A list of top holiday toys from the last 100+ years https://stacker.com/retrospective/top-holiday-toys-year-you-were-born
@agunn I got to play with some of those, as I inherited my siblings' toys -- and my brother is 14 years older.
Apparently we had a significant Lionel collection, but a crooked cleaning lady absconded with them at some point.
@estherschindler A crooked cleaning lady absconding with your Lionel set? How have you not written this short story yet?! 🤣
@agunn My parents were less concerned with the Lionel trains -- which admittedly were valuable enough for my mom to understand the temptation -- than the cleaning lady who stole sheets and towels.
My father had reason to go to her house, and noticed all the weird designs that were... not commonplace.
"I'll take their money" is one thing, but "I'll take their bed linens" is another.
@estherschindler Oooh, fun. (Ever read any of the manuals that accompanied those AC Gilbert chem kits? Kids were *way* more free-range back in the day...)