The most wonderful time of the year

Okay…the Christmas tree has been dismantled and is either at the curb or back in its box. The melted wax has been scrubbed from the menorah. The dreidel stuck between the couch pillows has been retrieved, and the ornaments are back in the attic. The poinsettia plants are dutifully dried out or completely asphyxiated. The candy canes and chocolate gelt are long gone and digested. No more of Uncle Tony's corny jokes or Aunt Sarah's greasy latkes for a whole year. No more fruit cake or eggnog or butter cookies shaped like bells. And, thankfully, no more wet, sloppy kisses planted on foreheads by relatives with hazy childhood memories. Ditto, for all those "can-you-top-this-ailment" stories and "who-would-have-thought" sagas.

Yup, you can gather up all that marrow and cartilage and throw those skeletons back in the closet for a whole other year.

Whatever we celebrate or whatever our tradition, there are definitely experiences and emotions we all share and can relate to when it comes to the holiday season; the joyful highs, the melancholy lows, the good, the bad and, of course, the ugly. And we manage to get through it all while juggling the busiest selling season of the year; the one that can make or break our business.

It's likely that we all share a bit of the same post-holiday sentiment, too—relief.

There is another post-holiday emotion common to us as well: anticipation. Anticipation of Toy Fair; of possibly finding the unique, the unusual, the exceptional, the extraordinary even, perhaps, the year's best seller…the next big thing.

This year, though, the familiar feeling of anticipation may be tempered with a new emotion, one not usually associated with Toy Fair—trepidation. It's true the events of Sept. 11 have shattered our confidence and our sense of security. Some may still be hesitant to travel. But anxious or not, for all of us in the biz, Toy Fair is a must. There is no way we can be part of the industry without being…well…without being immersed in Toy Fair.

Let's face it, a year without attending Toy Fair would be like a holiday without relatives (bless them). For all the bear hugs and sloppy kisses, for all the noise, the same old stories, the same "business-is-horrible" tirades, you have to be at Toy Fair. (You thought maybe I was referring to Uncle Tony again?)

The Toy Industry Association and the International Toy Center have gone to great lengths to ensure that the Javits Center and the Toy Building will be secure at next month's 99th International Toy Fair. And both organizations have prepared informative agendas.

But the most important thing is that the bread and butter of your business will be there.

The toys are definitely attending. Shouldn't you?