By Nick Reiher

Tammy and I were walking through Target recently on our weekly Saturday morning date. One of my missions was to find a Lego gift for a 13-year-old tagged on our giving tree at church.

I get to pick out the toys. I usually do pretty well. A thousand years ago, when our nieces and nephews were young, I got to choose the Christmas gifts for the boys. Oh, I had fun.

I remember one in particular, a kid-sized speed gun that could time anything from how fast someone threw a baseball, to how fast a car was going.

We weren’t in Minnesota when they opened gifts, but I heard after they opened it, the three boys were outside seeing who could ride faster on their bicycles.

Age wasn’t a factor. I drew a brother-in-Iaw one time for a white elephant gift for Christmas. I got him a couple Twins Opening Day tickets for him and my sister-in-law. They were nosebleeds, unfortunately, so I got him a pair of toy binoculars. Oh, and a box of red hots – the candy; not the Vienna wonders.

So, yeah, I like shopping for toys. I already found a Spider Man and His Friends bathtub toy for a 3-year-old on the giving tree. I hope he likes it. I hope the 13-year-old likes the Formula One Lego racecar.

While I was looking around, so many toys caught my eye: the Playskool push bubble popper; games like Chutes and Ladders; Candy Land, Tip-It, Life and, of course, the various iterations of Trivial Pursuit. (Except the hard-to-find Italian version, “Trivial Pershoot” {Prosciutto}).

And then, Hot Wheels. So many sets with the familiar orange track set up in ways to keep them in motion as long as possible. The cars – I remembered some of the many I had, kept in that black, wheel-shaped carrier: the Red Baron; the Snake and the Mongoose; Corvette; the special collector’s model I got in the mail after becoming a Hot Wheels Club member. The one that came with a bent wheel.

And then I saw the mega package – a Hot Wheels set that was part storage, part vertical raceway. It reminded me of one of those old-fashioned metal toy gas stations. My boyhood friend Joe and I would have had a blast with that.

If only we had room now.

Such fun times. And I do get toys still for Christmas, our daughter Jillian makes sure of that. A Captain America shield that fires Nerf missiles. (No, I won’t bring it to a County Board meeting. Probably.). A Hulk punch balloon. A Spider Man copter.

Most of this is on my desk at work. It keeps me sane during the aforementioned meetings. There were a couple I saw on Facebook this year that I sent her.

Things change a lot at Christmas when you’re an adult, especially when you become a parent. A lot more worry and hustle. But, there’s also the joy of watching them open gifts. That never goes away.

Along with peace and good health, I wish you a Christmas that reminds you of the fun you had as a kid.

Memories are some of the best presents. I hope you make some new ones.

Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.