It’s not that I snoop for my Christmas presents, my family just doesn’t appreciate how generally overly aware I am of my surroundings. If you say something, or you leave something laying around, chances are I’m going to notice it and connect some dots.
I like taking my kids through Newbury Comics. It’s a weird kind of, “Well yeah if I literally had money to burn, there’s a bunch of stuff I’d buy here” shop. I believe the word “kitschy” could apply to much of it. The kind of stuff you decorate your desk with at work.
One of the popular things you see there now, and really in lots of stores, is those “Pop” figurines? They’re kind of like bobble heads, although I don’t think they bobble. And they’ve clearly been licensed to everyone under the sun. Why oh why doesn’t their marketing department understand public domain? Because every time I see them I look for a Shakespeare, and there simply isn’t one.
So when my girls mentioned needing to go to Newbury Comics to shop for something, I didn’t really connect the dots. We found ourselves at a different mall that had a different, independent comic shop and one of my girls said, “We have to go in there!” but when I tried to follow she said, “Not you, Daddy! Mommy, come with us.” Again, I have no idea at this point. I know that there is no Shakespeare stuff in that store, though I’ve told them in the past generic things like, “Oh I like all this kind of stuff” so I’m sure they’re running with that theme.
They leave the store with bags and command me not to look. My middle daughter then begins quizzing me on which Star Wars movie is my favorite, and how I feel about the Clone Wars. When I tell her exactly how I feel about the prequels and she turns to my wife and says, “Mommy, oh no!” I figure out that I must be getting some sort of Star Wars prequel merchandise from her, and don’t think about it again.
Except for the fact that my wife hides my presents in the same general place that we hide the kids’ presents. So that evening I stumble across…. a blank Pop figure. I didn’t even know they made such a thing. I have no idea for sure if this is supposed to be for me or not, but I’ve got a hunch. Are they going to try to make me a Shakespeare pop figure from scratch?
Yes, that is exactly what they’re doing. Being kids, not very sneaky kids at that, they left him half finished on the desk downstairs in my office (/ their playroom) which confirmed my suspicions. Right now he looks like something out of the Walking Dead, but whoever is making it really did nail the ruff/collar around his neck so it’s obvious who he is, if you’re looking for it.
I can’t wait to see how the finished product turns out! I’ll be sure to post pictures.