We have had a beautiful couple of weeks at the Flying Pig. Our store’s 20th anniversary has brought in old customers and new, lots of cards and kudos, and much-appreciated press coverage. But something has nagged at me through this time, and I realized there has been a piece missing.
Continue reading →

Elizabeth always orders our sidelines, and this holiday season she’s outdone herself. I am slowly amassing a pile of things to give this season. But one thing really caught my eye: the reindeer car kit. I have always thought these things were cute, but had never gotten one. This past week, I paid off my car, so I treated myself, and my car, to this little kit. Sure, it doesn’t look like much, but when you put these three very simple things on your car, fun things start happening.  Continue reading →

The eighth annual Stocking Stuffer of the Year Award is a very august undertaking here at DDG.  There is a lot at stake. Until last year the award process was much like the land of Lothlorien, in that it had upon it neither blemish nor stain. This year, however, due to the lamentable fact that last year the judge, The Whirl-0, awarded himself the highest honor, things were different. We had to grapple with the fact that our once pristine award was operating under something of a cloud.
The best way to address that, it seemed to me, was to bring in a judge of truly impeccable credentials, one whose very name meant impartiality and fairness. The Stocking Stuffer of the Year Award required a judge who would be totally immune from both the brazen importunities of competing toys and from its own self interest. I am very pleased to report that we found such a judge in Solar Dancing Totoro. Our store Totoro is of course an incarnation of the Japanese nature spirit immortalized in the beloved animated film My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki. As the very essence of fairness, decency, generosity of spirit, and personal disinterest, our new judge is innately detached from any self-serving thoughts and intrinsically unmoved by any unworthy adjurations of less high minded stocking stuffers.
Continue reading →