The truest measure of parental devotion is to stand in line for hours to purchase that "must have" Christmas gift for your child. How many cases of frostbite and/or the flu resulted from the vigil outside Toys R Us seeking hard-to-get Cabbage Patch Kids or Tickle Me Elmo back in the day? Even the long-forgotten Teddy Ruxpin (a talking caterpillar) was quite the craze back in the 80s though Teddy and his accompanying cassette now gather dust in innumerable attics. "Dad won't be with us on Christmas morning. He's recuperating from hypothermia in the hospital, but he got that Atari for the kids. We'll visit him after this game of Pong is over."
There hasn't been a real "must have" Christmas gift for several years, and we really need one to spark the economy in 2010. Of all people, the British Royal family came through. The morning news shows reported today that replicas of the engagement ring that Prince William gave to Kate Middleton (the same one that Prince Charles gave to Lady Diana) are literally flying off the shelves. The housing market may not lead us out of the current recession, but the jewelry industry has a shot.
Of course, this means that sapphire and diamond rings are now in incredibly short supply. Soon we will see lines of eager shoppers camped out in the cold outside jewelry stores on the rumored availability there of Kate Middleton / Princess Di rings. It will be an arduous and possibly fruitless ordeal, but acquiring that precious ring will make 2010 "the best Christmas ever".
Better yet, what with the bull market for scrap jewelry ("Trade in those old class rings for tons of cold, hard cash!), the Kate/Princess Di ring will not end up in the attic alongside those Cabbage Patch Kids. You will get at least some of your money back when its allure fades.
Thanks for saving Christmas, Prince William!
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