Caitlin and I felt the full implications when we were in Adelaide a fortnight ago. The malls were packed with people, the shops were packed with people, the retailers were packed with people.

Well, I felt the full impact when we arrived at the toys section of Myers. It was packed with kids! You may call it a mistake, but I did want to see what was on offer, if anything. But the full impact? It wasn’t that there was anything significant on sale. There were dinosaur toys, baby toys, some books (not enough of, actually) and the quintessential electronics for kids.

She just wouldn’t leave.

Granted it was meant to be a relaxing play-by-ear no-agenda holiday; this Daddee was just willing to show her the sights and sounds, and whatever she wanted to see… But still.

Retailers are clever. They put out the hands-on hot toys for Christmas for the kids to try, and for Daddy’s like me to be stuck with waiting for them to finish- yeah, I agree: As if they would!

I think I spent over an hour standing on the same spot that whole time, watching my little girl push Thomas and his friends along the tracks, round and round the table.

It was fun at first, very cute of the kids (yes plural, and at least they were sharing) to be playing like this. Then, I got bored and was wearing out both knees after shifting my weight left and right.

Parents: My lesson here is, in this age of internet and online shopping, shop online!

So I searched and came across this toy guide site.

Because it is set out like a blog site, it is clean and easy on the eyes. No gawdy bright colours to greet you and send you clicking away.

Listed by types of toys, brands, and age group, the whole online shopping experience is made a lot easier- you are in control of where you wanna go and be and not get lost.

But because it is also a blog, there are posts and articles describing select toys, accompanied by clean photos, making the whole experience on the site more informative and enjoyable. Readers can and do submit their comments on these posts / items too, adding credibility to the descriptions on the items on sale.

All from the comforts of whatever you are sitting on now, in whatever you are wearing now, on the blogosphere that you are already down with (that)!

So what would Daddee like for Christmas?

He’s already got it- an iPhone 3G.

He was researching toys and found this toys blogsite. How else would he have stood in the same spot for over an hour?