As Christmas approaches, it stirs memories of one of my favorite childhood toys: Legos.
I was an avid collector of the tiny bricks that snapped together but Legos in the 1970s were a lot different.
Back then, they did not have as many little figurines and cool components as they do today.
The sets were much more simple and largely consisted of the little plastic rectangles and a set of instructions.
If the kit was really high-end, it might have some moving parts, like wheels, and maybe a sticker!
Whoo-hoo!
The weeks before Christmas were a time of high anticipation for me, and not just because Santa was coming.
My aunt and uncle in Germany would ship a huge package of chocolate, candy, gifts and, most important to me, a Lego set that you could only find in Europe.
From gas stations to firehouses to a lunar lander, these kits were absolutely the bomb!
I lacked the patience and aptitude to glue tiny pieces together and to follow what felt like endless instructions so I was not a builder of traditional models of planes or ships.
But Legos were democratic that way.
There was something so satisfying about following the illustration-only Lego instructions (no text) and coming away with a completed project.
I can remember getting small models at the Macy’s in the Bronx for 50 cents and I could hardly wait to get home to build them.
I had quite a collection of the assembled sets, which I arranged into dioramas of cities, harbors and lunar landings.
My family made trips to Germany when I was 6 and 13, and both times we made a bus trip to the Legoland amusement park in Billund, Denmark. The park, which opened in 1968, was the only Legoland in the world at the time. (Today, there are seven, with another one planned for New York.)
Getting to the one in Denmark was a three-hour bus ride from where we were in Germany, but it was worth every minute.
I was agog.
Everywhere were these intricate models of zoo animals, cities and airports made of Legos.
On the second visit, the park had expanded and featured a replica of Mount Rushmore made out of 1.5 million Legos!
The news that a $500 million Legoland amusement park could be opening in Goshen, N.Y., within an hour’s drive of the Poconos, has me giddy with excitement.
The developers hope to open it by 2019, though the project has drawn considerable opposition over issues like traffic.
I don’t know if it will happen or not, but it would be a way to tap into one my favorite childhood pastimes.
You can take the boy out of the Legos but you cannot take the Legos out of the boy!
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