Friday, July 11, 2008

James Lipton or a police officer?

At a charity auction held at Brickworld2008, I bought a LEGO advent calendar for $30. That night, I brought it up upstairs to unwrap with my wife Kate. We sat on a hotel bed in the North Shore Westin in our pajamas as eager as any children to open an unexpected gift. I am excited to see the eight minifigures inside. Kate just likes opening gifts.

"Oh man, we have to wait until Christmas," she exclaims upon seeing that it was an advent calendar.

"Nope, it's from 2007," and with that I begin to open window #10.

"Wait," she stops me, "You have to open them in order."

I'll admit to not having much experience with advent calendars, having only celebrated Christmas for the past seven years.

"How many numbers are there?"

"Well, dear. How many days are there before Christmas?" asks Kate. I stop asking questions.

"This one looks like been eating a lot of chocolate. He might be a policeman or an airport manager," she says after popping a minifgure out of window #6.

"This is the municipal set, that's what he would be," I reply.

"Nope, he's a luggage handler. There's little suitcases." She opens #8.

"That makes sense. What little kid is going to be like, yeah, I finally got an airport manager?"

"What little kid is going to be like, yeah, I got a luggage handler?"

"Some kid who has a dad for a luggage handler." She is not impressed by this retort.

Another minifigure appears in window #10. "This guy looks like a miner or a policeman. At least he doesn't have a scary chocolate mouth. But he does have weird hair," she tells me.

"He's a plumber."

"Oh, look, another airport manager. I have to say, facial hair and LEGO guys- not so much. This one kind of looks like that critic..."

"James Lipton?" I suggest.

"Yeah. James Lipton as an airport manager." Another minifig with a broom."Oh, this look like old James Lipton."

"Do you think he's fallen on hard times?"

In box #22 is the final minifigure. "He's a submarine operator," Kate says confidently.

"How many municipalities own submarines?" I ask my wife, who works in city government.

"Oh, that's a bullhorn. He's a police officer. There's the police officer."

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