The Christmas shopping is all done for this year. Our trip to Disney was our big family present this year. I am lucky that my kids are old enough to understand and accept this. The gifts for them get more expensive and smaller as they get older. No more big plastic kitchens with 10,000 pieces of plastic food, Big Wheels, or bikes. The living room is less crowded, but no less expensive. Now they want video games, Ipods, and (my daughter particularly) clothes from stores where the music is way too loud for me.

Then right after the holidays, I get on a plane and spend a couple of weeks in Hong Kong. The Lafayette Puzzle Factory will have a suite at the Grand Stanford hotel during the Hong Kong Toy Fair (http://hktoyfair.hktdc.com). It is a huge show and we have a full plate of meetings. My family has gotten used to me vanishing for a few weeks after the holidays. This will be the 8th year in a row I have attended the show. I do enjoying going and catching up with friends from around the world. Plus the weather is warmer than Lafayette this time of year.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah.

JP