glimpse of the  teenager he's going to be.  Two more days, and I'll be hanging with him and his beautiful, older sister, Cora.  Gonna be so much fun watching them on Christmas morning digging into those brightly wrapped packages to see what special surprises Santa delivered.

Which got me to thinking about Christmas past, and all the wonderful toy memories I have.  And how some of them have colored my life ever since.  Among them, my childest passion of action figures.  Which all began with the King of Cowboys.
             
                                            
When I was ten years, one of the most popular half hour TV shows on the television, was the Roy Rogers show.  Every week, in glorious black and white, we would get to visit the Double R Ranch and join Roy, his lovely wife Dale and their cast of human and animal co-stars on an new action-packed thirty minute adventure that always ended with the two of them riding off into the sunset singing, Happy Trails.  It was a wholesome, wonderful family show that all the Fortiers watched faithfully.

You can imagine my surprise that year, when the Sears Wishbook catalogue (that was the big fat one that came just after Thanksgiving and was overstuffed with toy ads) arrived and there, in the middle of that huge toy section, was a miniature display of the Double R Ranch.  The set included Roy on Trigger, with his loyal German Shephard dog, Bullet,  Dale on Buttermilk and Pat Brady, the ranch foreman, riding his loveable jeep, Nelly-Belle.  And there was the ranch house, a long fence and the barn, with extra horses.   The entire kit and caboodle all spread out in an eye-catching layout.   Upon seeing it, I came to believe there couldn't be a greater Christmas gift in the entire world than that Roy Rogers ranch set.  And oh boy, did I become the biggest kid pest you can imagine.  I surely must have driven Mom and Dad nuts those intervening weeks to Christmas.

But here's the thing I want you to understand.  Back in the mid-50s, we were really a low end middle-class family, with both Mom and Dad working to keep us afloat.   We rented half a duplex from my father's parents and although never thought of ourselves as poor, we didn't have all that much either.  So, even though I don't remember the exact cost of that toy set-up, I do know it was pricey and part of me didn't believe I would actually get it come Christmas.  It was one of those things you sigh and wish for, with no true hope of making it a reality.

When I woke up that particular Christmas morning (my kid brother George and I usually were up before 6 AM on that special.  I mean, come on, it's Christmas, no kid can sleep on Christsman!) and beat George out of our bedroom and down the stairs to the front room where the Christmas tree was stationed.   The night before we'd gone to bed leaving it a solitary sentinel in that back corner, but now, only one short night later, we beheld a floor devouring display of wrapped packages all bearing small little white cards with family names on them.  But what froze me in my slippered feet was what was spread out over the entire quilted floor rug in front of the tree…the entire Roy Rogers Ranch set!!!   I fell to my knees in front of it, my heart beating like a giant trip-hammer, as I picked up that little palomino horse with the gaudily clad cowboy riding him, and held it up for close inspection.
Could a child ever have been happier?  I doubt it seriously. 

So here we are, some fifty years later and I'm writing this in my own private Batcave, surrounded by some of the coolest action figures ever.  There's Samuel L.Jacskon, all six inches of him, as Shaft (with wrap-around shades) beside him is Xena, Warrior Princess, her throwing shakra in-hand, followed closely by the one-eyed Kurt Russell and Snake Plisken from the movie, Escape From New York.  Then there's Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane from Sleepy Hollow.   Oh, and let's not forget the Mighty King Kong, on his steel pedestal, roaring his challenge to the modern world.

As you can see, the love that started fifty years ago has never left me.  I am a nut for action figure toys.  And by far the best company producing them today, is McFarlane Toys.   Last month, in honor of my 60th birthday, my daughter Heather went and presented me with the latest addition to my toy collection.

Here, in all his engimatic glory, is actor Terry O'Quinn as John Locke from my favorite TV show, LOST!  I had heard McFarlane was doing these, but had never seen them before.  When I unwrapped the box and found him in his plastic wrap, I let out a very 10 yr. old like yell, that Valerie will happily attest to.  Another great action figure to add to the collection.  Does this young lady know her dad, or what?

There is something about toys that carries a unique magic.  They have no other purpose than to make us smile, to make us happy and for a brief moment in our hectic lives, make us forget our troubles.  That's what they have done for me and continue to do.  I wish each and everyone one of you a Santa bag-full of toys this Christmas morn.  A gift of laughter and youth and forever joy.

So I'm out of town and the hangar is closed for the next couple of weeks, airmen.  God bless all of you and your families.  See you at the end of the year,  Ron, over and out.