Our version of the Cabbage Patch Doll/Tickle Me Elmo/Zhu Zhu Pet craze

There is really only one thing that Liam wants for Christmas this year. It's something he saw in the Sears Christmas Wish Book and has been talking about for months. Here it is, in all its glory:
Yep... a McDonald's playset. Our kids view a Happy Meal as a treat and, well, I guess it then follows that he would want this set.

We pointed out to him that he already has a toy cash register, but what he really loves about this set is that it comes with a headset. A non-working replica of what the drive-through employees wear. He is smitten. (To be fair, I wanted my share of weird things as a kid. The two that immediately came to mind are a sno-cone maker and a rock tumbler. I don't know if I ever asked for these things or if I knew my parents would think they were dumb and never bothered to make it known. I never received either one.)

Anyway, this was a request we could manage. After giving Liam an ATV last year, there was no way we were springing for another big ticket item, so I breathed a sigh of relief when Liam made it known that this was his dream gift of 2009. We thought we would just log onto the Sears website and order Liam his play set, but of course it can't be that easy. (Thank goodness we started our shopping early!) The item might be pictured in the Sears catalogue, but as it turns out, Sears has discontinued the item.

So we tried Toys R Us. But although they list this item on the US website, it's not available in Canada.

Panic starts to set in.

We search various eBay listings (for which the shipping came to more than the toy itself) and web-based toy stores, and finally Chad locates a gently used set on Kijiji. In Toronto. We make contact, and it's still available. They want a lot for it, given that it's used, but at this point we are willing to do whatever it takes. So very, very luckily, the seller lives in the same neighbourhood as my generous sister who went over to pick it up for us. We'll be seeing her in a couple of weeks and the transaction can be made then. Barring that... well, there's always XPressPost. It might cost a small fortune, but we need that play set under the Christmas tree this year.

Since first announcing that he wants the McDonald's set, Liam has also informed us that he wants a small handheld Diego videogame (ordered!) and a golf set. He already has a golf set. He tells me he needs more balls. I think we might stick a sleeve of golf balls in his stocking, and call it a day.